Word gets around

So we're home. After a whole week of goodbyes, parties and sucking the last fun out of our stay in Kamala (pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/14989538@N05/sets/72157624089533585/), it was really sad to go - but still we knew that it was the right thing for us now.

It's been a bit weird coming back to a tiny, cold apartment, and, especially for Mikkel who doesn't share my great love for Copenhagen, a bit hard to figure out what to do next. And we haven't really. I'm still just wandering around, enjoying all the little things I hadn't really realized that I missed, but very soon we're going to have to take action and actually get on with things. Things being finding a job, selling or subletting apartment, finding a new place to live up north... Hopefully within two months we will have a base where there's actually room for us and our things. And a pool table. And two incomes!

The things that I've missed and now enjoy: My bicycle, the city, the two combined, the Netto supermarked, parks, friends in parks, sitting in road side cafés in the afternoon, rye bread, wearing shoes, knowing that people understand what I say, bright summer nights, being closer to family, long walks without getting sweaty, not being sweaty in general, Danish TV... and probably a lot more that I didn't rediscover yet.

Also, we had a great night visiting Mikkel's sister and family, and we've sent his youngest brother, accompanied by mum, off from the airport for his big fat Mexican wedding which we unfortunately are not able to attend.

In a few days we'll be going to Sweden for Mikkel to get a few days of work meetings done, and then we're headed to the north of Denmark to see his dad, enjoy some quiet days in the country and possibly drive around a little and have a look at some real estate objects... Buying a house doesn't seem that distant anymore but of course I'll need that job first.

Last but not least, the things I'll miss about Thailand: All the wonderful people we've met and will never forget, the food, the balcony and pool surrounded by jungle, the sound and smell of the tropics, the crazy rain- and thunder storms, wearing short shorts without feeling slutty, driving a scooter, the fact that going out is easy and inexpensive, all the little stalls, carts and shops selling delicious food (including fried bugs) and all kinds of more or less useful things, meeting somebody I know everytime I leave the house and always have time for a chat, beach walks, the market... And, again, probably a lot more that I didn't yet realize.



All in all, it's good to be home, and it will be even better once we get all the practical stuff sorted out.

And if anyone in Thailand is reading this: We miss you all!

Only one month is left of the Thai experience that started more than 2 years ago (even though I haven't been here the whole time, half of me kind of has).
Except for filling a few boxes with stuff to send by post, practically I'm more or less ready to go. Mentally I feel close to ready as well, there are lots of things that I do look forward to back in Denmark.

The last few months, while I've forgotten all about this blog, have been more or less same procedure as before - too little work and too much relaxing. Mikkel on the other hand has been working like crazy, and as I don't feel like going out on the wildest adventures on my own I've mostly filled my days with books, internet geeking and cooking. Not terrible at all, but I'm sure I will appreciate the concept of 'having a life' when we get home :)

A couple of adventures have been sneaked in though: First a girlie getaway to the beautiful island of Koh Yao Noi with 11 wonderful 'chickies' of all ages and natioanalities.
Pictures here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=218661&id=690766211&l=5d8534caa3

And then our last visa run that, as a treat to Mikkel whose workload grew by the hour, was spent in pure luxury in Kuala Lumpur.
Pictures here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=220998&id=690766211&l=18d964948b

Next, and probably the last, big project is the goodbye party that we're arranging with Sarah and Johan who are also leaving. It will be sad to say goodbye to all the wonderful people here, but somehow I have a feeling that we will be back.

... our Swedish friend Johan said when we met him a Wednesday night for pool tournament game in Paradise bar. - You're whaaaat?? Then I cried a little, and then I called Sarah who confirmed these wonderful news.
Took care of the important stuff first, like arranging with my friend Noi to take her dress shopping, and then just started to look forward to the big day.

I had the honor of watching Sarah being tortured by the waxing lady on monday afternoon, before a few very stressed hours with the hair and makeup lady being more than an hour late. The happy and slightly nervous couple showed up at a meeting point in town in the perfect veichle - an oldschool tuk tuk decorated with flowers and painted in Swedish colors! Sarah looked gorgeous in her Thai - but not too Thai - weddingdress, and Johan was truely handsome and had even found a necktie to match the dress.



This will probably be the only time I attend a wedding where all the guest are on scooters - about 25 people caravaned from town to the ceremony venue - a viewpoint on 'Millionaire's Mile' overlooking the ocean. Everything looked perfect up there; flowers all over, sun just about to set - and happy chuckling chickens in the background.



A Swedish celebrant held a simple and beautiful ceremony, and Sarah's American collegue Catherine had written the perfect lovesong that she performed for the bride and groom. Wowes and rings were exchanged, more tears were shed, hugs were given, bouquet was thrown (no, I didn't catch it...) and then we caravaned back to town to party. Now where else would they throw a wedding party than at the legendary Charlie's bar!





Party was great, with toasts, food, dancing and an awful lot of drinking. As parties are usually filled with 'you should have been there' moments, I'll skip that tale, and just summon up with saying that this was the most beautiful wedding ever - and I kind of wish it was mine..!

Here's to Sarah and Johan - may they live happily ever after!

A long while really, and I have absolutely no excuse for it (except for the fact that Mikkel's the only one who's nagging me about blogging...).

Went to Norway a month and a half ago, and it was absolutely wonderful. Dodgy local pharmasist provided me with sleeping pills for the flight, and ordering kosher meals turned out to be a great idea!
From 35 celcius in Kamala, it was mildly put refreshing to land in 10 below zero, but I had plenty of winter clothes, and most of the feezing was done indoor. Can't believe how I'll ever get used to normal room temperature again, anything below 25c is just too cold! :)
Snow was everywhere, and I really enjoyed just walking around in all the white and wearing a big old mink fur while smoking on the terrace.


                           Mikkel trying not to freeze his bum off

The very reason I booked the trip to Norway in the first place, was to meet my niece Tuva, my brothers first child and my parent's first grandchild. And oh how I love being an aunt! Tuva is sooo cute (and already stubbern at three months of age at the time), and I can't wait to live a little closer so I can see her more often. As fate - and a little planning - would have it, Mikkel was able to come visit after two weeks in Sweden, so we could both attend her christening. Had a great day with families from both sides, ate lots of yummy food - and even played pool. After the 'party' Mikkel and I went to see Avatar 3D, totally worth every penny!


             Proud and happy parents showing off the new family member


                      Having a well deserved rest after the festivitas

The rest of my Norway trip was spent with good friends and (too much) good
food, and one night I even cooked a Thai meal for four of the homegirls and pretty much succeeded. The last weekend I spent in Oslo catching up with more homegirls, and I must say I got the very best out of my two week's trip.


                                Walking the streets of Oslo

The last month in Kamala has been more or less same same as usual except for a new job - I'll teach a couple of Norwegian lessons a week - and a very surprising wedding! More about the latter in my next blog. Oh, and we've had visitors! My good friend Hildegunn and her husband Ronnie has been here for a week, it was so nice to finally get to show someone from home our little paradise. We've been out eating, drinking, and diving - the dive was not a huge sucsess as we had about 1 metre visibility, but H and R decided to do the liveaboard trip to Similans that we did two years ago, and finally all my bragging about diving in Thailand made sense.

After I came back, I realised even more how much I look forward to living a normal life again, with a normal job, shifty seasons and a non corrupt legal system. That being said, I'll make sure to enjoy Thailand for my last three months here - I'll probably never be able to live a life this luxurious, easy and relaxed again, and I am definately going to miss all the wonderful people that I've gotten to know.

Mikkel left for a work visit in Sweden last Wednesday, and even though we're used to being apart, I was not really up for spending 10 days alone here. Don't know why, but being in Thailand seemed scary all of a sudden!
But it wasn't scary, not at all, I've been keeping myself busy with girlfriends and girly movies.

Started off by going on scooter to a reastaurant for ladies lunch - 15 km away and with Sarah D as a passenger (she's a very brave woman). Went smoothley though, and lunch at Gitano was lovely.

Day after was dinner with Sarah O' and Johan, and a few beers at Charlie's with them and Sarah D. First time drinking and driving - went smoothly too.

Saturday Sarah D and I joined Anna for our very first Hash House Harriers run (walk really). Got on a bus in Kamala with a bunch of old men, and ended up somewhere north were an even bigger bunch of old men were waiting. Quite a few women too though, and some only half old men, but the old ones sure owned the show. After a lovely walk of about 50 min we gathered in 'the circle', where the main purpose is to make fun of people and make them drink beer. As Sarah and I were 'virgins', we couln't avoid being called into the centre, but drinking a small glass of beer without using our hands was not that traumatizing. Circle thing went on and on and on, imagine 50+ men over 55 loving the sound of their own voice... mostly shouting swearwords. Walk was perfect, but I'm still not sure if I'm going back - I somehow feel too young to relive my teens yet!

Sunday it was time for the montly Chicky Brunch, this time here in Kamala by a quiet beach. Lots of sweet girls showed up, and the fish and chips were yummy!

Monday night Anna, Sarah D, Lizzie and I went to a barbeque place in Patong. You get a burning charcoal pot with a 'lid' over it set in the middle on the table - barbeque your meat and seafood on the top, and boil soup around the bottom. I love the concept - and you can eat for hours!

Wednesday was a busy day in my own opinion - I had at least 5 scheduled activities! One of them was poolnight, and even if Mikkel's obviously not playing at the moment, I had to go and cheer for my favorite team. A massive rainfall delayed me a little, when I got there Paradise had won the first two singles, and they just kept on winning. Game ended 9-2, and my friend Oil joined me after for a much needed girls talk.

Yesterday... stupid day. I was supposed to have Oil over for a late lunch, but instead a bad stomach ache wake me up, I had a fever and then got really puking sick. Yuk!
Better today, just had raincheck lunch with Oil on the beach, and soon I'll head out to do the last shopping before the big journey to Norway tomorrow.

I will be spending 2 weeks in Kristiansand with family and friends - and I can't wait. Highlight is offcourse meeting my niece Tuva, and attending her christening as a proud godmother. Mikkel will be there too, he's spending a weekend with us before heading back home to Thailand. Even if I've succeeded in Kamala living without him, I look VERY much forward to seing him again. Life without him here is livable, but having him close is still far better.

Bye for now - see some of you in Norway very soon!

Up: Flight and airport procedures went smoothly.

Down: City, from the taxi, looked all dark and spooky...

Up: Hotelroom was nice and clean, and had a good location.

Down: Everything else about the hotel :)

Up: Old ladies selling sadwiches with LEVERPOSTEJ on every corner.

Down: Apart from that, all we could find was noodles.

Up: War Remnants Museum was worth a visit - I actually learned a lot about the war.

Down: Agent Orange.

Up: Watching traffic, about 500000 scooters driving in all directions at once, was really entertaining.

Down: You have to cross the street... yikes! Nah, actually that's an up too, as soon as you get the hang of it. Just be brave and look straight - or follow an old local lady.

Up: The park near the hotel. Lots of food stalls, and lots of happy people just hangning out, playing games, or working out on the public fitness equipment (yep!).

Up again: We found a movie theater showing Avatar 3D!

Down: All the tickets were sold out way into the future.

Up: I walked through a huge mall without buying anything, didn't even want to.

Down: Might as well have spent all my money in the mall - crook on a scooter snatched my purse! Credit cards, phone, AND THE NEW CAMERA, all gone.

Up: I didn't get dragged out in the street by scooter crook, and Mikkel's credit card was safe in his pocket.

Down: Back at the hotel, the restaurant didn't have any food... at least nothing from the menu. So noodles it was (again).

Up: Some woman had found my wallet with the credit cards and the hotel business card and called the reception.

Down: She wanted to make a blackmailing thing out of it, so I gave up getting them back after all.

Up: We got on a cheap tour to the Co Chi tunnels, part of the underground tunnel system from were Viet Cong fought the Americans.

Down: The communistic proparganda oozing from the tour guide, not to mention the old black and white movie they made us watch.

Up: I learned even more about the war. And as Mikkel put it: We Scandinavians still brag about once being Vikings and all, so why wouldn't Vietnam still have their victory 35 years ago pretty fresh in mind?

More up: Mikkel bought his lucky shoes - in the happy park.

Up again: Lucky shoes came on, we took a shot at MZ, a nice looking restaurant across the street and had an evening to remember. Excellent food, michelin service, chat with the manager... A minor mistake with the bill, solved in five minutes, gave us a night of VIP service out of this world in the upstairs club after dinner (see Mikkel's coming blog for details!).

Down: MZ is just a bit too far away to make it as our regular hang out place.

Up: On the last day we had a walk through the business (and fancy hotels) district - we found a Pizza Hut!

Down: Saigon Zoo... Nice for a walk, not so nice for the animals!

Up: We met a cyclo (bicykel taxi) driver who showed us his 'guestbook'. Lots of comments in Scandinavian languages, which he fortunately couldn't read, most of them thanking him for giving them the scare of their lives :)

Down: Too late we found out that our house keys were also in my purse... Called the management, but staff couldn't be here help us get in at 00.30.

Up: Just before leaving for the airport, we got hold on our friend Claus on messenger, who talked to his friend Kim who happens to be our neighbour and have a guest room. Saved!

If not the best of travel experiences, CHMC certainly makes the top 10 of the most memorable ones!

Christmas and New Year came and went (too fast), and we survived both without much struggle.

The season to be jolly officially started a week or so into December when the beloved plastic christmas tree was assembled and decorated, and matching multicolored light chains put up in the kitchen and outside around the windows.

That's also the time I start baking cookies, one of the kind had to be made three times due to 'too yummy-ness'. I also made the male watch the obligatory 'Love Actually' with me - almost got me in the spirit!

At the 18th we invited friends to the Danish christmas bash, with risengrød and pebernødder, christmas music, decoration making, drinks and the big bad christmas gift dice game. About 20 people aged 1 to 60 something seemed to enjoy themselves, and around midnight we headed to town for a way too late night of forcing santa's hats on strangers.

Strangers wearing santa's hats

A few days after, Katrine, Jacob, Alfred and Emil moved into their Kamala apartment, and we were fortunate enough to have a traditional christmas eve with all the right ingredients. Some of them were picked up at a famlily shopping trip to Patong the day before the day, and both the pork roast and the rice dessert turned out just right. Kids and gifts and cookies and candy and dancing around the tree - the festivities went on waaay past the childrens bedtime. Mikkel and I ended up wathing Donald Duck classics into the wee hours - and all was good.


Mmmmh, ris a la mande (riskrem)... Emil caught the almond!

Our families back home gave us an economical contribution to go to Vietnam for a few days, that's a story for a whole other blog post though (but I can already reveal that some of HCMC was bad, and some was good)

We never really made any plans for new years, and suddenly it was time to get out of the house and do some celebrating. Luckily the nice restaurant Hin Tang, with great food and an amazing view, had a spare table, so we a great meal here before heading back to Kamala.

We met up with Kat and company at the beach, and hung out there for an hour or so, before meeting some of the other Scandinavians. Kat joined us for the big fireworks, off course enjoyed from the beach, and after all the hugging and luck wishing was over with it was time for a little partying at our favorite hang out Charlie's.



A little might be an understatement though, all of a sudden it was four in the morning and time to call it a night. A great one - and for the first time spent with the Male by my side instead of making tear dripping phone calls across the globe.

Mmmmh (?), rice liquor...

Now Mikkel is almost dying (poor man caught a cold!!), but hopefully he'll feel better tomorrow, which is the big babysitting day so that Kat and Jacob can enjoy some well deserved pampering time in the Royal (!) spa and maybe even a grown up dinner.

HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone - may all your hopes and wishes for 2010 come true! My wish for this year is that it will be somewhat as good as the last one.

Finally the sun is shining - every day! Aware of the risk of jinxing it by posting this, I still feel like I have to share a few snapshots, just to show what our little paradise is REALLY supposed to be like.

Enjoy! Oh, and once again - we still have an extra bedroom!

 
Sarah and Johan visiting, a full afternoon spent drinking smoothies by (and in) the pool.

           
Yet aonther lovely afternoon, enjoying a light breeze and the beautiful sunset at Laem Sing beach.

Krung Thep, also known as Bangkok, is, as the title inclines, one huge traffic jam - at certain hours of the day anyway (although we never succeeded in figuring out which hours). And most of the cars in the jams are taxis - taxis with drivers very eager to get going and therefore driving with a delightful (also known as scary) creativity along the four lane roads. If there's any room to move in, that is.
I actually loved Bangkok, but still the traffic seems to have made the biggest impression. Our hotel was located conveniantly close to a sky train station, so we could easily avoid the chaos if we wanted to.

Bangkok is also very hot, by the way. And kind of smoggy. And still I loved it.
I have no idea what made the place take me by storm - one of the reasons was probably that it had a lot of people taller than me - I didn't feel like a giant. And the varieties within the city were lovely - from massive golden temples and buddhas to small cottages by the klong (canal), from unbelievebly luxourious hotels to the small street food vendors on our street. And the crowdedness without the hassle and dassle you find in most cities - even in a HUGE metropole like BKK the Thai pace seems to be intact. But most of all i think I enjoyed the fact that there is so much there. We only got to see a fraction of it, but just knowing that the city hold so many secret places, weird restaurants, strange shops and interesting people gives me that living feeling... Damn, I'm going all poetical here.

'Nuff is 'nuff - DAY 1: Arrived at the hotel, which was simple but absolutely livable, enjoyend a very cheap meal at the hotel restaurant and had a little rest. Later we met up with Katrine (Mikkel's YOUNGER sister), her husband and two boys and got seated at a perfect table (thank you, blond kids!) at a riverside restaurant. Katrine, Jacob, Alfred and Emil will be travelling Asia for five months, and I am truely impressed by their courage, pacience and energy - both the children's and the parents'. We had a great meal with all kinds of tasty dishes, and their friend Poon joined in a bit later. When the family headed home we joined Poon for a few beers at a bar nearby, where I also met up with my old friend Helene who happened to be in the neighbourhood. We took a stroll through famous back packer road Khao San, which was a tourist nightmare due to halloween celebrations (and just plain tourist magnetism) and ended up on a nicer pedestrian street right across from Khao San, where we sat down for a few drinks and a chat. Then it was time for a traffic jam taxi ride, and we learnd that getting home at night, pretty much wherever you are, will take about an hour.

After a good night's sleep under the princess style musquito net, we were ready for some real tourism. First we hired a longtailboat that took us for a 'ride' on the klongs. An amazing way to se the city, although looking directly into peoples living rooms seemed a bit strange. But with hundreds of boats passing every day, they probably couldn't care less about us.

The boatman let us off at the pier by Grand Palace, the royal temple, but first we decided to have a quick look at the next door temple Wan Poh. Which is also grand. Gold, gold and more gold, not to mention the billoins of tiny details in every bit of every builing - covering the place in wood carvings and mosaic must have taken more work hours than I can even imagine. And it is working - the wow factor of the place is really high. Biggest attraction is the lying buddha - which is one biiig sculpure. Yes, also in gold. As for the for the royal palace: Gold as far as the eye can see, and lots of impressive ornaments, decorations, buddhas in all shapes and sizes. We discovered it with Kat, Jacob and the kids, and the two blonds aged 3 and 5 were, to a group of Thais, the main attraction here. Lots of pictures were taken, and the lizards didn't complain once when one Thai after another had them posing over and over. After getting a well deserved refreshment outside of the walls, we parted and Mikkel and I went home to get a nap.

Tourism is exhausting, and so is blogging, so I'll be back with the rest of the Bangkok tale later.

First, a bit of birthdays: Second most important day of the year, Mikkel's birthday, was celebrated with a nice breakfast at home (with freshly baked bread rolls, balloons and cake off course) and then a lot of hanging around waiting for the rain to stop. It didn't - until it was time for dinner in Patong, where the male was surprised by one friend after another showing up at the restaurant. After a great meal in great company we headed to Bangla for a beer before taking a tuk-tuk back to Kamala. At Paradise bar the girls were waiting with cake and birthday song, and all was good.

Another birthday - Ta, owner of Paradise bar, turned 34 a week ago and the party was a blast. The 4th game in the pool tournament, where six Kamala bars are playing 'just for fun', were played the same night, and in the crowded bar, with a live band playing outside, people were dancing around just enjoying themselves. Even the pool players loosened up and goofed around (the games usually tend to get a bit intense!) and the smile on Ta's face never faded. Paradise, with Mikkel and Michael on the team, won again - and the food was great!

Then on to a bit of work: Narissa, the little girl that I'm teaching Danish, is in Denmark at the moment, and while she's there I'm doing a drama- and music class a couple of afternoons a week at the English/American school Shining Stars. I have 10 children from 6 to 8 years old, and the 1.5 hour sessions of playing creatively is a great success (this far) and a fun way to make some money. I might do another class or two next year as well, and possibly do some English teaching on the side, so I'm pretty sure I won't get to bored around here.

Then to the really good news: five days ago my brother and his wife had their first baby! And, being totally objective off course, little Tuva is the most beautiful baby this world have ever seen. I'm a bit overwhelmed by the aunt feeling, it's bigger than I imagened, and it feels kind of wrong being that far away from my family these days. I will go home for a two weeks visit in February - can't wait!

And some more good news while I'm at it: Yesterday I finally got the result of my master paper - turns out that my ability of faking knowledge is excellent - I got a B! I would have been dancing around in ecstasy over a D, so the message from my supervisor was slightly shocking, and today I'm slightly hung over.

Oh, and we just got home from an extended weekend in Bangkok yesterday, blog on the big mango coming soon!

Friday morning we headed to the airport, never have I traveled lighter (carry on only, and my small backpack wasn't even full!), for our next big city advenure.

Singapore is a nice big city... Not really that special in any way. I'll give it the benifit of the doubt though, as we only had time to cover about 1/3 of the city centre, so MAYBE it's more than okay. Reminded me a bit of Kuala Lumpur actually, only more expensive. Heh, for the first day we didn't really find it that expensive, as I insisted that a singapore dollar is 2,6 danish kroner. Turned out to be 3,6 though, and suddenly things seemed alot different :)

Friday, after enjoying the nice hotelroom and the aircon (Singapore was HOT) we took a stroll in Little India, just to catch a clance and taste some interesting food - and be blinded by the 'gold' and bling bling in the markets. Normally I'd love shopping for arts and crafts, but this time it was EVERYWHERE, and way to much to take in - so we left the market pretty quickly. Walked down towards the harbour area to catch a trip to the top of the world, or so it felt, as the Singapore Flyer is the biggest 'ferris wheel' in the world. In spacious cabins we were taken up 165 metres and got a fabulous view of the city - I LOVE big city scenaries! Went up just as the sun startet to set, and as we reached the top 20 mins later the city light under us looked really impressive.
 


Safely back on the ground we walked to the harbour, where we found a HUGE food court with all kinds of interesting food stalls, but unfortunately no free tables. The harbour area is really nice at night, crowded but still somehow relaxing. Then we did some more walking, passed the Cricked Club where the fancy high society cars were packed in the lot, passed City Hall, and then Mikkel's hamstring disagreed STRONGLY with his atempt on even more walking - so we got a rickshaw guy to take us home. Of all the rickshaws is Singapore, this was probably the one in the worst condition, but the 'driver' was nice and pointed more or less important sights out to us as we went along. We ended up having dinner at an Indian restaurant outside the hotel, where the waiters provided Mikkel with a home made ice bag.

Saturday we went back to Little India, Mikkel limping like a true war hero, and found a thai massage place where they could hopefully do some magic on the acting up hamstring while I went to some café having more food I didn't know what was (or how to eat). Turned out that rubbing feet was not all the magic the masseuse was capable of, and I'm glad Mikkel politely turned down the offer to 'do "something" to make him stronger for his girlfriend tonight'. Funny that we had to go to Singapore to find the dodgier version of Thai massage.
With his foot hurting like hell, Mikkel, brave as always, humped back to the hotel and got some rest, before we headed for Sim Lim Square - the biggest electronics shopping centre I've ever seen. Thousands and thousands of square metres filled with electronics shops, and we ended up being caught by a really talented salesman who convinced us that we NEEDED that new camera. Still don't know if it was a good purchase or not, but it's working, and it has a million features.

After taking Limpo back to the hotel I headed out again on my own, only to discover that I wasn't in the mood to buy anything, or even glance at the stuff in the markets. I got the man a book from a book store in a huge mall (there are about a hundred of those in Singapore!) and lokked around a bit, only interesting finding was a big building covered in 'diamonds'.

Saturday night was tour-time, we were picked up at the hotel and driven to Singapore Zoo for the night safari. Going around the park in a tram, watching the animals in open areas lit up by artificial moonlight was surpricingly nice and relaxing. We alighted (new word learned in Singapore!!) the tram in the middle of the route, where we could take a walk and get a closer look at leopards and huge flying squirrels, and got back on another tram for the rest of the ride. Had a burger in the crowded restaurant area where some slightly annoing halloween theme was going on, and then headed back to the hotel where we had the obligatory Singapore Sling before bed time.

Sunday morning before checking out of the hotel we had time to get some kind of breakfast at a food court nearby. Still don't really know what we had, but it was relatively cheap and tasted interesting in a good way. As I mentioned in the beginning, we only covered a small part of the city this time - we didn't even get close to the business quarters, and famous Orhard Road was only seen from a tour bus, so really I wouldn't mind going back and give Singapore another go.

More visuals here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/14989538@N05/

Last monday was my (first) 29th birthday, and with three days notice I decided to throw a party. Charlie, on of the few locals owning a bar in town, agreed to letting me arrange the thing in his bar, and I ordered a buffet from the restaurant Rooftop next door. I got myself a nice new dress, and on our way to Charlies an hour before kickoff I wondered if Charlie remembered our deal at all.
But shame on me for totally underestimating the guy, he and his brother Ram had cleaned the place up, put up a bunch of balloons and as we arrived they both stood in their fisherman's pants holding butcher's knives - doing flower arrangments! I was totally overwhelmed, and when the staff from Rooftop arrived with one huge food tray after another, everything looking delicious, I decided that the party was already a success, even if no one would show up.
But show up people did - everybody I'd invited, and then some, came before 9pm, and I was quite shocked once again, as people usually just drops by later in the evening. The food was amazing, everybody (a crowd representing 10 nationalities and an age range from 11 months to about 70 years) had a good time, and I even got presents.
At midnight Charlie once again surprised me by bringing in a birthday cake, and it was clear that we wouldn't go home anytime soon. The party went on and on, with pool games and way to many sambuca shots, and I ended up outpartying Mikkel and caught a ride home with our friends Lars instead. I won't go into details with Lars's ability to drive, but let's just say a small scratch on my arm from falling over on the scooter was a small price to pay for such stupidity. Other than that little mishap, and a minor food poisoning from joining in on a very local thai take away meal, the night was a huge succes in every way, and I want to do it again!

Visuals can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/14989538@N05/sets/72157622356655479/

Mikkels birthday is on Saturday, and as a gift to eachother, also supported by our families, we decided to go to Singapore this weekend - blog coming soon!

Things are starting to happen in Kamala, looks like I won't be neither lonely nor unemployed for the next nine months.

Jobs first: I got 'headhunted' by a Danish guy, and will, starting Wednesday, be a private danish teacher for his 4 year old daughter 6-8 hours a week. Although being only a 20% position, it pays REALLY well, and makes a contribution (not a big one, but it helps) to the household expences. And it gets better: Today I visited the small English school in town, and as it turns out, they want to be a place with lots of after school activities, kind of a community centre, and I am free to start any kind of after school program for a group of kids - group size and charges is all up to me :) I'm planning on doing a 6 weeks music/drama course, two double sessions a week, while my private 'student' is on vacation in Denmark in November and December. If it turns out well, I'll definately do some more courses in the spring term.

Then friends: In desperation, or rather to avoid desperation further down the road, I put a personal ad in the local newspaper looking for friends. One anwer came, which turned out to be the only one I needed, as it was a tip about Chickynet Phuket. Chickynet is a facebook-like online social network, mainly for foreign women, and it has close to 300 members around the island. Went to a ladies brunch yesterday, which was nice but a little far away, and on sunday there's brunch again, this time closer to Kamala. Through Chickynet I also found Swedish Sarah, who is my age, lives in Kamala and works at the Swedish school. Friday Mikkel and I went out soacializing and playing pool with her and her boyfreind Johan - we had a great time, and will definately be hanging out in the future (starting tomorrow when Sarah and I are going jogging). 

Last sunday we were invited to a wedding party in a bar on main street. Well, 'in a bar' doens't quite cover it - half the street was used as sitting area, and outside the bar a live band, a buffet with delicios thai food and happy people dancing at the sidewalk made a great celebration for the bar owner and his bride (whos names I don't remember). We didn't hang around for too long though, a REALLY fun night at Rock City on Friday and a fancy white party with free drinks at Catch Beach Club on Saturday had already worn us out.

Latest news is we finally got our washing mashine, but it seems it's not properly set up yet, so we'll se if we'll ever start using it :) Oh, and on top of everything falling into place, the sun is shining these days! I'd strongly recommend www.solfaktor.dk to anyone thinking about coming to visit. The site is regularly updated on the best charter prices (and 'flight only') from from both DK, NO and SE - we'd love some company!

Street wedding party

 
Who needs pants anyway?                I keep mine on though, auditioning for
Our hero playing at Rock City.           a grid girl gig wearing Mikkel's
                                                       company's merchandize.

White party, even bigger and better than last year.

Mikkel is getting ready to throw himself at some random dishes from the market. I love shopping for food that I have no idea what is.

Life is still nice and easy in Kamala, with a little rain, a little sun, and plenty of vacation-feel-good-ness. I've met up with quite a few old friends, and besides Michael and Koi's Eliza there are also quite a few more babies. Pu, Mikkels former cook, and her husband Robert has been visiting from her village up north with their 10 months old Nicolas, and Danish Martin and his wife Tai just had a beautiful little boy three weeks ago.

With all them cute babies around, we decided to get one for ourselves. His name is Sonkran, and here he is (he takes after his father):

The adopotion papers were filled out earlier today, as we took a trip to the only remaining (real) rainforest on the island, and visited the Gibbon Rehabilitation Centre set up there. As the police are finally allowed to react on the cruelty of shooting mother gibbons to use the babies as tourist attractions, a lot of weak and damaged apes end up at the centre, where they are cared for until they are healthy and ready to be released into the wild. Songkran stays in the centre of course, we just support him financially for a while, so that he can get the coolest toys and stuff.

Went to see Martin, Tai and tiny Oliver today, and since Tai won't be using her bicycle an awful lot I got to borrow it. It's nice and red, and it's my plan to get some excersise threading around town instead of renting a motorbike. Haven't even tried to ride Mikkel's scooter on my own yet, but I'll guess I'll have to get on it one of the next days, just to prove that I can still do it.

Yesterday we went to Laguna for squash again. Mikkel has a lot of patience as a coach, and by arriving early and hit a few balls everytime he's playing one of his buddies and I'm going to the gym, I hope to improve little by little. It's a bit hard, but a lot of fun, AND it makes my buttocks ache :) Sun was shining, and after squash we went to look around a little further up the coast. We ended up at this cosy little restaurant at the beach, and as we waited for our food, we couldn't resist dipping our toes in the VERY lively sea (red flags everywere). Dipping our toes resulted in getting soaked from the waist down, and standing there with the strong waves rolling in and the sun baking, that REAL holiday feeling hit the both of us.

Oh, and as for the Swede, who is a very rich guy who has been talking about starting some kind of community project with me at the steering wheel, we simply can't get hold of him. I'm in no rush though, but it would be nice to get some idea of what I might end up doing for the next 9 months. If getting a real job doesn't work out, I might end up taking a course in Thai massage (which could pay off well once back in Denmark), and hopefully do a few freelance translation jobs to get some sort of income.

But I'm STILL on vacation, and enjoying every bit of it :)

Although I've been here several times before, coming back to Thailand this time is a bit different, as I know I'll be spending almost a year down here. Doesn't really make sense yet, after turning my master thesis in I just feel like I'm on vacation. And I am, for a while, but soon I will have to find something to fill my days, othervise I'll be crazy by christmas.

This far, which is barely three days, relaxing has been just what I needed though. Spendning time with the Male again is lovely as always, and knowing that we're done doing the distance thing for months at the time makes it even better.

I don't really have anything to tell yet, exept that the trip went well, the apartment is NICE, my favorite machine at the gym is broken (and will probably not be fixed by the time I go back to Denmark), Michael's daughter is adorable, the wheather is okay, and - after way too many drinks last night - I found out that my pool skills aren't that rusty.

It's 1 pm, about time to wake up the Male...
I'll be back.

Well actually there's plenty of sunshine, it's even hot, but I'm working nights so I don't notice. And the male is gone, hence the subtitle. After three and a half months spent in my small apartment it feels kind of weird not having him around, and not come home every day to find the place tidy and clean and the dishes out of the way (yep - he's good!). Still, it's all okay, I need the freedom to turn the day upside down and spend all my time at work and at university - that paper deadline is coming to get me!

So, no summer holiday for me, except for a single weekend in Norway in August, and by September 1st I'll hopefully be more than ready to get on a south going plane. We got ourselves a new apartment in the same building complex in Kamala, and I guess spending more than nine months in Thailand will be worth the month and a half of stress, stress, panic and more stress that lies ahead. But for now, that's all I can focus on.

Spring finally came to Copenhagen, but more importantly, first came the Male. On a snowy (!) morning in late March, it was finally time to pick him up at the airport, and the winther coat and scarf that I'd bought him turned out to be a great bargain. The first few days was freezing, but even after the temperature rised to a decent spring level, the sissy Male still insists on wearing full winther equipment (ok, except for the long ski underwear) whenever we leave the house.

After a couple of days in Copenhagen we spent almost a week in Mikkel's parents country house in Jutland - enjoying the peace and quiet, the sun, trips around the area, wonderful home made meals and board games at nights.

Back in the city we've done some exploring, day time and bar time, and mainly life is just very normal, with me working night shifts and trying to write a paper, and Mikkel working as I sleep or study. Mikkel got signed up at the gym, and is definately spending more time there than I am these days... Should probably do something about it.

Katrine, Mikkel's older sister, and her family lives in Copenhagen, and we've visited a few times. One of them being yesterday, celebrating husband Jacobs birthday - an impressive party with tons of nice people, lovely food and about a hundred running and screaming kids :)

This far living together in a one-person-apartment has been fine and practically problem free, it's sweet being two again. So sweet that I tend to forget to make arrangements with the girls these days - big mistake, and I'll definately do better from now on!

Well yes, it is. After a looong period of complete radio silence I've pulled myself together to post a few lines. But about what? Blogging about everyday life in dark and cold Copenhagen with nothing exciting going on doesn't really seem that important, and has definately been put at the very bottom of the list since I got back home.

So, I got home, finished my papers, passed my exam, worked a little with the homeless guys and now I'm in the starting fase of my big masters paper. I'll be doing some fieldwork at the shelter, and the app. 90 pages paper should be finished in five months or so. And then, after som quality time in Norway, I'll hopefully get on a plane for Thailand by the end of August. But for now I'm actually enjoying winter, I like the cold and crispy weather (most of the time), and I've rediscovered tea, blankets and candles!

Hm, what else... Oh yes - my girls!! In Kamala there weren't really any girls my age that I could connect with - the cultural and lingual barriers, even though the Thai girls are the sweetest and nicest people ever, make the relaxed girlie chats over a cup of coffee almost impossible. So to come back home to my beautiful Copenhagen (and Odense) ladies was more than delightful, and I've spent lots of nights hanging out, talking and talking and talking about pretty much everything, while sometimes drinking a bit to much wine.

Last but not least - I'm hoping to sell my apartment before I leave for Thailand, so if anyone knows anyone, feel free to spread the word. It's a small but nice place at Amager, 45sqm (with seperate bedroom), share costs 450000dkk, rent 4000 pr month. With the market being close to dead and all, it will be quite a challenge to get it off my hands, so I'm gonna need all the help I can get.

That's it, the most boring blog ever written... But in about five weeks the Male will be here, and everything is more fun when he's around, so it will probably get slightly more interesting then.

 Uhm, and happy valentines :)

Looks like I forgot to write a christmas blog, so here's a short version of the big x-mas eve: We started out by spending the day at the beach, me wearing my santas hat, where we ended up next to a very talkative danish guy who turned out to be our neighbour (or visiting our neighbours, I didn't pay all that much attention). I figured that christmas eve wouldn't be the real thing no matter how hard I tried, so instead of going out of my way to try and find all the ingredients for a traditional Danish meal, we went out to dinner with Michael at Catch instead. The food and the wine was great, and then Mikkel and I rushed home to have the obligatory risalamande/riskrem. I was the lucky alomond finder and won a nice box of chocolate covered... almonds. They're healthy, you know. In the meantime Michael had picked up Koi, and then we were ready for the big moment of opening gifts. I got some really cool lamps, an mp3 player, beautiful jewlery, a book and a silk bathrobe, all things I wanted and/or needed. The best present this year is still the trip to Phi Phi, which was a christmas gift from our families. After the gift shiow Michael and Koi headed out to town for some partying, but we didn't feel like joining them so we just stayed home eating cookies.

The following days were spent with some games of pool, a day out diving with Maik, a nice farewell dinner and packing my stuff, before takeoff for Denmark yesterday. Felt sad to leave, and for some reason I cried all the way home and then some, even though Mikkel will come home in 52 days and the relationship is healthier then ever. But I'm all good now and the peace and quiet in my apartment is kind of nice. Still have some unpacking to do, as I've had my place rented out most of my stuff have been stored in the basement, and I've taken the opportunity to get rid of lots of old clothes and shoes.

Today I've been out enjoying the cold, cold city, and bought a load of pantyhoses and leggings and a hat to get me through winther. Had lunch with a friend, it was SO great to have a normal conversation with a home girl, four months without girl talk has been close to unbearable. Tomorrow I'm meeting some more friends, and a bunch of people I don't know to celebrate the new year in an apartment down town. I am not at all prepared for any kind of party right now, since I've entered the last panic week before turning in my papers, but I guess it would just be too sad sitting in front of the computer when entering 2009. So I'll put the paper aside, have some champagne and try not to miss Mikkel too much.

Looking back 2008 has been the year of love, neglected studies, homeless people, weightloss and an awful lot of Thailand. In other words a pretty exciting one! 2009 will hopefully be the year of finishing my masters and moving to Thailand for a longer period. AND putting and end to the long distance part of the relationship.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

So, (sadly) we're home from Phi Phi, after a lovely weekend in sun and salty water. Here's some key ingredients, followed by a bunch of pictures:

Tourists. Loads and loads of tourist. It wasn't really bothering us too much though. The village at Phi Phi Don, filled with shops selling souvenirs, clothes, jewlery, massages, diving trips, sightseeing trips, tattoos and weed (!), was packed at times, but it wasn't really that hard to find some pretty quiet spots.
And cats in all shapes, sizes and moods were everywhere, as well as bicycles, since the island doesn't allow any motor driven veichles. Which is kind of nice.

Snorkeling. We rented a longtail boat for four hours, taking us to beautiful sites around Phi Phi Leh. We were out early, so we didn't meet many other boats for the first hour, and having the most breathtaking lagoonish bay all to ourselves was pretty cool.

The Beach. Yes, the one from the movie. Crowded but still amazing. It's located on Phi Phi Leh, which is a national park, and visited of hundreds of tourist boats every day. Our long tail man anchored a hundres metres from the beach, so we didn't have to pay an entrance fee, and from there we walked in through clystal clear warm water, trying to avoid being ran over by the encreasing number of boats showing up everywhere.

Sunburns. Mikkel got pretty red from the few hours by the pool when we arrived at the suprisingly nice resort, which ment that I could actually convince him to put on sunscreen for the rest of the trip. He didn't even complain. After the snorkeling trip my shoulders was a bit burned too, but it was all worth it.

Fire. Every night is party night at Phi Phi Don, or so it seems, and hundreds of young people gather at the bars to have drinks, dance, play party games and watch the pretty spectacular fire shows put on by the locals. After som impressive juggeling with burning stuff crazy tourists put theire lives (okay, baybe not lives, but defenately their hair!) on stake in limbo dancing under a burning stick and rope skipping with a burning rope. The partying part just made us feel old, but the fire stuff was a bit impressive.

Relaxation. It's impossible not to relax at the Phi Phis. Oh how I wish that I was still there.

My return to Denmark is getting close... Very close. I've had an amazing stay, but if it wasn't for the fact that I'm leaving the Male behind, going home would be just fine. First of all I actually miss the cold, secondly I miss having some home girls to hang out with, and allso - it will be nice to be "a bit" closer to the university as exams are waiting in end January.

But there's still time for a few more great experiences, and since I do leave the Male for two months until he comes to Denmark, we decided to make one last little getaway, this time rest and relaxation style. Believe it or not, we have not once in almost four months been to the beach just to sunbathe and swim, and that's why we figured that this should be our environment for the weekend:

 .

Okay, it might not be exactly what we'll see as we get out of bed, and of course we could get caught in a tropical rain storm forcing us to stay indoor an read all day, but no matter what - I'm absolutely convinced that a weekend at the Phi Phi Islands will be appreciated!

On Sunday it's back to struggeling with the university paper from hell and more christmas preparations, but I'm expecting the batteries to be fully loaded by then.

Have a nice weekend!

Back home in Copenhagen I usually don't make a big deal out of December, a star in the window is pretty much it. This year it's different, a lot different. Don't know if it's the heat or the fact that you don't get bombed with all the cristmasy stuff as soon as you leave the house - I need that christmas spirit and I'll chase it 'till it feels just right.

So I decided to host a christmas party, Danish style, for the poker guys here in Kamala. To my big surprise they all showed up, ate my pebernødder and risengrød, and even better - they didn't complain once when I told them to wear santa hats and make woven paper hearts for our x-mas tree (a lovely plastic one with multi colored lights, protected by two giant buddhas!). In fact, some of the guys, including lovely Thai lady Gung, didn't leave the cutting table the whole night, and advanced from my pre produced templates to their own impressive designs.

It was a great night, involving a christmas album on repeat and ridiculous amounts of red wine. The latter might have been the reason I spent most of the day sleeping and didn't really feel alive before midnight, but it was definately worth it. Mikkel already did a more describing blog on the evening here, allthouhg I must say he slightly overdid the drunken girlfriend thing, it really wasn't that bad! He is forgiven though, as he actually cleaned up all the mess - the apartment was spotless by the time I got out of bed.

Oh, and today I got a package from my dear parents with lots of love and my favourite Norwegian chocolate, which made a perfect dessert after the obligatory hang over pizza. With the right chocolate, more self baked christmas cookies in the planning, the santa hats and the most beautiful tree ever, I'm pretty sure that christmas will come to Kamala.

Falalalala lalalala.

Yesterday we finally pulled ourselves together and headed out for a night of pool and beer and stuff. Started out having dinner at Koi and Michael's place, where Koi's cousin Gao had cooked a delicious meal. We don't get real Thai food that often anymore, so Mikkel convinced Gao that she should teach me some Thai cooking next week, but we'll se...

After dinner we had about ten games of pool with Koi and Michael at a place called Black Cat, before we left them for our favourite spot Long Ma Doo for cocktails, laughs and a few more games. We had a great time there, involving Mikkel balancing on a ladyboy's VERY high heeled shoes - which of course amused all the bar girls and somehow led the katoey to the conclusion that Mikkel must be... uhm... well equipped. Anyways - it was all just good fun.

When the owners, Rin and Eric, closed up at two, we convinced them to go sing karaoke with us. There were absolutely no customers in the karaoke place, and they were supposed to close at four, but that didn't happen. After a drink on the terrace we ended up singing for three hours or so, and at six o' clock Eric and I made the reasonable desition to call it a night - and woke Mikkel and Rin up to take them home...

For some reason we're not at all hung over today, which is kind of weird after a ten hour night of partying... I guess we're just cut out for this stuff.

Well, with the good story already told, this part will probably end up being the typical “then we did this, and then we did this” thing. Consider yourself warned.

Hong Kong is big. Not Bangkok or Rio big, but massive and crowded and has everything big. It’s not a big surprise that one of its areas, Mongkok, has the highest population density in the world, and the average density is about 30% higher then in London. There are people everywhere, and apparently their favorite activity is shopping. I’ve never seen that many shopping malls in my life, big and small, exclusive and more affordable, there must have been a couple of them on each block, of course surrounded by thousands of regular shops. (But did I do any shopping? Nope! Accept for a much needed (HK was cold!) pair of non-fake Levi’s jeans on sale and a Bubba Gump sweatshirt, I actually restrained myself, or if I have to be perfectly honest - the 20kg luggage limit when I go home to Denmark restrained me.) We went to Mongkok one day, and the high density thing makes sense – the amount of people there was overwhelming – and yes, they all seemed to be shopping. We didn’t spend too much time there, although we managed to find Mikkel a new phone and make a quick stop at a computer store that was so big even Mikkel thought it was too much of a good thing.

On Hong Kong Island I fell in love – with a park. Hong Kong Park is an amazingly beautiful and recreational oasis, with lots of different gardens and perfect spots to enjoy a book and a latte or just smelling the roses while the sight of skyscrapers doesn’t completely let you forget that the big city business right outside. And if I lived in HK I would definitely quit smoking, as the park, like a lot of other outside areas, is smoke free. It was easy to tell where to smoke and where not to – in the yes smoking areas there were ashtrays on top of the garbage cans. And it seem to be working perfectly, as so many other things in the city – especially the public transportation system – which is the most effective I’ve seen this far. Subway, busses, minibuses, trams, ferries and taxis all seem to run so smoothly and being so affordable that driving a car around HK, unless you’re a cab driver, would just be plain stupid.

Walking around on our first day, we saw a poster for the Squash World Cup, which happened to be held just as we were there, and more coincidently – the squash centre was located just next to the park and the peak tram (coming up next). We looked around and watched a few games, and even the qualifying matches left amateur squash player Mikkel almost speechless – which usually takes a lot. We went back there a few days later to watch one of the quarter finals, and they were really, REALLY good. According to Mikkel they were playing a completely different game then he and Michael does. I was quite impressed myself, and although I know that it’s a LOT harder than it looks, I’m thinking about giving it a shot one day. Maybe.

Yes, the Peak Tram. And the Peak. As the name suggests, the peak is where you go to look down on the city. And the tram is the way to get there, unless you want to walk, and trust me, you don’t. The 1400 hundred meter track has a 27 degrees gradient at its steepest, which may not sound like a lot – but you can sure feel it while sitting in hard wooden seats. For those who use Fløibanen in Bergen on a regular basis – make sure to appreciate the comfort! The Peak Tower turned out to be a shopping mall (with another one next to it - no surprise there), but the terrace on the top floor, and the Bubba Gump Restaurant, totally made up for that. The weather was pretty foggy and boring, but that didn’t keep us from thinking that the view was spectacular, in fact I think it deserves a spot on my top 5 list. We decided to go back there in the evening the next day, where the weather was clearer (and colder!), and enjoy the by night version. 

That wasn’t the only way to see HK by night though. On the Kowloon side, looking over at central, the tourists flock together every night at 8pm to see “the symphony of lights”, where the already neon shining skyline lights up with some more neon and even some laser lights, accompanied by some pretty tacky music. It does look somewhat impressive, but I like the skyline a lot better without the show.

Hmm, what else… Oh yes, we ate. Since I still had two stomach infections vividly in mind, the Hong Kong dining was managed by visiting a lot of western cuisine chain restaurants instead of having a go at the riskier local food in the streets. Spaghetti House turned out to have the best pasta dishes ever, Pizza Hut actually have really nice restaurants around Asia, and then there was Bubba Gump… Named after the company that Forrest Gump and Lt. Dan started in the movie, this is an all American seafood restaurant – of course also offering a selection of burgers – and the best fries I have ever had.

On our last night we decided to check out Hong Kong’s racecourse (horse racing that is – no more cars for a while, thank you!) in Happy Valley. The taxi ride there was an experience in itself, we never really found out if the driver was drunk, sick or crazy, or all of them combined, but we got there in one piece. As he pulled up by the course our simultaneous reaction was “WHAAAAT!” We just couldn’t believe the size of the place – looked like some huge American football stadium, and sounded like one as well, as the horses fought their way to the finish line. Outside by the course was crowded with people (most of them British) dressed up for an evening out, drinking beer and enjoying the yes smoking policy, and as we turned our back to the course, thousands of people were watching from the huge lounge-buildings. We just had to place a bet, and went inside a big hall with TV-screens, lots of betting tickets that we didn’t know how to fill out – and tense Chinese men all over. We even witnessed what could have turned in to a real fist fight, if 20 police men hadn’t interrupted the show. Somehow it’s just more amusing when Chinese people get angry than anyone else. It turned out that all the newbies could just go to the information counter and let them help you fill out the tickets… Our horse didn’t win, and we had actually gotten our hopes up, but despite the disappointment Happy Valley Racecourse was definately a place worth visiting.

Three days in HK simply isn't enough, and my list of places I need to go (again) just became longer.

Sorry mom, I know I said Sunday, but then something came up, and then I got sick again (this time around I could puke it all out in just one night, yey!), and then I forgot, and then something else came up. But tonight nothing’s up, and here’s the first part of my Hong Kong story (there will only be one more, I promise).

Getting from Macau to Hong Kong was easy and convenient, a Turbo Jet ferry took us there in about an hour. We worked our way through the somehow confusing terminal building that, VERY typical for HK, was connected to a few big shopping malls, and found the smaller and nicer terminal for the legendary Star Ferry. The walk gave us both sore necks by looking up all the very very tall buildings we passed, and I vaguely remember myself gasping “Wow… this is SO Hong Kong!” The ferry ride took ten minutes, going from Hong Kong island to Kowloon where we were staying, and it was worth the whole dollar. We got to take our first real glance at the skylines in both directions, and it was nice with some fresh and relatively cool air.

The building were we had booked our very cheap hostel was located on the main street of Kowloon, the big and extremely busy Nathan Road. 20 double-decker busses passed by each minute, the sidewalks were crowded and neon lights lit up the streets as far as the eye could see. Once again I might have said something about this being SO Hong Kong.

We found our building, the ugliest one in sight, and were headed to the elevator, as we were hijacked by a very smiling and eager Mr. Lee, who told us that he was the manager of the hostel. In the elevator, still very smilingly, he told us that he had put us in a room at the 3rd floor instead of the 15th were we thought we were heading, since the 15th floor was filled with Africans and Indians and other black people, and he didn’t want white people to have to put up with that. Quite shocked we followed the nice Chinese super racist to the reception, where he wanted the payment cash and up front. I asked to see the room first, just to make sure that it actually had two beds and a bathroom, and… well it did, but is still looked like a prison cell, an old and smelly one with no windows. We figured we could survive it and went out for a walk and a bite to eat.

It wasn’t until late at night, when Mikkel was already sleeping and my eyes didn’t allow me to stay awake much longer either, that I discovered an email from Park Guesthouse that I hadn’t had time to read before we left Kamala (yes, the prison cell actually had wireless). “DO NOT believe anyone meeting you at the ground floor claiming they are the manager of our guesthouse – the ONLY reception is on the 15th floor!”… and so it went on. Oops! We had walked straight into the hostel con man’s spiders web, and at that point I really regretted not going backpacking after high school and become packpacker street smart.

Quite angry I that we had been kidnapped to the wrong hostel I woke Mikkel up, and we went up to the 15th floor. As the rules are, we had to pay for one night there since we had pre booked, but we were simply too tired to confront “nice” Mr. Lee and try and talk him into giving us our money back, and also way too tired to pack up our things and move if we succeeded. As we came back down to our floor, he was even nicer, promising us a better room the next day, still claiming that his guesthouse was SO much better than where all the black people lived. Turns out the guy had an intercom camera screen in the reception, so he was totally aware that he had been busted. We didn’t say a word to him, but we did take the two peace offering cokes that he (smilingly) handed us as we closed our door.

I couldn’t help but think that the whole situation was hilarious, and we decided to wait until the next day to confront him – AFTER we got a much nicer room that even had a big window. As we tried to convince him that is was only fair that he paid us back for the one night that we had to pay double, his smile very quickly disappeared, and he started shouting and screaming at us “stupid fucking German people”.  We gave up, got two more peace offering cokes (“and I give you two more tomorrow!”), and decided to look on the bright side of things – the brightest ones being that it was still really funny, followed by the fact that we could use the stairs instead of waiting 10 minutes for the elevator in the ground floor, which was crowded with really creepy “business men” that made it a very unpleasant place to be waiting. And our new superior (!) room was livable, probably better then a budget one we would have gotten on the 15th.

But of course – Hong Kong is SO much more than racist con men, but as my back hurts a bit and it’s way past bed time, I’ll leave that for tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. Or maybe the day after that.

Our long weekend in Macau didn't start out to well, but that was made up for in every way. Thursday was travel day, and conveniently the return of the stomach bugs. Felt really bad during our flights, and when Mikkels Chinese/Portugese connection Jose picked us up at the airport I struggled just to stand on my feet. But this time I knew what was going on, and first thing Friday morning, Mikkel was sent to the pharmacy, and I spent most of the day in bed eating pretzels and antibiotics while the man checked out the racing... stuff down town. Couldn't bare to loose a whole day though, so in the evening I pulled myself together and joined in for a trip to the Venetian with Jose and his girlfriend. The Venitian is a HUGE and fancy  hotel/casino/mall and I managed to walk around for a while, and even eat five mouthfulls of pasta.

Saturday I felt somewhat alive again, and finally I got to see what all the racing fuzz was about. Mikkels company got us all access passes, so we spent the day strolling the paddock and the pit (where the cars are when they're not racing), and relaxing in BMW's guest area watching some very very fast and loud cars drive by. Quite a circus - there were SO many people in the paddock area - staff members and mechanics for all the teams, a whole bunch of scantily-clad promotion girls, an even bigger bunch of photographers taking pictures of all the girls (and some of me - not too many blondes there!), and people like us just walking around getting in everybody's way. In the evening we went out to eat - Jose had arranged for us to have dinner with 20 Chinese racing game geeks who are fans of Mikkels company's games. We had our own room in a very local and cheap restaurant, cheap in a good way that is, the food was great. So was the company, and we had a good time trying not to embarrass ourselves completely while working the chop sticks. After dinner we went to a bar in a casino building (there are MANY casinos in Macau!), and I was deeply impressed by the pole dancer doing some impossible acrobatics right next to us. Yes, she was wearing short-shorts and showed some belly skin, but the preformance was amazing, and I really can't see what could be degrading about it - if it is, so are the ice capades, or womens beach volley.

Sunday was big racing day, and we were at the track most of the day. The admission to BMW's area got us all the nice buffet food we could eat, and a chance to get out of the paddock chaos when we felt like it. We also got to be in the grid before the big WTTC race, watching the cars and the drivers right before they drove off. For those who might care - Seat won the world championship. On our way home we took a little sightseeing tour in the Grand Lisboa - yep, it's a casino/hotel, and I couldn't believe the size of the gambling halls... or the world's biggest diamond that was on show there - I would have expected it to be bigger than a ping pong ball :) Mikkels BMW-friend Jan got us tickets to the Seat celebration party later in the evening, but as we waited to get in (efter yet another dinner with Jose), we were told to come to another party instead. And what a party... It was held at the outside pool area at very very fancy hotel MGM, whith lots of shiny happy high society people, a stunning view over Macau's skyline, a good DJ and the obligatory go-go dancers. Whe spent some three hours there, before we went back to the first party in yet another hotel for a few more drinks and laughs.

All in all the weekend in Macau seems a bit surreal somehow - ordering room service whenever we felt like it, having a local driving us around (and paying half our hotel bill just to be nice!), going to fancy parties with fancy people and hanging out in VIP lounges just isn't something that I'm used to. But I probably could get used to it :)

Stay tuned for the Hong Kong story - where the VIP living meets its pure opposite.

Aaaaah - to be able to enjoy coffee and chocolate again! On top of that, I finally checked by balance today, and it turns out I'm not broke at all. And on top of that again -in three days we're going away to Macau and Hong Kong for a week, after celebrating the most beatiful and romantic evening in the year, the festival of light (Loi Krathong) on Wednesday.

So, it's aaaaaaall good. And it wouldn't be that good if it hadn't been kind of bad, so thank you bacterial infection for making the sweet so much sweeter. YEY!

Last friday, after almost a week of being sick with the flew, or just a really bad cold, Mikkel, Michael and I hooked up with Sabine and Katie from the hotel to visit the friday night barbeque one last time. From November the free flow of wine changes into "one bottle per couple", so we just had to get the most of it while we could. And we really did, some more than others (I've never seen Mikkel that drunk), and it was a good night.

Saturday was all Sunday-like, and we just spent the day at home doing nothing. I felt fine until late in the evening when my stomach started acting up, and unfortunately it kept on being disagreeable the next day. I had a fever and the most intense cramps, each "attack" lasting a couple of minutes, returning a few times every hour. Went to bed thinking "if this continues tomorrow, I'm gonna have to see a doctor". And of course cramps woke me up early monday morning, so we called a cab that took us to the fanciest hospital in Phuket for what I thought would just be a quick check up.

Bangkok International Hospital Phuket IS a nice hospital, and because of my low blood pressure, fever and diarrhea they wanted to keep me 24 hours for observation. That really really sucked, since I was supposed to go to Bangkok with Sabine the next day, but the doctor said that there might be a good chance I could go home in time for my flight. So I filled out a bunch of papers, one of them regarding my travel insurance, and god myself a nice private "suite", with a balcony and all.

Looking bad, feeling worse, going broke.

After I got the intravenous fluid-thing fixed to my hand so they were sure that I wouldn't run away, the international office called to inform me that the insurance didn't cover. Great. I knew that the room with meals would be about 5000 bath (800dkk/140usd), but no one could tell me anything about how much the medication and all the other sevices would cost. I tried not to think about it for the rest of the day, and slept most of the time, interrupted only about a hundred times by the nurses bringing medication, food and taking my temperature. The next morning the doctor came again, and told me that I had some kind of bacterial infection, and that i should stay as long as I had a fever. I started to get worried about the money, and asked to see how big my bill was... And it was BIG. 38000 bath for less than 24 hours. I told the first and best nurse to let me out of there, I simply couldn't afford to stay any longer, and they couldn't really keep me against my will. So I got loads of pills and some good adivice for take away, paid my bill (which had magically gone down to 30000), and got myself a taxi to Kamala. I've been home for two days now, and I'm slowly getting better, although the unpredicted expense still hurts!

Had to cancel my trip to Bangkok too, it just didn't seem like a great idea to wander around exploring a huge city with a fever and a really bad stomach. Hopefully I won't have any more set backs, and I'll be up and running within the next few days. And I really mean running, didn't get any exercise for two weeks now, and I feel like a big, slow, wobbly lump.

Next blog will be jollier, I promise!

It's been a while since my last update, due to... well, lazyness I guess, and the fact that I really don't have all that much to tell.

I guess the biggest highlight since KL is that Michael and Koi had a beautiful baby daughter two days ago. We went to the hospital to visit yesterday, and Mikkel was put through the nightmare of watching a tiny newborn with his girlfriend at his side being all ooohy and looking at him... He tried to destract me by promising me a new handbag, which worked to a certain point. Really cute baby though, and my ovaries did shake a little - but only a little.

Another pretty big thing was Mikkels birthday celebration, and lucky for me he already wrote a long blog about it, which you can read here: http://hellblade.smartlog.dk It also has a bunch of pictures.

Work, or should I say "work", at the beach club goes slowly but smoothly, I get a bunch of interviews and some observations done, and I guess it's about time I threw myself at the theory. Mañana mañana... I'll get there. The beach club is still a nice hang out, and a couple of weeks ago the Twin Palms Resort had a four year anniversary, which was celebrated with a white night party at the club. Shiny happy people all dressed in white, a great band, canapés, free drinks and open fire places made the night pretty successfull to say the least. We also went there for Mikkels birthday to have the friday barbeque buffet, and the food, the free flow of wine, and as usual the setting, was just perfect.

Oh, and then there's the running. Mikkels running that is, the crazy man just put 10k down on paper the other night. Usually I join him for the 7k route, but the new one he gets to keep all to himself, while I do some iron pumping in the livingroom instead, and get on the scooter with water supplies when he's half way through. I am deeply impressed.

Living is almost entirely problem free and comfortable, and playing house is easy, even though we fired the pretty unstable cooking/cleaning team (actually they just stopped showing up without notice, but we were going to let them go). I feel that living in this paradise is over the top luxury in itself, and wasn't really comfortable with having strangers here every second day to do a job that we have plenty of time and energy to do ourselves. So now I cook and do laundry while Mikkel cleans (well, sweeps anyway) and does the dishes, and it's working fine. Allthough we did sign up for having a professional from KH doing window polishing and stuff once a week, but that's different... right?

In general the days goes by with "work", reading, writing, nerding online, exercising and playing pool. We've found our favorite pool table and the last time I actually won more games than Mikkel did. At times we play really good, other times we're just very very lucky. And we've been to a couple of birthday parties, apparently having kids is a great excuse to invite a bunch of adults over and get drunk... All in all life here is so likable that it looks like I'll be extending my stay by a month, not going back to CPH before the 29th of December. Is going to be weird not being home with my family for christmas, a little sad even, but on the other side it will be nice spending it with Mikkel, like a real grownup and all.

That's it for now, I've been promised a massage in front of the TV as the Man watches a football match, and since I have nothing against watching football it's a pretty good deal :)

Friday morning we got up at zombie o' clock and headed to the airport for a weekend get away (not that I felt like there was anything to get away from, but going somewhere new is always exciting). The hotel in KL was cheap and... cheap. Bad serviced and funny smelling, it didn't deliver more than we paid for, but I guess that's fair enough. We got a little nap before we headed out to have a look around. The hotel was located in China Town on Petaling Street, which turns into a market at night, filled with "branded" watches, bags and clothes. We quickly learned how to radiate a "no, I'm not interested"-look, and tried to stay away from the bargaining inferno as much as possible. The little shopping that we did, was from the regular stores  were the clerks was more eager to go home than to sell anything.

Architecture-wise KL is pretty amazing, with A LOT of very tall and very classy buildings. Contrasts are huge, in both architecture and living standard, and this modern city has someting for everyone. We got to see a little of everything, or so it felt, as our four days there was pretty packed - in a good way. Here in Thailand we're used to just seing This and falangs (westerners) everywhere, but in Malaysia the population is a lot more mixed. The three main ethnic groups are Malayans, Chinese and Indian, and with Africans, a few Arabs and some falangs, the streets are really colorful and lively.

First thing we took a walk just letting ourselves be impressed by the various types of buildings. We ended up going to the KL tower, a 421 meter high tele communication tower with a restaurant in the top. The elevator got us up in just about a minute, and the view from up there was awsome. Spent about an hour there with binocluars and the worlds best chocolate cake, and we decided to go back another day in the eveningtime to see what KL looked like by night.

Saturday we headed out to a HUGE theme park, the Sunway Lagoon, wich is voted Asias best tourist attraction. It had pretty much everything - a water park, a scream park, an extreme park, a wildlife park and an amusement park. We tried just about everything there was to try, and highlight for me was when I held a snake... Snakes are the scariest thing I know, or at least that's what I thought, but posing with the albino python wasn't really that bad at all. As if that wasn't enough, Mikkel convinced me to ride an ATV, wich was also easier than I thought, although the Indian men in our team really really sucked at it.

After 6 hours in the park we were pretty beat, but that didn't keep us from taking a long walk to do some more exploring. Ended up having dinner at a place that showed football, and afterwards we walked a bit futher, till we finally were able to see the Petronas Towers up close. The twin towers, that until 2003 were the tallest buildings in the world, are just amazing, and when you get to stand right next to them looking up at night, it makes you kind of dizzy.

Sunday we took a trip to the national museum, which wasn't that big a deal, but on our way back we passed by a whole lot of wild monkeys playing by the side of the road, which was a much bigger deal. I love monkeys, including the big one in the red t-shirt. Before our fancy birthday dinner in the KL tower, we did the one of the weirdest things I've ever tried... Fish Spa. You put your feet in a basin with little fishies that nibbles on your dead skin, making your skin soft and your blood flow easier. Tickles like hell for the first five minutes, but then you get used to it, and after a while it actually feels really nice. It still scores a godzillion points on the weirdness scale though.

Off to celebrate me turning 28 in the tower, we dressed up for the occation and entered food heaven. Three different buffés with soooo many delicious dishes that we didn't know where to start. The waiter was the sofisticated butler type, pulling the chair out and pouring the wine with the left arm on his back, and that's definately not something any of us are used to. It was a pretty magical and very romantic evening, and after dinner we couldn't really move, so we went straight to bed thinking that we didn't ever want to eat again.

Monday we took off to the Petronas towers again, but to our disappointment monday is the only day the towers are closed for visitors. We decided to check out the shopping mall at the bottom instead, and once again we were stunned. On the first floor Prada, Gucci, Versage, Bvlgary, Rolex, Fendi and any other insanely expensive design butiques were lined up, and the next five floors were packed with fashion, electronics and restaurants. When I win the lottery one of the next days, you know where to find me. Next to the twin towers was KL aquarium, with thousands of tropical fish, some lizards and snakes, and a nice selection of huge spiders and tarantulas to give Mikkel a scare. The view from the tunnel with sharks, rays and other big fishies on three sides was pretty amazing, fish look funny up close.

A short stop at the central market to pick up a few gifts, and than our little get away came to an end. We'll defintately go back to KL, one of my new favourite places.

Two weeks in Kamala already passed by way two quickly, and I'm really glad I've got 11 more to come. My new crib is a great place to live, scooter riding still going smoothly and I'm starting to get an idea about what will be the main focus in my studies at Twin Palms. Last three days has even been pretty sunny and summerly, and life is just good.

A few days ago I dragged Mikkel along to the local flower store, and we ended up buying some really nice plants for our balcony. I have no idea what they're called, or how much and how often I should water them, but they sure make our little outside smoking and reading area an even more cozy place to relax. With the biggest one, some kind of tree with pink flowers on it, came a whole colony of little ants - the kind that bite - so we make a small bug spray inferno out there from time to time. Other than that there are noe snakes in paradise, except for the one that we almost ran over just down the road from KH last week, but it was small and I decided not to let the thought of a huge snake family living outside my house scare the crap out of me. That snake is the only snake in Kamala! And so it is written.

The new plants and me sitting by the ant tree.

Last night we went out for a game of pool, that turned out to be a long night of ten games and consuming a fair amount of alcohol. We both managed to stay reasonably sober though, and the pool results showed 8-2 - in Mikkels favour offcourse. But even the two games that I won created a semi critical level of male grumpyness, so I'm actually glad that I didn't do better.

Most exciting news is that according to Khun (Mr) Rolf, the Swedish manager at the beach club, I might have a chance of getting a job at the Swedish school here next year. Not really what I pictured doing after I finish my masters, and the salary is local, wich means very low, but if it gives me the opportunity to spend a full year in Kamala, it is definately worth some serious consideration. Hopfully I'll get to talk to the owners tomorrow and see what the chances are.

Det var så lidt :)

Last thing first - water's pouring down, making the tropical paradise a little less paradisiacal (it's a word!) and a whole lot wetter. The last three days or so we've barely seen the sun, so I've spent a lot of time reading. Which is fine really, although it would be nice if the flow would stop just long enough to let me have a swim. Workouts in the pool has been replaced by sessions on the cross trainer in front of the TV watching South Park, and even if SP still cracks me up, I do like the swimming better. But September IS the the wettest month of the year, so I just have to see the weather conditions as a help to focus on my studying without having to fight the temptation of relaxing in the sun all day.

Here's the view from our balcony on a lovely DRY evening, overlooking the lower pool area.

Friday and saturday I've been around the hotel talking to most of the department managers, trying to get the big picture of how the whole place is run and looking for more academic angles. Had quite a few interesting conversations, and it might look like I'll end up spending most of the time at the beach club run by the hotel. The Sweedish manager there have some interesting thoughts on hierarchy, good leadership and showing respect for everybody involved, and it could be fun (yes, fun!) to have a look at how these visions take form in the field of practice. But nothing's surtain yet, and tomorrow and tuesday I'll hopefully get to participate in some management training, which might give me even more ideas.

My reliable little Mio and Mikkels slightly bigger Nouvo parked outside.

Last night, after a few drinks and various computer board games at home, Mikkel and I headed out for a game of pool. Dropped by Kamala Beer Garden, and the place was packed, mainly with white males and a bunch of young Thai girls (nothing new there!). We met two of Mikkels buddies and their girlfriends, and aftes a few beers and a lot of laughes we, okay - I, changed our minds about the pool thing and headed off to a karaoke place. Turned out to be Japanese style, and our little party was installed in our very own private booth with a caraoke machine, to microphones, sofas and drinks. Mikkel, who's always been claiming that he can't sing, started off with a more than impressive version of Hound Dog, and pretty much set the standards (which the other guys definately could NOT measure!). The rest of the evening he spent joining in on everybody elses songs when it wasn't his turn, and getting him to pass on the mic was quite a challenge... I always knew that the man could sing, maybe last night might be getting him a little closer to admitting it. The night ended up being one of the really good ones, and for some reason I'm not at all hung over. Must be the rain.

Yup. learned how to ride the cute little mio yesterday, and today I drove all the way home from Twin Palms entirely by myself. Mikkel escorted me there, as he also rode around with me in Kamala town yesterday, and to my big surprise he already let me loose in thai traffic on my own. I love riding my mio, even though at some level I'm probably still a bit of a hazard on the road... No unpleasent excperiences yet though, so in a week or so, I'll be scootering as a local (needless to say - a careful local).

Got to meet up with my contact Ben at TP today, had a tour of the resort (which is NICE - and expensive!) and was introduced to a bunch of people who's names and positions I already forgot. Tomorrow I'll start a week long introduction, same one as the trainees are given, where I'll be introduced to all the departments from a management point of view. This will probably, or should I say hopefully, give me an idea of where I'll put my focus, do my observations, participation, interviews and analyses in the coming months, being all over the place will be a tad too ambitious.

That's the big news for today, except for the one that the political situation is coming to a head, especially in Bangkok, where the government called a state of emergency yesterday. But these are WAY to big and complex news for my humble blog, so I'll just say that here in Phuket we don't really notice anything... at least not yet. Check out www.bangkokpost.com and you'll get a better idea of whats going on.

Time to bring the blog back to life, this time in English so that my oh so many friends from all over the world get to follow my oh so exciting life. Or just because English will be my professional (?) language for the next three months, and the fact that I want to be just as cool as Mikkel. Of course my English pretty much sucks compared to his, but I'll give it a shot anyways. And since you're here - leave a comment and make my day!

SO - I got to Kamala late last night, after almost 24hrs on the road (the one up in the air that is). Didn't look too promising with the riots going on and all, for the past week or so there have been huge political demonstrations putting pressure on the prime minister to resign, and train stations, airports and lots of other places have been closed down. But luckily they decided to reopen Phuket Airport yesterday afternoon, and instead of spending 12 hours on a bus as I was preparing to, I just had to wait for five extra hours in Bangkok airport. And I'm a huge fan of airports, to me they're some kind of magic wonderlands, so the time went by relatively quickly. In Phuket taxidriver Sit and Mikkel came to pick me up, seeing Mikkel again was lovely as always. And knowing that this time we'll be spending three whole months together is even lovlier.

This morning I started out with a half hours swim (ok, 27 minutes, it's been a long time!), and a nice cup of coffee on the balcony. I'm sitting out here as I write, and the view is kind of neat - overlooking the pools and the waterfalls between them. I have plans involving swim wear and a bottle of wine sometime soon, must be pretty romantinc sitting by the edge of the top pool looking down, or just gazing at the stars above. And even more romantic if I get Mikkel to join me :)

After a lazy morning we took a taxi to Patong to do some shopping and rent a scooter. I got a nice red Yamaha Mio, almost brand new and it runs perfectly. At least that's what Mikkel says, I myself haven't ridden it yet, since I definately need a few more lessons before hitting Thai traffic. It's not that crazy at the moment though, it's low season and not as many people on the roads as the times I was here earlier this year.

On Wednesday I'll go to Twin Palms, the hotel where I'll be doing my fieldwork, and see the place for the first time. This far I've only seen the website (www.twinpalms-phuket.com) and the resort seems pretty impressive. Considering what my contact Ben has told me via email, there should be plenty of material for the "academic problem box", regarding training and communication among the staff. This time I'll not just be hangning around in Kamala as Mikkels girlfriend (not that I ever had a problem with that!), I'll have a whole life and a mission of my own. Sounds huge... and to me it kind of is. My first anthropological fieldwork ever, I can't wait to get started.

Oops... this turned out to be a looong chapter. I'll try not to make it a habit.

Hope everybody back home (and not to mention my oh so many friends all over the world) are doing great - we have a spare bedroom, so feel free to drop by!

Jeg har altid været overbevist om at man får MERE energi om foråret, men efter at have sovet 20 udaf 27 timer efter arbejde i går, og stadig sidder med en følelse af at jeg sagtens kunne snuppe 9 timer mere lige nu, bliver jeg sgu lidt i tvivl.

Findes der en decideret forårstræthed? Måske bliver alt det pludselige sollys, forårstegnene og den kulrede fornemmelse for meget for krop og sind, og så får man et tilbagefald med en trang til at gå i dvale igen? 

Jeg tror snart jeg bider i det sure æble og går til indkøb af noget ginseng. Så er jeg godt nok blevet gammel.

Så sluttede min ferie lige pludseligt. Altså, ikke pludseligere end den skulle, men det føltes sådan. Som taxamand Sit sagde det: "You come yesterday, you leave today", og ja, han har helt ret i at det gik alt for stærkt.

Tirsdag aften blev jeg ramt af en akut drinkscraving, og Mikkel lod seg forbløffende nemt overtale. Efter et hurtigt glas hjemme gik turen til Rock City i Patong, et stort sted med livemusik (ROCK, ikke overraskende), som, bortset fra et par meget ledtklædte og meget lidt engagerende dansepiger på scenekanten, ikke har ret meget thai over sig. Vi ankom til Guns n' Roses jam, så gik det over i lidt blandet rock n' roll, og til sidst fik vi severet et brag af et AC/DC-show. En uforglemmelig oplevelse, mest takket være den lokale guitarist som leverede en fremragende performance igennem alle tre sæt.

Torsdag var dykker-dag, og vi tog med Monique, Jonas og fem andre dykkere ud til et par lokale divesites. Ved det første var sigtbarheden elendig, og jeg skulle liiige huske hvordan det nu var man gjorde. I følge brokhovedet Mikkel var jeg lisså hurtig som tørrende maling... Men på det andet dyk var både jeg og sigtbarheden bedre, og jeg frøs ikke ligeså meget som første gang, så det endte med at blive en fin oplevelse. Masser af bølger så bådturen ind til land blev laaang, og vi lignede et par veltilberedte hummere da vi kom hjem.

Sidste aften tog vi til nabobyen Surin for at spise, og vi fandt et fantastisk sted på stranden. Restauranten Taste havde et spændende og ikke alt for eksklusivt menukort, og vi fik GOD mad i perfekte omgivelser. Det var både hyggeligt og romantisk, og endnu bedre blev det da vi kom ud og gå på en meget sjov og bølgende badebro og fik trænet balanceevnen lidt. En passende afslutning på nok en vellykket thailandsferie, og da Mikkel kommer hjem for en måneds tid midt/sidst i juni, fældede jeg (næsten) ikke en tåre i lufthavnen fredag morgen.

Og her hjemme i Kbh er det forår. Min absolutte yndlingsårstid, hvor man kan gå rundt og tulre med en baresso-latte i bysolen og kigge på at folk begynder at smile igen. Dejligt!

I går gik startskuddet for songkran-festivalen, eller Thailands buddhistiske nytår, og det blev fejret med massive vandkampe. Vi kørte først en tur ned i Kamala by på scooter, og nåede at blive drivende våde på fem minutter af folk der stod i vejkanten eller kørte forbi i pickup trucks og bombaderede os med vand fra spande, kander og diverse skydevåben. Så tog vi med dykker-Mike, hans søn Max og divemaster Jonas ind til Patong, som var ét stort vandinferno. Med vores små babyskydere var vi ret forsvarsløse imod masserne, men... det er jo bare vand. Og lidt talkumpudder for ekstra lykønskninger, det giver en dejlig klistret lykkefølelse. En sjov oplevelse, men jeg må nok indrømme at det er rart at bo i en lille by, og endda i det muslimske kvarter, med mulighed for at trække sig tilbage, et par timer var ligesom nok. Rygterne siger at det i Patong og andre større party-byer bliver ved på den måde i flere dage, og at der efterhånden bliver brugt stinkevand fra fiskehandlerne... Jeg er glad for at vi tog hjem i tide.

Ellers går dagene stille og roligt, men alligevel alt for hurtigt. Vi arbejder lidt og går ellers bare og småhygger. Spiller pool på Moonbar, badminton i haven og kaster bold i pølen. Vores nye leg, hvor vi prøver at ramme hinanden i ansigtet med en amerikansk fodbold, er vi heldigvis ikke blevet ret gode til endnu. Nå ja, og så har vi været rigtige turister på elefant-ridetur. Jeg fik rigtig mange myggestik, eller også var det elefantlopper, men det var nu alligevel værd at prøve.

Har snakket med ejeren af Mikkels sprogskole, hvor jeg gerne må lave mit feltarbejde, men venter også på svar fra salgsafdelingen på et større resort hvor jeg egentlig hellere vil være. Nu får vi se, det er ihvertfald 99% sikkert at jeg flytter herned for 3 måneder til efteråret.

Det var alt for nu, i morgen er planen at træne på Laguna, før jeg har lovet at lave frikadeller og kartoffelsalat til de sultne mænd, hvis vi altså kan finde ingredienserne. Onsdag bliver nok en stranddag, og på torsdag skal vi endelig dykke.

Godt nytår!

 Tur på fanten

Kender I typen som efter et par dage uden træning begynder at brokke sig over at de føler sig slappe? Well, jeg er vist faldet i. Hvis nogen for et år siden havde spået at jeg ville ende op med at træne mindst hver anden dag, og endda på ferie i Thailand, ville jeg nok ha' grinet en hel del. Jeg har været typen der slet ikke kunne udstå disse træningsafhængige mennesker, nok mest pga. et snæv af misundelse og tanken om at jeg aldrig ville kunne tage mig sammen til at nå dertil. Men nu er der kommet andre boller på suppen, jeg har trænet fem gange om ugen de sidste måneder, og noget af det første jeg gjorde da jeg ankom Kamala, var at svede mig igennem en tur på Mikkels motionscykel. Og i går var jeg med gutterne da de skulle spille squash, der ligger nemlig et fitnessrum ved siden af squashbanerne. Livet  som semi-træningsnarkoman er faktisk ret godt. Og det bedste af alt - jeg spiser dessert hver dag med god samvittighed!

Ellers har jeg ikke de vilde historier at fortælle. Har fået ordnet fødder og lagt flot neglelak på, kvalitetschecket en ladyboys nyanskaffede silikonebryster, været rundt og hilse på diverse af de mennesker jeg lærte at kende sidste gang, set et par film, slikket mere sol ved poolen og spist en masse god mad. Med dessert.

har vist siddet på mig et par gange i løbet af dagen. Efter en langlanglang flyvetur, hvor samtlige medpassagerer - OG personalet - irriterede mig grænseløst, og jeg ikke fik sovet i mere end 45 min, var det skøøønt at sætte benene på thailandsk jord igen. Mikkel stod og ventede i lufthavnen og er ligeså dejlig som altid, og resten af Kamala ligner også sig selv til forveksling, bortset fra at det er endnu en smule varmere denne gang end sidst. Planen for de næste par uger er stort set bare at være sammen, Mikkel skal arbejde og jeg skal skrive antropologiske tekstanalyser, så det bliver ikke den vilde oplevelsesferie. Men mon ikke vi kan hive et par dage ud af kalenderen, vi vil ihvertfald gerne nå et dyk eller to, og måske noget andet vandsport når først vi er blevet så maritime (og sportslige). Og der ud over er mit store projekt at finde et egnet sted til mit tre måneders feltstudie til efteråret. Supermanden har allerede skabt et par kontakter for mig, så det ser lovende ud. More to come, indtil nu har vi ikke nået andet end at "sige hej", tage en lille lur, spise og slikke lidt sol ved poolen :)

Ritt Bjerregaard ringede til mig. Hun beklagede at måtte meddele at min kæreste var røget i fængsel i Thailand, da han var anklaget for at have druknet en hundevalp i sin pool. Jeg reagerede prompte med at købe mig en flybillet – til Goa. Den var nemlig billigere end den til Thailand. Først i lufthavnen kom jeg i tanker om at det vist var lidt fjollet at tage til Indien, men det løste jeg ved at ringe tilbage til Ritt, som fik fangen overflyttet til Goa med det samme. So far so good, omstændighederne taget i betragtning. Men da jeg ankom Goa, som i øvrigt lignede Phuket til forveksling, viste det sig at den stakkels mand allerede var idømt dødsstraf, og jeg måtte løbe igennem en hel by i 50 graders varme hvis jeg skulle nå at se ham inden den offentlige hængning. Nogle gange er det altså en lettelse når vækkeuret ringer.
Kære kæreste – håber du gør dit yderste for at undgå nærmere bekendtskab med det thailandske (evt. indiske) retssystem. Og vær god ved dyrene!

Jeg er lige flyttet. Igen. I løbet af de sidste 6 år har jeg pakket alle mine ting, som stadig øger i omfang, i kasser og affaldssække 9 gange. Ved godt at der er mange der vil påstå at det ikke er slemt, men det er mere end nok for mig. Jeg HADER at flytte! Men denne gang er det anderledes. Jeg er nemlig flyttet ind i min helt egen lejlighed, en lille bitte en, men den er fin og den er MIN. Alle møbler er nye, og jeg har selv (med lidt hjælp fra en god kammerat) bygget dem. Jeg elsker Ikea. Lige nu er der et bjerg i min stue, som ligner noget de autonome har bygget op for at sætte ild til på Nørrebrogade, men om et døgn er her rart at være, det er jeg sikker på.   I'm nesting!

Jeg er normalt en ret afbalanceret person. Jeg besinder mig overfor alskens former for idioti blandt fremmede i det offentlige rum, og skælder yderst sjældent ud, ihvertfald ikke på voksne. Men så... Når den lidt boheme-smarte, altså på den dyre måde, unge (og sikkert frustrerede) housewife på Frederiksberg højlydt chikanerer en ganske uskyldig hjemløs som prøver at selge sit "Hus Forbi", koger det altså over. Jeg kan ikke lade være med at blande mig, først lidt forsigtigt, men da det viser sig at det, hun brokker sig over, er at den arme mand "forsurer hendes dag" ved uheldigvis at have stillet sin lille avisvogn så hun må gå MINDST TO METER (!) udenom med sin cykel, kom jeg til at sige noget grimt. Og sikke en befriende følelse! Måske skulle jeg smide rundt med skældsord lidt oftere. Men selvfølgelig kun på den Robin Hood-agtige måde.