The power of the Media.

Tai Wan 6.45 am.
Is it better to read a newspaper than get all information by TV. Often it is said that TV, film or the internet or computer games can have a bad influence on the users of it. It's said that some might adapt the bad sides or get inspired by what they see, and then want to try some of the things out, and that can lead to horrible things. And now I think that it is really so, because today I've tried it on my own body. But I can say that I didn't get inspired by TV, no I got inspired -or pressed to do something- by some newspapers coverage of the men's 100 meter final at the recent Olympic Games in Beijing. As referred on this site so often now, we didn't see anything live as we couldn't get the signal, and because these games has become so commercial, we couldn't even see some resume on other channels, as they didn't have the rights to show it, even hours later. But now I am drifting away. Back to me getting inspired by newspapers. Also I didn't see any television from Beijing and every coverage and all results I got from newspapers, printed or online. And of course also the 100 meter final and this new world record of 9.69 sec by Usain Bolt.
Well today on the running track I wanted to do some sprints, just to see how fast I could run 100 meter. And for one month ago I wouldn't even had come to an Idea like that. But after his performance I wanted to know it.
After warm up and stretching I got ready at the 100 meter start line, bend a little down at looked at my crappy watch: "Ok, I'll start in five seconds'."
Countdown and GO!
When you say 100 meter; it seems like nothing, but when you want to run them as fast as you possible can, then it seems like 1000. After crossing the finish line I again looked at my crappy watch: "What- this cant be right- 20 seconds."
This means that that guy was more than double so fast as me!. Or maybe I've made a mistake, I thought that I started 30 seconds to 3 minutes to 8, but in fact i've started 25 seconds to 3 minutes to 8, and then it would only have been 15 seconds, and that do sound a bit better to say that Usain Bolt is only about one quarter as fast as I am on the 100 meter. So I went back to start again.
Feet on the line, bend down, look at watch and be sure that it is 30 seconds to 1 minute to 8.
GO!
This time I looked at the watch even before crossing the line. Again close to 20 sec.
Hmm. But I am sure that the equipment they've got at these Olympic games are much more exact than my crappy watch, and they don't have to measure it themselves, so I think that cost me 2.30 seconds, and so my real time was 17.30 and so Mr Bolt was only a quarter and a half faster. That sounds better, I can live with that.
Unfortunately I can't show any pictures of my performance, as these rights hasn't been cleared.

Week-end!

Tai Wan village 6.30 am.
Today we got up later as usual. It is Saturday and we just got up now. Normally we get up like about 5 am. Every other day we go for a run in the morning, as it is still not so hot. After the run I use to go to the roof for the weather photo of the day. Today I did this before and we will now go out for a run. Later we wil go to the Kenny's old house to pick up their bikes as they gave them to us because they couldn't bring them to their new home in Kennedy town. I'm exited because I've missed having and riding a bike. What the weekend is going to bring, I'm not so sure yet. We'll see some friends and go to one of Hong Kongs outlaying islands called Cheung Chau. It's just a small one with one village and no cars, so there we will rent some bikes and I guess, have a look at the fisher men's life, their boats and their houses, and then of course eat out of their daily work.

TGIF. The diary of a lucky bastard.#2

Tai Wan village @ 6.15 am.
All these considerations what to do as a home working lucky bastard. Do I do the dishes now and then the laundry or do I go shopping as the first thing in the morning to avoid the crowd and queues at the supermarket later in the afternoon. On the other hand does my favourite Cafe not open until noon, and then if I go now I, can't sit down there with a nice cup of coffee and plan what today's post should be about. By the way, what on earth am I going to prepare for dinner tonight? Ok, I will find out of that first, and then do the dishes. But what about the laundry and I guess it is time to do some hovering too, as we've had some construction work going on up stairs we, oh my god lord; how can I just manage all this?
Well, now I've sat down in despair in front of this computer, so I might as well get this done and I have the whole day in front of me, so I should be able to manage everything.
Today it is Friday, I think. For me it is not the big difference anyway which day it is, they all seems the same, always all these considerations. In fact it is a little like work, then everyday also look the same, the only difference is that you really feel when it is Friday and you can look forward to two days of. To celebrate that somebody invented the expression; TGIF, which means: "Thank god it's Friday."
When we lived in Dresden and I was working full time, I also loved Friday afternoon and evening. It felt like freedom and like Monday was far, far away. Then I used to meet up with some of my friends at a pub called; "zum Bautzner Tor" in Dresden, cellebrating the coming weekend and all the opportunities that gave us.
As I havn't got that same feeling about weekends at the moment, that they mean a break from work, they do mean something special. Now I can be together with my wife and we can do some exploring and meet up with some friends and maybe have a late night, without always worrying when am I going to do this and that in the house. But when I think about it, then it is exactly the same you do when both are working fulltime, I mean use the weekend like that, maybe the only difference is, that I do not have the same feeling about Mondays anymore, like a person who's working, because Monday for me now means: Wow, again a week whith a lot of time to do the things I want, øhh and yes; of course also to do the stuff I've postponed from last week -or it could even be from the week before that- and at the end, I always end up sitting here asking myself: "where has the time just gone? I haven't managed half of the stuff I've planned, I guess I have to do that next week then."
Sorry folks, but I haven't got time to sit here anymore writing silly words, I have to do the dishes and then go shopping and cooking, and meanwhile I've been sitting here, my favorite cafe has opened and I think it is time for a nice cup of hot Cafe latte; No it is not at Starbucks, it is a little local place owned by two young Chinese people. The cafe is called "Colour Brown" and they roast and grind the coffee themselves, and they have nice tea too and two very funny dogs called: Cheese and Go On, but as always; this is a complete different story.

One year Hong Kong. The diary of a lucky bastard.

Tai Wan village at 6 am. It just changes in a matter of minutes and as I'm not Monet, the only thing I can do is to take some photographs as it is really stunning.











It just appeared to me that we've been here in Hong Kong for one year now. Wauw, how the time has just gone. August is soon gone, and when I think back one year; how exited we both were how this was going to be. Now we know a little more and even that Catriona broke her leg and had to fight getting mobile and I've been frustrated and sometimes down because I couldn't find the job I wanted, it has been worth going here. It seems that the second year at a new place always is better than the first, Catriona likes her new class and with my new prospect of a job I am really exited about, it seems it could be true. As we came in August last year and were new to the school, the staff and to Hong Kong and we had to find a home and settle in. Now a lot of new staff and colleagues has also arrived this August, and now they are doing that we did one year ago. It also seems that August is the month where people move house. At least a lot of our friends who have been her for some time have moved here in August. By the time you get to know Hong Kong, and then you know where you really like to be and live. As a new here, you are just happy to find a place thats convenient to start with, after a while this could change. No, we are not planning to move -yet, but friends of ours have just moved house for the second time in two years. This time they chose to move from a two floor house in Sai Kung, to live in an apartment building in Kennedy town on Hong Kong island. Normally you move to get more space, but in this case it's the other way around. We went there to help to unpack boxes and to see the new home on the 15th floor with a view across the Victoria harbor. It was the first time I've been in one of those modern high rise apartment buildings, and it is like a little community on top of each other. Chinese superstition is really build into every aspect of the buildings and so there is no 13th floor, but there is no 4th floor either, in fact there is no floor at all containing the number 4. And that should have something to do with the sound of the number 4, sounds like death in Chinese. So those unfortunate floors are canceled and instead of the 4th and 5th, they have a big barbecue place with tables and chairs and above that a wellness room, an outside swimming pool and a playground, some lift stops further up there is a reading room with daily Newspapers and some books next to a fully equipped fitness room, with all sort of fancy computerized fitness machines and flat screen TV mounted on every single one, so you can choose the program you want to see while exercising. And finally there is an Aerobic room. With this I want to wish the Kenny's congratulations with their new home and I hope they will enjoy it and be happy there.

An unusual visitor.

Months ago I nearly got a heart attack as I came home and was going to open the downstairs door. On the bars I saw this huge green insect sitting without moving at all. It was a Praying Mantis. I have absolutely no idea why she wanted to sit there, on a metal door. But she just sat there a let people open and close the door as she enjoyed to get a swing.
Then next time I came down it was gone. Then two days ago the same thing happened; I came home and reached out for the door handle and then again got a chock, she was back, but this time even bigger, and again just sitting there doing nothing. I assume it is a she, because I think I've heard that the female is the bigger one. If I'm wrong, maybe somebody could enlighten me on this matter, and I would also like to know what she was doing there as she stayed for 3 days.

The LBC; the Lucky Bastards Club.

Tai Wan Village, 6.30 am.
Yesterday I've mentioned that I was a member of the club of the Lucky Bastards, and the members of this club are husbands who's wife's are working and they are not. The lucky bastards manage the housework, the shopping, the cooking and on that way he make the life easier for their working wife's. When those tasks are done, a lucky bastard can spend time on the things he wants. The first time I heard about this club, was just before Christmas last year. We were planning our trip to see Julia Hatch in Hanoi, and on the phone Julia told me that when we came to Hanoi, I could meet another danish guy living there, and that he had founded the LBC Hanoi. His wife was from ireland and also working as a teacher at the same school as Julia. He and some other non working husbands had made this club, and met up to go out to explore the secrets of Hanoi, and by that they probably meant the different bars. On boxing day 2007 I then finally met this danish founder of LCB Hanoi. It was at a buffet in one of the hotels, where members of the staff the UN International school of Hanoi, gathered for a little party. I was looking out for a guy who looked danish, and there was one over there at the third table whom it could be. "Now you have to meet Bent and Claire." It was Julia who suddenly came up behind me and pushed me in the direction of the third table. "This is Claire; one of my colleagues from Ireland, and Bent; her danish husband." I think that was the first time since we spend Christmas in Denmark in 2006, that I've been speaking danish, and then in Hanoi. Of corse I asked how they have met and all that stuff, but soon Claire and Catriona felt in to a long conversation about the advantage of danish men, so Bent and I could continue chatting about being the LB's. It was going to be a long night as we ended up in Claire and Bents house enjoying imported danish Herring and Akvavit -but that is a complete different story. Since then I got used to tell people that I was a lucky bastard club member, when they asked me what I was doing here. Often I could feel some kind of envy in peoples reactions to that answer.

Telling this story leads me straight on to another subject; How small the world sometime seems.

On our summer holiday trip to Europe we went to Edinburgh to visit Mum and Ricky. One day we were out and about and on our way down Rose Street -the street in Edinburgh special known for all it's bars- we suddenly heard a loud voice:
"Catriona Morrison?
As we turn around we see a woman standing just 3 meters away.
"Oh. my god; Vicky Macpherson."
Catriona dropped her lower jaw down on her chest.
Vicky is from Australia and had worked at the Dresden International School with Catriona a couple of years ago. Now she is in Malawi in Africa, and decided to visit Great Britain in her holiday, and then just visit Edinburgh at the same time as we did. Unfortunately all 3 of us were too surprised and confuse to take a photo and even that we all went for a little "stiffner" at the standing order, didn't change a thing.
Later on we went to Denmark to visit my brother and sister in Horsens on the southeast coast of Jutland. Horsens is for danish circumstances a rather big city of 60.000 inhabitants. Mostly we went for bike trips around the city, but one day we went in to the city center to walk around, visit the cafe's and do a little shopping. As we are standing a a hole in the wall to take out some danish money, two people passes us and suddenly the woman stops behind us and start stirring at us. As I turn around to look at her, she turns back towards the man next to her. I could only see her wild curly hair covering the face of the man, but something about her seemed familiar. Then she turns towards me again and then I realize that it is Claire and her lucky bastard husband Bent.
"Ca-Catriona - look who that is, isn't that just so weird?
Then the four of us broke out in a big loud laughter, and had to go to the next Cafe to get something to calm down.
From Hanoi and Hong Kong to Horsens, and then we meet. Bent isn't even from Horsens, but they have got a summer house not so far away, and when they spend time there they usually take a shopping trip to Horsens, and at that day, we also decided to go to have a look.
Isn't that just too crazy, what coincidence or what ever. The world is just a small place, but what a nice one it can be.

By the way, I have to resign from the lucky bastards club, or at least change my status; I've got an offer for a job -a little bit like the job I had in Dresden- but that is also a complete different story.

The hard life of a blogger.

Tai wan village at 6 am HK time.
Admitted; I've had plenty of time to work on this blog the recent year. As a member in the so called lucky bastard club -this means husbands, who's wife is working, and they are not- I have been able to devote my time between being a home working husband, and when that was done I could do some of the stuff I couldn't do -or didn't find any time to do- before when I was working full time in Dresden. And one of these things might have been doing a blog. To be a blogger also means to read a lot of other blogs -I guess- to be inspired and to see which gadgets and widgets they all use and then add the most fancy ones on the own blog. And there is loads of stuff out there to make sure that bloggers also also is confronted with the choices of real life. It is just like clothes; Wauw, he or she has got this or them gadgets and that layout, that look better than mine and by the way, I think I need one of those counters that shows a little flag indicating where the readers (all) come from. And as it is with clothes, sometimes you just need to see something new, also when you are stuck in front of your own blog (nearly) everyday. So here it is; the new layout of your favorite traktorinhongkong blog. I hope you'll like it, and if not; just read it anyway, as you'll get use to it.
But what does bloggers often do or which gadgets do they add. Well on a lot of blogs I've seen lists of favorite films, music, books and what ever subject, where we think that we show our character and lifestyle by pointing out a favorite. I've even seen one who put a list called: "Books on my bed table."
Could that be an idea. I went to my bed to have a look. No certainly not could that what i found there be worth a list. I found a pile of old news papers, some old magazines, two comics and -ok then- two books. But now I'm at it I might as well tell what it all is.
The news papers are all sport sections from South China Morning post form the last two weeks, as we -see previous posts- couldn't see any of the Olimpics live in TV, so I've been updated by those papers. Then there is some running magazines, the Triathlete's world -I wonder why-, an issue of our local Explore Sai Kung magazine and a German magazine; "Stern" from 28th of february 2008, which was left here in March by two visitors from Germany. The 2 comics are both "Steen & Stoffer" (Calvin & Hops) from Bill Waterson, and finally the books: "The long march" from Sun Shuyun and "Gweilo" from Martin Booth. They have been there for ages, or not really that long, I took them on holiday to Europe this summer because I thought I might find some time, you know; holiday, relax, having time :-) and then I put them back there at my bed when we came back and I sorted out my suitcase, without having read one single sentence all summer. And now the books are going back there again -just in case, but see now what has happened. By starting to think about this, I've sorted out my old pile at my bed table and you see; another piece of housework is completed and that just because of a blog.

Nuri has left the territory.

The third typhoon in only 3 months has just crossed Hong Kong and according to Hong Kong observatory, then they expect about 8 typhoons this year, in other words we have five more to go, and as the season for tropical storms is May to October the last five should hit the next month and a half. Hopefully it will then always happen on working days as we then gets a day of to spend in the house. That was also what we did on Friday when tropical storm Nuri moved towards Hong Kong from the south east. As it came closer it was obvious that this time it would be a direct hit and the typhoon warning signal no. 9 was hoisted for the first time since 2003, so this time it could be really bad. From inside our house we followed the storm roaring around outside, blowing away everything was wasn't properly secured. Doors and windows was rattling, and the fans in the windows was turning the other way around. After hours of roaring, raining and rattling it suddenly went all quiet, not a wind and not a rain drop, just like a normal cloudy day. The eye of the storm was exactly above our city of Sai Kung. A couple of hours it was silent and then in the evening it came back from the opposite direction this time, as the back side of Nuri was passing in a north west direction.So we fell asleep with the sound of rattling windows and the howling wind around every corner. The next morning Nuri had left and the sky was full of thousands of dragonflies buzzing around and every thing seemed normal expect the usual sticky humid hot air was replaced by a pleasant cooler and dry air, nearly like in europe in the summer. As we went for a morning run we saw the full extension of the damage the storm has left in our little community. It was nothing very big and bad to see -what we know of right now- just some dislocated boats, turned over trees and branches and leafs everywhere on the ground. So now again the people who clean up the city and the street will have a lot of work to do for some time, and when the next storm has past, they can start all over again.The city workers on their never ending task of cleaning our beloved stadium after typhoons.

Waiting for Nuri. 9.30 am HK time.

In life everything can change rapidly. Like for instance the weather. I know I've talked a lot about it the recent days -and haven't done anything against it- but it has been on the extreme side of hot. And then now the very hot weather warning has changed and the typhoon warning no. 8 is hoisted. This means that everything is closed and we have to take precautions like make sure that nothing on our rooftop and balcony can be blown away by the mean winds expected. Yes we are waiting for Nuri a very bad tropical typhoon who is moving towards the south china sea in direction of Hong Kong.
Here is a Sattelite photo from 6 am this morning and the typhoon is that big white cloud reaching from the south coast of china to the Philippines and nearly to Vietnam. Who wants, can follow it's way on the Hong Kong observatory website. It is assumed that the typhoon will go very close to Hong Kong this time, it could even be a direct hit, as Nuri is on it's way towards the Pearl river delta just east of Hong Kong. We're both at home and waiting and will post more information during the day and maybe night as it is expected the typhoon will hit this afternoon/ night. Thank good we've got food in the fridge.

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I survived the shopping trip

Well this is the second post today, and if you think that I'm cheating, I can tell you this is not the same picture like the one from this morning, although it might look like it is. The motive is the same, just taken at 3 pm HK time and if you look at the background and compare with the photo from 11.30 am, you can see how the heat has covered the horizon in humid heat mist. The official temperature in this area was according the Hong Kong observatory 34.2 degrees C. I couldn't t resist to take a thermometer to our rooftop, and even if it is a crappy one, I guess the numbers tells their own story. So you might imagine I didn't spend a lot of time outside today even that I had to go and get some groceries, but thank god the buses and all shops has got AC here in Hong Kong, so it is only the way between those where I had to suffer.

But with a hat, sun glasses and sunscreen I did survive.

Very HOT weather warning

This is the view from our rooftop from today at 11.30 am Hong Kong time. As you can see from the last post, the weather hasn't changed much for nearly a week now, but today when I went to the website of the Hong Kong observatory it showed a -for me- new type of warning. Very HOT weather:

With this warning there is a list of instructions what to do and especially not to do according to the present warning, and today it is to avoid to much outdoor activity without taking precautions and drink plenty of water. So thank god that our football training is of until September, but I do have to go shopping for groceries. With this one we've already had 3 of the top ranked warnings in the last two months, from the black rain warning:

and to the Typhoon warning no 8:

If you want to visit the Hong Kong observatory yourself, just click on the link in the text above, or go to the list of Hong Kong links further down on this site.

What; the olympics?

Your reporter from in front of the the Birds nest Stadium.

As mentioned somewhere on these pages before then I just want to mention it again: "No we haven't seen anything live from the games in Beijing". Anyway, nobody will bother in about one months time, it's just now that everybody feel a bit pitty for us because we still cannot receive that Da.. signal. We had some guy here one day from Patsy's electronic shop in Sai Kung, and as they couldn't find any signal as well, they said we might need a booster. I took them too the rooftop and showed them our antenna, and just underneath it there is this little box where some cable's come out and disappear into our house. "Isn't this a booster?"I asked. "Yes, but maybe you also need one inside the house". But to be honest then I don't really mind. I see all the results on the Internet and sometimes some highlight in the news. But god da.., I would liked to have seen Denmark beating Germany in the men's handball yesterday evening. The way it is for us now (with no TV coverage), is the way it must have been for a lot of people in the past, before the media coverage of events like the Olympic's exploded and became what it is today, and at that time people also knew what happened and who won what and why.
So your reporter went out to Sai Kung to see some real life on a busy sunday -Sai Kung is always overcrowded at the weekends- to find something to write about what has nothing to do with us not receiving any life footage from these games.
The red team look more prepared and ready at the Philippino picnic games 2008.
And found a basket ball tournament at the basket court on the city square. A big crowd of screaming women from the Philippines was gathered around the court in different colored dresses with name and number on the back, and on the pitch a red and white team was struggling against each other and the heat. That was a tournament for house keepers. Explanation: Every Sunday the maid's in Hong Kong has a day of and they gather together at every possible place they can to have a picnic and do dancing and other social stuff. And in times like these, even a basket game.
The view from our roof top at 6.25 Hong Kong time. Today it has been really hot too as yesterday and the day before and as it is going to be tomorrow as well, but then on thursday we can maybe expect a little rain on top of the expected 34 degrees.
Keep cool und tchuess aus here where I am.

Lantau Island by bike.

Visitors to Hong Kong often gets a little surprised when they arrive and realize that Hong Kong is so much more than just a huge busy city. Take Lantau Island for instance. Most visitors and tourists arrive here at the new Hong Kong international airport; Chek Lap Kok, which was opened in 1998 and replaced the famous and very dangerous Kai Tak airport, which was build on a thin piece of land in Victoria Harbor.

View Larger Map
From the airport the visitors then disappear as fast as possible to get by the airport express, taxi or bus to Hong Kong and all the shops and first come back again when they have to leave again, or some might come for one visit to the islands biggest attractions; the big buddha and the Capel car up to that, and -of course- Hong Kong Disneyland. So on the north side of this Island there is a very busy road to the airport and the new town of Tung Chung just close, and across the mountains at the south side, a quiet and very relaxed side of Hong Kong opens up for the visitors who in fact manage to find their way here. It is not so easy to get to, and the only way is by boat from Central or the train to Tung Chung and then by bus over the mountain. I maybe thats the good thing about it, because nobody can just go there by car without a special permit. So what you'll find there is nice quiet roads, lots of bikers, sleepy villages and beautiful beaches. We always go there by ferry from Central to Mui Wo and as soon as we leave the ferry the difference to to other parts of Hong Kong is obvious; thousands of bikes is lined up just at the pier and on the streets only a few taxis, cars and trucks. Big signs at the road out of the town proclaims Road closed except for bikes. We wanted to go to Chung ha beach and also to find a south African restaurant called "Stoeep" so we hired bikes in the friendly bike shop. I went to a restaurant to ask the way to this place, and a guy told me it would take 20 minutes by bus. "And by bikes?" I asked. "Which kind of bikes" was his reply, and I started to worry, but didn't tell Catriona and Yvonne as I saw them come out of the shop with two lady like Hallo Kitty bikes, whereas Bob and I had two mountain bikes with a lot of gears. And as we found the way I understood his question. It just went up, up, up and I had to struggle in the lowest gear possible with the sweat just running down. On the way to our destination we had to climb two steep hills and down again and we arrived so late that we only could sit and rest for 40 minutes at the Stoeep restaurant and the beautiful beach of Chung Ha, as we had to return back before it was getting dark. We did have time to eat some of the delicious food. Next time going there we will be aware of the time we need, and leave earlier so we also can enjoy the lovely beach and not just only think of restoring burned calories.For Bob and I it was dark even before dawn.
when we finally came back to Mui Wo the most incredible full moon lightened up the sky and the island of Hei Ling Chau and Hong Kong island with Kennedy town in the horizon.Unfortunately I was to busy riding my bike up hill, so I forgot to take any photos, but who would like to see four soaked tourists on Hallo Kitty bikes on a steep hill?

Humid - HOT - Hong Kong

After a typhoon and some days of rain it has really again become HOT in Hong Kong. Yesterday the quicksilver stopped at 33 degrees C with a humidity at about 80 percent. Even in the early morning it is about 26 and then the morning run can be some challenge to overcome and the humidity doesn't allow the sweat to evaporate from skin and clothes and at the end of a one hour run you are as wet as if you've jumped into the pool. Not only by running you are sweating in this heat, just leaving the house to go to the bus can make you sweat and after some time outside, you feel as wet as when you are out in the rain. This is no complaint, in fact I don't mind warm sunny days but i do prefer less humidity than here. And this leads me back to some last thoughts about our holiday in Europe, so just here on the very last before the duties starts again a little look back at the nice warm sunny days in Denmark, where we -without the humidity- could spend nearly all day outside.Breakfast in the garden in Horsens.
Since we came to Hong Kong none of us have being riding a bike. Not because we don't want to; no because we couldn't bring our bikes from Dresden. The guys who packed our container said that there would be no room for them and so both of us sold our bikes. We also were told that it can be extreme dangerous riding a bike here in this mega city, and some places I agree on that, but here where we live in the country park, we could ride mountain bikes. My first bike experience in one year.
But never the less; in Denmark we used almost every opportunity to ride bikes.It started in Skagen, where we hired some bikes for 24 hours and then started our own traktour: "The Zufriedenfart 2008".
And so we became mobile in the north of Jutland and from then we came nearly everywhere around in Skagen on nearly no time, and what before on foot had been too far or too slow was suddenly just a matter of taking a decision. Catriona and Henrik on the first leg of the Zufriendenfahrt.
And one of them was to go to the sanded church -see previous post- one night to see world famous ballet from the London Ballet?The ballet dancers perform in front of the sanded church.
As Denmark itself is quit flat, then Skagen and all the northern part of Jutland is extreme flat, so on a bike you can go anywhere. And across the country they have built cycle paths, so it's possible to drive around without riding on the roads between cars. Our big trip led us from Skagen through the landscape of heather and sand dunes to the only left moving sand dune in Denmark; Råbjerg Mile.My brother Henrik in the dessert of this huge moving dune.
From Råbjerg Mile we continued to the west coast of Jutland and the "West Sea" which by other nations -Germany and England ao- call the North Sea. If you study a map you will see that Skagen in fact is on the same altitude like Aberdeen in Scotland, so Catriona tried her best to see if she could see her sisters house over there.Catriona show us the way to Aberdeen.
At the end of the day we had made about 50 kilometers and when we gave back the bikes that evening and went back to our hotel there was certainly some part's on our body that were extremely sore.
To be continued...

Back home -in Hong Kong

When you go to the movies and then the credits starts, then you know that the movie is over. When you see the well known view from your own house again, you know that your holiday abroad is over. So here our view is for you to enjoy too, and from this very morning, the day after the opening of the Beijing 2008 Olympic. I didn't manage to post something before now. I've had jet lag and being sleeping a lot since touch down on the 5th of august. I've even slept through a typhoon passing through Hong Kong early in the morning on the 6th. Since then it has been raining a lot and it seems to continue the next days too, so it seems as not much has changed around here, as the last 6 or 7 weeks -before we left for Europe- was the start of a very heavy rain season.
I mentioned the Beijing Olympic before, and finally I thought that we would be the one's in advantage; and be the one's who could sit down in front of the tellie and enjoy something at a decent time, and not like the Euro 2008 championships, where the matches started at 2.45 am. So yesterday we gathered at our friends -The Stearns- house, to enjoy the spectacle from Beijing. As we live in Hong Kong and have the NOW Broadband TV from PCCW, we thought that it of course would be shown on all channels. So there we sat, had coffee, tea, wine and snacks ready and flicked through all channels just to realize that there was nothing from the opening ceremony on these channels, and if we wanted to see it we should have the local TV, which is not offered by the fancy NOW TV Broadband from PCCW, and at the end we had to sit and watch some Columbian TV channel on the internet on Bob's lap top, to enjoy the amazing show. And I guess that's that for us enjoying the Olympic's at a decent time then, as we only got this NOW TV.