Happy New Year!

Brrr, back in 17 degrees cold Hong Kong on this last day of 2009. I know that all Europeans will laugh about this, but coming from 31 degrees and high sunshine, it is kind of a chock to find our home in Tai Wan village that cold. Normally we are also kind on the sunny side when it depends of temperatures.
So but now back here I can start to post some pictures from the wonderful kingdom of Cambodia.It wont not be more than this two for now. Both from Phnom Penh; the silver Pagoda in the Royal Palace and a street view from the old french quater in the city.

Au revoir Cambodge!

This is the absolute last post from the kingdom of Cambodia, as we are on the steps to our Hong Kong flight at Phnom Penh international airport. If it wasn't for the worlds probably slowesy internet connection, I might have written a bit more, but after waiting apx. 10 minutes to get this far in the login process, I've given up and just say god bye. Cambodia has been really great and you can get more stories and pictures when back in Hong Kong.
Last thing, if you've ever thought of visiting Cambodia but didn't realize it we can only say; do not wait for much longer. The place is absolutely fazinating and great for travelling.
Boarding, bye.

Siem Reap and the temples.

We've reached the last stage of the Cambodian Christmas tour; the city of Siem Reap and it amazing temples, where the Angkor Wat is just one of the high lights.
Yesterday morning we left the calm spot Kampot in the south, where we've enjoyed the last couple of days. In a taxi we conquered the 150 kilometers of combined dirt road and bumpy bumpy tar road back to Phnom Penh. After this experience I'm quite happy that we chose to fly up to Siem Reap, instead of another 4 to 6 hours of Cambodian style traffic on the roads. The taxi trip was an adventure and to times very stressing as the dust from the dirt road didn't leave much sight ahead for the driver, so sometimes the overtaking of trucks, ox driven wagons and public country style tuk-tuk "buses", made the trip like watching a horror movie, and I've still got the red markes, from where Catriona drilled her nails into my knees every time another huge truck just appeared out of the dust cloud just in front of us. The ride was also some mind blowing experience in the way of what we could witness on the way of the lifestyle of the Cambodian people in the country side. Living along this dirt road, many of the houses and field are just covered under a layer of red dust from the road, so in my imagination I just cannot stop to think about their cows and chickens, or not to mention the vegetables, meat and other goods they were trying to sell from small huts along the road. All just covered ion a red carpet of dust.
Coming to Siem Reap from Kampot, is in some ways like getting back to civilasation, as here it is more developed and most of the houses are well restored and in a good condition. On the other hand is is yet stressing, as this has all to do with tourism and an area of town -called "Down Town"or "Pub Street"- is like a western enclave of fancy pubs and restaurants, where you can dine your small exquisite tapas in your evening rope, paying the 20 dollar bill, and when you leave and walk for 2 minutes you see children and older people sit along the road trying to find some plastic bottles or beer cans from the rubbish bin. For them 20 dollars could mean food for the whole family in one month or more.
So at the first glance; Siem Reap is fancy and developed -for some very few, and I'm not sure that I like it that much!

Calm in Kampot!

Is this holiday pure?
Yes it difinately is! Kampot in the south of Cambodia at the Bay of Thailand and not far from the border of Vietnam is certainly worth a visit if you want to have a calm and very relaxing time with good weather, nice and freindly people and great oppurtunities for trips out in the countryside to visit local villages, caves, pepperplantations and or relax at some fantastic but hardly crowded beaches. Some small islands unfar from the coast can also be reached by local boats an small ferries where you can find yourself laying on a white sandy beach under the coconut palm trees.
Tourism has hit the place, but in a very little scale and what you will find is a good mixture of local life spiced with some considorate western style guesthouses and restaurants. If you want to find out more about this place try to visit this blog; www.kampotsurvivalguide.blogspot.com
We have only one day left here, so now it is out to one of the tour organizers here in town, to orgnize some bikes and then we are heading out to explore a bit more of this calm place. Put on a lot of sun lotioan as the sun just hit with big strenght.
Well, that was all for that dime...

"Out there where the pepper grows!"

If you aren't familiar with the saying: "out there where the pepper grows" I can tell you that this is a Danish saying which means something like; very far out, and that is exately where we are now; both very far out and out there where the pepper grows.
We left Phnom Penh this morning -24th- and drowe with Mr. Ra -a taxi driver- from PP and all the way down the not very good Highway N 3, to the little town of Kampot. This is where they grow the best pepper in Asia -maybe even in the whole world, but I guess other countries would say BUH to me if I released something like that.
Any way the drive was about 3 hours through rual Cambodian landscapes with villages here and there. If somebody have seen Vietman War movies and the landscape there; yes it was like that, but thank god without the exploding napalm bombs behind the Palmtrees and small huts on stilts. Now we just had our Christmas evening dinner at a very cozy and friendly place called; "the rusty keyhole". It is a mixed UK and Cambodian run bar at the riverfront in town.
The day has been extreme hot, and it look to be the same tomorrow, so this is not a white Christmas.
After Phnom Penh, this is like coming to another country, as here is just so quite and slow that one could get out of a moving tuk-tuk, in the thought that is was still parked along the pavement.
Similar to Phnom Penh; the people here are amazingly kind and friendly and not as busy or trying to get us to ride with their tuk-tuk and what else we experienced in the capitol.
More will follow later, now I just want to wish everybody a nice and fantastic Christmas evening and Christmas day.

Cambodia is like a big warm smile.

Cambodia is a very poor country with many obvious problems. It is a both charming and distressing place to be, as the problems and the big differences just is displayed on the streets in front of you, and sometimes you feel like a bastard because you are able to travel somewhere and eat a meal when ever you feel like it,and just around you, people look as they can't afford a bowl, and therefor has to go and beg you for some money.
This can be hard to watch and at the same time to know that the most of the people eating at the many restaurants are mostly westerners either living here or on the way through. Another thought coming up when seeing these circumstances, is the knowledge of how much money being spent in just Denmark or Germany right now for Christmas -eating and all the other stuff-, just to have this in mind meanwhile seeing these nice and kind people struggle and get along with what they've got or can find on the street.
But then again; this cannot ruin my mood, on the contrary, to see the warm smiles on the faces of these people towards everybody, even that life seems so hard yo them, is worth more than what we in Europa have thought -or in fact forgotten- Christmas is about. This is warmth and plain kindness out of the center of their hearts.

Calling from Phnom Penh, Cambodia!

It is about 27 degrees in the shadow, the sky is blue and around us a large number of mopeds, motorbikes and so called tuk-tuk's (mopeds with a kind of a trailer for transporting people), swirls around like honey bees. It is Phnom Penh, the capitol of the Kingdom of Cambodia.
Wearrived here on the 19th at lunch time and has now kind of got use to the new surroundings, so we now are trying to make some plans for the next day's and for where to spend Christmas evening and Christmas day. This might be on an excursion out in to the country side to see a nature reserve and meet some villagers, but lets see what we can arrange, one thing I know is that it is going to be very different fron a traditional european Christmas anyway.
So far Cambodia -Phnom Penh- has been enjoyable with is friendly inhabitants and good food. In many way's it reminds a lot about Hanoi in Vietnam and yet not as it is a lot smaller and not quite as busy and chaotic -it seemes. It can seem very difficult to orientate in this city, as only the major streets or Boulewards has got names, the rest of the minor streets dotted between these major streets only has got numbers, and so you are looking for Street number 282 or number 13, to try to find where something is placed, but as the City is not that big and there is kind of a system with these numbers, you kind of have an idea in which area to look, or you ask a tuk-tuk driver to take you there, as there is no organized public transportation, so either these tuk-tuk's or on the bag of a moped -which is way faster. Unfortunate I'm yet not able to upload some pictures to illustrate, but maybe I can find some internet where it will be possible.

Glædelig Jul to all of you!

This could be the last post before Christmas, so I will wish all of you out there a very "Glædelig Jul". That is the danish way of saying "Merry Christmas" and I always enjoy to hear when non danish speakers try to pronounce this, because it seems to be just impossible.

Mum's Hong Kong Diary #5

Fri 13th Nov
Today we met Catriona and Jørgen after school and will be heading for Macau for the weekend.
So first the bus to Ma on Shan town center. Then a bus to the Ferry Terminal in Central and onto the Turbo jet Ferry to Macau.
After arriving in Macau there was a little time before we had reserved a table at a good Macau- Portuguese restaurant, so we had time to visit the fake "Fisher mans Wharf" at the harbour next to the ferries.
As you walk through the False City every turn that you take makes you think that you are in different countries. It is amazing . After this short visit we entered a Taxi to the Restaurant called "Alorcha". We had some lovely dishes, grilled chicken Portuguese style, starter shrimp pie, beef croquettes, and marinated sliced pigs ears, but nobody liked the pigs ears. The sausage was yummy, followed by sweet milk pudding with crumble biscuit. Then a Taxi to Hotel Pousada Hotel situated in the countryside of Coloane Island overlooking a nice beach.

Saturday 14th.
We made the most of our Jaccuze bath ,. We went for a walk down to the beach, then back to the Hotel to meet Catriona and Jørgen. After a walk and a snack from a beach hut grill as we had to wait because the famous Fernando restaurant we wanted to visit, does not open untill 12 pm. People que up ages before it opens and we joined them and later shared dishes of prawns, sardines, salad, chicken, chips, beer for Jørgen and Ricky and Sangria for Catriona and I. Then a Taxi to the village a bit away from our Posada. We strolled around the pier, had egg tarts from the bakery before going back to the Hotel for a a rest after sharing some pringles and wine. Later we walked back to the Coloane village and the NGA Tim cafe. We had seafood rice, fried noodles, Angola beef steak, a walk back after another egg tart from the Lord Stow Bakery .

Sunday 15th.
We have to check out. We went for breakfast in Taipa village this morning, chicken fillets and rice potatoe soup, coffee, fish and chips and beer -for breakfast? And another egg tart from a bakery, then back to the Ferry Terminal. The water was choppy on the crossing to Hong Kong and not good when you are filling in imigration and health forms.

After leaving the Ferry, we were going to Whanchai, the Folk club is in the Scottish pub called: "the Cannyman", tonight Catriona is singing and playing the Guitar, I really did enjoy sitting with the group, Catriona was good. I dont hear her singing often these days as she is to far away.
The Scottish songs were lovely.






Monday 16th Nov.
Today we travel from Sai Kung to Choi Hung and then the MTR to Kowloon Tong and then again on a train to Hong Hum and the Science- and History Museum.
Both are well worth a visit and are very interesting. After that we raveled all the way back to Sai Kung and had a meal in the Thai Restaurant and after that a drink in the Duke pub. There we were asked to sign a birthday card as a member of staff came in for a surprise. We had free drink an birthday cake .
All that made us late, so we head back to Taiwan village.

Tuesday 17th.
A quiet day as it has turned cold. Shopping in Sai Kung to buy fish and potatoes for dinner. Ricky is cooking tonight, Mince and tatties.

Wednesday 18th.
The temperature has dropped to 12 degrees and we feel cold. The dehumidifier gets moved around in the house and also an electric heater was on in our room.
Tonight we have an invite to dinner at Yvonnes and Bobs house, it is so kind of them so we bought flowers. Catriona and Jørgen brought wine.
Yvonne made Lasagna, carrot cake and also trifle, it was so lovely.
Thank you so much Bob and Yvonne, it was my early Xmas treat.

Thursday the 19th.

Tonight Catriona and Jørgen will meet us for a special meal. We had a drink in our usual pub; "the Duke" where we met after they both came back from work, then headed to Anthony's Catch.
It is our last night in Hong Kong, also the weather has been lovely today with the temperature again a bit up,blue skies and clear views over the harbour i Sai Kung.

Friday the 20th.

The cases are packed and we are ready to travel, a last walk to Sai Kung on another sunny day. A visit to the fish market for prawns and to the Supermarket for some milk.
It is always sad leaving. We said our goodbyes and the Taxi took us to the airport. The high rise buildings, the lights and views that we wont forget and are so spectacular to see on the way to Hong Kong Airport.
Thank you so much for letting us stay, we would never have seen so much of Hong Kong if it wasn't for Catriona and Jørgen .
Scenery from Gulang Yu island outside Xiamen, PR China

What became of the Reindeer's?

When I was a little boy I was always told that Santa had reindeer's to pull his sleigh with the astronomical amount of presents on it. I don't know what they tell the kid's here in Hong Kong, or in fact I thought to know, until I saw this arrangement on a square in Kennedy town on Hong Kong Island!To me these creatures look more like horses, but what do I know about the Chinese Santa? One thing is for sure; Christmas is also celebrated here, but not in that silly and maniac way it has become normal in Europe, where the shops starts to decorate in October, and continue to stress people with Christmas carols and aim them to buy as much as possible all the way up til the 24th.

Mum's Hong Kong Diary # 4.

A quiet day on Monday 9th.

Tuesday the 10th Nov.
We need to pick up our new glasses in Mong kok, that we ordered last Thursday, mine are broken and when we saw the modern styles that twist and bend without breaking we decided to go ahead and buy them. The Market is worth a visit also Ricky purchased some nice Rugby shirts . I then ordered a spare pair of glasses that means another visit so we pick them up later in Mong Kok.

Wednesday 11th.
Today a visit to the Nunnery at Diamond Hill. Bus from Sai Kung to Choi Hung, then the train to Diamond Hill, then we looked for the sign for to the Nunnery. After the visit -that is interesting- we bought a souvenier to take home. We had a coffee and toastie and then walked round the lovely gardens and back to the train and the bus to Sai Kung.Thursday the 12th.
Tonight I am going to the "Sauce" Restaurant in Saikung to meet up with Catriona and Yvonne for the book club. I phoned Yvonne to chum her on the bus as the bus arrived so did Catriona so it worked out well for us. Everyone at the book club were so very nice and friendly,Ricky and Jørgen went for a meal in the Thai Restaurant. It started to rain so a Taxi back to Tai Wan village.

Spanish lesson #1!

Listen to a great song and teach yourself spanish!

Mum's Hong Kong Diary #3.

Fri 6th Nov 09

Today we are going on an adventure toXiamen in China .
Catriona and Jørgen are both meeting us at Ma on Shan town center after work .
Then a bus to the airport on arriving we have several checks to go through ,one being the health check as swine flue is not allowed to travel 'and then find ourselves running as late for our flight on Dragon air .
The flight was very comfortable with plenty of leg room, more forms to fill in for health and entry to mainland China.
A taxi then took us to the beautiful 5star Wyndam hotel with a spectacular view across a harbour to Gulang Yu island.Later we went out to explore the shopping area ,people walking up the middle of the streets ,and traffic that does not stop ,and this is a quieter part of China. The clothing shops are a must we will buy some bargains before we leave.
Hot pot was on tonight's menu [a pot cooking in the middle of the table ] they were not kidding chilly hot, too hot for me, but every one else seems to be used to eating hot food.
Now what direction do we go to get back to the hotel? A group of lads sitting on chairs stood up offering us a seat, asked can we help? One of them drew a map, every one is so helpful and friendly.

Open the gate to the 10th.

A funny kind of start to this winter and Christmas season. In November we suddenly had the coldest weather since weather records started, then one week later it found itself again and became very nice like always in December, then suddenly this week -as the climate summit in Copenhagen began- we've had a couple of rainy days, like in the wet season, and now it is back to normal. These big changes has a an impact on us, as I gut sick last week with tonsillitis and now with me back on track, Catriona went down with a sore throat and has to stay in bed to rest for a couple of days. Why can't we just get sick at the same time?
On the other hand is it good that she get's it now, so she can get well for our Christmas holiday, did I tell already that we are going to spend the Christmas in Cambodia?

Mum's Hong Kong diary #2.

Mon 2nd Nov.
A relaxing day sitting on the roof top looking across the harbour’
We then went to Sai Kung back to our Favorite pub ,and then to Mac Donalds and a taxi home.


Tue 3rd Nov.
Today Ricky and I went to Hang Hau on the bus then the MTR to North point changed again to Central. We explored the views and managed to return to Sai Kung safely.
A drink in the Duke pub before going shopping in the Welcome store, and then a Taxi home.

To be continued...

The Jule-kalender!

It is the first of December 2009 and normally people starts a kind of Christmas calendar to count down to the happy time coming later this month. Back home in Denmark it was also the time where every television channel with respect for them self, launched a 24 episode Christmas series. At the beginning it was mostly for kids, but later they also started one separate one for adults. So in December it was common that you had to follow 3 or more different series counting down to the 24th.
I'll try to do one post a day until I go on Christmas holiday, like a kind of Christmas calendar. This will be nothing special, only what comes into my mind on one specific day, but a part of it will be a Hong Kong Christmas photo of the day, and a part of Mum's Hong Kong Diary, coz as you know Mum and Ricky from Scotland was visiting us in November.
Like I mentioned in the last post, we had some quite cold weather for nearly one week, with the temperature dropping over 10 degrees in a few days. In only a few other days it went back up, so the last week and a half we've been back to amazingly 24 degrees and a gorgeous light. I've been told that this has been the coldest November since the start of weather recordings.
Sorry for you back in Europe and other cold places, but this was too cold and I'm just happy that we again can go outside in t-shirt and shorts to look at all the silly Christmas decor, which the shops put up to get us to believe that Christmas is just around the corner.


Mum's Diary #1.

We arrived at Hong Kong airport on Saturday 31 October. Catriona met us and we travelled to Sai Kung in a taxi. We later had a meal on the sea front, chop sticks are not the easy way for me to eat.
I need to get used them again. They will provide a knife and fork if you ask. The dishes are very healthy sea food. Locals are all very slim here

Sun 1st Nov.09
Jørgen and Catriona took us to us on a trip to an Island We did visit last year but, this time Jørgen and Ricky went for a swim on the beautiful bay with the shark net.
Then we all had a meal in the South African restaurant on the sea front.

Cold wind from the north!

The temperature has dropped more than 10 degrees in less than a week! Thursday last week it was still like 25 to 27 degrees, at the week end just 20 or below and the last 3 days 13 to 15 at the most.
It is a cold and dry monsoon from the north east which has been inflecting the weather here at the south china sea. I know it sound like a bad joke to people from northern Europe, when I say that we've been freezing, as what is 13 degrees in the middle of November. And it can be true that it sounds like nothing and we should be happy t hat it is not 0 to 5 degrees. Well, that is certainly true, but; here it just happens in a vcouple of days that the temperature drops like that, and from running around in flip flops and a t-shirt, you suddenly have to dig out the warm winter clothes, you last saw when coming back from Europa last year just after Christmas.
Another thing about the 13 degrees here, is that it feels like -3 as it is still humid and moist, and that wet cold just goes through skin and bones. The 3rd thing is the houses; they are not at all built to keep anything in or out and the cold wind just rushes through the ventilation fans and where else it can. And if yoiu turn on a heater, the heat goes the same way just out, so if you don't cover your self in blankets and kind of building a tent around you and the heater, you can just forget about trying to get warm.
The good thing is; the temperature will go up again as quick as it went down, so next week tuesday, we might again enjoy 23 to 25 degrees, and again put the warn coats in the bag and hide it under the bed untill next time.

Lunch inside the belly of a huge shark!

It is not that long ago, like 3 weeks or so that spent two days in Macao. Now then again. 3 weeks ago I was there with my friend from Dresden. This weekend I'm going with my wife and her mother and friend from Edinburgh, as they are visiting us again and I think they must have kind of an exciting time here and last weekend they experienced a trip to Xi amen in China. I've wanted to go there for some time -Xi amen- and finally it worked out.
Xi amen is not far away from here and is good for a weekend trip. It is as warm as here and is also at the South China sea, but the different is that it is the real China and not like the "China Light" of Hong Kong or Macao.
I really like traveling in China and I think that we are going to go there a lot in the next years.
Here we just came out through the jaws and belly of this big shark, which covered the entrance to a restaurant. Of course it was a seafood restaurant and we also enjoyed some shark meat with vegetables.
In fact there is a lot more to tell about Xi amen and Mum and Ricky's first ever visit to China, but I think it has to wait for a while, as I have to get ready to leave for the ferry.

There must be something about that 9.

40 years ago I started at school far out on the Danish countryside.
30 years ago I finished school and joined the military and got trained to hate and fight the evil countries behind the iron curtain that divided Europe in to two hostile blocks.
20 years ago, I started to study at the university. I had matured and learned that there are more colours than black and white and had even been on a visit to the former Czechoslovakia, behind that everlasting iron curtain. Then suddenly one morning in November 1989, I woke up to the radio and the news that the people from both sides of the Berlin wall were celebrating and that East German people was visiting West Berlin.
I couldn’t believe what I heard, what we’d believed as the truth and as solid and unchangeable, had suddenly changed and nothing would be the same ever again.
10 years ago I moved my self and the most of my stuff to Dresden in Germany, in the former “enemy” part of Germany, behind the iron curtain, and which should turn out to be my home for more than 8 years, and now I really got to know the former east block countries as they were the new neighbors and I spend nearly every holiday I had, driving around exploring these places. East became the new West and I even matured more as I became less Danish and more European.
Now it is 2009 and China turns 60 and I’m living in Hong Kong and went to my first real trip into this new neighboring country of mine this summer.
Suddenly I realize that I’ve spend a fourth of my life in those countries, I got told to hate and fight, and here is the next one coming up; China.
So where will I be in 10 years time?

Commercial break!

It has been quite a while and a long hard holiday since I had something to say last time, or had something to post rather. Well today it will be something from my own backyard and is a teaser or a commercial for a theater performance done by the diploma students in our year 13. If you want to come by to have a look; it is tonight and tomorrow at 6:30 PM in the performing arts center.

Crazy Hair day!

It is the last day before the October break, and as usual this day is called "Crazy Hair day" and this means that everybody here at the college is wearing a kind of crazy hair, or even get it all cut of or shaved. And all for a good cause; a schools to schools project. We collect money and the year 12 students will bring this money and some books to Cambodia in November, and there hand over the books, teach English and help to renovate and refurbish classrooms at a local school.
Bur back to the Crazy Hair:

What a coincident. In fact I didn't think of this before I saw the video, but this is serious crazy hair!

"Those were the days"!

It is nice to have a visitor when it is a good friend you havn't seen for a very long time. So sometimes the hours goes by and the morning arrives before you want to face it.
But what does it matter in the end, and in the future it will be like; "Those were the days"!
Here brought into music and film by one of my favorite bands: "Leningrad Cowboys".

One!

Lately it could seem that I’ve been kind of preoccupied by numbers and visitor’s in my posts. Today’s number is the number of visitor’s we’ve got in our house in Tai Wan village at the moment.
He arrived on Thursday morning, where I picked him up at the airport and installed him in our guestroom.
Muecke is from Dresden and is a very, very good friend and I’m happy that he finally made it here to visit us. If you wonder about this funny name, then I have to tell you that it isn’t his real name, it is a nickname and means “mosquito”. Where, why and when he got this name, I have no idea, but never mind that.
First time I met him must have been 7 or 8 years ago. I was working at the Medienkulturzentrum in Dresden and he came as a participant to one of our courses in film and video making. Since then he has been one of my best mates -even that I’m not living in Dresden anymore- and he has been part of the most of the action in my life during my stay there, both the good and the sad stuff.
Should you have wondered why this blog is called something with “Traktor”, and also may have wondered why I –nearly- always is wearing a top with the funny logo; “Traktor-Trotzdem”, then that has also something to do with him. In 2003 the two of us were the founders of the fantastic Football team called Traktor Trotzdem in Dresden Neustadt.
This team still exists and I bet you have read more about it here, than what I tell you now.
Anyway the top I’m always –or nearly- wearing is the shirt of that team and should you want to learn a lot more –or even join in as a fan- you can read a lot more on the official web site; www.traktor-trotzdem.de.
Anyway back to this one visitor. Muecke finally decided that he had to come to Hong Kong and see how life is going around here, so the next weeks he’ll stay with us in the village, and I’ll try to show him so much as possible in the time he’ll be staying.

8,888!

Another important mark has been reached and jumped, and again there was something magical about it.
Some time ago –I think it was in April- I remember writing about what Leslie called the golden birthday as the time when you get the age of the date of your birth, like for instance become 24 on the 24th, or whatever. But is it indeed then right to call it the golden birthday? I will say no; it can only be kind of a silver birthday, as the golden one must be the optimal and unbeatable one, and can only be reach if you are 12 years or younger, meanwhile the silver is only possible for somebody aged 31 or younger.
So the golden birthday is to become 12 on the 12th of the 12th while the silver one is to become 31 on the 31st.
No this has –or shouldn’t have anything to do with birthdays being either golden or silver, no it should be about numbers being golden or silver. And here we close the circle again as we again can concentrate on the magical mark being reached. In this case it is the number of visitors to this site: Yesterday it reached the wonderful number 8,888.
It was a coincidence that I was logged on at this special time, and I can’t remember to have seen any of the other magical or golden numbers at all, but it hasn’t been as many either, only 7 of this kind of numbers before, and the next magical golden number will come after yet another 1,111 visitors will visit, like this one came after another 1,111 visitors visited the site since the last magical golden number; 7,777.
I’m really sorry I didn’t see or be able to capture this time in history, when this site passed this number, but instead I’ll give you a look at yesterdays golden number, and try to encourage you to keep your eyes open, coz then you might be lucky to see the next one, or to be sure to be the one hitting the number, you just visit the site 1,111 times.

Crossed Fictions#1!

Day & night -summer & winter!

The view is always the same and then again not quite! It is normal that light changes the view, but amazing how the seasons can change it also.
Four views on Central district on Kong Kong Island.

324 d-range?

Sometimes my crappy PCCW cell phone gives a noise on Saturday mornings. A new SMS turns up and by opening it I get this message; 324 d-range!
It doesn’t mean that 324 are deranged, and the first time I received this message I was confused and couldn’t really relate to it. After some speculations I suddenly realized what it all meant. The code always comes from my friend Ralf, a German guy living here not too far away, and always enjoys his beer at our little watering hole; ‘the Dong”.
If you go back in the archive you will find a post called: “A completely new perspective”. This is about my new sport; Golf.
To make the story short, then I got a set of Golf clubs from another friend –Bruce – who moved house and had this set of clubs he never used and didn’t want to bring to his new place, so Ralf was sure that I wanted to take them. I did and so my golfing career could kick of.
Ralf took me to the driving range and taught me the first lesson; keep your left arm straight and focus on the ball, iron no. 7 and bang, the ball went ahead like a starting Boeing 707. Well sometimes it did, but mostly it just took a loop up in the air and landed 5 meters outside the box from where I tried my best to hit it, or it just skimmed the surface and stopped not even 50 meters out. “This wont even bring you onto the green.”
Yesterday I went again for the 3rd time, with Ralf as my coach. He isn’t really my coach, but he is the only one who has the patience to deal with me and my poor efforts, but I guess he enjoy that he can have a beer and sometimes tell me stuff like; “the ball went that way because you lifted your head” or “try from the ground, as you wont always have a tee”.
And then I try to follow his advice, as he is – I guess- a quite decent player, and he takes care of me, while I’m trying.
I started to practice to hit the ball and get it to go far in the direction I wanted. I used iron no 7, and at the end it seemed to go pretty decent, not like the first or second time when it tok some time to make it work. No this time all of my first 6 shots went wide and in the right direction and offcorse this gave me some satisfaction, so I just continued doing that.
“Well now try with this driver.” Ralf handed me a huge club. I put the ball on the tee, leveled the head of the club to the ball, placed my feet parallel, bend my knees and straightened my back and kept my eyes on the ball. Concentration. Breath deeply and look to where I wanted it to go –out there somewhere behind the 250 yard mark, then again eyes on the ball, backswing, keep my left arm straight and bend the wrist at the right moment BUT KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE BALL, and swing! With No. 7 I kind of had it, and now I was just waiting for the confirming sound of a perfect hit to fill my ears. But nothing, the ball just rolled of the tee and towards my feet. Ralf lowered his eyes, looked the other way and sat down.
It took my some time to get used to this new club, but it never became the same like no. 7 and I was afraid that I had to go through the same procedure with every of the 10 or so different clubs in my set.
I was about to give it up and return to no. 7 and the satisfaction of balls going wide.
“Now take no. 9 and hit the ball from the ground and make it go to about the 50 yard mark.” Ralf had a new idea. Unwillingly I found the iron and put the ball on the ground.
“Not hard this time, but try to control you swing.”
“Control my swing!” What did he mean by that, how could I do that when I didn’t even know if I could hit it from the ground?
I did my best doing all he’d told me, and; the ball went in a nice high loop in the direction of the mark and landed just behind it.
Must be beginners luck. But I got another ball down and the same procedure; feet parallel, eyes on the ball, bend the knees, straighten the back and swing.
“Pock” again straight direction towards the mark and landed just close in front of it.
Now I was starting to enjoy this and once I even hit the mark, like it was a game of dart and I was aiming for the bull’s eye. A couple of times it went wrong, bur mainly the ball went the direction and distance I wanted.
“Now take no.7, do nearly the same and go for the 100 mark, and don’t hit it much harder.”
Next task from coach Ralf.
But how can it then approach the 100 when I don’t hit it harder then for the 50 mark.
“It is another club and it does something different.”
I did what I was told to, and guess what?
Yes I had a success experience, and I will for sure reply and say yes, when my phone the next time spits out the message; “324 d-range.”

Kaapoum -Bang - Boom!

This is part of the soundtrack from last night over Victoria harbour. The big fireworks for tthe 60tiest anniversary of the PR China.

The noise was ear blasting and sometimes I felt in the middle of a war zone, and that the explosions had come from some of all the military hardware they'd presented at the military parade in Beijing earlier on the day.

We had a good view to this fireworks as we were on a junk in the middle of the harbour, and that was a good idea, so good that we wasn't the only ones having it, and so we were on a junk in the middle of maybe 50 to 60 other junks and whatever boats you can find in Hong Kong, in something what at some stages looked like a floating village.

Nice boat, nice food, good friends and free drinks, what can a mann (and woman) want more, except maybe that a party like this wasn't on a Thursday evening and the next day is a normal working day!

Happy birthday!

Today it is the 60tiest anniversary of the Peoples Republic of China and it is going to be celebrated all over the country. In Beijing with a big parade at Tian'anmens square, and here in Hong Kong with a major mighty fireworks session at Victoria Harbour later tonight.
We are going on a Junk trip on the very same Harbour and will therefor have a splendid view at this major event. For the Chinese this 60tiest is bigger than the 50tiest was, as they work in 12 year cycles, and this is the 5th of these cycles.
So maybe you will be able to enjoy some impressions and eyewitness photos here tomorrow, if I don't drop my camera into the water -touch wood.

Words from a book!

I am reading a book right now , and it is not my MacBook or a cookbook, no it is a real book. Not that a cookbook isn't a real book, no what I mean is, it is a kind of story and though it is not fiction -or not completely. It is a story about a young American teacher who volunteered to teach English at the teachers college in Fuling in the Sichuan province, and he is telling about his first impressions in a Chinese city.
The book is called; "River Town" and is written by Perter Hessler. At one point he is reflecting about the noises and the traffic in the city, and when I read that I nearly couldn't stop laughing as it was the best description to the phenomenon we experienced this summer on our visit to China. So I'm going to quote Peter Hesslers words:

"Noise was even more impressive. Most of it came from the car horns, and it is difficult to explain how constant this sound was. I can start by saying: Drivers in Fuling honked a lot. There weren't a great number of cars. but there were enough, and they were always passing each other in a mad rush to get wherever they were going. Most of them were cabs, and virtually every cabby in Fuling had rewired his horn so it was triggered by a contact point at the tip of the gearshift. They did this for convenience; because of the hills, drivers shifted gears frequently, and with their hand on the stick it was possible to touch the contact point ever so slightly and the horn would sound. They honked at other cars, and they honked at pedestrians. hey honked whenever they passed somebody, or whenever they were being passed themselves. They honked when nobody was passing but somebody might be considering it, or when the road was empty and there was nobody to pass but the thought of passing or being passed had just passed through the drivers mind. Just like that, an unthinking reflex: the driver honked. They did it so often that they didn't even feel the contact point beneath their fingers, and the other drivers and pedestrians were so familiar with the sound that they essentially didn't hear it. Nobody reacted to horns anymore; they served no purpose. A honk in Fuling was like the tree falling in the forest-for all intents and purposes it was silent."

Page 62 and 63 from the book "River Town" by Peter Hessler, published by John Murray Paperbacks, 2001.

Exitement in the little village!

Normally there is not a lot of excitement in our sleepy little village here at the east coast of the new territories. The exitement we sometimes have is normally about some pitty fallouts between some of the poeple visiting the little watering hole, we use to call the "Dong". But the typhoon from last week then turned out to have left something for us, to occupie our imagination.
A ship was wrecked on the beach and left there with no way to get out on it's own.
I'm not sure if somebody really knows where it came from or who it belong to. The day I went down to get my curiosity fullfilled, I saw how somebody actually had buildt somekind of scaffolding -of the Hong Kong typical bamboo kind- around the backpart of the ship, and this seemed to be an obstacle if the owners wants to pull the ship out to sea again. Onbord there was one guy with a mobile phone, and he seemed to guard the ship. I tried to ask him when and how, but he didn't understand and just made a sign to the sky, showing that it had something to do with the wild weather. He wasn't chinese nor caucasian, more like from india or so. So now all the speculation goes on; where did this ship come from and why was it in the bay of Sai Kung.
And ofcorse the imagination among the sleepy villagers come out with the fiercest theories. What fact is, I can't say at the moment and maybe never, but it is a bit exiting, and if I ever get the true story about this incident, I promise to tell you.

More morning Music!

In Fact I'm trying to find some useful clips here on youtube, which I can use as examples when teaching the students some different tricks and methods of storytelling and editing, but then I always find this stuff, and want to share it.
So if you need some power for the Monday coming; then listen to this Native American tune.

Good morning music for a grey Monday!

Back in the early 90ties I was quite happy about the band EMF and their record; "Schubert dip!"
For a long time I haven't heard anything from them, but then I discovered this amazing version of the song; "Unbelievable" featuring grand old master; Mr. Tom Jones.

Good morning Picture of today.

"Thin red line"
Digital Photo, Korean autonomous region, northeast China
July 2009

Teddybear for PEACE!

Today is the international peace day.
All over the world has this day been celebrated with thousands of events to mark the demand for peace.

Eddie Kang.
"Cornered"
mixed media on canvas.
80 x 80 cm, 2009

What have you done for peace today?