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November 01

And the journey continues...

Min was wondering who the hell would read my blogs anyway!? Tell her that you do Smile .

Been on several trips since the last time I wrote a blog and here I am able to find the time to finally write about them. Since Finland, I’ve been to Venice, Morocco, and recently, to Prague.

Venice was nice. It wasn’t the first time I went there. The last time I was there was back in 2003 when I went with a tour group. We only stayed there one day and saw the main attractions and landmarks. This time around it was at the tail end of a work related trip to Milan. Min joined me in Venice for a weekend. We stayed inside Venice so we had a lot of time exploring the place and didn’t need to rush at the end of the day. I would recommend researching great places to eat if you should come to visit and stay inside Venice. I think this added to the experience. Thanks to Min for adding that dimension to Venice.

Morocco was the next place. It was July, the very peak of the summer season in terms of heat. It was a dry heat and I felt sick the day when we arrived. I think the average temperature was about 35 degrees Celcius during the day. If you should visit Marrakesh, prepare yourself to have what Min and I describe as the “Moroccan Belly”. I think you will know what I mean if you should ever go and visit. You will be eating a lot of cous-cous, kebabs, and tagine dishes. You may feel the effect up to two weeks after you arrive back from the trip!

We joined a tour group called Active Morroco from Intrepid. You can learn more about the trip here. It was a great experience!

We walked the streets of Marrakesh, cycled 35km (I didn’t finish) over the Atlas mountains, hiked the Atlas mountains, stayed overnight with a Berber tribe. We even did some rock climbing. It was great fun!

For me, the highlights of the trip include the landscape around Marrakesh and life around the Atlas mountains. We drove on roads across sweeping dry arid plains which were very unique. To me it looked like Mars and it was amazing to see the occasional herders and animals wandering about. The Atlas mountains at that time of the year was aromatic and picturesque. The happy kids in the villages that were hi-fiving us as we walked through in our hike over the Atlas mountains gave me the impression of contentment.

Most recently... Prague. It’s definitely one of the prettiest cities I have come across in Europe. There was an awful lot of tourists but it was great. The people are nice and the food is good - if you have the opportunity, go for their suckling pig.

Also, if you find the opportunity, tell Min you read my blog Open-mouthed .

April 09

Found the Northern Lights...

Yllas, Finland, March 2007.

Three weeks ago we visited Finland with one main mission... to see the Northern lights. We stayed in Yllas and we were lucky seeing it most nights. It may appear as a white haze over the horizon. You may not realise you're looking at the northern lights but if you stared at it just a little longer than you would at a beautiful... car, you will see it move and you will know.

On one night the Northern Lights were directly above us and there was no mistaking it. The following are some of the images I managed to capture. For those who are curious, I took these with the kit lens on my EOS 350D. I had to use ISO 1600 on Bulb holding down the button for about 40 to 45 seconds.

Yllas is great for beginner skiers or boarders. It didn't have very many trees or people to run into and some of the runs are as wide as airport runways. The best thing is that there are no queues to any lifts! Other things you can do are cross country skiing, husky dog or reindeer sledding, snow mobiling, or if you have the cash, you can stay at the ICE hotel.

Those snow mobiles can move at 200kmh! I can't imagine these things overtaking me on the M4. I nearly flipped our snowmobile on it's side that night we rode through the forest. The following is a picture of a smoother section of the track.

But that wasn't scary. What's scary was the husky dog sledding. That one I did flip on its side. I watched in horror as I saw the husky dogs continue to pull the sled on its side with my passenger holding on to dear life! When I finally caught up with the sled, and saw my passenger contorted and looking pale, I was so tempted to say to him "my camera! Is it OK?!".

One other activity you can do in Yllas is the smoke sauna. The custom is you spend fifteen minutes sweating inside one of these:-

Then, quite simply, you jump in the lake! Apparently, you repeat this process three times! Sounded crazy... so I did it. I would not call the experience invigorating. My legs felt like it was being stabbed with a million needles the first time I jumped in the lake. On subsequent times it wasn't so bad. I just can't understand how this activity could possibly be good for you!

Finland was awesome! As well as crossing out another item on my list of things to do in Europe (seeing the Northern Lights), I experienced driving a snowmobile, driving a husky sled, and engaged in a very unique Finnish custom. It will be hard to top that one. I think next season I might give cross country skiing a try.

November 04

Back on line....

Well I have finally arrived in the UK, Min and I have found a place to live (at least for the next six months), and now I am looking for a vehicle.

Right now I am feeling reasonable. While I am still up to my neck with things to worry about, I am up to my eyebrows at the same time with things to look forward to. I am happy that Min and I have found a place, and I'm now looking forward to selecting a car that will facilitate my adventures in the UK.

I won't go through how much we're spending on my flat, but I'll say this, Chiswick seems like a great place to live. It's a cafe lifestyle in Chiswick and the environment looks great with the tree-lined High street and relaxed atmosphere. There are quite a few pubs and there are fairly highly reputed restaurants as well. It's great to sit in a cafe drinking coffee and reading your book next to the window or watching life go meandering by.

This I found this hard to believe... but according to my landlord (who happens to be my age) there are quite a few night clubs as well in Chiswick?! Where?? I suppose we might find out soon.

The place we found is a newly re-furbished flat just before the mouth of the M4. This would be advantageous when I start driving because, in theory, I would be able to by-pass the traffic on Chiswick High Road and be almost immediately on the motorway that leads straight to work. They say it should take around 45 minutes to drive to Reading during peak hours. This would be great considering it can take me up to two hours when taking public transportation (that's one way). There's an off the road parking space too! I just have to tell the man in the Jeep Wrangler to kindly piss-off when I get my car :-).

After figuring out what the company car taxes will cost me, I finally narrowed it down to four cars that might not break the bank - The Mini, The Volvo S40, The Citroen C4, or the Volkswagen Golf. I have arranged to test drive the Mini soon, and the Volvo next. I'll let you know how well they drive.

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August 25

On Fearless

Saw Fearless last night that, to my understanding, is Jet Li's final flick in that kind of martial arts genre which include films like Once Upon a Time in China and Hero. I liked every film he has made in this genre so it disappoints me to hear this. I give Fearless an 8/9. It is a bloke flick classic!

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May 29

A weekend of entertainment...

Lucky the things that happen in my life do not make those movies come alive...

Otherwise, those movies would be boring.

I liked X-Men 3 and would give it a rating of 8/9 in my viewer satisfaction scale. (The excessive amount of Coca Cola that I drank during the movie may have had an influence on this rating.) I don't care how this movie stacks up against it's predecessors. I think it is great and well worth the watch.

(Last week I watched the Da Vinci Code. I would probably rate that at 7/9. I think people who haven't read the book may be a little confused by the movie. It was slightly different from the book, but that added to my appreciation.)

This weekend I also watched Walk the Line. After watching the first half, I was feeling kind of depressed. So I took a break and I tried to cheer myself up by reading about Managed Funds and Gearing. The movie was fantastic overall - 7/9!

I finished reading The Dark Knight Returns. I enjoyed that comic novel and would not mind looking into more comic novels when I get the chance. If you want to see Batman fight Superman, The Dark Knight Returns is well worth the bags under the eyes.

It's Monday in the very early morn... must get some sleep!

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January 18

Back from the UK...

Had lots of laughs catching up with old friends, lost money playing Texas Holdem, took lots of photos, and experienced -6 degrees in Stockholm!

Christmas was at a friend's place in Canary Wharf. There were lots of food, and lots of people! I never thought it would be possible to fit almost 30 people in any single unit in London! On the odd free night in London we went out to brave the cold and take photos in town, lucky I brought my beanie (which I paid 18 pounds for).

I missed out on a White Christmas by two days, (It snowed on the 27th) but it was all good!

Spent New Year's in Devon on the South West of the UK. We stayed in a quaint little town called Slapton in a quaint little barn which was turned into a cottage. Had lots of seafood and surprisingly little grog! Enjoyed the English countryside for the first time and took lots of photos of rolling hills, the narrowest roads on earth (bordered by the 10 foot hedges), stone churches, and friends mucking about on the beach.

On the weekend after the New Year, Min and I traveled to Stockholm. It was a trip full of firsts! It was the first time I have been in a country where the Sun sets at 2PM, the first time I found a country more expensive than Britain (Starbucks latte for $6 AU), the first time I drank a cocktail in a glass made of ice in bar made of ice, and the first I ever heard anyone say it is warmer in the UK!

Most of the time in the UK, I was in Aylesbury. On most week days, while Min is at work, I would head into town, have coffee at Costas, read the papers, and watch life go by. There's this movie review in the Mirror on Orland Bloom's new movie which states - "There are certain places you probably don't want to visit. Kabul. Baghdad. Aylesbury. Now add to the list Elizabethtown..." (David Edwards). So slack! I'm sure Angeline Jolie and Brad Pitt beg to differ. They just spent millions of pounds on a property around Aylesbury!

Life was good, now back to business...