eGitti

Borneo - A Borneo Esoerdo Fesztival

2008-09-11T07:29:00.000-07:00

A Borneo Esoerdo Vilagzene-fesztival, avagy a Borneo Rainforest World Music Festival mar evek ota izgatta a fantaziamat, talan mert a rola hallott tortenetek annyira az otthoni Szigetre emlekeztetnek, csak kisebb meretben. Nos, eljott iden is a julius, es egy fapados jarattal Johor Bahrubol a masfel oranyira levo Kuchingba repultunk Amittal (IN). A borneoi “macskak varosaban” talalkoztunk Kenoval (AU) es Justinnal (MY) is, igy negyesben vagtunk bele ezen uj hely felfedezesebe.

Pentek este, miutan felfrissultunk a Holiday Innben (wow, sose szalltam meg meg ilyen nivos helyen magan-nyaralasaim cimen!), setaltunk egyet a kornyeken, majd a masszazsom utan ;-) megalltunk nehany italra a Soho nevu barban. A fesztival miatt a vilag minden reszerol akadt ott fiatal, a sor es koktelok mellett jot beszelgettunk, majd fergetegeset tancoltunk!

Masnap busszal az ugy 45-50 percre levo Sarawak Cultural Village-be igyekeztunk, amely a fesztival dzsungelesen-falusiasan elvarazsolt helyszinet adta. Napkozben a latogatok korbejarhatjak az apro “falut”, es mindenfelol erkezett muzsikusok zenei progamjaiban, beszelgeteseiben vehetnek reszt. En az “Afrikai Hangok”, illetve a Djimbwe” dobos progamjaba csatlakoztam, es imadtam a szamomra misztikus afrikai es del-amerikai hangszerek ritmusat, a verpezsdito utemeket. Imadtam, hogy egyszeruen nem lehetett megallni, hogy a vegtagok koordinalatlan mozgatasa idovel fergeteges csoporttancca fejlodjon!

Este kozeledtevel csak ugy jottek es jottek a latogatok ezrei, de valahogy megsem volt zsufolt a hely. Szingapuri kollegak es azok baratai is meg-megjelentek, igy volt, hogy a kis to partjan tucatnyian ultunk a soros-dobozos palettakon, beszelgettunk, ettuk a finomsagoka, lestuk a voros-naracssarga naplementet.

Amy Lily meg Nikita kiwi alumni baratainkkal es jokat dumcsiztunk, a kis uj-zelandi nosztalgikus talalkank igazan szivmelengeto meglepetes volt.

A monszuntol vizenyes-iszapos talajon a fiuk tobbet tomboltak a sarawaki-lengyel-palesztin-es meg sorolhatnam zenere, de az ido jo reszet a toparton fekve, csillagokat bamulva, chardonnay-t iszogatba toltottuk!

A henna-tetovalasom, a sok muveszi muhely meglatogatasa, zenei program, eves-ivas utan biza kimerultem, de boldogan tertem nyugovora.

Pihengetve...

Vasarnap Justinnal, Kenoval es Amittal betekintest nyertunk a kornyek egy-egy hiressegebe: kis desszertes varosi semmittevest kovetoen elmentunk a Semanggoh Wildlife Centre-be, ahol 24 orangutan szabadon el es virul a dzsungelben. Szerencsenk volt, negyen is megjelentek az etetesnel. Ahogy a nyugalomban es termeszetben felettunk ugraltak a faj tetejen, azt kell mondjam, jo volt latni, hogy a 21. szazad globalizaciojaban-humanizaciojaban ok meg tudtam tartani vilaguk egy reszet, majdhogynem erintetetlenul!

Ezt kovetoen elautoztunk a Rizab Semulajadi Gua Angin-ba, ahol a nemreg latott “Killing Bats” film miatt bizony vajmi keveset elveztem a tobbszaz deneverrel belakott barlangok felfedezeset :-). Hihi. Mindenesetre a fiukkal jol kikapcsolodtunk, es erdekes helyeket fedeztunk am fel! Borneo egy uj szegletet!

Este repulore szalltunk, es ismet vissza a szingapuri valosagba! Johor Bahrubol Michael, az evek ota jol ismert taxis baratom es annak baratja vitt at minkent Szingapurba, es be kell valljam, hogy ahogy keso ejjel az ismeros utcakat jartuk, elvarazsoltan ereztem magam: a hetvege abszolut kikapcsolt, es elememben ereztem magam, hogy ujra utazok es felfedezesekbe vagok :-)! Hat… meg mindig imadom, Azsiat… :-)

A small cuppa of Viennese coffee

2008-09-10T07:57:00.000-07:00

Because of wanting to go home for a wedding in July I kept looking for great flight deals and eventually found a cool one through Qatar all the way to Vienna. In the meanwhile my holiday was extended with a business trip and things turned out in a way that I ended up having one and half day in Vienna!

It must have been around 7 years ago that I last met Gebhard (Austria) in person at an AIESEC conference. Since then we kept in touch so I thought I would give it a try to see whether he is still in Vienna. I was lucky and ended up spending the one and a half day with him and his girlfriend there!

After the short airport bus ride I was at the Moritzplatz and met him there. Well, he did not change a bit, maybe just grew up a bit ;-)! In the city centre we walked a bit and in like 10 mins we found ourselves already at their place!

I bared with the jetlag pretty well and after a refreshing shower, I headed to town with Geb and Milica (Serbia) to meet their friend who is a guide out of hobby, Robert and his friend, Pedi. We met at the Juden Gasse.

Under the small clouds the blue sky gifted us with a beautiful weather of around 26C. Walking on the cobble stone streets was fabulous and we were all just wondering at Robert as he was talking to us about the tiny details of the middle age history and its legacies. The Stephensdom was stunning, inside and outside, the past and the present of the Jews were full of new information to me and the carvings of the 19-20th century were really beautiful! One can go around the city centre with a cart with horses, too, the streets are clean and neat and organised, just here and there the horse poo was smelling… hehehe :-)

We were walking around for around centre, talked, munched on ice cream, even stopped for ad rink at the cute Museums Quartier, a really sweet happening place where I tried the Aperolspritz drink – it was nice!

Exhausted after all the walking we only had energy for a light dinner and chat with Geb and Milica. On the cozy sofa of their first ever home together I soon ended up in alfa-beta!

Next morning we went to see the brother of Geb, Freddie and his son, Oscar. We then took a ride to Burg Kreutzenstein together to check out a bird show at the castle itself: in the midst of the green valleys-hills there were many birds being trained. And the plus extra was the bird trainer, a true “Herr Adonis” who could have stepped out from the myths of the heart breakingly hot Greek men back many centuries ago :-).

We went to check out a nearby village to have lunch at: there was a really cozy countryside house where we were sitting on wooden benches while listening to the garden’s village musicians playing some loud Austrian movie-like music and then enjoyed the local Wienerschnitzel and other delicacies.

In the afternoon we visited a cute little Viennese café house (Schochen…) where in absolute peace, with no noice at all, we chilled with a hot chocolate and coffee and talked about big and small things in life.

From here we went to the airport where I had to finish my extra short visit and head to Brussels. It was a beautiful weekend, thanks to Geb and Milica and I am certain I will eventually return to this place :-)!

Adrenalin a la Hong Kong

2008-05-30T19:00:00.000-07:00

Due to Buddha’s birth, the Vesak Day being a public holiday in Singapore I thought I would opt for a long weekend in Hong Kong! Even though I have been there three times already I knew I wanted to return to see some of my good friends before the end of my “Asia chapter”.

At dawn on a Saturday, the flight passed by in alpha-beta in no time and my friend, Rohit (IN) was already waiting for me at the stop of the Airport Express. Close-by to his place, he took me to “The Flying Pot” where with a fabulous omelet-tortilla I shortly regained my human existence :-).

In his cozy flat on Cairne Road I met his flat-mate, Parth and after a short refreshment, we headed off for a walk. We targeted Discovery Bay, which was new to him, too, by ferry (needless to say how crazy I still am for ferries ;-)): the place is more a residential area, good for a short walk and a lunch, but that is pretty much it. From Central I went to Robinson Road to meet up with Serene (SG) and chat a wee bit over a delicious cup of Hawaii fruitcocktail-tea. Then I returned to Rohit’s.

As it was a Saturday evening, we headed towards Soho’s Peak Bar where a colleague of Rohit’s, Josh joined us. We drank, we ate, we chatted and slowly checked out Lan Kwai Fong’s party district by visiting a few of the places (Gecko, Dolce Vita, 1997, etc). At half past 2, it was pajama time for me already even though they would have been rolling to the next and the next and the next bar along the way!

On Sunday morning we went to the Jumbo floating restaurant by Aberdeen where we met my friend, Cecilia (HK) and two of her friends, Grace and Tippy for a ”dim sum”! After the delicious meals we targeted the nearby Ocean Park (I had not been to a place alike for 13-15 years!) where we wondered at the pandas, sharks, rainbow-look-alike jellyfish, saw a dolphin show and admired the somewhat blurry (polluted :-S) harbour view. The “cable car” was a bit way too high for me sometimes ;-) but the view was very nice! On the rollercoaster, “raging river” watery slides, “spaceships” I screamed as long as my energy lasted and in this fun company 6-7 hours just flew by in a second! Needless to say, my adrenalin level was sky-high ;-)!

From the feries, we took the HK tram (I love it!) with Ceci towards Causeway Bay where I met Jacqui, Ron (HK) and Vega (TW) over a Shanghai dinner. Later Vega and I walked around at the Times Square reminding me to crowded metropolises in the movies and ended up in a café in Lan Kwai Fong, talking about big and small things in life till around midnight. Amongst many, about the fact how we enjoy our independent woman being, able to float around and easily explore new places and how we dream about the future :-).

Next morning I walked around at Central and after some lost moments in the labyrinth of the city ;-) I met up with Paulie (AU) and Vega for lunch. It was really cool to meet so many friends in such a short time!

From here I took on a half-an-hour long ferry-ride to Lamma island. The harbour was pretty ugly there but after the Hung Shing Yeh beach Sok Kwu Wan path brought a stunningly beautiful trekking experience! Of course, I first managed to get lost by heading north, instead of the south ;-) but when I found the right path, I truly enjoyed the new face HK was showing to me! After two hours of roaming around in the beautiful nature I felt really uplifted and energized. And also strangled with 100+ insect bites I managed to get in the centre and in the fun fair ;-) hihihi…

I returned to Central to pick up my baggage and went to see Rohit for a tea and chat. It was really nice to get the chance to better get to know him and after such a friends-intense long weekend, to return to the Singapore reality, again :-)!

For more photos, click here!

Travelling differently

2008-04-26T03:06:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I was flying on Singapore Airlines and came across this article by Paulo Coelho. His words truly inspired and touched me so I thought to share them here, too, as finally I found the write-up online!

TRAVELLING DIFFERENTLY
By Paulo Coelho

I realized very early on that, for me, travelling was the best way of learning. I still have a pilgrim soul, and I thought that I would pass on some of the lessons I have learned, in the hope that they might prove useful to other pilgrims like me.

1. AVOID MUSEUMS. This might seem to be absurd advice, but let’s just think about it a little. IF you are in a foreign city, isn’t it far more interesting to go in search of the present than the past? It’s just that people feel obliged to go to museums because they learned as children that travelling was about seeking out that kind of culture. Obviously, museums are important, but they require time and objectivity- you need to know what you want to see there, otherwise you will leave with a sense of having seen a few really fundamental things, but can’t remember what they were.

2. HANG OUT IN BARS. Bars are the places where life in the city reveals itself, not in museums. By bars I don’t mean discotheques, but the places where ordinary people go, have a drink, ponder the weather, and are always ready for a chat. Buy a newspaper and enjoy the ebb and flow of people. IF someone strikes up a conversation, however silly, join in: you cannot judg the beauty of a particular path just by looking at the gate.

3. BE OPEN. The best tour guide is someone who lives in the place, knows everything about it, is proud of his or her city, but does not work in an agency. Go out into the street, choose the person you want to talk to, and ask them something (Where is the cathedral? Where is the post office?). IF nothing comes of it, try someone else- I guarantee that by the end of the day you will have found yourself an excellent companion.

4. TRY TO TRAVEL ALONE OR- IF YOU ARE MARRIED- WITH YOUR SPOUSE. It will be a harder work, no one will be there taking care of you, but only in this way can you truly leave your own country behind. Travelling with a group is a way of being in a foreign country but speaking your mother tongue, doing whatever the leader of the flock tells you to do, and taking more interest in group gossip than in the place you are visiting.

5. DON’T COMPARE. Don’t compare anything- prices, standards of hygiene, quality of life, means of transportation, nothing! You are not travelling in order to prove that you have a better life than other people. Your aim is to find out how other people live, what they can teach you, how they deal with reality and with the extraordinary.

6. UNDERSTAND THAT EVERYONE UNDERSTANDS YOU. Even if you don’t speak the language, don’t be afraid. I’ve been in lots of places where I cound not communicate with words at all, and I always found support, guidance, useful advice, and even girlfriends. Some people think that if they travel alone, they will set off down the street and be lost for ever. Just make sure you have the hotel card in your pocket and- if the worst comes to the worst- flag down a taxi and show the card to the driver.

7. DON’T BUY TOO MUCH. Spend your money on things you won’t need to carry: tickets to a good play, restaurants, trips. Nowadays, with the global economy and the internet, you can buy anything you want without having to pay excess baggage.

8. DON’T TRY TO SEE THE WORLD IN A MONTH. It is far better to stay in a city for four or five days than visit five cities in a week. A city is like a capricious woman: she takes time to be seduced and to reveal herself completely.

9. A JOURNEY IS AN ADVENTURE: Henry Miller used to say that it is far more important to discover a church that no one else has ever heard of than go to Rome and feel obliged to visit the Sistine Chapel with two hundred thousand other tourists bellowing in your ear. By all means go to the Sistine Chapel, but wander the streets too, explore alleyways, experience the freedom of looking for something- quite what you don’t know, but which, if you find it, will, you can be sure, change your life.

Argentine adventures

2008-04-22T07:50:00.000-07:00

My friends, Nicoline (NL) and Pedro (PT) have decided to make their love official and get married in Buenos Aires where Nicky’s parents currently live and where she spent the first 5 years of her life. After their very romantic engagement story and the news about the upcoming wedding, you can imagine - my fantasy started playing with me: is Latin America my next adventure :-)?

It took me a while to organize the trip to cross over the approx 20,000km but I was right there, at the airport, in the early-early morning of 8th March, starting my journey: after 10.5 hours of flying I had 7 hours transiting in Johannesburg, then another 10 hours and I landed in Sao Paulo, Brazil. My friend, Zoe (AU) lives there now but unfortunately she was in the countryside on that weekend, so our alumni friend, Pablo (AT/AR) welcomed me there! The recommended taxi driver was late (Judit, my HU friend told me that the time has a whole different concept over here than in Singapore ;-)), so I looked around for alternatives but all other drivers easily asked for 50% more for the same trip to Pinheiros. Finally I managed to talk to Valdecir, the driver by asking random local people to talk to him on my mobile in Portuguese! It was around 8pm already when in absolute excitement I was sitting in the taxi, looking forward to seeing my first ever Latin American city, even if just for a night! Valdecir and I managed to somehow talk with a mix of languages, he spoke Portuguese and I spoke my tiny Spanish, English even Italian (I never knew I spoke it ;-) hehehehe) ;-). During the one hour, we “talked” about the financial capital of Brazil, Sao Paulo, the samba capital, Rio de Janeiro, the people, we sang Brazilian and Hungarian songs and we were guessing what the other one wanted to say. I loved it!

Pablo was waiting for me at his place. His family name did not strike out at first but after meeting I realized he was the Pablo I knew from conferences in 2001. What a small world! Ludek (CZ) was also there, I had not seen him for like 6-7 years already! A friend of Pablo, Iris (BR) also joined, we chatted, drank yummy red wine, Pablo even attempted to teach me a bit of “forro”, the local folk dance :-)!

We talked till around 1am and somehow the time difference was all fine, I was not tired so we walked to Iris’, while roaming through some nice streets of Pinheiros on this Saturday night, just about 15 minutes. There was so much life everywhere: loud bars, hugging & kissing couples… I always missed this from NZ and SG, this way of expressing affection for the other one, even though this was a level higher than in Hungary…

The next morning Valdecir picked me up from Iris’ place and took me to the airport. There I tried the famous Brazilian cheese bread, the “pao de quiejo”… yummmm :-)!

In the afternoon I was already at the airport of Buenos Aires and attempting to figure out all those Spanish signs around me. Soon I managed to find a rented car (“remise”) and headed towards Hotel Atlas Tower on Avenida Corrientes, the place that we booked with many firends. This driver was also sweetly talkative and excitedly talked about his own city. At least I think, based on my understanding.

From books and documentumary movies I already knew 9 Julio Avenida and the Obelisc, but finally it was right in front of me. Yeah!

At the hotel, my friend, Micheline was waiting for me already and after unpacking we took off for a 45-min-walk to San Telmo, a famous district nearby. The Feria de San Telmo was full of artists, painters, dancers, musicians playing tango, colony-time buildings, silver gadgets and the place was marvellous! For a while we were just standing in front of the church there, wondering at a fabulous group of young tango lover musicians. What a fantastic opening this was to my Argentine adventures :-)!

As the time was passing by, slowly Shweta, Aditi, Pedro, Anja, Zoe, Lukas, Andreia, Goncalo also arrived and all together we walked to a famous restaurant nearby, called Chiquilin. With the girls we share two beef meals and hardly could finish them! “Bienvenidos en Argentina/ Welcome to Argentina!”.

We started our Monday with dress-hunting on Avenida Santa Fe. Shweta and Aditi soon found something amazing so the mission was almost complete... The streets truly reminded me to Europe, the people, their cloths, the buildings, the colours, the lights, the atmosphere... I loved it!
The attraction, the Teatro Colon was closed because of renovation but we soon found heaps else to see and do!

The “Cemetario de la Recoleta” was surprisingly nice... Its buildings were respecting, in peace and beauty, the memories of the ancestors and was a special place for both relatives and visitors. It was like a labyrinth, you could easily get lost in its alleys! After quite some roaming, we even found the tomb of Evita Peron, at the Familia Duarte memorial place.

The Recoleta Church was one of the most beautiful ones we had seen in this country, the park of this district was full of young people (and so many handsome men!), picnicing on the fresh green lawn, surrounded with plenty of cafes! The four of us did not need any much more, we just let the place enchant us. Our chats and silliness reminded me to scenes of Sex in the City and Friends, filled with womenly naive and random chats. Loved it!

In the evening, we organised a visit to Senor Tango Bar. What a sensational evening it was! The place was like the bar of Moulin Rouge, bordeaux and filled with dark wood, there was a round shape teatrium, a rolling stage, energetic band, cabaret like master of ceremony, six pairs of fabulous tango dancers with amazing level of enthusiasm and passion, two singing twins and never-ending red and white wine! What a day!!!

The next morning, after having heard so much about the place, we targeted Cafe Tortoni, a 150-year-old cafe downtown. Shweta, Aditi, Micheline and I were just sipping on our “cafe con leche” and let the enchantment continue. The streets around were here and there coloured with tiny whatevers of local flee market guys. Our walk took us to the somewhat strange (kinda cold) Catedral Metropolitan and then through another park full of picnicing people, we reached Casa Rosada. This pink government building vividly lived in my memories ever since I saw the shocking movie of Imaginng Argentina about the “dirty war” 30 years ago.

The Argentine men are, without a doubt, hot-hot-hot so we could not resist but take a photo with four of them :-): we named them Pablo, Carlos, Juan and Jose… hehehhee. We had a sneak preview into Cabildo and then headed towards La Boca (which is also the home for the soccer team). On the way there, we talked to the taxi driver who was simply hilarious and even named us in Spanish: Shweta became Rosa, Micheline Beatrice, Aditi Lorena and me Sylvia. We named him Liam as that name sounded the most English. Hehehehe…

Apparently the district of La Boca is very dangerous but four of its beautiful streets are guarded with security to ensure joy of visiting. The bright colours on the walls of the buildings are just stunning, and the way artists and their masterpieces colour the walkway was just fantastic!

We got lunch in a restaurant signposted with the local cowboy, a gaucho, and then while walking around Caminito, the walking spree full of tango dancers, we struggled to realise the real reality: we are really in Argentina :-)! Yahooo!

That night around 20 of us from the wedding crowd and the soon-to-be-weds met up in the nearby Cuba bar where we talked, ate and drank heaps of moquitos.

Wednesday started with trying on the dresses and then the mission was completed, Shweta, Aditi and I headed to San Telmo for lunch. There was a very sweet atmosphere awaiting us there, despite the fact that during the weekdays there was no “feria” market, neither the weekend buzz I experienced a few days before. Instead tango dancers were entertaining the visitors of this terraced plaza and loud Argentine music filled up the air all around.

From here we went to Puero Madeiro. This is a recently renovated harbour surrounded by plenty of expensive hotels, cute cafes and restaurants. Later we headed to Palermo Soho & Hollywood, walked a bit there and then we were waiting for Nicoline, the bride at the hotel.

To our greatest surprise the bachelorette party was to be held in Palermo, too. The dark red walled Congo Bar was a very cool place for this celebration! We did some silly challenges for Nicky, drank delicious caipiroshka cocktails and just had a great fun together, around 15 of us! Later we found out that the bachelor party was nearby too, so we ended up spending a bit of time, dancing together.

On Thursday the couple’s parents hosted the international guests for an “asado”, barbeque in their beautiful house in the suburb. On this stunning, cloudless late summer day, around 50 of us were enjoying the fantastic Argentine “lomo” beef slices and other delicacies and just enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere and company.

Nicky’s parents, Giselle and Peter talked heaps to Katalin (wife of one of the Portuguese guys) and me about their two-year-long assignment and all the adventures in Hungary, between 1990-1992. What a small world :-)! Here I had the chance to talk a wee bit with Pedro’s mum, too.

The long bachelorette night and then the sunny barbeque took all our energy so that night we “only” had some oomph to check out another tango show. The legendary Café Tortoni was highly recommended by Lonely Planet and some of our friends so around a dozen of us went to check out the program there. The traditional performance, maybe because I saw it after the Senor Tango show and I was exhausted, was just okay to me. But to my greatest surprise here I met up with Naaz, our Indian friend (best friend of Krishna), who lives in Chile now!!! Wohoaaa!

Then the big day arrived: it was time for Nicky’s and Pedro’s wedding (apparently they did the official ceremony already on Wednesday). In the morning, at the hotel, I got a call from Yat Wan, our New Zealander friend who just recently finished her internship in Ecuador and now roamed around the continent with her backpack and we arranged to meet up for a tea & coffee. Aditi and Nacho who just then arrived to the capital we spent some chilled time in one of the nearby cafes.

Later, rush to the hairdresser, get ready and time to go to the elegant wedding reception!

It must have taken around an hour to reach Palacio Sans Souci, a beautiful mansion in the suburbs. The place was stunning, it somehow reminded me to the palace in the cartoon Beauty and the Beast! At the big green backyard of the place the wedding crowd was slowly assembling. There was a big white altar-kind table on the grass and a rosehip path leading to the precious spot. Refreshing drinks, champaign, snacks… and suddenly the famous wedding song could be heard. From my friends’ circle, there were the four of us, girls, then Nacho (AR), Pedro, Anja, Goncalo, Andreia (PT), Ludek (CZ), and some alumni friends and childhood buddies of the couple were also present: Norberto, Ciro, Sophie, Ivo, Carlos, Betty (PT), Szymon & Asia (PL), Matthew (US), Carolina, Hannalieke, etc.

After the glooming & shining couple signed some papers in the Palacio, all of us cheered for them with champagne and let many white Nicoline & Pedro balloons up to the air! All the elegant guests dressed in rainbow-like colours then suddenly took over the green garden of the mansion and it was photo time. Wohoaaa!

We were then asked to go inside the house and an opera singer, specially invited for this event, started singing. After the appetizer Giselle and Peter shared their stories and wished the very best to the couple, and then speeches by the maid of honour and bestman followed. As the time was passing by, the song “Don’t cry for me, Argentina” was heard, Nicky and her Dad opened the dance floor. We could ask for songs in advance and a professional DJ was mixing the music, following the vibe of the crowd. Young and old danced the night away together!

Nicky’s brothers, Alex and Moritz and their partners, Karyn and Lysette were also taking their part in the welcoming and entertainment, and at around midnight ‘magicians of the dance floors”, tango dancers also appeared. Our favourite local dancers were Nacho & Alejandro who kept up with us with both energy and rhythm :-)!

Hours after starting the dances, the energy level went down a bit and then suddenly the organizers appeared with funky colourful hats to buzz up the mood. And it absolutely worked! “Half-way through” big dessert tables were welcoming people outside in the garden and the flow of delicious cocktails also continued…

The newly weds continued to shine, they looked so happy and thrilled, the wedding crowd was really just an “extra” to the special moments. We danced till around 3am and then talked a bit and just enjoyed our time together…

The next day, early in the morning, I kicked myself out of bed and started my way to Colonia in Uruguay, one of the UNESCO world heritage places. The others slept in but I kept up with my plan and with tiny little eyes, seeing only a wee bit of the world at those early hours I was ready for a new adventure, starting with a 3-hour-long ferry ride (if available, I would rather suggest the one hour speed boat though).

This country of around 3.2 million seemingly looked identical to Argentina. The streets were named after countries and cities in the region, the river was suspiciously redish-brown (which was not polluted but steered up with the red soil). There was an English tour guide taking care of only three of us, it really seemed, most visitors were from Argentina, just wanting to chill out, far away from the loudness of Buenos Aires. I had lunch in the restaurant called “Viejo Tunel” and after a one-hour briefing about the history of the place I started roaming around the enchanting streets of Portuguese and Spanish heritage, here and there decorated by very old automobiles… It was a peaceful and wonderful ambience!

On the way back the ferry was late again, this time with 2.5 hours so I reached Buenos Aires only at midnight. Taxi drivers thought I did not speak Spanish and started talking about how inconsiderate that was from the tourists but then I slowly convinced them to take me “home”, I understood them pretty well. Aditi, Yat and Mitch were a bit worried about my delay but finally I was back, after a fabulous Uruguay day :-)! Even if absolutely exhaustedly.

Sunday morning we headed to the airport to get on with our travels and go to Puerto Iguazu, around a 1,000 km away, with Aerolineas Argentina, the local airline that is apparently always on strike. Edgardo, the host in Las Tinajas backpackers explained us the whereabouts of this small town, and after a short rest, we went to roam around in this little town of around 32,000. We visited the golden triangle of Argentina-Paraguay-Brazil, ate phenomenal meat and slept big time at night.

On Monday morning we took the local bus for around 15 minutes to reach the world famous Parque de Cataratas Iguazu. We first took the lower trail which path led us to the bottom of the waterfalls where one can get inside the falls with a boat, just like having a shower. It was breath-taking to wonder at this natural beauty from the water’s surface and admire what a massive energy is present all around! Between two parts of the waterfalls there was the Isla San Martin island where we stopped to dry up after the “waterfall shower” and trek a bit in the forest. The upper trail then led us to the “devil’s viewpoint” where we saw tucuman birds, snakes, alligator, and was enjoying the amazing wonder of the world for around 7 hours!

Filled with fantastic explorations, we then headed back to the town of Puerto Iguazu where we found the chef of the best ever Argentine empanadas in the Lo De Rolo restaurant. Needless to say, later we died out of exhaustion :-).

Next morning we were again on the road, taking a bus to the small village of 10,000, San Ignacio. We stopped at its tiny church which was also the centre of the village and then found Hotel San Ignacio, a place that Lonely Planet highly recommended, too (note: the rooms always cost around 1.5x times of what the guidebooks suggested). As it was a tiny place, for the same price we got a beautiful two-bedroom bungalow - so cool!

Four streets away there was the San Ignacio Jesuit Ruins Park, one of the UNESCO world heritages. As we finally had some clouds on the sky, the 35C heat was more bearable, especially because the place that reminded me so much to Cambodia’s ruins really enchanted us. At the exit, local artists were selling their mate pots and other pieces of wooden creatures. We walked around a fair bit (it is such a cute little place!) and then rested in our bungalow.

The next day we were yet again on the road (wonder why ;-)?) to head towards Posadas. We booked a room in El Guembe hostel in advance but did not manage to find it so ended up staying at Hotel Cote d’Azul. This town of 230,000 was more crowded but had not much to explore, we felt. We had a look at its small cathedral, the Mercado des Artesanians, the Paraguay Park and an amphitheatre. Apparently due to “Santa Semana”, the Easter week the people were not in the streets but this way it just looked like a ghost city.

The next day we walked to Costanera, a coast-side path in Posadas. The place was still dead and the heat was terrible, so we had enough of the place, I think. At lunch time we headed to the local airport and after a “deep frozen” flight we got back to Buenos Aires ;-)!

In the capital we looked for the backpackers’ place of Hostel Plaza. As Atlas Tower Hotel was on Avenida Corrientes, it seemed like a good idea (just that instead of number 1778 it was at 3973 ;-)). In the 8 double-story bedroom there were only two of us. The fan on the ceiling was clicking smoothly and the rest of the guests were filling up the air with loud chats. It was definitely a different stay than in the countryside. That is for sure!

Juli, George and Nacho, our Argentine friends kept talking about a place called the Million Bar on Parana Street so we decided to check it out that night. On our way we stopped for a meal in a Peruvian restaurant and as we both were short on money we just had a drink each in this beautiful bar ;-): green leaves decorated the terraced court, the interior furniture gave a 19th century feel to the place, the piano, the fireplace, the paintings. What a lovely place for a date :-)!
We walked for around 1.5 hours on Corrientes Avenue and by the time we reached home, we really were filled with a great experience of embracing the sparkling harmony of Buenos Aires!

The next morning we aimed to find the Barrio Forte, the French district that Juli had often mentioned to me before. We found La Biela Café. What a great choice it was to stay on! Under the light blue sky, couples, families were resting at the tables inside and outside and the place seemed to have brought us back in time with decades!

As it was Easter time, the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes was closed but we managed to find Malba, the Museo de Arte Latinamericano de Buenos Aires after walking through beautiful flowery parks. I am not into museums at all but this exhibition was kinda nice. After this, we passed by the zoo, then the Botanic Garden and then we went a place called something like El Guedo which had the best ever “bife lomo” beef meal, one that you can really cut with a spoon, it is so smooth. Something the Argentines just keep talking about and finally I could experience :-).
From here, Mitch went to the airport to catch her flight and I continued the rooming around on my own. Palermo had great refreshing parks, the Parque de Rosas, de Uruguay, de Chile… they were all full of families and friends chilling out together on this Easter weekend. I loved it!

In the Recoleta Park, a young guy was entertaining the crowd with funny puppet show. I was walking around on Avenida Libertador for around two hours (what a looooong street that is!), when I finally reached Torro de Los Ingleses from Palermo. Nearby, Avenida Florida really minded me to Vaci utca in Budapest. Here I found the shopping mall called Galerias Pacifico which is famous for its unique interior design, a cathedral-like ceiling with paintings, it could be in a museum!

Suddenly the weather changed to stormy and windy and it started sprinkling with rain... first time in two weeks! I therefore finished my 3-4-hour-long walk by taking the “subte” metro to Medrano station. I used the internet a bit nearby and then I dropped “half-dead” into my bed to go into alpha-beta.

On my last day in Buenos Aires I wanted to see San Telmo, a place that really enchanted me two weeks before. I took the Subte to Avenida Independecia and then walked a wee bit to reach the place. It was a sleepy plaza on that Saturday morning, the market was about to get into shape… it was really cute. I then walked back to the metro and remembered to accomplish the mission given by some of my friends: to buy the Argentine Alfajore chocolates ;-))) and then was ready to go to the airport!

With my last pesos, I bought my first ever Spanish magazine, guess which one: of course the National Geography Viaje (Traveller). This will motivate me to continue learning Spanish (amongst many other things) because I know I would return :-)!

First I flew to Sao Paulo then to Johannesburg. The flight was pretty sleepy yet I struggled to deal with the 5-hour-time difference a bit. Despite the warnings, all went well at the Johannesburg airport, with my bags and the immigration and at the exit, Cornelius, a guide from the Palm Guesthouse was awaiting me. To my greatest surprise I was the only guest in the place, even the staff was on leave therefore the whole of the 8-bedroom villa was only mine! Wohoooaaa! I am not used to stay in such a nice place, yet as a single woman traveler it was apparently the minimum…

Despite the short stay there I arranged to visit the legendary Apartheid Museum. Johannesburg seemed a ghost city, there were hardly any people on the streets, I guess because of Easter. The visit at the museum started pretty lethargically. Initially I tried to figure out the context with all the pieces of information but after around 15-20 minutes, thanks to the videos and the demos, I managed to put a better big picture together about what really happened here in the recent history. I even saw Nelson Mandela’s first TV interview from 1961! Similarly to the Vietnam War, I was really shocked how unhuman humans can be with each other :-(. Mandela’s release in 1990, the Nobel peace awards and all those hopeful and positive plans for the future were great finale for the museum visit. It was interesting and informative, that is for sure!
The evening passed by pretty fast and the next day I was ready to go back to the Singapore reality... Having explored a small piece of the South American world I am sure there will be a next chapter… somewhere, somehow, but for sure :-)!

For more photos, click here!

Krabi - The still naive traveller

2008-03-30T00:18:00.000-07:00

It has been quite a few months that my friend, Shweta and I planned a farewell trip to Krabi, Thailand before she moved to Europe. However, the move happened earlier and I was left with a ticket that I did not want to loose. So guess what? Even though it is not quite my type to travel alone I decided to head to the town that I know fairly well by now.

After work I took the metro to the airport what I just reached on time before the closing of the check-in. The lady there told me that as I did not have two passport photos accompanying the visa application form, I was not allowed to get on the plane. She really pissed me off! It is such a typical Singaporean approach: if something does not fit what is written on the papers, it is not possible. I did not ask them any illegal things, I told that I had been to Thailand 12-15 times already and they only ask one picture and 1,000 baht. She did not get it. But I did not let myself be won over. I was ready to fight :-) as I had a very different idea of my weekend, i.e. in Thailand! Hehehe. The lady was very slow but I requested to talk to her boss. She disappeared for a while with my paper, she did not dare to call for her manager so when she returned she gave me my flight ticket. Finally! I wonder why she wanted to make her life so complicated though :-P?

After the 1.5-hour-long flight, we were at the immigration. I was the only one who needed a visa on arrival. A young Thai man and an older Thai woman were my special immigration officers, pretty happy to receive me as I gave them some work. After a few minutes of talking, the guy wanted to spend his Saturday with me and he read up a few times the address of the guesthouse I named on my form. What should I have said to that? Nothing really. The woman was very much agreeing with him and she kept repeating it would do good to his English. I just politely smiled and tried to finish the immigration process. Well, I surely got attention.

I was backpacking and as I had been to Ao Nang, Railey and Tonsai, this time I decided to stay in the small town of 30,000 people, Krabi town, which is not quite a touristy place. I found a place through a hotmail address, called Krabi City Seaview Guesthouse which was actually far from being in a city and being by a sea (it was a river :-)). Interesting marketing, ay? Based on the price I did not expect much but it was a surprisingly clean and neat place. My room was between the ground floor and the basement, its window opened towards a concrete wall but I did not really care because with the cheap room I got more money for massage ;-). The driver that was to pick me up from the airport, held a sign “Margit Treckers” ;-) and within 20-30 minutes was a great chat companion until we got to the backpackers place. He had never been abroad but knew impressively a lot about the countries in the world. I enjoyed talking to him.

I left my stuff in the room and then I went to the night market which was around 500m away. The locals were eating their delicious snacks in absolute peace and tranquil but I was a bit concerned of the hygiene there (with a reason) so looked for a small restaurant/ bar. There were hardly any tourists in this town so there was not much choice, yet I found a cute bamboo place to rest at. I sipped on my Blue Margarita cocktail (they did not serve food any more that night), read my book and just enjoyed the peace of the place.

The next morning when I really could not sleep more, I decided to take the local bus to head to Ao Nang, 20km away. The “big tuktuk” seemed to be nowhere so eventually I joined a motorbike guy to head to my destination.

I bought some Thai silk four years ago in Bangkok and I really wanted to get something tailor-made out of it. In this town, there were plenty of Scandinavian tourists so most tailors asked for a fortune for even a simple design. After quite some search, one seemed to have come to his senses and I was on my way to complete my dress mission ;-). While walking to the beach, the turquoise palm-tree surrounded beach was absolutely breath-taking. My sister-in-law saw a nice woolen bag in September that my brother stopped her from buying so I had this shopping mission which was easily completed, yet again.

Amongst the restaurants on the beach I chose Moon Terrace because I liked its in brown wood - white woolen sun-umbrellas and finally I could eat! I had one of my very favourite meals for lunch: coconut chicken soup. During the meal, the restaurant manager approached me to talk. I was just reading so had a lot of time to chill out. His name was Thong, originally from Bangkok but had quite some time in Cambodia and Kuwait which he happily talked about with his very broken English. We even talked about the book I was reading that time, “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”. It seems he liked me because after half an hour he returned with a red rose and a necklace. He also got me to the first floor terrace where the hotel’s swimming pool and massage place was (as a non-guest I was not supposed to be there). It was good for me as due to my recent eye surgery I could not do anything with water, but rest, write and read. I got a massage in a spa and relaxed for hours there :-). A few hours later he appeared again and was insisting to take me for dinner but I really had enough of the situation and walked away on the beautiful beach.

I climbed the rock by Ao Nang beach, enjoyed the fun presence of little monkeys in the sunset and wondered at the beautiful nature. At last I went to try on my soon-to-be-dress and then took a tuktuk to Krabi town. There the receptionist told me that someone had looked for me from upstairs but I was pretty surprised as I got to the place very late the night before and had met none at that time. When I was attempting to go into my room, the security guy refused to let me in and kept on telling me “Polish, Polish”. I did not meet anyone Polish but could not get into my room either so took him to the receptionist who told me that someone looked for me from the police. I said WHAT? Then she checked her dictionary and corrected herself, it was someone from the immigration. She was concerned, she was not sure if something happened to my passport or my visa so she called a number that was left behind. As soon as I got the phone to talk to the officer, I realized it was the immigration officer from the day before. He waited for me between 7-9am but I was not awake. He wanted to see me the next morning at 7am but I told him I was on holiday and did not plan to start the day that early. I did not want to oppose him as I had no idea what authority he might have. The receptionist realized I had nothing to do with all that was happening and told me she would not wake me up the next morning if I wanted so. So we agreed. He did come again the next morning but fortunately I checked out of the place later. I was a bit paranoid though because I was to fly off that night and he knew my details from the visa form.

In Ao Nang I switched off, and went to my favourite beach, by Railey Beach, I relaxed, ate, drank and chatted with people. The I headed to the airport, with some tension inside, of course. Fortunately there were heaps of people there that night and I did not meet him again. It was all quite strange.

It was an unusual weekend, that is for sure!

Orchid Story 51-52 - A whole new world…

2008-03-05T07:38:00.000-08:00

January-February 2008

My Dear Orchid Story Reader,

The new year has started with new adventures which I will tell you about to make us live those again together, even if virtually now. For selected pictures, you can check this out. And remember: until I am here, feel free to make the virtual real ;-)!

1. Home, sweet home… the heartwarming festive Christmas
2. Scandinavian adventures: Stockholm, Bergen and Copenhagen
3. A whole new world… (literally) through new eyes
4. Chinese New Year in Vietnam
5. A yet naïve traveler, in Thailand
6. New home: I moved to the neighbourhood!

1. Home, sweet home… the heartwarming festive Christmas

Every year I excitedly await the end of the calendar because it means I can soon spend the festive holidays with my family, this time for two whole weeks. During my three days in Budapest I managed to meet a lot of friends (you see? being organized does indeed have its benefits ;-)) and I got the chance to visit a couple of my favourite spots, too. Then I went to my little town, Bekes where together with my family we rested, played board games and cards and we ate and ate and ate :-)! Our one-day-trip to Grandma’s gave us the chance to catch up with them, beyond just the usual letters. To my greatest surprise, just before Christmas, my Kyrgyz friend, Aibek finally came over from Prague to spend the absolutely relaxing days over Christmas with us and to let me show him a bit of my world there. Needless to say, it was fun to experience my family’s first international Christmas while speaking a max of English, Hungarian, Russian and body language. In the meanwhile I got one year smarter and wiser, too, which celebration is always the best ever in a loving company :-)!

2. Scandinavian adventures: Stockholm, Bergen and Copenhagen

On the way from Asia I always have to transit somewhere and I decided this time I wanted to go through Sweden.
- I spent a weekend with my friend, Judit in Stockholm. Despite the length of my visit, we managed to explore a bit of the “Venice of the North”: the skanzen, the old town, the ice-skating field (!!!), the Viking museum… and again and again we realized that despite of not living nearby to each other ever since our days in Budapest and New Zealand, we have heaps of parallel things in our lives :-)!
- I spent another three days in Bergen, Norway so that I can sneak into the life of my dear cousin, Marcsi and her fiancé, Sindre there. The town with its fjords, greenery, colourful “paper houses” made me have sweet nostalgic memories with Wellington, NZ. I really liked it (story here)!
- As Scandinavian Airlines changed my itinerary suddenly, I “had” to spend 24 hours in Copenhagen :-)! My Danish friend, Morten and I walked around the city, despite the freezing winter, I managed to touch the legendary, yet tiny Mermaid sculpture, we roamed around in the snow covered streets surrounded with beautiful historical buildings, and even spent some time with my friends, Andris and Szilvi there. Somehow 24 hours can really be an enchanting miracle…!

3. A whole new world… (literally) through new eyes

For years I have been playing around the thought of a lasik eye surgery but somehow my paranoia always overruled. During the holidays I realized it was “just about my fear” and I decided I would surprise myself with a clear eye sight for my birthday :-). The fear remained but I was already there, shaking, right on that cold theatre bed, in the big darkness, under the machines, and after a few hours when I opened my eyes… unbelieeeeeeeeeeeeeeevable! My left eye had to be convinced with a second surgery that seeing is awesome and voila :-)! This is really a whole new world to me :-)!

4. Chinese New Year in Vietnam

My Indian friend, Amit and I took our four-day-long weekend to explore Ho Chi Minh City/ Saigon. Vietnamese people celebrate “Tet” therefore the time was spent pretty slowly: small exploring, resting, massage and fabulous meals! Oh, and the Saturday night street festival was beautiful (story here)!

5. A yet naïve traveler, in Thailand

The farewell trip with my friend, Shweta, due to the many thousand kms was spent alone, yet it was quite unique! After a long time I traveled on my own and there were plenty of things there: an immigration officer committed to spend time off with me during the weekend, a red rose, doing nothing by the beach, reading, massage. It was somehow very different!

6. New home: I moved to the neighbourhood!

For four beautiful years Astoria Park was my home and I loved it! But sometimes in one’s life the time comes to change and to find new and fun flat mates to share life with! So if you wish to message me, do not hesitate to write to email me for the postal address.

After this unusually long update, let me sign off for now… :-)!

Hugs,
Gitti/ Margit/ Hugi

Saigon - Vietnam… in a different way

2008-02-24T07:21:00.000-08:00

On the Chinese New Year day of 2008, early in the morning I met one of my friends, Amit at the entrance of my condo. After the two nights staying awake I felt like a real zombie I must admit , yet at the bottom of my heart, I knew I was ready for a new adventure!

On the board of the Jetstar budget airlines we soon slept through the two-hour-long trip and we were already at the very new and beautiful airport of Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), a.k.a Saigon (in comparison with 3 years ago it was so modern and new!). A middle-aged man was waiting for us with a big “Margit” sign in his hands and within 30-40 minutes we were in the familiar backpackers district, at Madam Cuc Hotel 64 (Bui Vien Street, District 1). In Vietnam, due to the house taxes, the buildings are very narrow and in order to get a cheap place to stay in, we ended up getting a room on the 6th floor, which in reality was on the 8th floor, 135 stairs away from the ground. HCMC is crowded and loud, most of the foreign investments come to this commercial center so it has grown to be a real metropolis actually.

After some relaxing we headed to town. After 100 meter of walking we went to Go2Eat restaurant for lunch. There I saw a young couple, probably around 35, with three kids. The oldest, a girl and the second, a boy were playing pool, at least kind of, as much as they could reach it, and the smallest one, around 2 years old was roaming around the parents. The scene really touched me because I found it stunning how, with a family like this, young people travel around to discover Vietnam… in a different way…

After a fabulous Vietnamese curry we took our map and headed to town finally! As we were walking around we discovered a new sight of Asia, very different from Singapore’s, yet very much realistic one. Biking “cyclo” men tried getting us to take a ride, however, with the new visitors’ stubbornness we continued walking on our own.

At first we visited the War Remnant Muesum, which is a real-life-testimony of the Vietnam war a few decades ago. In 2004, I clearly remember how my visit here steered me up with its eye-opening exhibitions. It is terrible what we, humans, can do to each other. In Vietnamese I attempted to explain to Amit which streets to take (after our fun misunderstanding situation during the China trip, he was kinda sceptic :-P). We found the extra secured Reunification Palace and then through a park we got to the Notre Dame Cathedral. Here we met a colleague, Stefan, who recommended us to check out the “Tet” festival flower market in a nearby street, 0.5km away. The city, opposite to my memories of it, was very silent, a lot of places were closed, but at the end, no wonder, as it was “their Christmas time”. By the Opera House we saw women selling their goods from big baskets and we also saw many Vietnam and Saigon photo exhibitions placed along the streets we took. The year of the mouse/ rat was welcomed with a huge flower parade and suddenly many people appeared all around. The riverside was nothing special, fairly polluted but on the way back to downtown, it took us to a nice foot massage place where we spent half an hour indulging in this form of relaxation. Many times we seemed to have got lost at least we felt that way, yet we still had so much time on our hands!

Before dinner we took another 135-step-climb to our room and then went for a walk in the backpackers street. Due to the past days’ exhaustion I soon went to alpha-and-beta but Amit, Albert, Lucian and Erwin partied a wee bit in town.

Cuchi tunnels, the place famous for its underground paths from the Vietnam War times was a destination I did not want to take on, as I clearly remember the shock I had few years ago. In the afternoon we went to downtown to check out Ben Thanh market but it was closed because of the festive days. Our taxi driver, without any command of English, could only understand our destination by interpreting Amit’s cartoonish drawing of a lion and a cage and we indeed made our way to the right place! From the books, we remembered that it was not a good place to visit but it was right by the History Museum which seemed worth a visit. After the museum we spent some time in the Botanic Garden which was filled with families.

From here Amit pretended to pray so a new taxi driver knew we wanted to check out the cathedral. There we looked around for a nice café and voila, we met another colleague, Darshana for a few minutes. Amit bought some deco souvenirs and I bought Vietnamese tops for myself and then we walked “home” I don’t know if it was something Saigon specific but the time was passing by so slowly here! Maybe I am just not a “city girl” and that is why I was bored, maybe ;-).

We went to a run down pub called Guns’n’Roses to have a cocktail and play pool and then went for another foot massage. After that, we met Albert and his gang in Bui Vien Street and headed to Go2Bar where we had some drinks, beers and danced big time! Gosh, I loved dancing again!

The next day we planned a trip to the Mekong delta. We were munching on our baguette breakfast at 7.30am and until 8.15-8.20 there was no sign of a tour guide. I kept reading and writing but after a while Amit strongly was enquiring about the trip and the hotel lady said the bus could not enter our street and we had to take a motorbike ride. I did not mind at all, rather loved it!!! The driver kept asking if we overslept so I knew they forgot about us ;-). Anyway I loved taking the ride for long kms on the crowded roads! Funnily enough Albert, Erwin and Lucian ended up being on the same bus with us so we headed to Mekong delta together. Because of the “Tet” festival the famous floating market was not open so we spent some relaxing time: checked out how they make the local coconut candies, the banana wine, we drank honey tea, walked around in orchards and listened to local songs. Even though it was a nice program, to me it was way too slow. The best thing we did was the boat rafting for 10-15 minutes on the narrow river though. I loved that :-)! After the 1.5-hour-long bus ride we were back to Saigon. Amit and I went for a Vietnamese Italian dinner, rested a bit and later in the evening we met the boys in the neighbourhood. First we went to Gvintel, a very nice restaurant by the Opera House (with the best ever Strawberry-Lemon juice I have ever tasted :-)). After that we walked around the colourful flowery streets. The ambience was sweet and happy… Later we went up to the forth floor of the Rex Hotel were we relaxed while sipping on a cocktail and watched the street festival from above.

Later we just went to sleep, packed and then took our way back to the reality, back to Singapore…

More pictures here!

Daydreaming thoughts from Bergen

2008-02-24T01:59:00.000-08:00

On the way from Hungary to Singapore this year I flew through Stockholm so I thought I could do a side trip to see my cousin Marcsi and her fiancé, Sindre in the town of Bergen, Norway. Marcsi, her sister and I grew up together so I was very keen to find out a bit about her new world now.

I spent a night in Stockholm, transiting, and to my greatest surprise Nisarg, my Indian friend living there and her Christine came to the airport to have a cup of tea and great chat with me. We spent a few hours just catching up, talking about big and small things in life and without noticing the time passing by it was already midnight! I have to admit, it was a great new year surprise!

The next morning I flew to Oslo and then right away to Bergen and wondering what would be next.

In Bergen, Sindre was waiting for me at the airport and taxied me to Marcsi’s workplace, a very cute kindergarden/crèche where she had been working since July already. I admired how my cousin has grown into being a caring teacher and loving adult and how she was dealing with the little ones! I used a bit of the internet at their place and then played with the children, observed their daily routine and all. Some really looked like tiny trolls while being wrapped in cloths from head to toe. I fell in love with Teo, one of the boy twins, as he was stealing the hearts of everyone around!

Marcsi started work early so she was done by 2.30pm. We went to her flat, I unpacked and then together with Sindre we were heading to town! First we went to Flojbanen, the cable car so we went up the one of the hills to enjoy the breath-taking view to the town shaped with stunning cute fjords all around. It was a bit hazy, the lakes and little rivers were surrounded with paper-look-alike colourful houses and I just loved to scenery! We hugged the biggest wooden troll of town and then went to the Akvariat, the underwater world place of Bergen. The seals, penguins and zillions of fish were accompanied with crocodiles and reptiles. It was a cute place, yet again!

At around 6 o’clock, to my surprise, most places closed down so we headed to a cozy little restaurant in the neighbourhood for dinner. Well, it was rather a feast :-)!

In the evening, at home, we had a look at the Bergen map to find the “to-see” places and then we went to sleep.

The day started slowly. Even though my brain told me it was already 9 or half past 9, I still did not come to agreement with it as it was pitch black. After the little signs of my watch proved the beginning of the day, I took a short bus ride and headed to town!

The castle of Bergenhus was closed but I managed to walk around in its park, even though it was subzero. On the cobblestone streets, it was a pleasure to take every step and “accidentally” finding the Maria church and then the most famous place of Bergen, the Bryggen. Gosh! The place stunned me! We could say it was just a raw of colourful houses by the water but to me it was just amazing! I walked up and down by those houses, looked at them from close, from far and then from close again and it reminded me to a fairy tale scene! Loved it! Then I decided to walk further, though kept on looking back at the enchanting water-side street!

The buildings in the consequent streets looked different, yet very colourful and the fast-speed-walk was nice (I was freezing ;-)). The fish market, due to the cold of the winter was small but smellily cute, too.

I just had to follow the cobblestones and found the Johannes Church, at the end of long stairs ahead of me. The dark-red bricks under the clear blue sky were fantastic view to be part of.

Besides that, there was the university quarter when I spent some time inside the Nature Museum to defrost. At least at the beginning that was the objective, later I actually found really cool places inside the Culture Museum, sections on Vikings, Antarctic explorations and big whales.

After regaining my natural body temperature, I took on another fight with the cold and despite all I really felt the charm of the town was really worth it! While I walked down on one of the streets I saw a “London 2008” calendar in one of the bookstores. It has black-and-white pictures reminding me to Europe. I thought it would be a great reminder for me thorough the year to my plans to move to the “old continent” in 2009 :-).

I took a bus to Arsane and then met Marcsi there so we could go together to Bergen. We had the chance to sneak into Gamle Bergen, the town’s skanzen, despite it being closed due to winter. We then went to a place called something like Grons… where Marcsi and Sindre sometimes spend sunny days in the summer. I really liked that this town had a lot of trees and small forests inside, little slopes to climb, nice garden-houses to pass by and in general, just the feel of it! No wonder, Norwegians are such nature-lovers!

At home we had a lemon fish dinner and then went to the movie theatre to watch the chick flick called “Enchanted in New Year”. Then at home we watched “Ever After” so ever since I have been waiting for my prince to come… hihihi :-)! I believe such a fairy life exists indeed!

The next morning started late, too! If the sun does not wake up why would I do, right :-)? I took a bus to downtown and then no wonder, I “accidentally” ended up in a café called Lido-Conditory right opposite of the Bryggen. I was sitting there for hours, sipping on hot fruit tea and writing messages to family and friends. What shall I say… this IS life :-)!

More photos here!

Orchid Story 49-50 - Diploma, Mandarin, dance and career

2008-01-12T22:40:00.000-08:00

November-December 2007

My Dear Orchid Story reader,

The four words above, diploma-Mandarin-dance-career don't quite interdepend in my life 100%, however, they well describe my last two months.

1. I completed my MBA! I did it, I did it!
2. Me and my Mandarin: one letter = 1000 km ;-)?
3. Dance, dance and dance: in the excitement of performances
4. Changes at work: I've got to experience this, too

1. I completed my MBA! I did it, I did it!

There are miracles, ay!!! I felt that way at least when on 17th November I received my MBA transcripts from the university. I completed my MBA! My 1.5+ years was sometimes spent in self-pity for the long nights of studying but they brought the desired completion and it feels amazing! :-). The graduation ceremony will take place only in May but until then I am daydreaming about what all I can do with the extra 15-20 hours per week as new hobbies. At first I signed up for Spanish! Como estas ;-)?

2. Me and my Mandarin: one letter = 1000 km ;-)?

On the weekend of the religious festival of Hari Raya, my friend, Amit (IN) and I decided to explore a bit of Southwestern China. Guangzhou itself is not quite interesting, it is big and grey industrial city but we soon decided to target Yangshuo, the place famous for its Chinese picture-like sceneries. After a long while I could use my tiny Mandarin knowledge again which funnily enough took us into some fun trouble: instead of Yangshuo, a place 8 hours away, I mispronounced the name and ended up buying train tickets to Yangzhou which is 26 hours away ;-). One letter... get real ;-)! Hehehe. After 5 hours of traveling we noticed this though and somehow made it to the destination. It was breathtaking - definitely worth it! In numbers the trip would look something like this: 20 hours of sightseeing + 42 hours of traveling and transit + 14 hours sleep = 76 hours of adventures ;-) (Pictures can be found here.).

3. Dance, dance and dance: in the excitement of performances

As a small girl, I used to often daydream about being a revu/ musical dancer. Even though I did not end up becoming one, in November I got two dance performances to hype up my life: at the company dinner & dance annual ball with my 8-people-HR team we performed a bhangra & disco dance (video here) and later with my dance studio we did an Egyptian belly dance choreography (video here), too. It was a fantasic experience and in some ways I lived that dream of the young Gitti ;-).

4. Changes at work: I've got to experience this, too

Besides all the fun moments there were some challenges along the way, too. Due to downsizing and re-organising at work, the professional aspect of life that I have always taken for granted was shaken up. This got me to finally evaluate where I am and what I am doing and also led me to do a more thought over career planning. My new portfolio at work is still shaping up, it is expanding. I see fantasy in it as I am excited about my specialisation so there should be another interesting year to come.

2007 is about to get complete. I would like to thank you for coming along with my on the sometimes flowery, sometimes rocky route of it, even if often just virtually ;-). I wish you Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Love (now) from Hungary ;-)
Gitti/ Hugi/ Margit

Egyptian dance performance

2007-11-17T23:20:00.000-08:00

With my dance studio, we had a dance performance at Tiong Bahru Cultural Event. With our instructor, Maia we prepared for it for a month and then the 9 of us did it, did it, did it! ;-)

The Community Life Arts Programme (CLAP!) by the National Arts Council of Singapore

Dancers: Stephanie, Jenny, Chee Keng, Christine, Ann, Rackel, Pansy, Ivy and myself

Photos can be seen here.

DHL Dinner & Dance performance - bhangra & disco

2007-11-03T21:36:00.000-07:00

On Friday, we had the annual ball of our company where 3 teams prepared a choerographed dance as part of the theme. My team, 8 people from the Express HR team did a bhangra & disco dance that you can check out here:

Orchid Story 47-48 - Really getting to know

2007-11-03T21:23:00.000-07:00

September-October 2007

My Dear Orchid Story Reader

The holiday season continued over here, on the land of orchids... but how exactly?

1. My brother, Andris and his Kinga visiting me
2. All sorts of things

1. My brother, Andris and his Kinga visiting me

You may remember that last year this time I wrote about their wedding. Secretly-not secretely I was hoping that after having given them the newly wed gifts, i.e. Singapore-Thailand-Malaysia-Indonesia travel books they would come here to celebrate. And the strategy worked ;-)!!! We spent two beautiful weeks together! During the week they did sightseeing in Singapore, on the first weekend we relaxed on a secluded beach on the Malaysian Tioman island and on the second weekend we went to the Thai Krabi island to roam around, ride elephants, walk around in the jungle, take a boat for island hopping, get grilled under the sun! You can find pictures here :-)!

Our time together allowed me to get to know Kinga better and to really get to know my brother, Andris. We lived together last time 15 years ago, ever since then we only met up for weekends and then for Christmas breaks but that was not really what I was looking for. I realised what a loving husband and man my brother grew up into being and I was really proud of him. It was such a great thing to really get to know him! Now I am hoping that my other brother, Erno and his family will visit me, too so that I can really get to know them, too :-)!

2. All sorts of things

· After the summer holiday season and all the traveling it was time for more of studying. My professor teaching the last modules have different and higher expectations so it takes up most of my free time.
· Due to the approaching dance performances, the number of practices has increased from one to four-five per week! Yeah ;-)!
· Our friend, Pilli held her farewell party on the Malaysian Rawa island and she is already dearly missed...
· Irina and I spent a few days in Hanoi, the ”Paris of the Orient” because of our company event in March.
· As I ended up getting a flu, even though I prepared for a mini marathon at the end of October, I could not attend it so now I am training for a run in December.
· On an event held for physically and sexually traumatised kids, with my company I spent half a day with a ten-year-old Malay girl in the Botanic Garden. She was very closed initially but after some games and running around she grew to be an energetic lovely little one :-)!
· The Hungarian Embassy organised an October 23 celebration with nice snacks and delicious wine from home. It was a smiley-happy evening, I tell you :-)!
· At the last travel fair in Singapore, I ended up promoting trips to my country and round trips around the region. It was awesome to see what an egzotic (!!!) destination my country is from this part of the world ;-)!

Hmmm. Enough of me for the day ;-)!
Hugs and love
Gitti/ Hugi/ Margit

Orchid Story 45-46 - Summer holidays

2007-08-28T18:45:00.000-07:00

July-August 2007

My Dear Orchid Story Reader

Even though it is always summer by the Equator, it seems that the past months passed by very summerly - it is HOLIDAY time! First my parents came to visit me, later my primary school friend joined me in discovering the region but there is way more to tell, too...

1. One month with my parents
2. Two weeks with my primary school friend
3. Work, friends and fun!

1. One month with my parents

After a long time, my parents and I got the chance to spend a whole month together in July! While I was working during the days, they were roaming around in Singapore and in the weekends we were wondering around the region together! We visited Rawa island in Malaysia where they got to meet 15 friends of mine to play beach volleyball and chill together. We went to the beautiful province of Chiang Mai in Thailand where we got to ride elephants, bamboo-raft and meet long-neck tribal women. Then we targeted the gorgeous island of Bali in Indonesia where, along with some of my friends, we had a look at legendary monkey forests, beaches and cultural & natural treasures. On our last weekend we enjoyed chilling in Malaysia on a nice island called Tioman! It was a very sweet quality time we spent together... :-)

2. Two weeks with my primary school friend

As I mentioned it really feels like it is summer holiday as right after my parents, my primary school friend, Soren (with 20-year-friendship ;-)) also came to visit me. Whilst he was roaming in this city, at the weekends we went to explore the Erawan Waterfalls in Central Thailand and then chilled on Tioman island in Malaysia (well, I actually had to study but c’est la vie!).

3. Work, friends and fun!

Lately a certain type of re-organisational limbo also coloured my life but the decision is made now: I became a Senior Regional Analyst, Talent Management! Amongst others, we are responsible for the performance management and appraisal systems in the Asia Pacific... we look out for high-potentionals, resource at junior, mid- and senior management level positions, coordinate career management related activities, run Deutsche Post World Net (parent company) talent programs, etc. What does this mean in the everyday life? Ask me in 1-2 months ;-)! I continue to handle change management so this combo is very much what I hoped for!

On the private side, there are some developments, too: in the meanwhile my Danish-Sri Lankan friend, Julie got married to the love of her life (what a new wedding experience it was with the Sri Lankan traditions!). What else? I got the chance to jump around for one of today’s favourite silly songs, the Candyman at the Christina Aguilera concert, hehehehe... ;-)

Hugs
Gitti/ Margit/ Hugi

Orchid Story 43-44 - Up for an adventure even after 5 years

2007-07-01T03:05:00.000-07:00

May-June 2007

My Dear Orchid Story Reader

It was exactly 5 years on the 25th June that I started my overseas adventures... Wow! I would have never thought how many different things I would try at the other corners of our world but I certainly keep enjoying it!

Right now I don’t even know where to really start but let me try...

1. Nomad trip on the Silk Road in China: the origins of Hungarians?
2. Horse riding and jetskiing in the Philippines
3. Being a mascot is fun!
4. All sorts of other things

1. Nomad trip on the Silk Road in China; the origins of Hungarians?

In May, together with Pilli (KE) and some other friends we took on the adventure to visit Devrim (US/TY) in Urumqi, Western part of China. I had the opportunity to sleep in a Kyrgyz yurt by the 7,500m high Karakul mount, in the middle of nowhere, in freezing cold reality and for a day, I could experience the life our ancestors must have had. First time in my life I saw a mummy, visited a desert, learnt about the history of Uyghurs and Kazahs and I even met a guy in Kashgar who knew about the origins of Huns and Hungarians nearby. For a story, click here and to see pictures, check this out!

2. Horse riding and jetskiing in the Philippines

Liv (PH) invited Amit (IN) and I for a family weekend to South Luzon where we got the opportunity to visit a small safari, and first time in my life, I did horse riding and also jetskiing! We ate heaps and heaps, I can’t even tell how many times in a day, and of course there was always karaoke, karaoke and karaoke! Hehehehe... If interested, you can read my story and see my pictures online about this adventure!

3. Being a mascot is fun!

As this year I opted out from being a cheerleader, instead, together with my friends, Nicky and Wendy, I ended up being the bear mascot of the DHL AsiaCup ;-)!

4. All sorts of others things

- On the 14th May I was 10,000 day old! On this day I went out with friends to watch a movie and enjoy a dinner together... How did such a calculation come to my mind? Well, it is something valuable I got from taking my accounting exam a few months back ;-)!
- In May, I again ended up taking part in a corporate run here in Singapore! Sometimes I feel as if I am becoming a sport woman, other times I am convinced, I am insane ;-)!
- Thanks to the earlier mentioned change management portfolio at work, I got the chance to train again! With Amod, we went to Jakarta to train a group of 25 people during the two-day-program and I truly loved being back to training again!
- With my friend, Nicky, I managed to survive already the third rollerblading, for a whole two hours! Yeah, she had to keep me standing but it was absolutely worth it ;-)!
- As one of our Singaporean-Chinese colleague got married recently, we got the opportunity to experience another local wedding here.

Huh, that is from me for now... Hugs
Gitti/ Margit/ Hugi

South Luzon and Tagaytay - A kinda family holiday

2007-06-30T03:53:00.000-07:00

Because of the approaching Vesak day celebrated here in Singapore, there was a long weekend coming therefore I thought it would be good to explore a new bit of Asia. My Indian friend, Amit and I got invitation from Liv (PH) to visit the Philippines and we were already booking our budget airline ticket to go for the new adventure.

Liv's family lives in Manila and because of our visit, her extended family planned some common holidays for the very same time. I don’t know exactly how many of them were there, her mum, siblings, niece and some cousins were there when we arrived to the airport, gifted with the oddest ever fishermen hats ;-).

With a rented car we headed towards Subic, a place around two hours to the west from Clark. There we met Liv's mum's friend, some vip as he was with two drivers and 2-3 armed guards, too. From the first moment onwards we could experience the PH hospitality and reality: karaoke singing and endless eating! Gosh, I mean eating and eating and eating!!! After a bit of rest in the homey bungalow in Subic, we went to a seaside restaurant where we ended up consuming our third dinner that day :-P.

Next morning, we went to the local safari zoo where we fed a tiger cub, looked around the park from a caged van, we wandered around to see a small tribal performance and see dozens of crocodiles.

Later we headed to the Subic seaside where after some snacks and rest we did some kayaking, too. Though, with Amit it should be rather called :conscious & planned wavy floating" ;-) From here we went to a place where first time in my life I rode horses!!!! Huh! :-)

In the evening we ate and ate and then played some silly photo & coin games with the cousins.

The next day we targeted the Taal volcano. Even though it is a tiny one, hardly 300-400 m high, it is very active and apparently it could erupt any day in the next 2-3 years. Due to this "danger", Liv's family rather took us to the outside volcano lake where Liv’s mum’s friend welcomed us in his raft house! We spent the whole day in the middle of the lake, and here first time in my life I could jetski! It was amazing! I fell in love with it right away :-)...

Until dawn we were eating and eating (no surprise, ay ;-)?) and then went to Manila, Makati.

There we had a look at the Green Belt, ate dinner and looked at a few bars but after the tiring-nothing-to-do we deserved the alpha-beta.

Manila is a huge city and after having heard so much about it from friends, I did not have high expectations. At first we saw the business district, Makati and then the old quarter, the Intramuros, too! The later was very pretty.

We were browsing around the old Spanish parks and European-look-alike cathedral and with the help of Liv, we could learn a bit about the country’s history, too. In the harbour, we talked a bit and then we headed to the budget airport, two hours away from the city.

Traveling with Amit is an adventure itself. On the way to the airport he decided to embarrass me in one way or another and he somewhat succeeded, too. He made a scene at the check-in counter about which one of us should sit by the window (it is well known that I always get the window seat at the end ;-)), and then our paths separated thorough the immigration. A men couple were in front of me and tried sneaking at my passport to find out which unundestandable-language-speaking-country I am from. Then Amit decided to make them believe (without telling me) that he is my paid partner. Whilst he was supposed to buy some cookies, he stood by them and pretended to get a call. To the unknown, he loudly announced that his services were already over, we would even sit separately unless he would get paid more. Come on! What insane human would think of something like this? Of course, Amit :-P! On the place we ended up sitting separately so that story seemed even more real to those guys. Just for the sake of it, we continued the role play at the Singapore airport and slowly we accepted that the holiday was over ;-)... hehehehe....

For more photos, click here!

10,000-day-old ;-)

2007-05-14T00:08:00.000-07:00

... so if you are in Singapore, come and join us for a movie and dinner tonight!

Urumqi and Kashgar - Nomad trip on the Silk Road

2007-05-12T01:39:00.000-07:00

My friend, Devrim (Turkish US) moved to Urumqi in the Western part of China around 4 months ago and ever since he has been tempting us to go and explore the nomadic Wild West with him. The teasers worked... Given the 1st May long weekend I packed up to join him for some exploring at the Silk Road.

After a long ride from Singapore, 6 hours to Beijing and 4 hours to his city, finally Pilli (Kenya) and I reached the airport where Devrim was waiting for us. We waited for Kirk from Texas (US) and later Ben (Austria) and Sophie (Germany) from Shanghai. At his place we met up with Steph (Canada) who took a bit of break after her never-ending trip, and there were two Uighur friends of Devrim, Guljahan and Menira, too to welcome us, the visitors.

First we were yumming on some delicious Uighur snacks at his Turkish atmosphered flat and then we walked around and saw a bit of the neighbourhood. Urumqi, as the capital of Xinjiang province is not quite my kind: a big polluted industrial city. But there were no worries as we were soon flying down south to Kashgar (1,100km), one of the landmarks of the ancient Silk Road!

We were quite surprised while reaching the hotel there as we realized it was not quite backpackers-alike: as we found out in this region we didn’t only have to pass the copy of our visa and passport to the police but also there were only a few hotels that had permit to host foreigners. We slept there and the next day we were ready to explore the city that, already for the first glance, looked like one must have been many decades ago.

In the streets, everywhere we could see donkey taxis: it was like a normal cart with a horse but here the horse was a donkey, much slower and people were jumping up and down from it.

The Abakh Khoja Tomb was our first destination: it is famous for being the tomb of 72 people of 5 generations of the same family. The building was very nicely architected, it used to be a pilgrimage place for Muslims but since in the last decades there have been contradicting historical stories about the place and its “magic”, I must say I did not figure it out. There was a cute orchard on the side where we watched two Uighur girls beautifully dancing for Arabic sounding music and then we headed to the livestock market.

The place absolutely stunned me, though that feeling came along with a big portion of shock, too ;-)

Sheep, camels, horses were everywhere and people in their grey-black dresses were selling them off to each other. You could drink date juice, fabulous yoghurt mix if your belly could take it all.

There were sheep with the hugest ever balls, they were sheered, sold and made into kebobs at the very same place. At the exit of the market there were local barbers sheering people who felt like getting a hair cut and expectedly-unexpectedly Devrim was one of the volunteers and got himself totally shaved.

Later, while walking towards the Kashgar bazaar, there were women on the sidewalks, having their stockings stuffed with money, accompanied by very peaceful old men and they were selling their goods all around. In the bazaar one can buy anything: nuts, cloths, carpets, hats, anything! In the late afternoon I had my International Business exam online but the others continued to explore the place, a mosque and odd architectures. This evening we met up with a guy who actually knew about the origins of Huns and Magyars (Hungarians)! So coooool!

The next day we headed towards Karakul Lake by Mustaga hill, close to the Kyrgyz border. The view was breathtaking: camels and yaks were roaming around on the endless fields right by the snowcapped mountains, peaking up as high as 7.500m! And the Karakul lake? French tourists ate up all the food in the only restaurant so our time kicked off oddly, even more so, when we realized we did not quite have a place to say.

Thanks to Guljahan and Menira there was a Kyrgyz couple that offered us their very own portable yurt to stay in (while they stayed in the farther neighbourhood) and they even made us dinner and breakfast!

In the afternoon, young locals offered us one horse and two camels so we ended up riding them for hours. The boys took us to the “neighbourhood”, a village where they stayed with their families. Their parents gave us some local specialties such as the salty tea with yak milk (really not quite my kind :-P) and home-made bread. Later they were offering us some of their own goodies and then we rode back to our yurt. In the meanwhile, four girls staying behind, together with the Kyrgyz man held on to the walls of the yurt because the winds were so strong they nearly blew our home away ;-).

Our hosts prepared some meat and soup for us for dinner, though I soon crashed out because of a mild altitude sickness... The night passed by slowly: while we were sleeping on a layer of duvet, covered with another one, I myself cuddled up to baby-size inside my sleeping bag to be least exposed to the 0-5C cold. I was looking at the roof that covered only 2/3 and through the big whole I could see the stars.

In the early morning, brushing teeth in the ice cold lake was like self-hibernation or something. The mirror lakes along the way were stunningly reflecting the snowcapped huge mountains and the Kyrgyz people we met on the roads kept on reminding me to our Kyrgyz friend, Aibek and how cool it is to see this much of his world, even if it is probably not really the same.

Next we headed towards to Taklamakan desert where first time in my life I could (literally) flavour the taste of the desert: mild wind was steering up the sand while we walked on the dunes, in 35C heath, under the bright shiny blue sky.

At night we flew back to Urumqi. After a longer rest Devrim and Guljahan made us breakfast themselves and then we all headed to the Urumqi Museum where first time in my life I saw a mummy! Not one that looks like the Egyptian ones in the movies because they were not wrapped, just coated with some chemicals, they got pruned and even after centuries you could actually recognize their faces! Amazing!

As back in Singapore a corporate run and a weekend seminar at the university was awaiting me, I again took on a 10-hour-ride back to reality! But what a nomadic adventure this was at the Silk Road! Wooow! Thanks, Devrim…

For more pictures, check this out!

Orchid Story 42 - Above the clouds at 4095m altitude

2007-05-10T07:51:00.000-07:00

April 2007

My Dear Orchid Story Reader

Capricious April is seamlessly passing by above my head! Sure there are lots of interesting things happening but I could not quite just catch up with them all...

1. Above the clouds at 4095m altitude
2. Cool-ture

1. Above the clouds at 4095m altitude

I would have never thought I would ever-ever be hiking and climbing at such heights but it happened! My friend, Cecilia (HK) had this crazy idea and somehow I jumped on it and look! I was already striving to make it up to the peak of Mount Kinabalu in Borneo, the highest point in South East Asia! Getting from the tropical 30C to the peak's 0C was not quite a usual experience over here at the Equator, and the view there? The sunrise at 5.30am is fairy tale-like with its beautiful colours and cloud formations! If you are keen to find out more about my story, click here and for photos, check this out!

2. Cool-ture

Besides all the work and studying, over the last few weeks I got the chance to enjoy couple of cool cultural programs. With my team, Amod (IN) and Irina (RO), we went to watch the Phantom of the Opera in Esplanade, Singapore's national theatre. With Nacho (AR) we went to check out the Nemo of Ice iceskating show performance in the stadium. With my Romanian friends, Irina and Albert and also Attila from Transylvania, we viewed one of the best Romanian actor’s, if not the best one's, Horatiu Malaele’s theatrical performance. It is very cool to have culture back in my life and I believe I will yet again watch out more for such opportunities arising :-)!

Once I catch up with my thoughts, I will write again ;-)!

Hugs and love
Gitti/ Hugi/ Margit

Borneo - Sunrise from 4095 meter high

2007-04-16T03:57:00.000-07:00

Last October, my friend, Cecilia (HK) asked me if I was keen to climb Mount Kinabalu on the island of Borneo. I must admit that initially I was very hesitant but after a few days of mesmerizing I agreed to take on the challenge with her and said yes to the invitation! A friend of hers from Kuala Lumpur, Ann organized the program for 8 Malaysian people and us for the weekend of Easter.

As the flight tickets were cheap from Johor Bahru (MY), we made our way across the Singapore-Malaysia border and got on a plane from Senai Airport. After a 2.5-hour-trip we found ourselves in Kota Kinabalu, the place where I had been already 4 times before! However, this was the first time I came to conquer the most interesting and biggest attraction, Mount Kinabalu!

We slept a few hours in a cozy little place called City Park Lodge (Jalan Pantai) and then at 6am we were already on our toes to start our 1.5-2-hour-long bus ride to Kinabalu Park. As the trail is in a national park, the authorities limit the access for the visitors, thereby for the months of April-June you often have to book your place half a year or so before! We got registered at the entrance (the track has some dangerous parts so they have to keep count of the tourists) and then we were ready to roll!

On the first day we were to reach the little hut called Laban Rata (the only heated lodge up there), 6 km away from the base point.

From the 1,850 meter high starting point you need to go up all the way to 3,200 meter where the air is not quite "normal" anymore, rather very scarce and you need to encounter some differences/ challenges with the altitude change.

We made this distance with Ceci in just 3.5 hours (very happy about it ;-)) and then we rested up there at the base camp. You can’t do much and as people need to be up by 2am, most are already asleep by 6-7pm.

We took off at 2.30am to conquer the top of the mountain in the deep dark of the nearly full moon night. It was 3km away, including a 900 meter altitude change. Ceci and I did quite well with climbing the steep dark cliffs and made our way up to the summit by 5.30am.

It was freaking cold up there, despite being in the tropics, the temperature went down to 0 C! The trip was absolutely worth it: the view of the sunrise, just above the clouds, with its 1,000 colours were stunning!

As up there, the sun soon warms up the plain grey rocks we decided to set off for the 9 km-long-downhill ride the soonest!

I must say that all the tips of friends who had done this trip before were more than reasonable: it counted a lot what cloths and climbing shoes you wore and whether you had a walking stick to support your body while coming, especially, down from the hill! The climb was a challenge for both the body and mind!

While you are taking one step at a time, very carefully, you have a lot of time to think, wonder at the beautiful scenery of the mountain and all together just enjoy the peace and magic of the beautiful nature!

Once we made it back all the way to town, we did not have much energy left but for a dinner and massage and then to go to alpha-beta in our little lodge.

The next day, Ceci and I met up with two of my KK friends, Praba from Sutera hotel and Aaron from an event management company. We did not wish for any moving around so we ended up having another short massage, watching a brainless movie in the cinema, having a relaxing dinner and than after the chilled out Saturday head back to the airport, Johor Bahru and then to Singapore!

This trip is a perfect proof of what you can do with determination: what seemed to me absolutely impossible, became possible and it was a great feeling to look back at the adventure of conquering that huge summit up there, in Mount Kinabalu :-)!

For more photos, check this out!

Orchid Story 41 - Variety

2007-03-31T23:34:00.000-07:00

March 2007

My Dear Orchid Story Reader

Let’s see how this month of March ended up being quite an odd one here in South East Asia:

1. Holi, the festival of colours
2. Our event in Borneo
3. Just because…

1. Holi, the festival of colours

The time of my favourite Indian festival, the Holi has arrived! Last year I missed out on it because of the mini-marathon in Thailand but this year no way I could have skipped the colourful event, reminding all to the good old times in the kindergarten ;-) so the fun was on! Hehehehe... Eddie, my classmate from uni, Pritam, my crazy Indian friend and Gabor, my world citizen Hungarian friend and I had a blast in a nearby park where the festival took place! If you are keen to learn more about the festival’s history, click here for my earlier story about it and for photos, check this out ;-)

2. Our event in Borneo

Last year I mentioned that one of my new work areas is event management (two programs per year). The big program in Bali took place last month (I adored it!) and now it was time to have the other one, this time in Borneo, Kota Kinabalu! 90 outstanding sales performer awardee came to the island of jungles and mysterious tribes from 18 countries in AP and we organized a program for them, full of discoveries of legendary places and fun! But let me tell you more about it next month, with photos ;-)

3. Just because

Some random picture and moments:
- I have uploaded a 2.5-min-long short video about our event in Bali. You can view it here. It well introduces the concept of the program, hope, you will like it :-)
- The time for a new type of accident has also arrived: the hot iron fell on my right leg, causing first and secondary burns. What on Earth, ay... :-S? It is ugly but healing... heheheh...
- I ate fish eye ball... hmmm... it is a local delicacy or what but if you ask me it is slimy and disgusting ;-)

That is all for me for now!
Hugs and love
Gitti / Margit / Hugi

You wanna eat fish eye ball, ay?

2007-03-31T22:03:00.000-07:00

Fish head curry with fish eye ball... they call it a local delicacy... I ate the fish eye ball.. but I say NEVER AGAIN :-P

Another reason why not to iron... grrrrr

2007-03-31T22:02:00.000-07:00

Slowly healing but no good...

Bali EOY flashback

2007-03-31T21:29:00.000-07:00

I think this short video sums it up all what a memorable event it was in Bali! The 106 awardees from all around Asia Pacific were a great audience to organise the programs for... Those shiny-sparkling eyes made all worth it! :-)

Orchid Story 40 - Balance

2007-03-31T21:25:00.000-07:00

February 2007

Dear Orchid Story Reader

My February was very much about finding work-life balance (if it is ever of reality ;-)). Because of personal and work reasons I had the chance to travel quite a lot, which I adore doing as you know, I just look forward to sleeping a bit now ;-) …

1. Krabi: cave kayaking
2. Bangkok: change management training
3. Bali: organising the big event

1. Krabi: cave kayaking

It was very easy (again ;-)) to convince my Dutch friend, Nicky for an unconventional trip… we packed up for a backpacking weekend to Krabi island in Thailand. From last year I already knew that the place is heaven on Earth and my feeling just got stronger during the trip. Besides island hopping, for the first time in our lives we did cave kayaking! I adored it! For story, click here and for picture, check this out ;-)!

2. Bangkok: change management training

I attended one of the best training programs in Bangkok that was organized to facilitate change management and increase related knowledge for people in the South Asia region. I really enjoyed having lots of practical exercises, actual problem-solving situations and presentation-facilitation! Most likely I will be involved in related work later this year so it looks very exciting, I must say!

3. Bali: organising the big event

Earlier I mentioned to you that I was about to organise the Asia Pacific Employee of the Year, 3-day-long event and incentive program. Well, the time has come and it certainly brought quite some challenges to balance my work-life areas. I have not organize a program of this magnitude so it was very tough sometimes but when I met the awardees, who often traveled for first time in their lives and were absolutely thrilled to get this special recognition, I was certain that it was worth every single minute of it! My organising committee got very bonded along the way and enjoying the fruits of the program’s success was an experience itself ;-) But let me tell you more about it next month… now I would rather go to sleep… Oh, and before I forget to tell: from now I officially believe in the rain stoppers :-)!

Hugs and love
Gitti / Margit / Hugi