A friend of mine, whom I met while living in Zhuhai, now lives in the city center of Arnhem. What a small world it is to have met a Brazilian in Zhuhai, then to meet again in the Netherlands of all places. Arnhem, which is just 1/2 hour by train from where I was staying, so far seems like a charming city. Apparently the city center was bombed during the war, thus the city center was rebuilt where it was needed, thus there is this great blend of old and new, and it definitely brings about out an energy around here that I like. I’ve always liked juxtiposition of old and new. It’s livelier feeling than Utrecht’s city center because of this too, in my view. So far every city center I’ve been to is similiar yet different. Similarities in the center are things such as a church, market squares, and brick or stone lined streets. Different is the energy and pace of life the center breathes. At noon, one can hear the church bells toll, which really reminds me that I am in Europe after all.

Today my friend is busy with her study group, so I wander out to find some food and place to hang out. She’s in a catch-22 position with getting a bank account, in order to order cable tv and internet, so it’s a bit lonesome to hang out too long with nothing to do. Also, being a non-smoker, the stale smoke smell from the previous resident/theowner, leaves me wanting fresher air. So my mission was to find fresh air, and get some internet access. After two months here, I’ve found that it’s difficult in the Netherlands to find cafes that offer Wifi service, let alone free wifi. Oh how I miss this freedom of communication and being connected to the world!

After trying a few cafes [no wifi to be found], I finally settled on an Hungarian cafe and had a fusion pannekoeken, shredded chicken fillet flavoured Hungarian style with a lovely sauce and small green salad. To drink, I ordered a Latte Macchiatto. All coffee drinks in Netherlands seem to be always served with a little cookie or biscotti, it is such a lovely addition to receive and nibble on, I think this is something every cafe should adapt. Here, it is hard to find coffee ‘to go’. Apparently there are only two Starbucks in all of Netherlands. One in Utrecht, in the Central train station, and the other, located within Nike’s headquarters somewhere west of Amsterdam. Hmm.. maybe McDonalds offer coffee to go, but I haven’t noticed anyone walking around with one of those yet.

Pannekoekken Kip + Latte Macchiato by Kaishin Chu © 2009

Koffiedrinken is a more sit down, take your time kind of thing, so that perhaps explains the lack of ‘to-go’ options. Also, it is done with a companion and time is spent to have conversations and taking it slow. I guess laptop use would be strange for them, deemed a bit anti-social perhaps? Well, being a solo traveller, I need to do something while I stretch out my time on my own to enjoy my koffie slowly… so, it cannot be helped.
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p.s.
For those who know what is going on in my personal life, the title of this post references the recent events.

For the last month, I’ve been in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It was a pretty last minute trip out here for me. J’s job started with contract for the Kauala Lumpur office and was told to expect it to be 2-3 months. 1.5 weeks into J’s stint there, I left Zhuhai to join him, so to keep each company, and for me to support him in a somewhat difficult phase.

If you would like to read more to my experience in KL, please head on over to our travelogue blog at: jason-kai.com for the two part post. Just a reminder that all travel/living abroad related entries will be posted over there now. Thanks!

Sorry for missing last week’s 8 Thoughts or Things post, it was a busy one. Most of it due was to processing through photo images taken during two photo tours and looking at apartments (another story for another time). They were tours organized by the condo developers that built the units we live in, along with local gov’t dept. of Tourism, mobile co., and local news agencies. All targeted at foreigners or expats here in Zhuhai, to showcase Zhuhai and a publicity event for them.  Foreigners still make big news here in Zhuhai. People still take photos of you if you’re not Asian looking… so while the new crews joins us on the trips, most foreigners are photographed all the time in return for the free tour and insight into some of the tourism highlights of Zhuhai, and the possibility to win a prize for best photo. Decent trade off I think, as long as they follow through with their promises.  As the ending to this particular competition, tonight was the awards banquet, and to my surprise, four of my photos were chosen in the final 15, and one made the final cut and won 2nd prize!! I was called up on stage to do the publicity stuff, (which was amusing) the big plaque and photos galore along with news crew, and then interviews after. It wasn’t till 10 min later that I could look at closely as to what exactly I won… A trip for two to Hunan’s ancient town, Feng Huang Town!! Wow, I still can’t believe it! Yay!

'contemplation' - kaishin chu © 2008

Part of me is still skeptical, but it will sink in once I go claim the prize and book the trip time at the travel agency, I’m sure :)

1. I take back my mockery at seeing puffy coats for sale in August at the malls here. Last time I wrote when it was 21C, and the remainder of the week shot back up to 26C. Today is 19C , a beautiful sunny day, and I feel quite cold, even with my heavy fleecy sweat jacket on through out the day, and having the need to put socks on. I cannot believe that I have acclimatized to the hotter climate. I will most def. freeze my tush off when we head home at Christmas for a visit. I better figure out which box my heavy winter coats are in so that we can go dig it out once we get to the storage unit back home. Oh, Jason did his exit/entry today to Hong Kong. He also witnessed folks wearing puffy coats and toques already! Surreal.

Read the rest of this entry »

Hi folks, it’s been one week since we returned from our Yunnan travel adventures, and I finally managed to finish going through the first batch of images from the first leg of our trip. We were invited by a family friend, Mei, to go visit her family in a small village or shire, called Qina. It’s located just outside the town of Lijiang. Kunming is just under 2 hours flight from Shenzhen, or 1.5 hour from Guangzhou. Lijiang is 8-10 hours bus ride from Kunming, or 45 min flight. Qina is 3-4 hour drive from Lijiang. Just so you have a loose idea of travel times ;)

click on image to see images from Part 1 of this trip. All images © Kaishin Chu 2008

Part 1
We left from Zhuhai by bus to Shenzhen, in order to take a flight out to Kunming city, the capital of Yunnan. We stayed in Kunming for 3 days and nights, in order to explore a few places.

Day 1: Bus ride, good. Uneventful, I actually fell asleep. Jas got to check out the geographical details en route to Shenzhen. Checked-in for flight and boarded flight. Pretty routine. Arrival in Kunming, Read the rest of this entry »