Stamp Collectors :)

Vietnam - Saigon

2011-11-04T09:33:00.002+08:00

As some may know I came to have a quick introduction to Vietnam! Arrived on Tuesday and leave on Sunday. The easiest get away was Saigon, only 1h50min flight.

I am all ok, I love Vietnam all - it is a master chaos. :)
First time traveling alone in South East Asia and happy to say so far I keep my head above water.

You need approval letter from the government to enter Vietnam so the obvious 1st gathering point is the visa counter. I met to guys right at the airport, they were Pols from Krakow. Very close to Hungary so naturally we started to chat. I was looking to take the bus and lucky enough they were open for my suggestion, I read in the guide book that you take a taxi for 100,000d (dong) but a bus is 4,000d. (1USD=21,000d)

The ride was funny, it was a local mini bus, locals were getting on and off I guess at the bus stops but I could not really see actual signs.
The guys, Chris and Lukas ended up staying at my hostel; I was choosing really well, the hostel is brand new, very clean and safe (so far). I ended up staying in the 4 bed female dorm, where 1st night there were 3 girls, but by the 2nd night they were gone and I had the whole room for myself.

What happened that the Polish boys were sooo kind and friendly we kind of grouped together for the 2 days. So our first trip was to eat the local cuisines’ specialty – Pho!

It is a noodle soup with a bunch or green leaves, meat and noodles. It is fantastic! I really love it, you can play around with it to suck the noodle, add chili, and dip things into several sauces…really entertaining to eat. :)

Here is the link:
http://www.google.com.vn/search?q=pho&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=vi&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&biw=1024&bih=574&sei=%20fjezTtK_HpHomAXfvo3dAw

We arrived very early at around 1pm so we had plenty of time to wonder around and we found the local main sights just by accident. I planned to do these the next day following Lonely Planet. :)

Notre Dame: http://www.google.com.vn/imgres?q=notre+dame+saigon&um=1&hl=vi&client=firefox-a&sa=N&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&biw=1024&bih=574&tbm=isch&tbnid=pgMgDs_CC4dDSM:&imgrefurl=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Saigon_Notre-Dame_Basilica_Side.JPG&docid=mkA9kpeT2UHoAM&imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Saigon_Notre-Dame_Basilica_Side.JPG&w=3296&h=2472&ei=KDizTriREo2HmQX597zwAw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=724&vpy=180&dur=1520&hovh=194&hovw=259&tx=146&ty=172&sig=118375968605322403806&page=3&tbnh=155&tbnw=208&start=30&ndsp=9&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:30
Opera: http://www.google.com.vn/search?q=opera+saigon&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=vi&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&biw=1024&bih=574&sei=%20TzizTue4NObsmAXPsI3wAw

The first morning: the breakfast was the typical French influenced roll, which reminds me of our Hungarian pastry but I don’t really like it as it is too “fluffy”, it is my problem at home too.

Here is the link:
http://www.google.com.vn/imgres?q=vietnam+bakery&um=1&hl=vi&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&biw=1024&bih=574&tbm=isch&tbnid=zbvhKy6SzZbOlM:&imgrefurl=http://picasaweb.google.com/ggtravelguide/GGTRAVELGUIDEVIETNAM&docid=veOHy3QTnMXT_M&imgurl=http://lh4.ggpht.com/-FNTPJj57Nk8/TBZLPmVnC6I/AAAAAAAAADY/XUsrGaYUJnw/P3220158.JPG&w=1024&h=769&ei=pzezTunvFfD3mAXo0f3fAw&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=361&sig=118375968605322403806&page=2&tbnh=167&tbnw=222&start=16&ndsp=8&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:16&tx=92&ty=63

With Chris and Lukas I went to the art museum which is a beautiful French colonial building, not renovated but gorgeous. The whole country is crazy cheap but for instance an art museum entry fee is 50 cents.

Link: http://www.google.com.vn/search?q=opera+saigon&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=vi&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&biw=1024&bih=574&sei=%20TzizTue4NObsmAXPsI3wAw#um=1&hl=vi&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aofficial&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=art+museum+saigon&pbx=1&oq=art+museum+saigon&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=168970l171281l0l171703l11l11l0l0l0l10l593l4321l3-4.3.3l10l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=571b313160f5089&biw=1024&bih=574

/I cannot insert my memory card into this computer therefore the links/
The art was mainly paintings some were beautiful; I will have photos once I can unload.

Then we walked an hour got to the history museum, and zoo. It was a great day, we walked a lot but the streets are so interesting – it is just nice to see it. We stopped at the post office which is a shockingly pretty building; inside I thought I am in Europe for a minute.

http://www.google.com.vn/search?q=opera+saigon&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=vi&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&biw=1024&bih=574&sei=%20TzizTue4NObsmAXPsI3wAw#um=1&hl=vi&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aofficial&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=post++saigon&oq=post++saigon&aq=f&aqi=&aql=1&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=214958l215678l0l216364l5l5l0l0l0l3l446l1592l3-2.2l4l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=571b313160f5089&biw=1024&bih=574

The history museum, I got some great photos there, has interesting statues and artifacts, they also had reference about the Khmer culture, which we have seen in Cambodia with Mike. Phnom Phen, Cambodia’s capital is a short ride from here!!!

Then we went to the zoo which sounded like a good idea but seriously half way we decided to leave… It was horrible, horrible ...
I should start an NGO to save those poor animals. I was thinking to go back with a big bucket of fruit and give it to them...

Then it started raining and became quite a storm, we walked to the museum/zoo which took us about an hour or so. The rain became quite strong and of course my umbrella was at the hostel, so we decided to hop on a random bus. We did not know where it would go, but it was better than being soaked. :)

One of guys wanted to try the best crepe making place and made us walk to find it but the plan failed and we were quite wet so we gave up after a wet 30-40 min and took a cab back to our neighborhood. Bit more tourists but due to that there are restaurants, cheap beer and life.

Here we found this bad looking restaurant which has great food and sat down for a feast. I eat so little, breakfast is not too great at the hostel and I just go with the flow so many times I have lunch at 4-5pm.
Anyways the meal was EXCELLENT. Beef roasted with honey, spring rolls, veggie with shrimps... and the 50cent beer. oh lovely. It was great to go to eat with the guys because we could try more food. :)

About the prices:
1 bottle of beer – 10,000dong = 50 cents
1 bowl of pho – 40,000dong = 2+dollars
Taxi – 2-3 dollars
Coffee – 1or 2 dollars

Then we walked to find an agency for them to Cambodia and a tailor for Mike and I. Success was celebrated with beer and good chats. It is so crazy here the common thing is to sit on the street on these baby plastic chairs and baby plastic tables, pretty funny but it is working. You are down to Earth : ) on the street, eating and drinking, actually it is quite cute. :) And vendors walk up to you selling tobacco, toys…

On the 3rd day, the boys left for Cambodia and I left for Vung tau which is the sea side holiday destination.

I chose the not beaten down path and haggled a motor taxi (first time) to the faaaar away bus terminal. I asked the hostel staff to write me key sentences in Vietnamese in case I need them and very well I needed them. This faaar away bus station was sooo local, that people were looking at me as I am a Caucasian, 95% of people did not know a word of English and everybody loved the fact that I had my massage written down in Vietnamese, I got great brownie points.

I got a bus ticket to Vung tau about 2-2.5h away from here at the sea side.

I sat in the front of the mini bus, I wanted the view and as I was the only white chick the driver let me sit there. and the locals at the back were understandably saying " look at the apple polisher" hahahah :) I just smiled

The ride was a bit longer than I expected and ahh there is poverty here too. The road is sometimes kidney crashing but I did arrive at 1pm (3h ride). Took a local motor taxi to my hotel :) and felt that something is not right...

The hotel was very empty, I think maybe 1-2 rooms were occupied but they had problems with electricity, toilet flashing... I was not too confident. So I decided to have a swim to feel at home. Well the sea was brown because of the sand so I decided to NOT go in at all.
I collected shells as it is my favorite hobby and started to walk south to the Jesus statue.

http://www.google.com.vn/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=AAM&pwst=1&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&q=vung+tau+jesus&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.,cf.osb&biw=1005&bih=558&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi

I was walking on the beach which was empty but some local boys whose attention I “unwontedly” got... great I thought.
The whole place had this ghost city feel to it... I was seriously considering to just call this whole thing off. If I feel like that during the afternoon sun, how will it feel at night...? Not to mention that I had no lunch and I found no place to eat...

I was walking alone and then I saw some nice views and spots ... but as the bike rent was pricey I walked under the 2 pm sun!!!!

Then I saw the Jesus statue and thought... oh it will be a pain to go up there but I will surely never come back so might as well start the climb.
My sweat was literary dropping from my body by the time I arrived. The view was nice, but got some tankers!

I convinced myself to stay and try to enjoy the place rent a scooter or something. I could not go into the Jesus statue ‘cos my shorts were too short and so at the feet of it I met a German girl who also had the same problem and she waited for her bfriend to come back. Talking to her made me go with my first feeling and just decide to leave.

I paid extra and got on the hydrofoil... very fast boat I wanted to try it as I now knew the car ride.

I had a chat and a coffee at the jetty with the Germans (i met up with them again). On the boat I met some Hong Kong people who told me to go on a Mekong tour or go and see Chu Chi tunnels.

I am more into the cooking class idea but it is pricey, 35-40USD!!! The place I found is super nice looking, but I find it expensive. Otherwise cooking class is not too available as I find. No massage places either unlike in Thailand or Bali.

On the way home there came a HUGE storm, when we arrived to the Saigon jetty it was raining cats and dogs, so i had to share a cab with the German couple.

I came back to my hostel and asked for a room again :) they put me into a room with a Japanese girl so I am not alone - so cute.

I finished the night with my favorite pho and it was great as always. I love it!

After that I was just walking around, not daring to adventure out too much as it was dark and it was the 1st night I am totally alone.

Today my plan was to catch up on the blog in the morning while having my excellent Vietnamese coffee; it is as great as being heard.
Now I will I take the bus to China town to look at some pagodas and presents. I also want to eat as much as I can to see and taste Vietnam. :) I had some names and places recommended.

to be continued…

Wednesday night dinner

2011-09-29T11:21:00.002+08:00

Last night Mike proposed to go out and spend a night "not next to the books", Mike started his MBA in August and slowly but steadily he is spending all of his extra time with books/theories and studying.

After his last exam on Tue, he just wished to be somewhere outside... I had in mind a great restaurant which offers free dinner for any girl who is willing to buy a drink there ($6 only). Option 1 is pizza, option 2 is pasta, not to fitness but pretty good deal. So I thought of inviting 2 of our friends and go down there...

...but then again I thought it might be better over all if I prepare the dinner and have everybody come to our grill area in our condo's garden and eat there.

It seems that the idea was a huge success, as always I invented a meal using mussels, B. fish, salmon and lots of cream sauce.

Imran and Krisztina were highly impressed with the serving due to its size, smell and look. It might have been Kriszti's last meal at our place as she is moving back to Hungary for good in less than 4 days. :)

So here are the pictures:

Mike's Birthday on 30th August

2011-09-29T10:51:00.005+08:00

Mike's upcoming birthday gave me the fine excuse to venture out and buy ingredients that are usually not in my daily routine items such as Parma ham, outstanding quality Swiss and Italian cheeses, really nice cream fresh ...

Actually Mike tole me to give him an "experience" for his birthday which meant an unforgettable meal. Given that he LOVES pasta and chocolate I did not need to spend much time thinking what to prepare, I made pasta main course and chocolate dessert.
Which is quite vanilla! :)

Purchasing all the ingredients took me a fair amount of time as I went to 4-5 different shops for perfection.

I speed-learned the method of home made pasta by Jamie Oliver. This story on youtube really does seem to be quick and easy but if you haven't got a pasta maker machine like he does in the video, it is quite fussy / time consuming and the result is not as soft as expected but hey I made pasta at home! :)

The meal turned out to be unbelievable - super rich but just super tasty with the great cheeses, see through sliced Parma ham, creamy sauce ... it was a feast no doubt about it! We opened one of our holly bottle of wines from Hungary, all was perfect and according to Mike the meal delivered what he hoped for.

The dessert had to wait for a while as we needed some time between these two courses but the chocolaty dessert was just amazing as well!

I am sure this is something you shouldn't eat every day because the calorie contain is about 3000 per head but once is a while it is great to celebrate!

Cruise trip in pictures / Cruise utazasunk kepekben

2011-07-04T12:51:00.003+08:00

The biggest cruise in Singapore was hosting us to Redang island.
Szingapur legnagyobb cruise hajo latott minket vendegul Regand szigeteig.

Majong room

Mike eloszor, masodszor, harmadszor...
Mike first, second and third :)

Vizi Impi

Egyik etkezeskor ugy gondoltuk, hogy itt az ideje "vegyulni" a fedelzeten 98%ban jelenlevo kinai utasokkal. (kinai de nem feltetlenul Kinabol szarmazo utasok)
Igy hat ugy hataroztunk, hogy a kovetkezo etkezesunk a kinai etteremben lesz.
Vagyis ez volt a terv!
A varolista mellett az eloetelnel mar elakadt a lelegztunk, ugyanis csirke lab valamicsoda volt.... majd diszno gyomor valamicsoda....
Harom ev ide, harom ev oda Azsiaban - Mi meg mindig nem eszunk ilyeneket... azert megorokitettem a bevehetetlen falu varat! :)

For one of our meals we decided to "mix" with the locals, mainly Chinese descenders which meant to be a meal in the Chinese Only restaurant. The queuing would not have been the only thing we should have dealt with, but the menu itself. The appetizer was already stating: chicken feet in some shape of form, then pork stomach in some shape of form was ... O-Ooo
Oh 3 years in Asia but still such menu was enough to scare Mike and me away from the restaurant, Western section, here we come!

Singapore in black&white

2011-07-01T14:53:00.004+08:00

Egy eskuvo / A wedding

2011-06-28T11:05:00.005+08:00

Meg Budapesten talalkoztunk 5 szingapurival, olyan 2007 magassagaban, akik kozul Gavin par hete hazassagra szanta el magat. Meghivottak kozott voltunk, ime a fotok egy kinai-szingaouri eskuvorol.

Amint megtudtuk, reggel volt a kinai szertartas (tea ceremonia), majd kora delutan a templomi eskuvo, ahova mindenki hivatalos es keso este pedig a vacsor ahova csak a szulok altal elhivott sereg mehetett. (a szulok ilyenkor az uzleti partnertol a partvezetoig, mindenkit elhivnak, aki szamit)

/volt egy par furi eleme az eskuvonek, pl rock zenekar zenelt, "igy talalkoztunk" video bemutatasa, tapsolas amikor bevonult a mennyasszony meg ugy az eskuvo alatt egy csomo tapsolas volt...? /

Back in a day, around 2007 we met some Singaporeans and among those there was Gavin, who decided to get married this month and we were invited to the ceremony.

In the morning there is the Chinese ceremony for the small family (tea ceremony), the church wedding and tea reception was for all and we learned that in the evening there is a 3rd party where the parents invite 100s of guest and have a feast to celebrate LOVE.

/there were some "funny elements" in the wedding such as "having a rock band" - "this is how we met" video - clapping when the bride arrived..../

Mike a metron / Mike on the subway

Cooking class among the clouds

2011-06-28T10:23:00.009+08:00

Thanks to my lovely friend, Viki here in Singapore I was invited to a very posh cooking class on the top of a skyscraper in Singapore. It felt like swimming with the clouds
The cooking class was taking place in a beautiful restaurant, only some can join this club. :)
The class took place in one of the club restaurants... as the pictures show, it was a very pretty lounge-restaurant.

Kedves baratosnomnek koszonhetoen meghivast kaptam Szingapur egyik legzartabb kulbjaba egy nem akarmilyen rendezvenyre! Fozo orara!
Miutan imadok fozni azonnal erdekelt a dolog! :) Nagyon elegans helyen tartottak a bemutatot, a klub egyik ettermi helyisegeben, ahogy a kepeken is latszik, gyonyoru volt, es majd a felhok kozott voltunk.

The chef was from Germany hence the menu. :)
A sef nemet volt, ami magyarazatot ad a menusorra. :)

Viki and I were the only Caucasians - due to the Asian majority we "learned" about Western food. All the ingredients were super high quality, I am not sure how often I should justify such luxury but indisputably it was great to eat such a delicacy meal.

Mi ketten voltunk az egyeduli europaiak, minek keppen az azsiai eroknek kedveskedtek es auropai izeket mutattak be. Mi szinte minden lepest es otletet ismertunk, bar par jo otletet igy is hallottunk.
We suggested that maybe next time we should have an Asian cooking class as we were pretty familiar with all the steps and ideas. :)

The menu was the following:
- white European asparagus with wild mushrooms
- gnocchi with wild mushrooms (dried vinegar chunks/flakes on top and some salad garnish)
- vanilla ice-cream (of course made by vanilla pods)some awesome cake base soaked into pineapple essence, and a dried pineapple slice from New Zealand)

A menu:
- nemet feher sparga volt erdei gombaval
- a foetel gnocchi volt szinten gombaval, fokhagymaval es isteni finom extrakkal (mint peldaul szaritott balzsamecet pelyhek)
- a desszert pedig fenseges vanilai fagyi volt ananasz mamorban. Az ananasz szelet egyenesen Uj-Zelandrol szarmazott!!!

Wow I felt like a million dollars! :)
Hat nem kezdodott rosszul a hetvege egy ilyen szombat reggeltol!!!

Es most a kepek:
And now the pictures:

Borneo second time

2011-05-06T09:12:00.020+08:00

Ez az oshullo-hal valaha elt, ha jol emlekszem az indiai-ocean partjainal "talaltak" a csontokat.

Szerencsere ezt a skorpiot mar nem elve lattuk, majdnem raleptem...

Mike, a kis "szoros"
Olyan ehes volt, mint a farkas, igy a kornyek legjobban kinezo ettermebe ultunk be. :)

Ahhoz, hogy az erodot megnezzuk at kellett kelnunk a Kuching folyon, amihez ilyen kis ladikokat hasznalnak. Igen igen olcso egy "ut" 30Ft-ba kerul.

A ladik belulrol...

A tulparti resz, lathatoan szegenyebb volt. Itt egy csalad el...

Erik a banan...

Kozigazgatasi fellegvar, le se tudom irni, hogy milyen fura volt ez az epulet - ugy mindene... mint valami star wars epuletet ittfelejtettek volna a marslakok 1992bol...?

A "pazar" epulet mogott meg feluti a gaz az "ut" szelet...

Egy erod, ami ma rendor muzeum, de miutan zarva volt, csak kivulrol lattuk.

Hat a mozi az emlitesre melto volt...
Eloszor is szombat este volt es nem leven bulizo helynek ugy talaltuk, hogy a legjobb esti szorakozas lesz a mozi! Micsoda elmeny moziba menni Borneon!!!!
Thor-t neztuk meg.
Eloszor is sorba kellett allni a "tomott" mozikasszanal, ahol igen mosolyogtato reszletekre lettunk figyelmesek....
Peldaul a mozimusort mai napig, 2011 majus, kezzel irjak fel egy falat fecnire!!!!

Vagy, a mozi szek foglalasa papiron zajlik, zsirkretaval ikszelik ki a szekeidet!!! :)

A mozi maga igen vicces volt, bemesz es egy oreg bacsika elveszi a jegyedet es zseblampaval a helyedre kiser. Viszont ez a "kisegito" tevekenyseg zajlik, amig csak nezok jonnek, azaz gond nelkul 30perccel a film kezdete utan. A mozi maga zajlik az elettol, gyerekek, kicsik, nagyok, smsek, nevetgelesek, csorompoles, zacsko gyurodes...elmeny volt! :)

MAsnap reggel, mielott a kinai tengerhez mentunk volna feltetlenul fel akartuk keresni a leghiresebb laksa etkezdet, miutan ez a fuszeres del-kelet azsiai leves nagy kedvencunk.
Mike a reggelivel... fuszeres, forro laksa leves...

A "hires" reggelizohely, meg anthony Bourdain is itt evett Laksat.

Meg igen igen almost arccal :)

Poppia - malaj etek, palacsintara emlekezteto tesztara fektetnek, fott kaposztat, tojas rantotta darabkakat, rakot... tort foldimogyorot... plusz chili es edes szoszt. Eleinte nem szerettem az edeskes iz miatt, de igy 2 es fel ev tavlata utan, abszolut Poppia fun vagyok! Mint mindennel egy jol elkeszitett Poppia igen remek tud lenni. :)
A kuchingi azaz borneoi laksa szereny megallapitasunk szerint fenyevekkel elmarad a Szingapurban megszokottol. Kezdjuk ott, hogy a leveshez kokusztejet kell hasznalni... es Borneon peldaul ezt kihagytak a receptbol?!

Vigyazz a hullo kokuszdioval!

x

Folk song just a bit different

2011-04-17T11:47:00.002+08:00

This song is originally a folk song, I might even remember learning it in school...?!
Apparently now there is a band in Hungary whose specialty is to re-make the folk songs, here is a great example.
For those who do not understand Hungarian it is a very kind song about a girl who is thinking of a guy, who became a solder... birds, sugar... cute song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPeqf0gU-tY

the original:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHe-GwMsSMU

The Lunch of the week…!!!

2011-04-17T09:47:00.007+08:00

My soon to be obsession with good food, good quality ingredients and great flavors created an amazing lunch yesterday.

Basically our Friday was a bit of a “oh we don’t have anything to do, what shell we do with ourselves???” and to address the problem Mike suggested to go for a walk at the seaside.

There is a place called East Cost Park, it is a long stretch along the sea, a nice pedestrian walkway… we have never been there in the evening so I agreed to go.

We dropped off from the taxi at the entrance of the park and we agreed to buy some beers or something to bring along.
The shopping center was having a book fair and of course that attracts Mike like honey attracts bees… so we stopped by bought some books and then we headed down to the supermarket.

The supermarket is rather on the high end, but this never stops me from going in and looking around because many times there are great deals and sale.

In this gourmet supermarket a found a very nice French Camembert:

It is very rich, heavy, flavorful… probably tons of calories but once in a while I think you can treat yourself with such a special food.
I am usually on the internet surfing the different cooking sites looking for exiting, new, modern recipes and when I saw this particular cheese, a recipe I saw from Lorraine Pascale (English bakery chef who used to be a top model – go figure???) just jumped into my mind. I did not need more I happily bought the camembert.
I was glad to have this cheese so I dedicated our Saturday lunch to it. I prepared the meal of the week.

I baked my very first home made bread (and of course I burned my arm as usual, I guess in 10 years time there will not be a spot on my arms without some type of a burn mark :( ).

The bread turned out to be amazing, heavy because of the wholemeal flour, crunchy and crispy outside and soft inside, just amazing.
In another baking tray I baked the “flavoring part” which continued the following: 2 whole head of garlic (chop off the top part and put it into the try with heads down!), olive oil, butter, fresh rosemary sticks, bay leaves (3-5 leaves), salt, pepper and honey.
In the future I will leave out the honey, but that is optional.
This mixture should be baked for about 30min or so, the garlic should soften and should become creamy.
The whole oily herb tray will just smell awesome; you know it will taste just as fantastic.
The last part is the camembert which you need to unpack, I wrapped around a mini tin foil tray as I was aware that it’ll leak out. Cut an X shape on the top of the cheese and place it into the oven too.
Doesn’t take too long and the cheese will become like a mini fondue, creamy, velvety, strong dominant flavor… great food.

So the lunch should be the freshly baked bread, herb oil, with roasted rosemary and/or garlic and then the cheese… bite by bite… You will not be able to complement it enough!!!

Just amazing!!!! Here are the pictures:

St Regis in Singapore

2011-04-17T09:09:00.007+08:00

Short video

2011-04-11T11:57:00.002+08:00

Here is a little clip which meant to "promote and remind" us Hungarians that not everything is grim ... :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPAXnFX64-s&feature=player_embedded#at=32

1848 March 15 in Sinagpore

2011-03-16T09:50:00.002+08:00

As always I can start the entry excusing ourselves from writing, but honestly we are very busy nowadays.
Mike with is fairly new job (started 7 Feb), every single night he is spending hours and hours with preparation. The school diligently follows a very strictly planned agenda regarding the teaching materials, but it has gigantic gaps which have to be filled up by the teacher… in this case by Mike.
Myself… I started a new project with the Singaporean Intercontinental hotel chain, I literary moved into their headquarter, which is 5 min walk from our flat (I love it). Out tiny team, 2 consultants and business analyst, is asked to help to re-design the marketing structure of the Asian company starting from Korea till New Zealand. No traveling is required which is a pity! : )
Anyhow that makes us run around all day long, 12h workdays aren’t to unfamiliar for us, unfortunately. On the weekends we try to ignore the computer and just focus on resting.

Kokarda – this symbol was used during the freedom fights and it was the symbol of desired freedom and represented the aim of the local patriots. Consequently we wear this badge on 15th March for one day, at least while you were in school. Nowadays unfortunately a political trend / party I’d say abused this badge as it was given a new meaning. The “silently shouting” sign of a political opinion … a bit sad.

Last night was a breeze, we had our national holiday in Hungary, as a memory of the 1848 freedom fights. This occasion gave a great excuse to the Hungarian Embassy to embrace all the expat Hungarians living in Singapore to gather, spend a great night together, enjoying Hungarian wines (specially imported for the party), finger food and the company of compatriots.
The night was absolutely great, actually a lot better than I expected, obeying to the dress code everybody was really elegant. Mike was shining with his Hungarian as it is still hard to believe for Hungarians that there such human being like Mike who was born to be American but focused his energy to learn this honestly very difficult language!
Me, who is not a big fan of nationalism I felt that last night it was good to be a bit Hungarian again.

Karen and Robin

2011-02-17T10:19:00.003+08:00

Nehanyan talan felismerik Karen kedves arcat a 2 evvel ezelotti eskuvoi fotokrol, igen O az. Karen volt a tanuk gyongye az eskuvonkon.
Ekkor italozasunk kozepette tanakodtunk kisbabas kerdesekrol, hisz hazasak mar vagyunk, gyerekunk meg nincs...?

Nevetgeltunk akkor, hogy Tigris Kisbabara kell az eroket egyesiteni, mert milyen jol is hangzik az. En magam reszerol tudtam, hogy csak viccelodom, de ahogy a jelek is mutatjak Karen nem viccelt.
Komolyan vette a Tigris Baba projektet es most itt van velunk az 5 honapos, 8kg-os Robin baba.
:)

Some people might recall Karen's cute face from our wedding pictures. Yes, she is the one!
Karen was our talented and supportive witness on our wedding 3 years ago. At that time, she has been married for over 2-3 years but they had no baby. During our drinks we were joking that 2009 was the year of the "Tiger" and how cool it would be to have a Tiger Baby.
I knew that I was joking, myself, but as we can see Karen was serious. She really had a Tiger Baby!!!

He is 5 months old and about 8kgs, very healthy, curious and cute baby boy!
:)

Sri Lanka III. Chapter ...

2011-02-09T14:11:00.006+08:00

(Buddha's)Tooth temple in Kandy

UNBELIEVABLE!!! / HIHETETLEN!!!

2011-02-02T10:28:00.002+08:00

Moments of the Russian underground... I think some aren't from Russia given that the door has English writing but still it is the underground/subway.

http://ajanlo.kapu.hu/pics.php?d=moszkvaimetro

Kepek a moszkvai metrorol... tan par kep nem onnet valo, mert angol felirat van nehol az ajtokon, de megis... ez a metro!

Look at our street

2011-01-31T16:29:00.001+08:00

http://maps.google.com.sg/maps?hl=en&xhr=t&cp=12&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=theatreworks+singapore&fb=1&gl=sg&hq=theatreworks&hnear=Singapore&cid=0,0,7225356388156503686&ei=RXFGTaIQgtOtB-WWiDI&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=image&resnum=2&sqi=2&ved=0CB4QnwIwAQ

Hey all look around in Singapore, this street is parallel to ours so it is really the neighborhood!
When the white square shows up you can "jump" from place to place.

Happy visiting!

Ausztral etteremben jartunk -- A meal at an Aussie restaurant

2011-01-30T11:27:00.004+08:00

Saturday, 29th January was the definition of bad weather, it was dark and gloomy, we have not seen the Sun for the whole day, it was raining...
Just horrible!
The best part of the day was the dinner invitation from a friend who was in town. We suggested to check out an Aussie restaurant we've seen. Boomerang naturally.

Januar 29-e volt a legborzalmasabb szombat, amit csak el lehet kepzelni, sotet, borult, egesz nap egy fel perc napsutes nem volt. Esett, fujt... csak csapnivalo!
Az egyeduli jo dolog a napban a vacsora talalkozonk volt, amihez is mi egy ausztral ettermet javasoltunk, Bumerang nev alatt. (Apu ha megint jottok ide elmehetunk kengurut enni)

The restaurant was a tiny bit pricey but the food tasted fantastic, well worth the extra dollars.
Mediterranean plate: with all kind of favorites, hummus, smoked salmon, olives, Sun dried tomatoes... great!

Az etterem egy picit dragabb, mint a helyi atlag de a minoseg messze magasan indokoltta teszi ezt az extra arat.
En mediterran talat rendeltem, a kedvenceimmel, lazac, olivabogyo, napon szaritott, majd olivaolajban eltett paradicsom, hummusz... remek volt!

Pizza for Mike, with scallop, mussels, 2 types of fish, shrimps... half of the ocean was on this pizza with mango chantey and sour cream. Mike ranked it to be one of the 3 best pizzas of his life!!!

Mike pizzaja mindenfele csuda finom alapanyaggal rakkal, 2 fele hallal, kagyloval... majd egy ocean feltunt rajta. Emellett mango chatney volt paradicsomszosz helyett es tejfol. Mike elmondasa alapjan elete 3 legfinomabb pizzaja koze sorolhato.

Steak! Forever green
Steak, orokzold!

Dessert, the chocolate cookie part was bit too X-mas tasty for me but otherwise the texture and combination was amazing!

A desszert suti resze nekem egy picit tul karacsonyias izu volt, de ettol eltekintve a textura es kombinacio remek volt!

Isteni etkeink mellett remek hangulatban voltunk annak ellenere, hogy esti pompamban a nedves jardan az etterem fele akkorat estem, hogy emlekeimben nem el mar ekkora eses. (Csak megjegyeznem, h aznap este rajtam kivul meg 2 masik no is elesett!)

Apart from our fantastic meals we were in really great moon despite the fact that on the way to the restaurant on the wet pedestrian walkway I fell so bad that I can not recall a similar incident... walking ...and then baaaaam (During the evening we saw 2 other ladies falling as well!)

Kinai Ujev, itt van ujra / Chinese New Year here it comes

2011-01-28T10:47:00.019+08:00

2011 a kínai asztrológiában a (fém) Nyúl éve. A kínai újév 2011 február 3-án veszi kezdetét - ami egybeesik a Vízöntő újhold időszakával - és 2012 január 23-ig tart, amikor átlépünk a Sárkány évébe.
A kínai mitológia szerint a fém nyúl az ellenállóképességet, az állhatatosságot és az állóképességet jelképezi. Meglehetősen mozgalmas, mégis nyugodt évnek ígérkezik, mind magánéleti, mind családi szempontból. A Nyúl az európai horoszkópban a Halak csillagjegynek felel meg, amit a Neptunusz és a Jupiter irányít. A Nyúl személyek alapvető problémája, ha nem tudnak harmonikus kapcsolatot kialakítani, komoly érzelmi problémáik adódnak.
2011-ben a kreatív ötletek felerősödnek, nagyvonalúbbakká és nyitottabbakká válunk a társas interakciók felé. Nagyobb hangsúlyt fogunk fektetni a családra, a barátokra és a titkos üzleti kapcsolatok ápolására egyaránt.
Egészség vonatkozásában figyeljünk arra, hogy a ki nem mondott szavak, az elfojtott konfliktusok krónikus betegségek megjelenéséhez vezethetnek.
2011-ben mindenképpen olyan testmozgást kell választani, ami a mindennapi stresszt feloldja: hosszú séta, jóga, reggeli kocogás, úszás. Az életmódváltás sokak életébe befog következni.
A kínai újév vagy holdújév (kínaiul: Chunjie, „tavaszünnep”) a világ népességének egynegyede számára az év legnagyobb ünnepe. Ha eljön az ideje, mind Kínában, mind a világ különböző pontjain található kínai kolóniákban napokra megáll az élet, mindenki az újévvel törődik, még az üzleti forgalom is leáll.
A tavaszünnep időpontja – hasonlóan a mi húsvétunkhoz – évről évre változik, s még a kínaiak közül is kevesen vannak, akik pontosan tudják, hogy milyen elvek alapján.
Az új év kezdetét bonyolult számításokkal határozzák meg, de az esetek többségére igaz, hogy a tavaszünnep az európai naptár február 4 éjéhez legközelebb eső újhold napján van. A gyakorlatban a kínaiak a hivatalos naptárakból tudják meg, hogy az adott évben mikor tartják legnagyobb ünnepüket.

Chinese New Year or the Chinese Lunar New Year is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. Despite its winter occurrence, in China it is known as "Spring Festival," the literal translation of the Chinese name 春节 (Pinyin: Chūn Jié), owing to the difference between Western and traditional Chinese methods for computing the seasons. The festival begins on the first day of the first month (Chinese: 正月; pinyin: Zhēng Yuè) in the traditional Chinese calendar and ends with Lantern Festival which is on the 15th day. Chinese New Year's Eve, a day where Chinese families gather for their annual reunion dinner, is known as Chú Xī (除夕) or "Eve of the Passing Year."

Chinese New Year is the longest and most important festivity in the Chinese Lunar Calendar. The origin of Chinese New Year is itself centuries old and gains significance because of several myths and traditions. Ancient Chinese New Year is a reflection on how the people behaved and what they believed in the most.
Chinese New Year is celebrated in countries and territories with significant Chinese populations, such as Mainland China, Hong Kong,[2] Indonesia, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore,[3] Taiwan, Vietnam, and also in Chinatowns elsewhere. Chinese New Year is considered a major holiday for the Chinese and has had influence on the new year celebrations of its geographic neighbors, as well as cultures with whom the Chinese have had extensive interaction.
These include Koreans (Seollal), Tibetans and Bhutanese (Losar), Mongolians (Tsagaan Sar), Vietnamese (Tết), and the Japanese before 1873 (Oshogatsu).
In countries such as Australia, Canada and the United States, although Chinese New Year is not an official holiday, many ethnic Chinese hold large celebrations and Australia Post, Canada Post, and the US Postal Service issue New Year's themed stamps.

Within China, regional customs and traditions concerning the celebration of the Chinese new year vary widely. People will pour out their money to buy presents, decoration, material, food, and clothing. It is also the tradition that every family thoroughly cleans the house to sweep away any ill-fortune in hopes to make way for good incoming luck. Windows and doors will be decorated with red colour paper-cuts and couplets with popular themes of "happiness", "wealth", and "longevity". On the Eve of Chinese New Year, supper is a feast with families. Food will include such items as pigs, ducks, chicken and sweet delicacies. The family will end the night with firecrackers.

Early the next morning, children will greet their parents by wishing them a healthy and happy new year, and receive money in red paper envelopes. The Chinese New Year tradition is a great way to reconcile; forgetting all grudges, and sincerely wish peace and happiness for everyone.

Dátum Állatövi jegy Kínai írásjel
2000. február 5. Sárkány 辰
2001. január 24. Kígyó 巳
2002. február 12. Ló 午
2003. február 1. Kecske 未
2004. január 22. Majom 申
2005. február 9. Kakas 酉
2006. január 29. Kutya 戌
2007. február 18. Disznó 亥
2008. február 7. Patkány 子
2009. január 26. Bivaly 丑
2010. február 14. Tigris 寅
2011. február 3. Nyúl 卯
2012. január 23. Sárkány 辰
2013. február 10. Kígyó 巳
2014. január 31. Ló 午

A tavaszünnep a tavasz s egyben az új év kezdete, s mint ilyen, két célt szolgál. Egyrészt alkalom arra, hogy a nagycsaládok tagjai összegyűljenek, megajándékozzák és jókívánságaikkal elhalmozzák egymást. Másrészt pedig ilyenkor kell elbúcsúztatni az óévet, megszabadulni annak ártalmaitól, illetve ilyenkor lehet a jó szerencsét biztosítani az új évre is.
Az ünnepre való készülődés már hetekkel a nagy nap előtt elkezdődik. A legfontosabb – a szokásos előkészületeken, ajándékvásárláson, sütés-főzésen kívül – az, hogy a házat megtisztítsák az elmúlt év ártalmas hatásaitól. A házat kisöprik, s ha van rá mód, kimeszelik, az ajtókat-ablakokat újramázolják. A takarítással azonban vigyázni kell: hogy a jó szerencsét ne kergessék ki az otthonokból, a szemetet mindig befelé, a szoba közepére kell söpörni, s onnan óvatosan kivinni, lehetőleg a hátsó ajtón. Ennek a szabálynak a megsértése az egész családra nézve súlyos következményekkel járhat. A háznak újév előestéjén tisztán kell ragyognia, s ekkor az összes söprűt és egyéb takarítóeszközt el kell rejteni. Ha ugyanis valaki újév napján is söpörne, azzal biztos, hogy kikergetné a szerencsét a házból.

Mivel az újév napja meghatározó az egész évre nézve, nagyon fontos, hogy ilyenkor minden jól alakuljon. Mindenki igyekszik vadonatúj ruhát viselni s megszabadulni régi rongyaitól, és még a betegek is kikelnek ágyukból, nehogy egész évben betegek maradjanak. Az emberek az ünnep előtt megpróbálják behajtani adósságaikat is, ha ugyanis újév napján valaki az adósuk, akkor, úgy vélik, egész évben tartozni fognak nekik.
Újév előestéje – amely egyszerre emlékeztet a mi szentesténkre és szilveszterünkre – az ünnepsorozat legfontosabb eleme. A családok összegyűlnek, s együtt ünneplik az óév végét. Hagyományos játékokat – kártyát,madzsongot – játszanak, beszélgetnek, illetve az utóbbi években leggyakrabban tévét néznek.
Az ünnephez hozzátartozik a petárdadurrogtatás – ez nem egyszerű zajkeltés, hanem a rossz szellemek elijesztésére is szolgál. Éjfélkor a ház minden ajtaját és ablakát kinyitják, hogy a búcsúzó év távozni tudjon. Az ételekből igyekeznek annyit készíteni, hogy bőven maradjon másnapra is; az ugyanis, hogy az óévből bőségesen maradt ennivaló az új évre, kedvező előjel.

First day
The first day is for the welcoming of the deities of the heavens and earth, officially beginning at midnight. Many people, especially Buddhists, abstain from meat consumption on the first day because it is believed that this will ensure longevity for them. Some consider lighting fires and using knives to be bad luck on New Year's Day, so all food to be consumed is cooked the day before.
People also abstain from killing animals.

Most importantly, the first day of Chinese New Year is a time when families visit the oldest and most senior members of their extended family, usually their parents, grandparents or great-grandparents.
Some families may invite a lion dance troupe as a symbolic ritual to usher in the Lunar New Year as well as to evict bad spirits from the premises. Members of the family who are married also give red envelopes containing cash to junior members of the family, mostly children and teenagers. Business managers also give bonuses through red envelopes to employees for good luck and wealth.

While fireworks and firecrackers are traditionally very popular, some regions have banned them due to concerns over fire hazards, which have resulted in increased number of fires around New Years and challenged municipal fire departments' work capacity. For this reason, various city governments (e.g., Hong Kong, and Beijing, for a number of years) issued bans over fireworks and firecrackers in certain premises of the city.
As a substitute, large-scale fireworks have been launched by governments in cities like Hong Kong to offer citizens the experience.

Az újév napjára különleges szabályok vonatkoznak. Nem szabad negatív jelentésű szavakat kiejteni, halált, kísérteteket emlegetni – még a „négy” szám kimondása is tilos, mert hasonlóan hangzik, mint a „halál” (si). Az elmúlt évet sem ajánlatos emlegetni, hiszen a nap célja az, hogy bőséget hozzon az új évben. A sírás sem megengedett: ha ugyanis valaki sír az év első napján, akkor egész évben sírni fog. Ezért aztán ezen a napon, bármilyen rosszak legyenek is, a gyerekeket sem szabad megverni.

Az újévi szokásokhoz tartozik a „piros tasak” (hong bao) ajándékozása is: egy piros ünnepi borítékba papírpénzt csomagolnak, s ezt adják a gyerekeknek, illetve a nőtlen fiatalembereknek. A borítékba rejtett pénzzel azonban vigyázni kell: az összegnek páros számnak kell lennie, a páratlan számok ugyanis bajt hoznak mind az ajándékozónak, mind a megajándékozottnak. A piros tasak felbontása az ajándékozó előtt, ha szerencsétlenséget nem is hoz, de nagy udvariatlanságnak számít.
A piros a bőség, a szerencse, a gazdagság színe, ezért is piros az alapszíne minden újévi dekorációnak – a holdújév a kínaiak számára valóban „piros betűs ünnep”. Piros zászlókat, falragaszokat, képeket, lampionokat helyeznek el mindenütt, hogy biztosítsák a család gyarapodását.

A piros díszek mellett az újév elengedhetetlen kelléke a narancs. Ennek az az oka, hogy a kantoni nyelvjárásban a „narancs”, az „arany” és az „édes” ugyanúgy hangzik (yam). Hasonló okból, mivel a „mandarin” és a „szerencse” kiejtése is megegyezik (kat), a mandarin is fontos szerepet játszik a kölcsönös megajándékozásban. Itt is ügyelni kell, hogy páros számban ajándékozzuk őket, egyébként nem hoznak szerencsét.
Mivel az egészséget és a hosszú életet jelképezi, földimogyoróval is gyakran találkozunk az újévi asztalokon. Fontos újévi kellék a nyolcszögletű tálca, amelyről nyolcféle rágcsálnivalóval kínálják a vendéget. Ezek mindegyike szerencsét hoz: a rizslisztből készült sütemény (gao) például ugyanúgy hangzik, mint a „magas”, így azt jelképezi, hogy fogyasztója az új évben magasabbra fog jutni a társadalmi ranglétrán.
Hasonló okokból a tengeri moszat a meggazdagodást, alótuszmag a bőséges fiúgyermekáldást, a szárított tofu (szójababsajt) pedig a gazdagságot és a boldogságot szimbolizálja. Friss tofut felkínálni azonban tilos: a fehér a gyász színe! Előszertettel fogyasztanak az ünnep estéjén kínai töltött táskákat (jiaozi) is.
Az újévi ünnepkör hagyományosan tizenöt napig tartott, manapság azonban némileg lerövidült, Kínában az emberek általában nem egészen egy hét szünetet kapnak. A jeles napokat az év 15. napján a lampionünnep zárja. Ezután Kínában visszatérnek a hétköznapok, s gyakorlatilag a következő újévig – az állami ünnepeket kivéve – nincsenek szabadnappal járó hagyományos ünnepnapok, csak kisebb jelentőségű ünnepi alkalmak.

Second day
The second day of the Chinese New Year is for married daughters to visit their birth parents. Traditionally, daughters who have been married may not have the opportunity to visit their birth families frequently.
On the second day, the Chinese pray to their ancestors as well as to all the gods. They are extra kind to all dogs and feed them well as it is believed that the second day is the birthday of all dogs.
Business people of the Cantonese dialect group will hold a 'Hoi Nin' prayer to start their business on the 2nd day of Chinese New Year. The prayer is done to pray that they will be blessed with good luck and prosperity in their business for the year.
Third day
The third day is known as chì kǒu (赤口), directly translated as "red mouth". chì kǒu is also called chì gǒu rì (赤狗日). chì gǒu means "the God of Blazing Wrath" (熛怒之神). It is generally accepted that it is not a good day to socialize or visit your relatives and friends

Kinai ujevre tok - $188 azaz 29,000FT
Pumpkin for Chinese New Year - SG$188 = US$146

Nice spring flowers - altough we have only 1 season here...?
Tavaszi viragzas, bar itt csak a termeszet rendje szerint egy evszak van...?

Some pictures from Kandy's botanical garden / Par kep a Kandy melletti botanikus kertbol

2011-01-25T22:13:00.009+08:00

Just half is uploaded... but here it is

Grass types / Fu fajtak

Az orszag osszes vonata rafer egy tablara :)
All trains of the country can fit on one board. :)

Lunch pancakes...
Ebed palacsinta-felesegek...

Sri Lanka Chapter II. - Arrival

2011-01-12T00:01:00.028+08:00

Megerkezes,

Utunk Sri Lankara picit korulmenyes volt, de meg igy is sima utnak mondhato. Szingapurbol nem talaltam jegyet Colomboba, termeszetesen persze fapadost, hisz normal aruval barki tud menni. : ) Igy hat a legkozelebbi varos, ahova el kellett jutnunk az Kuala Lumpur volt. Malajzia fovarosa egy ora repuloutnyira van, de mivel kicsit kesve kaptunk eszbe Johor Bahrubol vettuk a jegyet KL. Johor Bahru egyebkent a szomszed varos Malajziaban, frissen epult szep repterrol malajziai varosokat lehet konnyen megkozeliteni.
Annak ellenere, hogy csak 4 beszallokapu van sikerult minket utasokat 3 kulonbozo kapuhoz elkuldeni 3 ora alatt, nem kis elegedetlenseget szitva igy a faradt utasok kozott, mert persze mindez ejjel 10 es hajnali 1 kozott volt.
A gepen mar Colombohoz kozel szobaelegyedett Mike a szomszedos szeken ulo fiatal Perthbol valo sraccal. Sam megszallott Sri Lanka rajongo, sok utravalo tanaccsal latott el minket es a vegen meg az ertejovo autoval elvitt minket Colomboba. (ami egy ora a reptertol) Egesz vicces volt a frissen megismert Sam mellett beulni a szemmel lathatoan legelegansabb autoba a repteren, a tortenet szerint parjanak csaladja benne van abban a bizonyos legfelsobb 100 gazdag sri lankaiban.

Az auto hatso ulesen Mike-kal probaltunk beszelgetest folytatni Sammal, de kozben le sem vettuk a szemunkat az utca latvanyarol. Nem is tudom milyen volt, olyan minden egyben, kicsit thai, kicsit malaj, kicsit zilaltabb indonez, sok indiai toltettel. Es rengeteg angol felirat.

Az utcan es mindenhol jelenlevo angol mennyiseges es minosege abszolut megdobbentett minket, es nem felejtem el azt sem megjegyezni, hogy SRI LANKAN AZ EMBEREK JOBB ANGOLT BESZELNEK, MINT SZINGAPURBAN, ahol is az hirlik, hogy ez az anyanyelv, bar tudjuk mar reg, hogy hogy is van ez.

Szoval picit kaotikusabb volt, mint gondoltam, bar teny, hogy meg nem voltam Indiaban, Mike-kal ugy ereztuk, mintha egy buborekben ulnenk, az auto biztonsagaban. Picit nem is akartunk kiszallni… ”mi lesz velunk itt” - volt leolvashato az arcunkrol.
Sam elvitt minket a Fort-ra, ami a vonat allomas, ugyanis a vonatot javasolta mindenki, hogy az a legjobb modja Kandybe jutni.
Na most a jegyvetel mar magaban vicces volt, ezzel a nagy szerszammal, valami pici jelet nyomhattak a jegyekbe, ami nem derult ki szamunkra, hogy mi volt. A jegyek filleres tetelek egy 4 oras ut ara kozel 400 Ft per fo.

Miutan a jegyet megvettuk elso etkezesunre kellett pontot tenni, ezekkel a jokepu roti 3szogekkel. Mi ismerjuk a rotit persze SG-bol, de itt kicsit mas volt a teszta, persze finomabb. A roti olyasmi, mint egy tomorebb, enyhen sos palacsinta, amit megtoltenek szerintem isteni toltelekekkel, de ez izles kerdese. En a magam reszerol mara mar imadom az eros es vagy jooo fuszeres eteleket. Teljes atkepzesen estem tul, meg egy sri lankai fiu is kalapjat emelte, chilis kokusz eveszetem elott. (sok kis tal volt az asztalon, de a chilis kokuszt negyunk kozul, csak mi ketten ettuk)

Ezek a 3szogek isteniek voltak, tomorek, 2 maximalisan eleg volt ebedre es fillerekbe kerultek, egy ara 38 FT!!!!! Es 4gyel jollaktunk! Igy igen olcso volt az elso ebedunk. (es az ilyen etelektol altalaban nem leszel beteg sem)
Amitol celszeru ovakodni :
-tenger gyumolcsei
-szoszos husok, halak
-salata (helyi vizzel mosva)

A vonat, jaj a vonat….

Hat nem helyiek leven nem ismertuk a helyi vonatozas korulmenyeit, mert mig mas orszagban megprobalsz 15 perccel az indulas elott ott lenni, itt ez nem volt eleg.
A vonatra vagy egy oraval elobb erdemes felszallni es gubbasztani az ulohely remenyeben.

Mi ezt nem tudvan csak allohelyet kaptunk azt is csak a peronon. Szellos volt ez igy kezdetben, de azert feltunk a 4 oras uttol. Majd egy fiatal feher par szallt fel, ismerosok voltak a repulorol.

Veluk utaztunk egyutt, szinten Kandybe. Ugy egy ora zotykolodes utan ugy dontottunk, hogy ez keptelenseg, ugyanis semmifele epp esszel felmerheto limit nem letezik egy vonat megtomesere.
Ahogy apukam Balin szerette azt a megfigyelest aranyszaballya kovacsolni miszerint:
„hany ember utazhat egy motoron? A valasz egyszeru, amennyi csak felfer”
Hat itt nem tudom mit mondott volna... Azaz annyi, de annyi ember szallt fel, amennyi csak tudott, szinte mozdulni nem tudsz, mint, tan otthon a csucsforgalmi busz, csak ez 4 oras vonatut.

Igy fogtuk magunkat es leszalltunk, bereltunk paronkent 1-1 tuk-tuk jarmuvet (3 kereku motoros jarmu) Nem voltunk biztosak abban, hogy mennyire is vagyunk messze a celtol, miutan a Lonely Planet valtig allitotta, hogy az egesz ut csak 2 ora… de hogy azt hogyan vagy miert mondtak?
Csak jeleznem a feher srac nincs a vonaton, csupan csak log rajta...

A tuk-tukrol annyit, hogy ez egy remek igas jarmu, de nem hosszutavra talaltak ki, gyors, roved fuvarra tokeletes, na most a mi 3 oras utunk nem egeszen ez a kategoria volt.

Hosszadalmas keresgeles utan Kandyben talaltunk szallast, elhagytuk a masik part, vagy inkabb ok minket, igy Mike-kal ketten nekivagtunk a varosnak. Kandyben (ejtsd: kendi-nek) a legnagyobb latvanyossag a to partjan fekvo “Tooth Temple”, azaz “Fog templom”.

Azt tartjak, hogy Buddha fogat orzik a templomban, korbeneztunk, nagyon szep volt. A festmenyek kozul par 400 eves volt, csupa csupa erdekes kultura volt az egesz epulet-egyuttes.

Majd vacsoraido leven beultunk egy etterembe, ahol a helyi nevezetesseget megkostoltuk – hoppers. Amirol nekem mindig a szocske szo jutott eszembe (angolul grasshopper). Szoval a hopper az egy borzasztoan vekony palacsintateszta, amit egy kicsi, oblos labosban sutnek ki, egy kagyo jellegu formara. Ez a natur valtozat, de kedvelt a tojasos, mikor is a kozepere utnek egy tojast. Erre soval, borssal, chilivel izesitett kokuszreszeleket szornak. Nagyon tetszett nekem, plane a chilis kokuszreszelek.
Tanceloadas volt az esti programunk.

Szallasunk nem volt eppen patinans, inkabb a kenyszer, mint barmi mas fogadtatta el velunk, legalabb volt melegviz. Viszont az agy tele volt “agy bogarral”, ahogy itt Asziaban nevezik oket (bedbug). Szerintem ez valami atka lehet, de itt csipnek a nyavajasok, es elso ejszakankon engem elevenen faltak fel. Osszesen majdnem 70 csipest kaptam, amivel a szallashelyunk csillapithatatlan duhomet es ellenszenvemet erdemelte ki es azt, hogy reggel kicsekkoltunk. (itt jegyeznem meg, anno a matracos reklamunk, eppen egy ilyen ’anti-agy-bogarat’ igero matrac reklam volt)

Masodik szallasunk ennel is alacsonyabb szinvonal volt, de legalabb rokonszenvesnek talaltuk (1000 Ft ket fore/ejszaka), es tele volt finnekkel meg franciakkal.

Ezt a szallast nem ecsetelnem, mert tartok tole, hogy csaladom kicsit megrokonyodne. Legyen annyi eleg, hogy mikor kerdesunkre jott a valasz, igen -miszerint van melegviz- ez csak felig volt igaz. Na most ez nem egeszen igy volt igaz, van melegviz, ha melegitenek!!!!

Lavoros furdes, szerintem eletemben nem kellett ilyet vegrehajtanom, de Sri Lanka vegere egesz gyakorlottak lettunk. : )

Elso nap Sigiria sziklatemplomot es Dambulla, sziklaba epitett templomot mentunk el megnezni. Az uthoz kirugtunk a hambol es kocsit bereltunk, miutan felmertuk epp esszel, hogy tuk-tukon valoszinuleg elo halottak lennenk egy egesz napos ut utan. Vonatra nem is mertunk gondolni se.

Az auto bevalt, bar igen draga volt a helyi viszonyokhoz kepest, 10 ezer FT korul volt egy napra soforrel, mert ugye feher ember aligha mereszkedne az utakra. A duda tulajdonkeppen letszukseglet, mindent kifejez. Jezesei:
-“allj arrebb, mert jovok!”
– “Nem latod? Hat megmutatom...!”
– “Kutya huzz le az utrol!”
– “Kisgyerek, te is!”
– “tuk-tuk vigyazz en gyorsabb vagyok”
– “he’ mindenki, akkor megkezdtem az elozest, kanyarban 80nal, teherauto utan, szembe forgalommal, es nincs jogsim se”
– “fiatal kislany az ut menten, tetszel”
– “szep napom van sallala”

Az elso napi soforunk szuntelen nyosztette a dudat, 3 ora utan, mar szolni se szoltunk erte.

Sigiria azonban a meseszep helyek netovabbja. Olvastam, hogy maga ez a szent hely meger egy utat Sri Lankara, igy aztan tele voltam varakozassal, de felulmulta mindegyiket.
A lenyeg, hogy egy oriasi, mintha kraterben lenne, egyes egyedul ez az oriasi kotomb (Mellette van egy kisebb domb. A ko oldalaban levo freskokhoz, csigalepcson lehet feljutni, gyalogosnak valo jarofeluleten, amik igazabol fembol keszult lapok voltak, persze csak remelted, hogy az indiai, aki keszitette x evvel ezelott, ertette a dolgat.

Felelmetes volt olyan magaslatokban lenni, ugy, hogy csak egy fuggoberakas tartja a kocerajt fent, de tudtam, ha az lejon onnet, kizart, hogy tuleljuk es miutan ezen nem eszelhetsz x meter magasan 5 percnel tovabb, a neznivalora figyeltem. Az pedig volt boven.

A szikla igen igen magas pontjan, tan tobb, mint felenel is fentebb, egy 10-15 meteres falfeluleten falfestmenyek vannak. Mai napig kivalo epsegben. Csodaszepek voltak, plane erezve, hogy micsoda gigaszi kuzdelem lehetett anno az elodoktol, hogy a freskokat oda felfessek. Meg is kerdeztem, hogy ugyan, hogyan jutottak ide fel - a szinte derekszogu, sima sziklafalon?!

Hat bambusz allvanyokon, mondta az idegenvezeto, olyan arckifejezessel, mintha azt kerdeznem mennyi 6x6. En csak neztem, majd lepillantottam, es haaaat, emeltem a kalapomat azok elott, akik ezt kiviteleztek, mert atletak es muveszek egyben kellett hogy legyenek.

Eztan egy masik falfelulet mellett mentunk el, ennek az volt az erdekessege, h anno annyira felpoliroztak a kovet, hogy szinte tukor felszint kaptak. Mai napig vannak foltokban tukorszeru reszek, hihetetlen.

Majd jott a nagy lepcsos menet a sziklacsucsra. Minden meterrel egyre szebb es szebb taj bontakozott ki elottunk, az egesz felfele menet csodaszep volt. Az ember csodalta a tajat, a szonyegszeru oserdot minden iranyban, a tavolban gyuruszeruen lathato hegyeket, a szikla szepseget es egyediseget, nem beszelve az apro, pici lepcsomaradvanyokrol, amin anno kozlekedtek.

Ma csak a majmok kepesek oket hasznalni, mi nem is birtuk elkepzelni, hogy hogyan lehetett ilyen lepcsokezdemenyeken egy templomnyi epitoanyagot feltornazni x meter magaslatba… talanyos.
Fent a regi templom helye lathato es a csodas 360 fok panorama. Volt egy fiatal, 30 koruli feher par 3 kicsi gyerekkel. Ok hogy jutottak fel, miert voltak ott, vagy epp Sri Lankan, hisz a kicsik kb 5, 3 es kevesebb, mint 1 evesek voltak. Batrak, vagy felelotlenek…?

Eztan visszauton megalltunk egy biofarmon, ahol a helyi joghurtot kostoltuk meg, poharankent vagy 50 Ft-ert. A joghurt agyag talkaban volt es a tetejere helyi mezet csurgattak, kivalo volt, igazan. (plane a szingapuri joghurt utan)

Majd Dambulla, de mielott odaertunk volna, persze volt egy kis hegymaszas. Sajnos Sigiria arnyekaba esett Dambulla, ami szep volt, de hat hozza sem foghato az elozo szent helyhez. Ennek ellenere orulok, hogy megneztuk. A sziklaba legalabb 4-5 vesett “szoba” volt, amely szobak tomenytelen mennyisegu Buddha szobrot oriznek.
A teraszrol a kilatas szerintem nagyon megkapo volt.

Ez volt az elso kirandulasunk, a nap veget Kandyben egy sorrel unnepeltuk. Lion (oroszlan) sor igen ihatona bizonyult, 470 Ft per uveg aron. A bar maga csoda volt, a fabol keszult barpult annyira szep volt, hogy megkerdeztem a oncert, hogy megis hany eves ez a hely. 120 eves a bar maga, ez egy a kolonia lis evekbol visszamaradt “kocsma”. Hat volt egy hangulata.
Folyt kov.
English translation is coming…

Egy csepp honvagy / A hint of homesick

2011-01-07T12:13:00.022+08:00

Despite of Fidesz I love Hungary, I would like to articulate my deepest opposition towards the government and their laws!

A Fidesz ellenere is szeretem Magyarorszagot,es szeretnem kifejezni legmelyebb ellenszenvemet az intezkedeseik irant!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwcDo-ugENI

Balaton...

Pogacsa, ahogy Mike mondja "pogacs"

Grizes teszta baracklekvarral...

A bolti kakaoscsiga...

A derelye...

Egy jo kis bableves...

Az imadott meggyszoszom...

Egy igazi barack...

Egy rendes tejfol...

Toltott kaposzta, Nomi utan szabadon...

Egy anyu fele vadas, zsemlegomboccal...

Sri Lanka - Chapter I. Tea

2011-01-06T20:22:00.022+08:00

2010-12-26T11:41:00.002+08:00

Last thoughts before our departure to Sri Lanka...

So we are away from 26th December till 4th January. We probably bring Mike's phone with us.
For the first 3-4 days we stay in the middle of the country - Kandy and areas
then we head down to Hikkaduwa to the beach area to catch a whale shark!!!

See you next year!

Everyone: Have a great 2011 ahead of us!!!!

Best Hot Chocolate

2010-12-23T20:57:00.001+08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyfk8MVbN8k&feature=list_related&playnext=1&list=PLF359B9472D992A6B

Pleased to say I live here / Orom azt mondanom, hogy mi itt lakunk

2010-12-22T17:11:00.002+08:00

Check out some article about Singapore, for those who don't speak Hungarian can enjoy some pictures.

Nezzetek meg a mar tobb, mint ket eve varosunka lett Szingapurt:

http://www.origo.hu/utazas/20101221-szingapur-a-penz-es-a-tisztasag-varosa.html

2010-12-18T15:59:00.005+08:00

Pictures are uploaded for our previous Johan birthday entry

2010-12-18T12:00:00.001+08:00

Santa Mania

2010-12-15T14:52:00.010+08:00

Telapo itt van megpedig paratlan kiadasban, Mike alakitja a Universal Studio jovoltabol Mikulast ezevben Szingapurban. A Sentosa Casino koruli hotelek halljaban, bevasarlo kp-ban, es minden fele korbe-karikaba megtalalhato. Munkaja java reszen fenykepeken kell pozolni, csilingelnie es ho-ho-hoznia. Nagyon tetszett Mikenak az elso nap, faraszto is a munkaja, mert irto meleg a jelmez es sokat kell gyalogolnia!
A tobbit kepekben:

This year's special is Santa exclusive edition, Mike is the Santa thanks to Universal Studio. Here on the relaxing island of Sentosa Singapore has its 2nd casino which hired Mike to be Santa Clause for 2 weeks. The big night, the first night was yesterday which he enjoyed a lot, although he was exhausted by teh end of the night as the costume is very hot and he also has to cover a big area such as hotel lobbies, malls' floor... mainly he is posing in pictures and never forgets his line Ho-Ho-Ho!!!
The locals love him... the rest are in pictures:

Keszulodes

Telapo, csak a szemei arulkodoak
Just his eyes can sell him

Santa and his Wife
Telapo es az o felesege

Ott szalad a Telapo... :)
Santa is just right there in the middle of the mall... :)

Santa Claus in action.
Telapo munka kozben.

Az igen sexy Santa holgyek...?
The very sexy "Santarinas"...?

Lakasunk uj butorokkal / Our flat with new furinture

2010-12-13T10:37:00.003+08:00

Brand new living room / Az uj nappalink.

A kicsik ki vannak teve, the kids are there of course.

Books we have to give away. Konyvek, amiket el kell ajandekoznunk.

Szobank kilatasa, view from the living room.

The kitchen got a new self, costume made by Mike.
Oven got fixed, and we have a brand new fridge.
A konyha egy uj polccal gazagodot, amit Mike ugyes keze allitott fel, extra gorgokkel.
A sutonket megcsinaltattuk es kaptunk egy vatta uj hutot is.

E hetunk

2010-12-12T09:59:00.003+08:00

Sophie testvere es Indonez baratnoje Idris

Johan

The Swedish feast... ham, meat balls, brown sauce and mashed potatoes, salmon and Swedish bread, other fish .... oh it was great.
The funny thing about the ladies that with their 1st baby they had the exact same due date, and both babies became boys, and now, they got pregnant at the exactly same time and guess what... their due date is the same day and both have baby girls????
Coincidents?
A furcsasag es vicc e kep hattere mogott, hogy e ket holgy (bal Sophie es Neo) egyszerre lettek annak idejen terhesek az elso babajukkal, es mindketten kisfiut vartak, es ugyanarra a napra voltak kiirva. Majd most masodszorra ismet egy idoben sikerult teherbe esni, es veletlenek tan megis vannak, ugyarra a napra vannak kiirva es mindkettojuknek kislanyuk lesz!!!???

Akadozo szamben megjeleno blog irasaim ellenere megprobalom a mai naptol a kisebb de gyakoribb taptikat, azaz mindig hoooooosszura nyulo, reszletes bekoszonoim dolgos mindennapjaink alatt hatterbe csusznak.

E hetunk maga volt a munka megtestesulese, ezt nem is fogom angolul kozolni, mert tudom, hogy kollegaim legalabb egyike olvassa neha a blogomat. Szoval meg kell, hogy valljam neha igazan erzodik, hogy Azsiaban dolgozom. Pokoli sok volt a hetemre kirott feladat es az, hogy az amerikai kliensnel dolgozo kollegaimmal osszhangban legyek, ezert a munkam rendesen 9tol kezdodott, csak eppen hajnali 3kor fejezodott be! Ki lehet szamloni... igen 17 ora!!!!!???? (se tulora penz, se semmi)

A heten minden nap, minden oraban arra gondoltom, hogy munkahelyet kell valtoztatnom, mert a fizetesemert, igen csak kitapossak belolem a szuszt is.Az a fajta kerdes ez, hogy "kell ez nekem?" de komolyan?

Mike ezzel szemben lazabb hetet zart, a heten voltak a diakjai vizsgai, ekkor pl tanitania sem kell, csak "orkodni" a szorgosan vizsgazok mellett.

Abbahagyta az angol klubot is, igy csutortok esteken mar szabad, igy peldaul most egy ex-kollegam szulinapi partyjara voltunk hivatalosak. 32 eves lett a francia baratunk es egy frissen nyilt golf klubba invitalt el minket.
Tudni kell, hogy annak ellenere, hogy Szingapurban a terullet igencsak becses dolog hatalmas divatja van a golfnak. Tipikusan uri huncutsag ez, miutan roppant draga a helyfoglalas, tagsagi dij, nem beszelve, hogy egy golf szett is olyan 300 ezer forintnal kezdodik... Sebaj Szingapurban vastagok a penztarcak igy ez a modern golfozo klub valoszinuleg prosperalni fog.

A hely erdekessege, hogy egy kanadai szamitogepes program uzemelteti, a nagy teremben 3 elvalasztott kisebb jatekter van, es van egy kulon terem, ahol mi is voltunk. A kepernyo hatalmas, olyan, ugy uzemel, mint egy erintokepernyo. Te allsz a golfutovel es labdaval, 3 fele elutesi pont van (normal, fuves hatasu es homok hatasu) elutod a labdat es a kepernyo felfogja, nincs "elpattogas" es a fold kikepzese folytan szinte visszacsurog hozzad helybol. A szamitogep erzekeloje megmondja milyen sebesseggel utottel, hova ment egy szoval mindent. A palyan ugyanugy haladsz vegig, mint az igazin, de a palya maga is igazi. A program 25 eszak-amerikai letezo palyat hasznal.

Nagyon elethu es mint mindig, ra kellett jonnom, hogy az egyszerunek tuno jatek bizony nem is az, sot, egy cseppet sem az. Tiger Woods talan megis tud valamit...? :)

Tegnap pedig bejartam a fel varost, ugyanis tervem, hogy ma mezeskalacsot keszitek az unnepre valo tekintettel. Mar minden alapanyagom megvan hozza, de nincs szaggato formam. A heten direkt kimentem az IKEAba is, de ott is csak lesrefutas volt.

Komoly konyhaeszkoz ellatoba jartam tegnap Mike-kal es ugy neztek ram, mint sult bolondra, hogy "Mi karacsonyi szaggatot keresel, decemberben? Hat van neked eszed?"

Nem adom fel, meg van egy hely, ahol tudok egy suto ellatot (most jol jon a kurtoskalacs szerezte tapasztalat)ha nem akkor koroket szaggatok es rarajzolom a karacsonyfat, jobb otletem nem leven...?

Tegnap egesz nap csak fel gozzel leteztem, mert az eheti eroltetett munka osszes faradsaga kijott rajtam, egyszoval hulla faradt voltam.

Este 6kor le kellett dolnom masfel orara, mert birni nem tudtam magammal, csak estem-keltem, engem ismerve ez jelent valamit, hisz sosem alszom napkozben es altalaban birni is tudok magammal. :)

Tegnapi zaro programunk Johan, Sophie ferjenek 40. szulinapja volt.
Nagyon kellemes hangulatu osszejovetel volt, es mindig finom az eteluk, mert az utobbi idoben ralltak, hogy csak sved eteleket foznek.

Isteni volt a tegnapi is, 2 fele lazac, az a finn fajta Nomi, tudod. Akkor a tipikus sved ropogos kenyer, ABBA halak kulonbozo szosozokban eltett valtozatai, sonkak. Krumplipure, husgolyoval es barnamartassal, melle vorosafonya lekvar.

Isteni volt, mindig imadom az ilyen vacsorakat, mert nosztalgikus szeretetem tor elo Finnorszag fele.
Szamomra az uber mega finomnak szamito csokitortat Sophienak hazilag elkeszitett sved almas piteje kenterbe verte.
Ott voltam, mikor osszeallitotta a sutemenyt es finoman is szolva nem tunt nagy szamnak. Hat tevedtem, biztosan mondhatom, hogy en ettem a legtobbet belole.

Valami isteni volt, sved recept es mar megfigyeltem, hogy Sophie mindig pazar eteleket sut/foz a sved konyveibol. Pedig a svedek is olyanok, mint a finnek, csak a sot, borsot es kaprot ismerik! :)

Ez a recept most akkor itt all mindenki rendelkezesere, az eredeti receptet kaptam meg, de Sophie pl csak almaval keszitette el.

El se hiszed olyan finom sved almas pite

Hozzavalok:

2-3 kopasz barack
250g avagy 1/2 dl afonya
1/2 dl barnacukor
1ek krumpliliszt vagy kemenyito (miutan o almat hasznalt erre nem is volt szukseg, csak akkor kell, ha leengedesre hajlamos gyumit hasznalsz, mert barmilyen gyumolccsel kiprobalhato pl szilvaval, malnaval, erdei gyumi mixszel)

Teszta:

3/4 dl barnacukor
1 1/2 zab (magyarosan oatmeal, a muzlikben van ebbol sok)
1 dl liszt
125g vaj

+ 2,5 dl vanilia szosz (szerintem otthon kaphato vanilias puddingot folyosabbra keszitve az is remekul megteszi a sved vanilia szosz hatasat :)

Osszeallitas:

Allitsd a sutot 225fokra. Szeleteld fel a gyumolcsot, amit hasznalsz egy sutotalba/tepsire. Az itteni recept szerint szeleteld fel a barackot egy tepsibe, majd szord ra az afonyat. Szord meg cukorral es krumpliliszttel (ez utobbi csak levet ereszto gyumiknel kell)
Majd kulon keverd ossze a tesztahoz valokat es morzsold ra a gyumolcsokre kb egysegesen. A sutot kozep fokozatra allitva cirka 20 percig kell sutni.

A vegeredmeny PAZAR lesz, mert a zab teljesen megpuhul, de ezzel egyutt valahogy olyan picit ropogos hatasu javascript:void(0)lesz, az alma melle Sophie tett persze fahejat is, na most ezzel hihetetlen finom allagu, illatu lesz es erre jon a hideg vanialia krem.

Minden etkezes fofinomsaga lesz ez az egyszeru de nagyszeru recept.
Szivbol ajanlom!

(kepek kesobb, meg magam is varom Sophietol)

Other filming also in July

2010-12-05T09:35:00.006+08:00

This is another filming this time we were making a TV ad for the Youth Olympic Games!!!
Ez a forgatas az nyaron megrendezett Diak Olimpiara keszult reklmahoz keszult.

New Addition in Singapore :)

2010-12-05T09:27:00.005+08:00

Ezt a gyonyoru csokrot sikerult kesziettetnem :)

A very good friend of mine had her baby girl arriving in the middle of October, I went over to her place first time since my hospital visit and I was amazed. She is so pretty and cute... sooo baby like : ) ... within a week I was back for a second round. :)

Egy nagyon kedves baratnom kisbabaja oktoberben erkezett, ezen a heten tettem elso latogatasomat a korhazi utan es el voltam amulva. Olyan szepsegesen szep baba es olyan aranyos, hogy egy jeten belul mar vissza is mentem 2. latogatasra (babazasra).

Filming and the make-up

2010-12-05T09:23:00.002+08:00

This was for a filming in July, we look ridiculous indeed:
Ez egy juliusi filmforgatason keszult, irto ahogy kinezunk:

Burger eating attempt 2010

2010-12-05T09:18:00.004+08:00

check this out, awesome!!!!

2010-12-04T13:46:00.001+08:00

http://www.bloesem.blogs.com/

Buszkeseg

2010-11-17T09:17:00.002+08:00

Buszkeseggel tolt el bemutatni a kovetkezo oldalt, hisz sziporkazo noverem remek oldalarol irnak elismero szavakkal:

http://inspiraciok.blogspot.com/

I am more than proud to share the following link as it is talking about my "sparkling-minded" :) sister's great home design page:

http://inspiraciok.blogspot.com/

Bali stories

2010-11-07T09:47:00.003+08:00

BALI… I am sayin’ BALI
Our loooong time awaited Bali trip has finished yesterday, 5th Nov which is Deepevali the holy celebration’s day of the Indian subcontinent. We especially me waited for my parents like X-mas, its been one too many months I have not seen my family which is why I wanted to get the best out of the time when my mom and dad started their very first journey to the mysterious Asian continent.

I was very proud of them, they traveled through half the world without any problem, and let’s not forget the problem that they hardly speak any English, which is actually changing, even my mom has picked up quite a bit… just basic stuff like ‘cup of coffee’, ‘no I don’t want to buy your day tour’ etc.

So 29th October in the evening we all got to Bali and as my dad is crazy for water we planned to spend the first couple of days at the sea side, at the place called Sanur. Sanur is overlooked by many; mostly the people there were the older generation but Mike and I also enjoyed the little bit laid back attitude.

Our first accommodation was a villa, nice and spacious the downstairs area was for my parents and the upstairs area was for us. It was pretty and the garden was exotic with the bright green leaves everywhere. As we got there quite late we said no to the sea restaurants and just stayed inside of our facilities and had our first meal in the hotel restaurant. Beer being cheaper we tried the local Bintang which passed the test and became our beer for the rest of our time. (Heineken was a strong competitor though)

First morning my instinct woke me up way too early, wasn’t even 7am, I thought to myself let’s see the sea before my parents just to make sure that everything is cool. Somehow I had this feeling that I have to double check it, donno why.

Well soon enough I was becoming worried… the little street which supposed to lead one to the beach apart from looking like a 3rd world’s back street had 3 unfriendly, way too big dogs on the left hand side and on the right hand side people were collecting the unofficial street trash corner…. yaaa

I walked past the garbage part trying to not inhale too often when I ended up on the “main” street which reminded me of Marocco (who knows me knows that I really did not have great time in Marocco). The street was filled with locals, the poorer types, sitting around, waiting on the dirty pavements, street dogs running, cars busses… oh that was too much for 7am! I run back to the reception and asked… ‘Are you serious, this is the neighborhood?’

Affirmative! Ok I got worried, not because my parents are picky but even for my somewhat South East Asian trained eyes were surprised. I sneaked into the villa, woke Mike up and asked his help, we walked down to the beach and generally speaking had a second look but the more we looked the worst it seemed.
We came up with 3 options:
A, stay where you are and shut up
B, stay where you are and take taxi to better/cleaner beaches
C, leave ASAP (that was me)

All 4 of us decided to leave the area which was the north part of Sanur, although we liked the villa (the hotel was just 5 years ahead of the area’s development) and took a cab to south of Sanur, we chose another villa which was a bit less modern but the location was unbeatable. Seriously it was 10 m from the beach!!! The hotel had many bungalows, cottages all around the garden which burst with half ripe bananas, flower trees, tropical plants… swimming pool etc.

We had a small stroll down the pedestrian walk along the beach and all the hotels had GEARGIOUS terraces, romantic sets, pools facing the sea …oh it was just perfect. Our hotel was less attractive after all, but still we were very satisfied.
(In the morning we learned that our hotel also has a great terrace which we did not know about :) )

We of course jumped right into the sea, which was 35 degrees hot, very shallow. The surprise in the water was the sea grass, I think hippos would eat that, it was dense like a carpet; huge part of the beach front water was covered with sea grass which made it hard to get into the deeper water as it was not that comfortable to cross the roots and plants. There was a tiny little fish among those grass fields, wow they were aggressive indeed. They were half of your pinkie but they attacked you.

It felt like being hit by them but really they were attacking us and biting hmmm given their size we were puzzled, did not really know what to think of it.
We rented a boat to go passed the grass and the beach area to see some marine life. It was alright but I would not say that the marine life was all that lively but we were happy to see even that much. WE were informed that Bali is no good for snorkeling and in fact it is true.

Amed is a place up in the north west corner of the island where marine life is said to be perfect but Mike found out that the car ride would be 3h one way so we did miss Amed.
We headed down the streets of Sanur central area to see what are the options e.g. the restaurants, shops etc. We decided to try some Balinese massage which Mike and I have already tried on our first Bali trip. It was a bit of a challenge to find a massage place which can give massage to 4 people at the same time. Finally we found a place and I have to say probably it was the best massage we ever got.

All of us were in heaven after an hour of experienced massage hands’ work. Full body massage.. oh heaven not to mention that we paid 8 SGD / 6 USD / 4 EUR / 1,100 HUF per person!!!!! It’s a deal.
The rest of Sanur time was spent in the pool, in the sea and in restaurants.

I have to say we tried, we did try all kind of Balinese flavors and meals but none of them seemed to win. Either it was straight bad like Dad’s curry fished grilled in banana leave (we even sent it back as not edible object) or just not that taste to eat it again. Rice is essential in Bali, rice rice rice, people wake up and eat rice and go to bed eating rice.

I know that in Asia I should not be surprised but I am they definitely ate more than average.
Mike and I planned a trip for each day. First we went down to Uluwatu which is the south tip of Bali, being far from us we did leave a bit late (we had a massage on the beach). There are 2 sea temples on Bali, Uluwatu and Tanah Lot.

The original idea was to build sea temples all around Bali like a pearl necklace and they wanted to be able to see one temple from another as it was meant to protect Bali forever. The great idea resulted 2 temples but the rest never made it, unfortunately. Uluwatu is a spectacular site of a temple on the rocks, the south part of the island does not have a proper beaches but huge cliffs, steep walls and the temple on the top of these rocks promised a great experience. But as we left too late from Sanur we missed the sunset and saw only the last minutes of sunlight, it was pretty but hasn’t impressed us as much as I expected. It was over all nice and still it was well worth the effort of driving there because of the sound of the gigantic waves hitting the rock walls, the cliffs were still great.

This temple was filled with monkeys who have bad reputation as they have stolen all kinds of stuff from previous tourists from hat till camera, from bag till your book and glasses.

They seemed to chill out just fine when we were there but I believe the stories.
The Sunday’s trip was to Tanah Lot which was probably the highlight of our entire trip. It is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Any of us would say that Tanah Lot was absolutely impressive. It was said to be the most photographed site in Bali but I don’t mind the tourist tag, it was beautiful. The idea is the same, temple on the rocks but this time the temple was built on a small rock island just 30-50 steps away from the main land. The whole are is filled with black sand and rocks as it is volcanic material. The pictures can talk for themselves. We went down to the bottom of the rocks and in the sea water foggy, black rocks this place had a very special atmosphere.

Nobody is allowed to step on the small temple island unless you are Balinese, according to the mythology if an unmarried coupled visits the temple they will split up.

It was funny as Mike and separately I was asked to pose in other people’s pictures. Local boys asked me to be the ‘white chick’ in the pictures and Mike as ‘handsome – I will never get you – boy’ in the local girls pictures. …?
We had a 2bucks coconut on the restaurant terrace which was great as it was the first real green skin coconut for my parents. On the horizon the clouds changed color and became angry. It looked like as a seen cut out from the Lord of the Rings, Sauron’s clouds were coming to get us, but we were quicker and by the time the rain came down we were in the car. This trip was just absolutely amazing!

After Sanur we headed to Ubud the most waited place from all Bali as there was nobody who did not agree that UBUD is the best of Bali.
I am sure Mike and I will be stoned to say but guys… what’s all that craziness around UBUD???

We seemed to not get it…?

We had a great accommodation, nice garden, small but ok pool, spacious room and fine bath. We were on the main street of Ubud, the Ubud palace was just down the road, many many pretty Balinese are shops and things. We were lucky with meals, although prices were above Sanur’s. Mike and I were wondering why Ubud is the none-plus-ultra for almost all our friends…? We agreed that if we could rent a bike and bike in the countryside among the rice paddies or if we would have luxus villa for 400USD per night with some awesome view and private masseuse we would not question it for a second, but given the situation we were honestly wondering.

First day we just walked around the area, discovered Ubud ‘village’ and as my parents were tired with aching feet we could not see any rice paddies. Next day we rented a car with a driver and went up to the Batur volcano which last eruption was in 2000. Along the way we saw many villages, rice paddies, local life.

The driver was exceptional he was pretty intelligent and ambitious to learn English well. He was telling us a lot about the locals and their living.
Balinese are seriously religious and superstitious. They think that there is one God, but he has many manifestations thus God can be in sculptures, in stones in places in trees, almost in anything. If you were born with healing power than you have some God in you as well which cannot be taught.

Everyone without exception has to give offerings to the Gods, which is a small plate made of a special leaf and this tray/plate has to have offerings which always have to contain at least 3 different types of flowers, cookies, crackers (feeding the Gods), some drops of water or coffee, and anything you would just like to add in.

We saw cigarettes and as it were explained to us: “well after a meal one likes to smoke, right”
The offerings are places everywhere, you see them in front of a house, shops, on statue, around temples, in a car, on a car…. anywhere and everywhere.
It is said that 30% of a Balinese woman’s day time is spent on religious preparation such as making the offering, cleaning after the ceremony etc

There should be at least 3 times during the day when you give offerings to the Gods, 1 family counts as 1 person but still. I asked the driver what if you forget or you are bored of doing it and just quit this offering thing and I have to say his answer showed me he did not even understand my question… No exception I take it.

Some statues had dressed some didn’t and we did not know why, the answer is that those statues with clothes have spirit living in them and those standing, as they are, are just statues. There is no method or rule on how to identify living spirits in objects, if you say it’s there than it is there, that’s it.

Here rice comes in as religious element as rice has its God and rice is almost holy if not entirely that is why you cannot leave rice on your plate. (I don’t think the waiters were impressed with us leaving half the rice on our plates) The other reason is the hard work. Rice agriculture is no joke, it is hard, labor demanding job.

Bali is self sufficient with rice and with almost all of its food. The whole island felt like a big garden. When we went to the volcano there in the crater people were keeping kitchen garden size terraces and grew beans, chili, and other things.
Balinese like it tough; although I am convinced it is not a question of choice. They use no machines!!!! No tractor, no trenching – machine, no harvesting machines nothing just manpower, hours of work and a reaping-hook!!!

We learned to feel different about rice and food after all that. Most fields are so tiny our Western eyes would not even think of them as possible lands for gardening. Not to mention the irrigation issues… Land is ploughed by bulls.

Balinese have 2 options it seemed either stay with their family and farm their land or do something with tourism.
Back in a day when kingdoms were vital rulers of the territories caste was important. There are 4 castes; the highest 2 are is the Gods’/kings’ caste those born in these castes are kings and priests. Then ...

Margaret and Singapore snapshot

2010-10-20T10:31:00.017+08:00

Margaret szombaton (okt. 10) erkezett, kimentunk ele a repterre, es persze mint mindig rossz terminalra mentunk, mert fapadossal jott, es mi ebbol fakadoan mentunk a fapados terminalhoz, de persze a terminal 1-be erkezett, igy kicsit elkestunk, de nem volt baj belole, szepen megvart minket.
Taxival bejottunk a varosba es pont a velunk szemben levo hotelban szallt meg, igy nem volt nagy nehezseg az idopont/talalka egyeztetes a hetvege hatralevo reszeben.

elso izben megmutattuk neki a lakast, keszitettem egy isteni mango shake-t, amit felhajtottunk es elindultunk a nagyvilagba. Indiai etteremben ettunk eloszor mondvan, hogy Margaret azt nagyon szereti, siker is volt.
Majd elmentunk az Orchard road-ra, ami az uber mega valtozata a Vaci utcanak. Margaret meg volt rokonyodve, hogy micsoda vilag marka orulet dul a varosban, tehat hogy sor all a Channel, Gocci, Luise Vittuone volt elott... mert ezek a boltok mig kisebbek es "butik" jelleguek meg New Yorkban is addig itt hangar nagysaguak, akar tobb emelettel, es meg igy is sorban kell elottuk allni.

Sebaj, majd ettunk egy csoki desszertet, kis kaveval es teaval. Vacsorara, pedig azt talaltuk ki, hogy borral lemegyunk az obolbe megnezzuk a szabadteri, vizen lebego szinpadon az ingyenes eloadast, elszopogatjuk a bort es elmegyunk egy etterembe valami konnyu vacsorat enni. Na ebbol az lett, hogy a pihenes e ket dolog elott elhuzodott, igy a bali tancos eloadast a szinpadon lekestuk, es a vacsora is irto keson volt. Minden esetre jot trecseltunk.

Vasarnap kiprobaltam az uj palacsintasutomet, Tefal es olyan de olyan jo, hogy meg az elso palacsintat se egettem el. Erre felboszulve ma athivtam par kollegat es baratot esti palacsinta partyra. Ez utan elmentunk a folyohoz es beultunk egy etteremben, ahol kora du "happy hour" ideje alatt olcso a sor, igy dumaltunk es soroztunk.

Vacsorafoglalasunk 5:30tol volt igy addig elmentunk a kinai negyedbe boklaszni, a kinai pagodat megnezni... es az etterem fele vezeto utata a metron tettuk meg, hogy azt is lassa. Persze mindentol el volt amulva, hogy szep, rendezett, egzotikus es a metro meg szuper modern.

A vacsora nagy sikert aratott, miutan egy japan etterembe mentunk, ahol adtak egy kis szemelyre szolo leveslevet es egy oriasi tutajban halat, rakot, kagylot es minden ehhez hasonlo herkentyuket es te fozocskezted ki az alapanyagokat a levesedben, amit alulrol forraltal.
Mint mindig isteni kaja volt de estere ugy elfaradtunk, hogy remeltem Mike hazavisz kezben, de neki se volt tobb energiaja. Meg elballagtunk fenykepezogepet venni Margaretnek.
Van itt egy olyan gep, hogy elol es a megszokott hatul is kijelzi a gep az aktualis kepet. Ha a fenykepezore nezel elorol nem is gondolnak, hogy egy lcd kijelzo be van a lencse melle epitve, mert ugyanugy nez ki, mint a gep szine, minden, de ha keszitesz kepet "atvaltozik" nagyon furfangos igy Margaret nem mondott neki nemet es megvette.
Utana mindenki ment a maga agya fele, en ha hiszitek ha nem szerintem este 9kor mar aludtam.... olyan merhetetlen faradsag volt rajtam, hogy hihetetlen

Ennek ellenere remek hetveget zartunk... :)

Where did we take the first pictures...
Hol is fenykepeztuk volna az elso kepeket...

Szolid 10 millio kaloria, de finom! Simply 10,000 calories but man you know it's good! :)

Zoolander...

Mike boven magyaraz, Mike is all about spreading the words! Singapore is awesome!

Margaret and I and the mighty Central Business District behind.
Margaret es en, mogottunk pedig a suru Kozponti Uzleti nagyed.

They are so similar. Nagyon hasonlitanak!

That's why we love Brewerkz Ezert szeretjuk a Brewerkz-et. :)

Margaret and I went to have our nails done on Sunday morning, cool girl thing to do, and our nails turned out nice!
Margaret es en vasarnap reggel elmentunk manikuroztetni a kormeinket, szuper csajos dolog volt, mar magamtol sosem megyek. :)

Beer is beer even in Singapore!
A sor az sor meg Szingapurban is!

Mike in the Japanese pot Master :) Mike a japan fozo bajnok!

Tioman pictures on the web, please open Picasa

2010-09-26T10:40:00.001+08:00

Tioman kepek fent vannak a picasa blogon! :)

Oh Formula1 we "love" you all / Oh Forma 1 mi mind szeretunk

2010-09-22T13:58:00.003+08:00

Today my usual 10 bus ride took me 55 min due to the new bus route... as they blocked half of the city center for the 2010 F1 race!!!!

anyway the finding of the day:

Florence and the Machine's "Dog Days Are Over"

and is you wonder where it is from... the trailer song for my beloved "Eat, Pray, Love" movie trailer!!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjay5vgIwt4

Oh hogy a Forma1, ma atlagos 10 perces busz utan 55 perce kerult, miutan a varos kozpont zome mara mar lezarasra kerult, hisz e het vegen rendezik a 2010es F1 futamot Szingapurban!

Sebaj a nap fenypontja, vegre megtudtam mi a kedvenc film elozetesem zeneje:

Florence and the Machine's "Dog Days Are Over"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjay5vgIwt4

Enjoy! Jo hallgatast!

Our Beautiful Tioman

2010-09-19T22:10:00.002+08:00

Happened that our feet got itchy last week and as Friday the 10th was public holiday due to Muslim celebrations I could not keep myself on Singaporean soil, we decided to try our luck with Tioman…

Our problems began at the ticket counters: ‘Sorry Miss, we have no more tickets, lah’ and it repeatedly happened with the ferry tickets and the accommodation too. So Mike, 6 hours before departure, put his foot down… we canceled the trip, I was endlessly sad and disappointed as I really wanted to get away from the ‘daily grind.’
Mike promised that we would go the next week, which was this weekend.
We decided to bring some food with us as seemingly we always make the same mistake of not being prepared enough and then starve later. It wasn’t much what we brought - just some tomatoes, apples, grapefruit, cookies and water.

The weekend was an adventure indeed. I was only able to buy tickets for the direct bus to Tanjong Gemok which is the port city on the east cost of Malaysia, about 2-3h away from Johor Bahru which is the city on the Malaysian side of the Strait of Singapore.

So I thought to myself that one-way tickets are better than nothing, and we will find a way to get back I am sure. Of course Thursday night some very very important work had to be finished and it was threatening the journey greatly, I managed to finish it by 3am and our alarm was set for 5am.

We walked down to the bus pick up point where we set off at 6:30. Surprisingly, I realized again how crazy small Singapore is: within 30min we were getting off of the bus at the border checkpoint.
We managed to handle the Singaporean and Malay borders fairly quickly although my Hungarian citizenship seemed to be a ‘never heard of’ thing to the Malay officer but after double checking that I am eligible for a 90 day visa he even called me by my name - “Ms Imola welcome to Malaysia.” At 7:10am it felt like they are rolling a red carpet for me with such a polite greeting.

The bus ride was alright except that it started to pour heavily which wasn’t the best sign ever but my local ‘weather forecasting skills’ which I have developed over the past 2 years have trained me to be an optimist about rain because usually the next day is bright sunshine and great tropical weather, and it is almost guaranteed.
We weren’t able to get a ticket for the 1st ferry from Mersing, so we had to go one more stop (30min extra) to the 2nd ferry terminal from where at 12:30 we left on a boat to Tioman.

We were told that the boat ride will be 2 hours and indeed it was long. Learning from my last bout of seasickness in Thailand, I took a motion sickness pill which made me fall asleep within 15 min. It should be called knock-you-out pill???
After arrival our first thing was to look for a bungalow as we did not book any accommodation knowing that it is plentiful and we were not wrong. We decided to stay at the 2nd place we found, the Double Ace.

It was a bit up a hill from the beach, a mere 2 min walk, the bungalow was ok, a big bed, balcony, palm trees around, fan and mosquito net and an ensuite toilet, where you were able to have hot shower during daytime as the sun was warming the water in the water containers. We paid 50RM per night – which is about 24 SGD / 18US.
We were unable to withdraw money at the ferry terminal (no ATM) but we figured we could take care of it on Tioman, we had about a 100-130 SGD on us.

Yes, but when we asked around they told us that there is only 1 bank on the island, on another beach which is 40min from where we were and it closes Friday at 4pm and opens next Monday. Oh and to feel even better the ATM shuts down at 4pm too, but the girl made us sure to know – oh that machine never accepts any cards… and there is no money exchange at all!!!!

Wow that was not a fun moment for us, we had about 10 Ringgit after the ferry ticket purchase and that didn’t seem like it would last for another 2 days, or 2.5…
We rented 2 bikes with that money and we did an Olympic cycling to Tekek (the only beach with a bank). The bank was still open, so was the ATM, but as it had been said, sure enough it did not accept our visa card, and after waiting a long time in the bank with plenty of noisy, misbehaving local parents and kids, the bank turned out to be unable to connect to “the world” and give us money.

Oh, meanwhile I went for a ride to see what is around and I found out that there is an old Malay lady who is dealing in black money exchange as a side business while selling fried rice over the counter for 3 ringgit (less than one USD)
I would like to mention that it is around 5pm and we haven’t had anything else to eat, just apples and cookies, since 6:30am… and we had to accept the fact yes we hadn’t brought enough food, again.

Mike cycled back to our beach to get all our Singaporean cash which we were able to change to 330RM! Bungalow was 100RM so we had 230 after all, which is ok we thought. (100 SG – 90US)

We immediately got some beers and local peanuts and sat down to chill out and calm down … we were gazing around looking at locals and wondering… “is it true, they live like this, really this is their life…?” Sure enough it is/was. Most of the little houses are hardly any bigger or stronger than our weekend bungalow.
Kids riding motorbikes at age 7-8, ladies are all wearing scarves around their heads, you could see their faces but still on a 30degrees/ 85+F tropical, humid island did not strike me to be comfortable for scarves, but they must obey their religion.

Kids are playing in the dust…life is so simple for those on that island that they hardly did any agriculture either, they just live off the tourists coming to Tioman, which is a very slim target audience at the end of the day.

We headed back to ABC beach and looked around. We were amazed to see that from our window we could see the South China Sea, there was a huge mango tree in front of the balcony, Jackfruit on the left, and we heard absolutely nothing but nature.

Maybe one of the biggest surprises was the mute quietness. Absolutely no noise but a few birds, we realized how noisy our life is in Singapore, the horns, the constant construction, cars, buses….. just NOISY. But here, only birds and bugs.

We looked for some dinner which was long overdue and we ended up at a great little restaurant serving the best cheese omelets ever, which I did not fail to order every single day! : ) 4 times to be exact.

We strolled up and down the beach and turned in early, given the fact that there is not much to do in the evenings. We were tempted by snorkeling day trips but quickly we realized that we just don’t have cash for it as we were on a fixed budget.

The next day we woke up after twelve hours of sleep, from 10pm till 10am, we were so well rested we did not want to believe it. The bed itself played a key role, as the new mattresses were very comfy. Also it was quiet, at night a tiny bit chilled, no mosquitoes whatsoever, so 12h sleep, no problem.

We had a great brunch at the Cheese omelet place and went to rent masks for snorkeling; from Borneo we had the snorkels.
Looking at the map and knowing that we have to take care of our own entertainment we decided to go for a jungle walk and occasionally we will stop to snorkel along the way.
We headed north where we knew we could reach ‘Monkey Bay’ and Salang beach (eventually). After the first section of the jungle trek we ended up on this beach which was sooooooooooooo crazy beautiful I could not hold myself and jumped right into the water. It was clear, warm and around the jetty there were about 500,000 mini fish. Oh it was just paradise.
We set off again walking more, that part of the jungle walk was really long, and had climbs and steep slopes, it took us 45 min~1 hour to reach another bay which we did not know what it was but soon enough we did.

The bay being perfect, having only 6 other people on it apart from us, Mike and I decided to snorkel again, and as we are setting my backpack down on the sand, a male monkey came out from the jungle. The male was going for my backpack, Mike was closer and us being puzzled by the monkey’s brave approach we were guessing that the little nasty animal wants to steal our bag.

When he got closer than we liked, Mike started to scare him away which was apparently even worse because the animal got really aggressive and was clearly showing “Dude, I am a monkey, I want your bag pronto and I do not fear to bite your white human arm if you dare to stop me”
So Mike did try to “fight” him off, but the nasty animal just grabbed my bag and disappeared in the jungle with it. Holy s*** the money stole the bag!!!!!!!!
The camera fall out half way but still, it was a big challenge to get it back, because the money went up on a tree ready to jump on Mike if he comes to pick it up. I found a huge bamboo stick which we used to distract our attacker and Mike was able to get the bag back. Later we learned, that we were not careful enough to double check the contents of the bag and Mike’s sunglasses were the price for that.

The snorkeling otherwise great we saw the biggest shell ever, it was probably a meter /yard long.
I collected a lot of shells as I have a forever eager shell collecting hobby and then we decided to give up on Salang beach but go with the safe option and head back to ABC beach.
You do not want to find yourself in the dark in the jungle.
As we were hiking in the jungle we heard a noise and Mike guessing it is wild boar, I said it is a bird and then none of us was right it was a monkey “singing”.

This one did not attack us, we had enough of monkey aggression for the day, the male back on the beach want even big, but his teeth and of course immediately when you see yourself opposed to such a creature you run your previous biology class vs National Geography knowledge to know you do not want his bite if it is possible.
The other serious consideration for us was that we did not see a single hospital or doctor’s office anywhere, we are still wondering how women give birth…? (old fashion or something) (and now I think of my friend back in SG where they told her last week that her baby birth next month will cost her 17,000SG)

We made it back just fine and had a great dinner, again with cheese omelets and beer. : ) Before the dinner we sat down at the only one bar where accidentally we met 2 Hungarians who came from Australia to have a little holiday as their visa requires them to leave in every 6 months.

It was an experience indeed, ‘Boli’ (his nickname) was a modern day nomad, dreadlocks and suntan.
He was 45 but lives like a young 20, he lives to travel, as we learned over the night he visited and then we mean visited (spent a month-3 months in a country) all Europe, Turkey, went to India on land, lived in India for 6 months, Tenerife, Morocco, he was swimming in rivers with crocodiles, he was petting dingos at the Ayers Rock in Australia, he ate nun’s donation in Spain… you name it he saw it. He want to the US too and he is a drummer of a quite known Hungarian “world music” band.
Some called it “Shaman punk” : )

He has a house in Hungary but as he does not really have a family he left years ago and never really returned. His stories were amazing, he is the type who likes to live it rough… does not need much he works on farms or anything and that money is enough for him for weeks. He has been living in Australia for over 1.5 years, he says that he loves it and getting a van there is very easy which leaves plenty of freedom to go anywhere he just wants to.

He did the El Camino the same way, one day he decided to get on the road and walk; the El Camino is a nearly 1000km long pilgrimage in Northern Spain.
He is invited by many people on his journeies, somehow everybody seems to care and share as little as a dinner, a room or just a chat with him. He was an interesting person to talk to, somebody who really turned his back on the average life, having a home and warm food on the table, but in return he really have seen half of the world in depth we just wish to.

Today, Sunday morning we had a little hesitation what to do as we recognized Mike’s glasses absence but Mike had the final word for it so we did not return to Monkey bay to look for them, I would have gone if it would have been my glasses, but I guess we are different that way. Instead we had a long swimming with the fishy fish and finished the day nicely.
Our boat left at 1pm and we were lucky to be offered a bus ride back from the driver on the way here on Friday. So as we arrived back the driver was already waiting for us and now, we are on the bus, trying to make our way back on the crowded Sunday night roads.
Pictures will come shortly...

Moment of fame

2010-09-16T09:10:00.002+08:00

Accidentally I found this video, not sure about the girl in it, but why I kept watching because the first imagiges are sure enough are from Budapest and also the last ones...

I guess after 2 years of Asia I knid of appreciate little home moments like this :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0frdSqCLRXg&feature=branded

Ma csak veletlenul kattintgattam, a youtube-on es erre a vidora ranezve fejemhez kaptam, mert az elso kepek bizony hogy Budapestrol vannak, es az utolsok is!
Nem tudom, ki a lany, de igy 2 ev Azsia utan csak orultam a hazai kepeknek! :)

Legkedvesebb Ausztral Baratnenk / Our Most Beloved Aussie Friend

2010-09-13T17:05:00.002+08:00

She had a short visit on the way to Bali and we were trilled to see her again!

Tioman

2010-09-07T15:41:00.003+08:00

Most, hogy pentekunk szabadnap igy megindult bennunk a legkuzdhetetlen vagy, hogy bevegyuk regota vagyott Tioman falait... ez a kis sziget tolunk eszakra, Malajzia keleti oldalan fekszik.

Kepek alapjan meseszep es ami igen barati, hogy kozel is van. Sajnos mire a jegypenztar ele ertunk mar elkelt az osszes tavolsagi buszjegy, ami a kikotoig vitt volna minket. Igy a hagyomanyos, stresszes utom kell menni, azaz hajnalok hajnalan keli, elmenni helyi tomegkozlekedessel a hatarig, ott atjutni, majd onnet taxival a megfelelo buszaplyaudvarra menni, ott megkuzdeni a malaj erokkel, hogy ferjunk fel a malaj tavolsagi buszra, lehetoleg meg reggel. Ott azon zutykolodes 2.5 oran at.
Ekkor leszunk Mersingnel, ahol is a kikoto van... ott ismet kozelharca komp jegyert...
Ha az sikerul, akkor 2 ora hajozas es mar a szigeten is vagyunk... es ott szallas kereses...

Hat igy leirva picit meredek, de az az igazsag, hogy sosem utazunk igy, es hat be kell vallani kalandos lesz, de ugy vagyok vele, hogy a kaland meg mindig erdekesebb, mint Szingapurban 3 napot zsinorban elutni...

Ami meg kerdesesebb az a vasarnapi visszaut, mert MINDENKI akkor fog hazajonni a hosszu hetvegerol. Szoval oveket becsatolni, indulas!

Having the up coming Friday a National Holiday our intention is to escape from Singapore ASAP, especially me.
Mike has his english club, which is holding us up till Friday morning when we tend to reach Tioman, it will not be an easy deal as we missed the last couch tickets which
would have taken us to Mersing, the ferry terminal.
Instead we will have to fight through the stressful way of getting there.

Taking local transport till the border, getting to the malay side, then get a cab and navigate to the correct bus station then fight to get on the first bus to Mersing (malays have their own ideas of schedules, rules and English speaking).
So if that is done, then 2-3h of bus ride to Mersing where we have to fight to get return tickets to Tioman island, that might be a challenge.

I dont know because once we get there maybe there is no accommodation...? I booked one but who knows, it is Malaysia???

So questions:
-will we get to Tioman?
-Will we get out of tioman on Sunday?
-Will we have roof above our heads?

Well we will see! :) The adventure is still better than spending 3 holidays in raw in town doing nothing, or not much?!

Mike's 33rd Birthday!!!

2010-09-04T19:43:00.024+08:00

On Mike's post birthday celebration everything happen to make him happy and feel good, so we slept in, as first success element then our first "meal" was some happy hour great beer, our favorite in town at an American Microbrewery down the river's club district. It was pretty fun and I gave him my present - a book - not surprising.
Then we had an awesome lunch at a special Indian restaurant... hmm we were seriously full, I had difficulty walking... lol

I was just wondering if this is the feeling of being pregnant because if so then it will be a very uncomfortable 9 months once...?
Those who are experienced... feel free to comment here.

Then we walked by the river and went to look for some training shoes for him as 2nd part of his present, but no success this time... we found ourselves all over the mall, as mattress covers, the remaining pieces from 2009.

Then a huge ice cream for the celebrated One!

Now some movies... I hope he had a good time! :)

Tegnap este Mike talalt egy uj magyar nyelvtankonyvet kulfoldieknek, es ennek apropojan probara tette tudasat a pelda szovegen es feladatokon. Igen ugyes volt, bar a tobbes szamban es mult idoben a ragozas itt ott vicces volt, de be kell vallani irto nehez lehet valakinek, kivulallonak megerteni, hogy miert "tunk", "tu"nk" "tatok" "tetek" stb

Mike egyszer egy ragozassal nem bodogult: "What a f** can it be" magyarul kb "mi a sza** lehet ez"
..hm a konyvet megvesszuk nyelvtant helyretesszuk! :)

Birthday ice cream and cappuccino!

Meglepo, de meg mindig hasznaljak a majd 2 eve keszitett marketing anyagot a matrac keszitok, ma lattuk ezt kiallitva. Nagyon tetszett az eladoknak, mikor rajottek, hogy nem matracot szeretnenk venni, hanem elvezzuk a helyzetet, hogy a kepunk millio egy helyen ott figyel a kirakott arukon!

We were pleasantly surprised to see that the mattress company is still using the marketing products with our face on them. The shop assistants were quite happy to realize us being the "models" of their selling products. We were surely enjoying the funny twist of being exposed o=in such a silly way!

Ice breaking moment is Singapore history, the most known and beloved Hungarian delicacy is now available in the shelves of Singaporean supermarkets, it is a bit pricey as 1 kg sells for $120 (19,000HUF) but hey at lease it is here! thanks to Viki! :)

Pick salami juppppy

Karen & Imola

Viki one really great friend in town!

Karen, our witness, almost 2 years ago on our wedding we were joking to have a baby this year as it is the year of Tiger and that sounded like a cool thing to us. Well her plans worked out, she will be a mom in less than 48h, (thanks to C section we know it properly.)

This was in interesting toy, "re-build-able" hot dog which you can fix on to the baby car, seems like something which is doomed to failure.

Hungarian meeting / magyar talalkozo

2010-08-22T09:39:00.012+08:00

Szoval a magyara talalkozo augusztus 15en talan a legjobban sikerult magyar talalkozo volt itt Szingapurban. Sokan is jottek el, kellemes is volt a hangulat. A Botanikus kertben talalhato allandoan kihalo es ujraultetett magyar fanal volt a talalkozo, melynek sajatossaga volt, hogy Schmitt Pal, illetve az egesz magyar delegacio hivatalos volt egy tiszteletlatogatasra. Miutan most zajlik a vilag elos diak Olimpiaja kicsiny varosunkban.

So last week, on Sunday the Hungarian meeting was held in the Botanical Garden, and I have to say probably this was the most successful get together for a long time. Lot of people came, unfortunately the Biggest Hungarian Mike couldnt join me as he had work to be at.
The specialty might have been the honey for the bees, the new President of teh country was invited with the Olympic games delegation. Among thise people there was Krisztina egerszegi, who is an icon from my childhood as she was a great swimmer, winning on 3 Olympics in a row.

Nem vagyok a Koztarsosagi elnokunk nagy hive, de Egerszegi Krisztinaval nagyon szivesen talalkoztam, igy gondolkodas nelkul el is mentem a vasarnapi kis osszejovetelre. Mindenkinek kell ilyenkor harapnivalot vagy valami etket vinnie a piknikre, meg a kovetseg is megeroltetett par uveg magyar bort! :)
Mindig ostorlom a kovetseget, de hat...

Szoval kis eso, kis kenyelmetlen aldogalas, de kepesek voltunk majd 3 orat eltolteni szeretett "magyarsagban" - Mike a legnagyobb magyarunk sajnos nem johetett miutan munkaja akadt, bar sokan kerestek. :)

Ime a kep, amiert mentem :)
Well here is the picture with Krisztina!!! :)

Egerszegirol korabrol:
Some details:

-2 Olimpian vett reszt, 1988, 1992 es 1996
-5 arany medal!

-3 Olympics 1988, 1992, 1996
- 5 golden medals from the 3 Olympics

Par hete elkapott a hev, hogy vegre megtanuljak Indiai konyha nyelven fozni es ne csak imitaljam, ez a tudomany viszont a fuszereken alapul, melyeket a magyar konyha hirbol sem ismer, igy az interneten kellett megamba szivni a tudomanyt, majd a jegyzeteimmel bevetettem magamat Musztafaba, mely az itteni indiai fozes/let alappillere, 24h-as ultra mega nagy bevasarlo hely. Nem is lepett meg, hogy mindent megtalaltam a fuszer szekcio alatt, es hogy kincseim kelloen tisztan, elkulonitve es gondosan el legyenek rakva, bedobozoltam oket.

Couple of weeks I decided to learn how to cook India meals, not just pretanding that I know, so as I wasn't to sure what are the little tricks, as I know the bigger ones, I googled all the information, had some notes and then run into the biggest empire of Indian cooking/living - Mustafa.
Wasn't a surprise that I found everything I was just looking for under one roof and to keep them nice and separate I boxed them up which pleased Mike so much, he had to take some pictures :)

Singapore in August

2010-08-13T21:18:00.008+08:00

Dear All,

Well let's talk about Singapore, we gotta acknowledge the fact that Singapore is a piping hot place to be in 2010. The country can boast about the following:

-Singapore's a Garden City, literally.

Amid the concrete jungle we call home, but the most common impression left visitors to Singapore concerns the rows of trees that line roads everywhere, from expressways to suburban streets.

-Singapore is the world's easiest place to do business

Economy 2010 Rank 2009 Rank
Singapore 1 1
New Zealand 2 2
Hong Kong, China3 3
United States 4 4
United Kingdom 5 6
Denmark 6 5
Ireland 7 7
Canada 8 8
Australia 9 9
Norway 10 10

Source: Doing Business 2010 Report, World Bank

-Singapore is the world leader in foreign trade and investment
-Singapore is ranked first for having the most open economy for international trade and investment
-Singapore is ranked the most competitive country in the world
-Singapore is the best business environment in Asia Pacific and worldwide
-Singapore is Asia's most "network ready" country
-Singapore is ranked 4th in the world and 1st in Asia for having the least corruption in its economy
-Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew. He led Singapore to independence in 1965 and served as its first Prime Minister for 31 years, setting the record as the world's longest-serving Prime Minister. He's the architect of Singapore's present prosperity, laying a foundation of nation-building which has taken Singapore from a sleepy little island to one of Asia's most developed states, despite its small population, limited space and lack of natural resources.

(literely they mean it, there is no land to fool around with)

-English that no one else understands

It's the unofficial 'first language' of most Singaporeans and one that would bewilder the remaining English-speaking world. Singlish is the creole of choice for citizens, cobbled together from various influences including Queen's English, Bahasa Melayu, Tamil, dialects such as Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese, Bengali, Punjabi and even a smattering of various other European, Indic and Sinitic languages. Word of warning -- if you don't know it, don't try it. It'll make you sound sillier than we already do. Eh, dun pray pray ah …

-The best Airport in the World...

Should I list more, but I tell you one thing though, I am sure I will never ever list "chili crab" as the best food option in town, as many say. There isn't one favorite for me, but surely chili crab will never make it NEITHER DURIAN!!!!!
DURIAN NEEEEEVER.

i can't wait to see my parents' face when I first "introduce" them to the local Devil. :)

BTW I am very happy to share that in the near future Margaret, Mike's sister is going to visit us first time on the tiny Lion-Fish city.
And shortly after that my parents are coming to stay with us for 3 loong weeks.

I am already very excited as we will hold their hands and "walk" them through the fusion of "coming to Asia"!!! It is going to be a city "rediscovering" for us as well, explaining all the knowledge and earned details from the past 2 years...

With my parents we plan to have 1 week here and then 1 week on the wonderful island of Bali and then 1 more week back here in Singapore.

This time will be precious as our X-mas Hungary visit is greatly in danger, although I am desperate to see my family as 2010 is absolutely the most successful baby boom year of my family's history, both of my sisters will be new moms by the end of the year, one with the 3rd one, the other with the first one.
Andrew and Adam should meet us!!!!

So about Singapore, this boasting parade was advancing the base to explain that Singapore just celebrated its 45th birthday. And the city likes to celebrate... we got everything you can possibly imagine, first of all a day off (although I still worked and actually Mike too) anyway

...just a story came to my mind that Mike had a lovely Spanish couple in his class for couple of weeks and you know Spanish, they make friends withing seconds and they are usually everybody's favorites, so it wasn't different this time either. On the last day they went out to have some drinks and I joined in later on that night, of course the "ice-breaking" with Maria took about 3 seconds... as being expected
And it was funny because as Mike and I explained our daily routine and life-style blabla...
They were just looking, vaguely confused when Mike and I asked... what?
... answer: you guys work a looooot

Well everybody knows how Spanish standards are but still... nobody can call us lazy folks that is for sure. Nowadays at work I am busier than a desert cobra at a mongoose convention.
Definitely I need to find a fine balance between work and life, hasn't found it yet... when was the last time I sent a letter to you???

You see? Told ya'

I guess the constant stress is the one killing me the most, if I continue with my recently developed life-style I am sure I will turn gray at age of 30, and I am going to be 27 in December.

My hobbies are the same, actually one thing is cool I took the reins regarding Mike's daily food. As I want him to live 150 years at least and play succor with his great great great grandchildren, so I figured he could eat better for somewhat less than main mall-packed road of the city, just I need to cook his lunch and prepare his breakfast...
Well knowing that I LOVE to cook it is really not a big deal. Last night we came home at 11pmish and I started to cook when he came into the kitchen saying "Dear you really don't need to do this now"

I first did not want to stop my work (wasn't the first time cooking lunch after 11pm) but I thought to myself "ok let's not push it maybe he just wants to have a break from my cooking... so sadly I finished what I was doing..." and then I realized it is almost as important to me as to fulfill the main goal which is having him eating well.

BTW he had Subway for lunch instead...

I always think, what I should do to engage myself with healthy eating and make a living out of it. No, I don't want to be a chef, nor a food specialist... dunno, I guess as it is now, it will remain a hobby till my beloved Jamie Oliver finds me and turns on the light.
Thanks for the Cajun package! :)

Well I guess I am not as organized this time rather brain dump all the things here, talking about life and small things... I guess that's fine, because really life is about everydays.

BTW today I was lucky enough to run down to the street and see the Youth Olympics games' torch running in front of the offices! It was definitely cool, such an event brings people together, we all greeted the fire of the torch, smiled, clapped and being proud that we are hosting the first Youth Olympics in Singapore.

Next week we try to get tickets to see some of the tournaments.

This Sunday the Hungarian President is coming to town to participate on the opening ceremony and after that he invited all the diaspora Hungarians to meet him on a casual get together. So I guess if you ask me what I am going to do on Sunday at 11am, I guess I will be sipping champagne and wine with the Hungarian President! :)

That's him:

2010-08-10T13:37:00.006+08:00

Gorgeous Spain

2010-08-07T13:33:00.005+08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn8zSTwQNoQ&feature=related

I gotta feelin'..., I gotta feelin'...

... the people who know me are aware of the fact that I am in love with 1 specific European country, don't get me wrong, I in LOVE with Europe generally speaking and being a lucky gal I could visit 81.5% of the EU countries so I think I can honestly declare that...

So anyway about this 1 specific country... something hit me yesterday and I can not stop thinking of it... I wanna live in Spain!

It is sort of a thing that you think of it and you like it gradually even more as being the perfect idea.

So people I guess that is our long term goal, don't get too excited we will stay in Singapore for another 2-3 years maybe, especially if Mike can enroll into one of the universities in town, but in 5-10 years time... definitely I will be aiming to get us there, meanwhile the horrible economical situation might clear up there, I hope. It is plenty of time for us to learn Spanish as there is no other way to get around in Spain!!!

So maybe I am just day-dreaming now, but feels good - and you know I LOVE SPAIN!

Crazy / Orulet

2010-08-04T14:40:00.002+08:00

1 minute ago my colleague from the Philippines came up from lunch saying, hey I have something for you guys, and she pulled out a pack of gums...

Knowing that it is basically illegal here I asked how did she have any?!
She said, well i went into the pharmacy and I showed my passport and Singaporean ID and then I could buy some!!!!!!

Crazy, you need your passport to but chewing gums!!!!!!!!!

Bitter - or it is just the truth!

2010-08-04T09:55:00.004+08:00

Last night while having our light dinner we turned on the TV (we watch TV for approx. 1h/week or less)so there is this show on the travel-cooking channel which is Mike's recent favorite.

The guy is an American football player and his show is about traveling around the world and trying himself out in other countries' sports. (UK fox hunting, Thailand boxing etc)

Last night he had his show in SG, so Mike was all excited, the football player tried "dragon boating" as one of the only traditional sports here in town (it came from the Chinese anyway) so the reason I am telling this because there was a seen where this American guy is interviewing/asking some basic questions about the sport from a local young team member.

I was laughing so hard because the show editors subtitled his English answer!!!!!!!!
Singaporean English is so horrible that a native speaker thought it'd be useful to add a subtitle, just in case.... embarrassing indeed!

We can't argue with it Singlish is damn ugly!
Here is an example:

What is it? It is a bread made flour, but there is no sugar in it, so it isn't sweet.
Singlish translation:

This (is) wha(t)? It's a bre' made of fla', no sugaaar, noo't swee...(t). Can Can!

And their Chinese is just as "good"! Imagine living your life without speaking at least 1 language well, fluently!!! and they don't even acknowledge it...

Mike made some business related calls and when he said "this is an English teaching bla....bla...bla" the Singaporean answered: No need, we hire only Singaporeans.
Mike didn't comment on it just continued with his speech....

hahahah

Singapore in "winter" and summer / Szingapur "telen" nyaron

2010-08-01T09:35:00.004+08:00

These images are from our bedroom window, nowadays the weather is pretty funny, 1 day sun and beautiful weather the next day is sever storm, rain and gloomy gray sky...?

Ezeket a kepeket az ablakunkbol keszitettem, manapsag az idojaras igen szeszelyes, egy nap szikrazo napsutes, kaprazatos jo ido, masnap eso, vihar es depressziv szurkeseg...?

Dolgos Hangyak / Working ants

2010-07-16T10:13:00.003+08:00

Last night Mike and I decided to go for a late night walk as our rental contract will finish in the middle of November (and we wanted to look at a new housing area) and although the Singaporean rental market is crazy expensive we would like to give a shoot to find a place on our own, no sharing, no splitting... just us, like we lived in Budapest.
Knowing our budget we will need to look for HDBs (government housing units, less pretty but durable) rather then spend all of our income on a condo unit...

Tegnap este Mike-kal felkerekedtunk egy keso esti setara, hogy ellatogassunk egy ujonan felfedezett lako negyedhez, mivel a szep lakasunk szerzodese ismet lejaroban van, November kozepe a koltozes.
Mike-kal arra torekszunk, hogy bar kiabranditoan draga a szingapuri lakas piac megis megprobalunk egy olyan lakast talalni, ahol csak magunk lehetunk, csak ugy mint anno Budapesten, nincs osztozkodas massal, nincs egyutt berles.
Az arak arra tendalnak, hogy condo tipusu uj epitesu lakast nehez lenne berelnunk, de a kormany altal epitettet "halandoknak szant" lakasok kozott, ha mazlink van tan akad valami.

Anyway, on the first floor of our condo there is a burger king (happy to share, we have never even once eaten there)last night at around midnight on the way back we saw that the whole "restaurant' was under construction, people were fixing stuff and taking stuff apart...

Mindegy, az utcai foldszinten a lakasunk aljaban van egy Burger King, ahova persze sesem tesszuk a labunkat sem, de lenyeg nem is ez, hanem, hogy tegnap ejjel ejfel korul lattuk, hogy szet van szedve a belso tere, emberek dolgoznak, szetbontanak, osszeraknak... felujitanak.

Mikekal egymasra neztunk, mibe fogadunk, hogy reggel tarva nyiva all majd, mintha mi sem tortent volna, csak teljesen felujitott berendezessel.
Nem fogadtunk, mert mind a ketten egyetertettunk.

Ma reggel 8:45kor lementunk megnezni es lam, csak lam nyiott ajtok mogott, minden csillog, ragyog, sehol egy porszem, egy kiallo vezetek, ujjaepult az etterem...
be kell latni, van munkamoral!
We looked at each other, how much do you bet on having this place open tomorrow morning like nothing happened, just some fairies came during the night and hip-hop changed the inside design. There was no bet because we both agreed that they will not leave without finishing...
Today we went down at 8:45 to check , on them... guess what, it's done, it's spotless it's open!!!!

Csak egy szosszenet

2010-07-15T21:38:00.000+08:00

Mi baj az itteniekkel?

Egy angol ismerosunk, felesegevel par ev egyutteles es sajat lakasban eles utan ugy dontottek, hogy hazakoltoznek a csaladi (ures) hazba a feleseg anyukajahoz...

Nos ki gondolna, hogy a kedves anyuka/anyos ezert lakbert szamit fel a fiatalokra????
Lakbert szed a sajat lanyatol?????

Mindig is furcsa szemmel neztem a szingapuri plane kinai "csaladi gondviselesre"!

Mit is csinal a konzulatusunk...?

2010-07-14T16:29:00.003+08:00

Valaki meg tudja mondani, hogy a megfeszitett munkatempoban dolgozo itteni konzulatusunk ugyan mivel is foglalkozik azokon a napokon, amikor nincs eppen nyitva... ez pedig majdnem az ev 365 napja....??????

Konzuli fogadóórák

Hétfő, Csütörtök 10-14 óráig

Ünnepeken (es minden maskor) zárva.

After Phuket

2010-06-29T13:13:00.002+08:00

Hello Everyone,

We got back from a fantastic trip to Thailand, maybe it was the best time ever in Thailand. My company's team building was successful, and I am very happy about it. Mike and the others arrived on Friday and the weekend was just the WEEKEND one can ask for, lots of fun activities, amazing party on Saturday, great restaurants, massages, weather, meeting new people form the States.... absolute relaxation!

Last night I came down with a sever food poisoning, and I am not really sure of the course as Mike had some issues this morning...
I work today from my bed and try to "fight" the illness, I should be better tomorrow, and I hope Mike will survive it without being as sick as I was during the night!

As soon as I am available I write a longer entry, but in the mean time I put up the pictures to picasa, album folder: Phuket, June 2010
Please, have a look!

Imola

Szisztok!

Visszaerkeztunk a csucsszuper utunkrol, ezuttal Thaifold, tan legturistabb szigetere, Phuketra, mentunk, reszben munka ugyben reszben kikapcsolodni. Sok munka volt az elso 3 napban es a csapatepites az 5 nap alatt igen sikeres volt, aminek kivaltkeppen orulok. Pentektol Mike es a tobbiek vendegei csatlakoztak 2,5 napra, es hat olyan de olyan jol sikerult a 7vegenk, amilyet csak kerni lehet. Sok szabadban toltott ido es program, sport, szombaton szuper egyutt bulizas, buvarkodas (nekem elso alkalommal), szuper ettermi etkezesek, uj baratokkal talalkoztunk Amerikabol... szoval egy szo, mint szaz, isteni kikapcsolodas volt.

Tegnap este sajnos nem egeszen tudom honnet de gyomorrontas szeruseggel lettem beteg es egy igen szornyu ejszakan vagyok tul, nem is mentem ma be, itthonrol, az agyambol dolgozok. Mike szinten problemakkal kuzdott reggel, igy vegkepp nem tudom, hogy mi lehetett a gond, de remelem, hogy o nem esik ugy aygyhoz, ahogy en tettem.
Minden esetre sok otletem van mi okozhatta a dolgot, de semmi sem 100%, hat majd csak helyrejovunk.

Amint idom, erom engedi reszletes leirast szeretnek feltenni a blogra, addig is a picasa albumban June 2010 neven mar fent vannak a kepek zome.

Millio puszi,

Imola

Az a vart beszamolo

2010-06-21T16:10:00.024+08:00

Kedves Mindenki,

Szoval mi ujsag?

Amilyen hallgatag en voltam, mas is! Az utobbi idoben az „airasia” es tiger airways” hirlevelen kivul tan csak Noncsi levele talal bele a postaladamban. Fiatalok eltek?
Mi igen, koszonjuk, Mike epp a tanitasi szunetet elvezi egy heten at, en pedig csak fel gozzel dolgozom, mert mar most a fejemben motoszkal a holnap utani thaifoldi utazas.
Munkambol kifolyolag megyek, de a hetvegere Mike is csatlakozik hozzank a tobbiek meghivottjaival, igy a hetvege igen mozgalmasnak tunik, napkozben parton sutkerezes a feher homokban, buvarkodas, mig este bulizas... hm juppi

Hetvegenk igen jotekonyan telt, jottunk mentunk, pihentunk, pentek este Vikiekhez voltunk hivatalosak, ahol is egy isteni sutott finomsaggal vartak rank, olyan volt az allaga, mint a pogacsae, de volt sonka es sajt koze gongyolve, a teteje pedig szezammaggal volt megszorva... nem tudom milyen nevre hallgathat a sos sutemeny, de sutes utan langymelegen maga volt az extazis!

Viki ma megy el 2 honapra Magyarorszagra, hianyozni fog es nem alcazom az irigykedesemet a sok SOK SOK magyar finomsagra, amibol holnaptol annyit ehet, amennyi belejuk fer. (4,5 honapban van)

Igy ket ev tavlatabol ra kell, hogy jojjek, hogy igenis vannak etelek, amikert a fel karomat adnam, de nem kell nagy dolgokra gondolni... nem ettem toltott paprikat tobb, mint 2 eve, vagy turo gombocot, vagy egy gulyaslevest, vagy sargabarack lekvart... de emellett ennek turos taskat, vagy par jo csokis kakaoscsigat, boli kakaot, gyumik kozul barmit.... kimarad mar tobbedszerre a meggy eves, a cseresznye, a sarga- es oszibarack, az eper...

Jo persze tegnap este kokuszt ettem, magabol a kokuszdiobol es kikapargathattam a belsejet a kiskanalammal, es isteni kinai parolt fonomsagokat ettem, holnap utan megyek Thaifoldre 3szorra, en ertem, szerencses vagyok, nagyon, de egy kis lecsot kerek!!!!

Ha mar az etelekrol kezdtem beszelni, eszembe jutott az uzleti utam.
Londonba mentunk, ahol is kevesebb, mint egy hetet toltottunk. Kollegammal mentunk British airwayssel, ezt azert hangsulyoznam, hogy mindenkit megkerjek, hogy sajat maga erdekeben kerulje a legitarsosagot, mert nem lesz egy jo elmeny.

Nekunk az utunk ugy 13 orara volt saccolhato, ami nem keves, igy a gepek, mindket iranyba este/ejjel indulnak, hogy szegeny utas alvassal usse el a fel napi utazasi idot. Na most kettunk szeke folott az olvaso lampa nem kapcsolodott le, ami nem tunik oly nagy vesznek, de amikor x oraja ulsz a gepen, korulotted, minden sotet, mindenki aludni probalna, koztuk te is, de szinpadi reflektorfennyel vilagit a lampa... ugy elgondolkozol...

A stewardess kedves volt, mosolyogva kozolta, ja ezzel mar Londonbol jovet is gond volt, elektromos hiba lehet, sajnaljuk!
Mig meg csak tatott szajjal neztunk, hogy ez most komoly? Mi mas baja van a gepnek meg?

Nem beszelve arrol a gigaszi varakozasrol, ami a vacsora megerkezeseig eltelt, mind a ketten farkas ehesek voltunk, igy a leulestol szamitott 10 perc mulva is kesoinek tunt volna a vacsora, de 2 ora eltelte utan pedig felettebb.

Sebaj, egyeb gondok is elojottek, de egy szo, mint szaz, BA nem repulunk tobbet!
Megerkeztunk vasarnap reggel 6orara Londonba (16 Majus), hmm 7 fok, 7 csekely fok, hat a tropusok utan meglepo fordulatnak tunt, el is rettentem, vajon hoztem-e eleg meleg holmit?

A levego szaraz volt, tavaszi illatokkal teli, olyan megfoghatatlan, de olyan europai, ez a legjobb szo ra, europai levegonek tunt.
Kocsiberles utan megerkeztunk a szallodaba, ahol is kozoltek velunk, hogy du 3 elott nincs szobank, ami kicsit elamitott minket, de sebaj, lepakoltuk a poggyaszokat es irany a kis kocsival London. Uzleti penzen torteno varosnezes, hmm „szeretem”.
Egyebkent, hogy Szingapurban nem beszelnek rendesen angolul az egy dolog, no de Angliaban? A szallodaban minden nemzetiseg megtalalhato volt (a tekarito csaj magyar volt pl), de angol egy darab sem.

Egesz nap csak jottunk, mentunk Londonban, isteni volt a tavaszi nap, a huvos szel, az a prozai egyszeruseg, hogy a napon meleg van, az arnyekben hideg. Tudom, hogy furanak hat, de ilyen dolgok tuntek fel, hogy „jee” ez sincs Szingapurban igy! Itt csak meleg van akarhova is menekulsz!

Szoval egy varazslatos napot toltottunk a varosban es a legjobb helyeken alltunk meg egy kavera, egy szelet sutire... es talalkoztunk draga Adaval, o anno kolleganombol avanzsalt elo baratnove, mar jo ideje kikoltozott a parjahoz es szuper jo sora van, nagyszeru munkahelye van, minden jol alakul. Szoval ot latni kifejezett elmeny volt, mert karacsonykor csak kutyafuttaban sikerult leulni beszelgetni egy kicsit. Autonkkal igen mobilisak voltunk, igy elmentunk az o szomszedsagaba, ami London kulvarosibb resze volt, de valami mese szep. Kicsi aranyos utcak, falatnyi gusztusos boltok... csak amultam, hogy milyen lathato a jolet. Egy remek francia etterembe invitalt be minket, ahol is Philippe-pel azt ereztuk, hogy a mennyorszagban vagyunk. Sajt, bor, kenyer, paradicsom es sor!!!!!

Te jo eg! Mind a ketten faradhatatlanul hajtogattuk, hogy te jo eg, hogy hianyzott ez, es csak ittuk es ettuk az isteni etkeket. : )

A het tovabbi resze mar nem volt ilyen oromteli, tulajdonkeppen csak dolgoztunk, meetingre jartunk... ami meg eszembe jut, hogy ugye, mindig a szallodaban etkeztunk, ami egy ido utan nem olyan vicces, igy orommel fogadtuk el az egyik kliens vacsora meghivasat. Miutan o indiai igy ertehto, hogy indiai etterembe vitt minket, ami engem annyira nem dobott fel, mert kb 5x eszem egy heten indiai etelt, szinte minden ebedem az. (ma is)

Gondoltam, hat en Szingapurban elek, az indiai kerulettul 5 percnyire, a munkahelyemnel indiai nagymamik fozik az igazi izletes indiai eteleket, hat azt hiszem engem nem lehet annyira meglepni, vagy nagy ujdonsagot mutatni.
Hat igen, tevedtem!

Az etterem, bar lepukkant kornyeken volt, abszolut elit hely volt, a rendelt eteleket egyszerre hoztak ki egy olyan allvanyon, mint a mobilis karacsonyfa, minden szinten ott voltak a betett edenyek es alattuk egett a kis teamecses, hogy melegen tartsa a fogasokat...

Valami eszveszejtoen finom volt, alig hittem el, indiai sort ittunk melle, hmmm mar csak a szamla volt ennyire meglepo. : )

A het vege fel kollegaim hazamentek Belgiumba, Londonbol tenyleg csak jatszi konnyedseggel, mig en nekivagtam a nagybetus AMERIKANAK. Valahogy nekem fel se tunt, hogy „juj most megyek Amerikaba”, inkabb manualis volt, mintsem erzelmi. Szoval egyedul nekivagtam a hosszunak tuno utnak, egyenesen Dallasig. Eloszor Lonodn Atlanta utat kellett „atveszelni”, ami jol ment, mert meg volt munkam, amit meg kellett csinalni es utana pedig aludni tudtam, mellettem egy lany ult, aki a Virgin szigetekrol volt valo, ezek a szigetek Kubatol meg delre vannak, de USAhez tartoznak, olyan hihetetlennek tunt nekem, hogy ez a szep szoke lany egy olyan pici szigeten not fel, ami kb 10km atmeroju es kb 5000en laknak rajta... hat van ilyen!
Megerkezesem elso, „cultural shock”-ja az, hogy amit belenkprogramoznak az amerikaiakrol valoban igaznak tunt, miszerint fast food fast food hatan!

Te jo eg, mit fogok en itt enni?

Irto ehes voltam, mert a gepen mirelit pizzat kaptam ebedre, amit meg kibontani sem voltam hajlando, igy most valami harapnivalo utan kellett neznem. Az egyik folyoson elsetalgattam es fixaltam, hogy csak egy Burger King van, ami szamomra nem etel szintjevel egyenlo. Igy bealltam a sorba, hogy a Pizza Hotban valami salatat talaljak. Az nap a gepek zome kesett rossz ido folytan, igy igen sokan csak ultek az asztaloknal, hogy sor mellett ussek el az idot. Nekem pontosan megvolt, hogy mikorra is kell a kapunal lennem, semmi gond kivartam, hogy leulhessek, egy kedves fekete novel osszebaratkoztam a varakozas alatt, igy megosztottuk az asztalunkat is.

Errol jut eszembe, az elso dolog, amin jot derultem, hogy alldigalok a sorban, mikor is mogem all egy idosebb feher par es a no kerdezi a ferjet, hogy a szemben levo folyoson van-e mas etterem... Akarva akaratlanul hallottam a kerdest es spontan hatrafordultam, hogy ja nincs, csak egy Burger King.

Erre a no nagy szemekkel ram nezett, Burger King, hat en nekem az jo lesz, igy sarkon fordultak es elillantak, en meg csak mosolyogtam, hat igen Amerikaban vagyunk.
Szoval mar az etteremben a salatam erkezesekor igen nagy meglepetes ert, ket hatalmas zsomlere emlekezteto, de annal tomorebb peksutiben volt nemi zoldseg, egy zacsko chips tarsasagaban. Na most nekem kerekedett ki a szemem... chips salatanak? Ki van itt most fogalomzavarban?

Sebaj, gyorsan a zoldseg vegre sikerult jutnom, repultem is a beszallokapum fele, leulve olvasgatok, mikor is gyanus erzesem tamad, miert nincs itt tobb ember? Egy helyes fekete fiu volt a kapu korul, akit megszolitottam, hogy hmm „a dallasi gep?”
Hat holgyem azt lekeste!!!!

Igy jartam, de ennek a jotunder fiunak koszonhetoen mar ultem is a kovetkezo gepen 45 preccel kesobb.

Megerkeztem Dallasba, Mike apukaja, Cathrine es Mike occse Zack jottek ki ertem, igen erdekes pillanat volt, hisz hianyolta Mike-ot. Faramuci dolog ez, de igy hozta a sors.

Hazafele uton meseltem nekik Mikerol, mikozben elamultam az egyes autok meretein, a mi auto mereteink, Amerikaban egy Smart-nak felelnek meg. Gigaszi mereture vannak az autok felpumpalva, nem is ertem?

Otthon mindent tovirol hegyire vegigmutogattak, tetszett nekem a hazuk, mert a falak orzik a csalad tortenetet. Mindenhol csaladi esemenyeket, csemetek „legjobb pillanatait” megorokito kepek vannak kint. Mike legalabb 20 helyen ott van, amikor gepardot simogat, amikor puskat tart, amikor kolat iszik.... Tisztara, mint egy csaladi szentely!

Masnap reggel Zack meg ott volt, igy egyutt koltottuk el a reggelit, ami igen amerikai volt, amerikai palacsintaval, vajjal es melegitett juharsziruppal es sult baconnel. (please, senki ne emlekeztessen a kaloriakra) Miutan az ember vendeg es kb meg az elso 10 orajat tolti a vendeglatok koreben, akik egyebkent rokonai lettek, mast nem lehet tenni, mint szeles mosoly mellett megeszi, amit kinalnak.
Aznap jottunk mentunk Dallasban es akorul, elmentunk a Kennedy merenylet szinhelyere, ahol is boncolasi kepekkel kapraztatjak el a vetlen turistakat, feltem, hogy a huzos reggelim gondban lesz...?

Ott kerdeztem Charlest, hogy „es hol van a belvaros?” Mire o, hat itt...?! Ez azt jelenti, hogy Dallas annyira szetterulo, hogy tulajdonkeppeni varosszerkezete egyaltalan nem emlekeztet az altalunk megszokott varosokehoz, mindent uralnak az oriasi, szeles autoutak szovevenyes rendszere. A varos teljes egeszeben az autok ala rendelt.

Nekem ez idegennek tunt, hisz ezert van, hogy az ottaniak auto nelkul ugy erzik magukat, mint a partravetett hal, senki sem gyalogol, az utcan alig latni egy lelket. Minden az auto korul forog.

Szoval ezt kovetoen elmentunk a Dallas Cowboys legujabb stadionjaba, ami ez evben nyitotta meg a kaput, persze dollar milliokert. Igen gigaszi epulet volt es a csapat marketingje helyen volt, mindent lehet kapni Dallas Cowboys stilusban, mindent.
Lemehettunk a palyara is, ami nagyszeru volt, bar en olyan szinten nem vagyok kepben ennek jelentosegevel, miutan egy teljes jatekot meg nem sikerult vegigneznem. (es Mike sem nezi)

Meseltek, hogy annak az oriasi palyanak az egesz feluletet minden jatek elott ujra „parnazzak”, ez egy speci reteg a „fu” alatt, ami egyebkent pedig nem fu, hanem valami muanyag anyag, ami irto kemeny es biztosan leviszi a plezurt az arra esorol.
A palya kozepen elvo csillagba megkertek, hogy alljak be is vagjam magam „xy” pozba, igen am, de nekem halvany fogalmam sem volt, hogy mirol is van szo. Latni kellett volna a fotos arcat, az az oszinte, elmerengo dobbenet, hogy honnet a fenebol jott ez a csaj, aki ezt nem tudja? Tan olyan trivia lehetett, mint hogy langost eszunk a Balcsi partjan.

Nekem megsem ment igy kesobb utananeztem, hogy mi is lett volna az a kivant poz.

Aznap du elmentunk egy hamisitatlan texasi etel fesztivalra, hat elmeny volt a javabol!!!

Texasban lattam a legnagyobb szamban az olyan embereket, akik abszolut kontrolt veszitettek a sulyuk felett, nemelyik 150-200kg volt, vagy tobb!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Egyszeruen hihetetlen volt latnom, hogy ilyen mereteket olthetunk, csak megfelelo mennyisegben kell amerikai gyorskajat enni. Rekordot tartok, hogy tobb, mint 8 eve nem ettem burgert es azt hiszem fogadalmam mostantol meg nyomatekosabb lesz.

A fesztivalon volt minden fele „finomsag”, en sokukra ra se mertem nezni, de hajtott mondjuk a kivancsisag, igy megkostoltam ezt azt, nekem olyan „meseszerunek tunik”, hisz csak elhiszed, hogy etelt eszel, de a zome csak a kemikalia ipar rangos termeke volt. Tehat sajt, ami sosem lathatott tejet, hus, amin annyi etelizesito van, hogy az allaga is megvaltozott, mindenen az elorekeszitett, csomagban kaphato muontetek.
Volt egy langosra emlekezteto etel, ami kosar formara volt olajban kistuve, na ebbe tettek bbq hust, hagymat es megontottek bbq szosszal es musajttal.

Hat nem mondom!

De a sor az jo volt, a margarita pedig kifejezetten kivalo.

Megkostoltam a Crawfish nevu luisianai etelt, ami a kb olyan, mint a rak de az egyes falatok hejbol valo kipucolasa igen hosszadalmas ezert a csaladi rendezvenyek kozkedvelt eledele, mert jo sok sort lehet ezalatt meginni, es fiilinges, hogy a csalad egy azon asztalnak egyutt „kuzd” minden falatert. Azt hiszem izlett, de nem lett maradando elmeny.

Eztan mar csak egy esti program volt, egy hamisitatlan maxikoi etterem, ezt tudtvan mi csak csipegettem a feszitvalon, hisz remeletem, hogy az ettermi kalandunk eleget fog tenni a varakozasaimnak.

Igy is tortent, fantasztikusan jo hely volt, mindenki etele kivalo volt, az extra alkohollal megspekelt italunk egybol nevetesre buzditott minket igy hatalmas kacagasok kozepette megettem az elso texasi mexikoi etelemet. Szuper volt.

Mike szulei minden letezo ohajomat lestek, azt se tudtak hogy rajongjanak korbe, de tenyleg. Kedvesek es elozekenyek voltak, es ugy ereztem, hogy mindenre gondoltak.
A hutoban annyi etel volt, hogy nem is tudom, mintha Mike nem egy szem felesege jott volna, hanem a hareme. : )

Jokat beszelgettunk, jokat nevettunk.

Vasarnap Mikenak mentunk ajandekokat venni, olyan sokat, hogy Mike ugy titulalta az erkezesemet, mint masodik karacsonyt. : ) Nem bantam, mert annyira sajnaltam, hogy o nem johetett.

Vasarnap este mar Atlantaban voltam egy csodas varosreszben, ugy ereztem magamat, mintha megint Finnorszagban lennek, fenyofak, jo ido, finom illat a levegoben... csuda jo volt. Es megint raeszmeltem, hu de hianyzik a fenyofa is!!!
Atlantai letem alatt olyan szinten be voltunk/voltam fogva, hogy az ut tuloldalara is csak 3 nap mulva tudtam egyszer atmenni. Mindenki odakat zengett a vasarlasrol Amerikaban es be kell vallanom, kimagasloan jo is. Boseges, jo kinalattal varjak a lelkes versenyzoket a boltok, az arak a szingapurinak toredeke, igy jo lett volna kis szabadidovel rendelkezni.

Isteni ettermekben fordultam meg, hihetetlen ellatast tapasztaltam a megrendelonk irodaiban. A dolgozoknak hiper szuper ettermek allnak rendelkezesukre, meg Amerikaban is. Mindenhol salata barok, isteni kesz etelek, es miutan allandoan uj a kinalat nem is tudnak raunni.

Pl Angliaban volt egy nap, hogy csak ugy egy hatalamas parmezan, keksajt (blue cheese), camambert tal volt kiteve fugevel es egy kis tablaval, „szolgald ki magad”. Mindemellett az etelek 70%-a a munkahely altal fiztetettek, igy fillerekert ehet az ember 100%-an finom, egeszseges es jo minosegu eteleket, nekem ez nagyon szimpatikus volt.

Letelet a hetem Amerikaban is es igy hazaindultam Szingapurban, ami gigaszi ut volt, miutan tenyleg a vilag masik felen van, csutortokon du indultam, Atlantabol Dublinba, Dublinbol Londonba, Londonbol Szingapurba... koszonhatoen a British Airways sztrajkjanak a millio oranyi utam meg meg lett toldva egy 3 oraval, igy szombat este 8ra ertem haza... ahol is Mike fogadott repesve! : )

Some news for thoses who missed us

2010-06-14T09:37:00.004+08:00

Hi Everyone,

Thank you very much for the mails asking about the update of our blog, it is sometimes difficult to keep it updated every time something happens to us which would make a good blog entry.

My 2week journey is the one due to be composed...
Right now I have an assignment to finish within couple of hours but still I thought I would like to add some photos, and of course it is related to cooking.

From Dallas 1 of my presents was a fantastic arty/scrap book crafty cook book and I did not need to wait too long to prepare the first meals out of it...

All by myself....

2010-05-18T23:30:00.005+08:00

London and Windsor photos are in the picasa album.
London es Windsor kepek megtalalhatok a picasa albumban.

Hi Everybody,

I just wanted to post a funny picture that I took a couple of weekends ago.

Imola and I went to see a movie at VivoCity, one of the larger and better shopping centers of Singapore, and after the movie I had to stop in at the large bookstore near the theater.

Kedves Mindenki,

Csak blogra szerettem volna tenni egy kepet, amit minap keszitettem.

Imola es en moziba mentunk a Vivocity nevra hallgato bevasarlo kp.-ba, ami a jobbak koze sorolando. A mozi utan, persze hova mashova mentunk, mint egy konyvesboltba.

On our way out, I saw this mind-blowing magazine concept:
Kifele jovet, elrettentett ez a latvany:

(Vasarlasi utmutato kisgyerekeknek)
Wow.

I guess they can't get started early enough over here.
Azt hiszem nem lehet tul koran kezdeni itt Szingapurban.

For me, it's the baby in the supermarket basket which makes it seem a bit harmless (but just a bit).

More Singapore craziness as time permits....

Let me just add ome more crazy picture.
Es akkor meg egy fura foto.

Mike and I were on the bus when a van passes by...
Mobile Pet Cremation Services
Mike es en egy nap ulunk a buszon, mikor is egy kisfurgon szaguldott el mellettunk...
Mobil Haziallat Krematorium

What the...? We asked, well it is what it is!?
Micsoda...? Kerdeztuk magunkat, hat ez az, aminek latszik?!