………..need I say more? Greetings from Hainan. For the other 3000+ Photos see the photoalbum. If you don’t have access drop us a call/mail/im.
Category Archives: Working Abroad
Two weeks to go
And our Chinese adventure is a thing from the past. After arriving here in September it is time to go back home for Sunny as well as myself. This is also the first article in a long time, which simply was due to not having much time available for this. After the last article before my visit to China I went back to my previous employer. Moved one of its headquarters IT wise, together with a whole team. The last taking quite a bit of time and many a weekend was spend in the office to get it running in time. Many battles with all kinds of new hard and software, a lot too learn. The Honda was bought for a reason as the Mazda was in bad shape, it also moved quite a few servers in the end. But Sunny got a bit upset during that time which in short ended up with us being in China now for close to three months and me shedding all the accumulated days off from the last two years. I do appreciate my employer for allowing this and use their offices in Beijing. The new way of working has its advantages although was stretched a bit far this time. Will doubt if it has any repeats either by myself or others. I do hope there will be more time now to add a few things so every now and then again, compared to the last two years. There are still a few unfinished things which need completion so if you find any stories in between September 2010 and January 2009 it only meant that I had the time to finish them. Next week we will be in Hainan (where it is 20 degrees warmer at least) and so far in the days off we’ve been visiting Chengdu, Datong, Taiyuan, Tianjin and surroundings as I can no longer remember all the names of places i’ve visited anymore. Maybe I’ll add some entries on those in the near future. Also the photoalbum which wasn’t working has been repaired and later on the password script will be modified as well. These all stopped working with tests on this environment little over a year ago but never took the time to fix them. So if you still have your username and password you can log on again. No new photos where added either so at this moment there isn’t nothing new to be seen. I will add all the photos of the last three months before modifying the password change script so when you receive an e-mail the photo’s have been uploaded as well.
Viva la France…
My work brought me to Paris for a change, usually it’s somewhere in Asia but I think it will not be on the map for this year. What we found was that a lot of stuff still needed to be done before it could be integrated into our own environment. Some had to do with the building itself, always challenging when buildings are older then your longest living relative. The other part was in the way they currently worked. Also found out that staircases are narrow and elevators are even worse. The elevator in this building came most likely from the same manufacturer as Boeing or Airbus get their elevators which are build into airplanes. This one was about 50cm wide and 1.5 meters deep. Did get my share of excersize as our hotel (booked on while already on our way) was close the south railway station and the office near the north one and we walked about one hour in the morning. In the evening it usually was a taxi ride back to the hotel as our feet where killing us and the rental van was parked at the airport as it didn’t fit any parking garage we could find. Next time by train or plane, definitely not by car. Less chance of hitting mopeds as well as they are everywhere. The picture is of the door to the building which houses our office, it seems to be painted now.
Carlsbad again
Back in California again. Weather is again great, think it will be kind of hot when summer hits but at this moment it is great. No rain this time, and a bigger car. Went for a compact car but got a sort of tonka truck for the same price, doubt I can say the same on fuel consumption. The tonka truck being a 2008 Dodge Dakota, which for us Europeans is a big car. So far there have been no nice documentaries or something like the “Life after people” I saw the last time. Television has been a pretty boring affair. Although it was nice to see how they build Disneyworld in Orlando, but that about it thus far. Currently sitting in the office waiting for my colleague to return, he is at the other branch office nearby getting some necessary data. After that I can continue working so it is nice to fill my blog with more junk. Somehow I think this will also be the last time to visit this office as the migration is just about complete after I leave this week. But you might never know, that’s for sure.
Greetings from sunny California
Okay, it was rainy at the beginning of this trip but lately I cannot complaint about the sunshine, just that I’m not in it as I’m not here to enjoy a holiday. Work it is, moving an office it is including a migration, which means that even the weekends are lost. So besides Carlsbad (office location) the only thing I’ve seen is the highway from Los Angeles. In the evening it is either a frozen meal in the microwave, junk food or a restaurant where the waiters can be so friendly that it becomes annoying. For those that have access I think the photo’s will tell the tale. It’s a very quiet part where I am, wouldn’t mind to live here, but you need a car to get anywhere. This might be an issue for my girlfriend as the shops are now in walking distance, where I think it’s at least 5 kilometers from my current location. Next weekend we do some more migrations and after that it’s up to the local administrator to finish the rest over here. From Holland we keep an eye on it and have to do the migrations for the offices in Holland and China. So still a few days to go in California then on Monday drive up north to return the rental car, which is a Saturn Vue (or a Opel/Vauxhall Antara or Holden Captiva depending on where you live). Over here it even comes with the Ecotec engine as we know it in Europe. After this is done, get to LAX airport and go home to see Sunny again :-).
Chinese Ethnic Cultures
Visited the Chinese Ethnic Culture Park in Beijing today. Except from the sore feet it was kind of interesting. Some of the things I knew existed, like the Mongolian Tents (called a Yurt). Actually this is due to the last book I read mentioned earlier in my posts. Others I’ve already visited before I visited this park. Upon entry we first went to the southern part of the park which let us cross replica’s of Yunnan province. These where very familiar as I’ve visited Kunming, Dali and Lijiang last year with my girlfriend. The buildings looked very familiar because of that, except I didn’t find a stone forest as there was near Kunming, but that’s not really part of any culture I guess. On the other hand the performance of the Naxi minority was. The last performance I’ve seen being on a boat on Erhai lake, if memory serves me right. Some others I recognized as well, like the Tibetan and Korean parts of the park. All in all it was an interesting experience. So for those who do not travel througout the whole country, you can experience a lot of the country in this park. Kind of like Madurodam in The Hague, I guess. You can experience Holland in a single day. Except this one comes with real size buildings and live performances.
Found a corkscrew in ChaoYang
Errrrr…. you found what in what? Well, ChaoYang is a district in Beijing and has a park bearing the same name : ChaoYang Park. In there is an amusement park (to my own surprise, I didn’t expect it but must admit that I never looked in a tourist guide either). It is in most respects similar to other amusement parks I’ve visited in China (ShiJiaZhuang and theBeijing Amusement Park), but this one had a little surprise. I’ve gotta thing for rollercoasters and this is the first one I’ve found in China which has a corkscrew in the track. And no, I didn’t have a ride on it. For those that have access to the photoalbum (or request it) can see it’s kind of short compared to most European ones. So I think I’ll wait and take my girlfriend towards Warner Brothers Movie World in Germany next year. I haven’t been there in three years and there supposed to be a couple of nice new rides now.
Why Asians don’t like Dutch food
……. Well, did you ever tasted it after you’ve spend a month or longer eating the local dishes for most of your time. I normally like the food as it is prepared in my home country, except if I’ve spend a long time away from home somewhere in Asia.
Weird enough, I’ve never had any issues the other way around. Although I’m not a fish eater which was quite challenging in South Korea where I had to endure some dishes containing former residents of the Yellow sea. Did survive but it will never be my favourite. And yes, they do eat other things besides fish, as we do overhere. Fish is also popular in the Netherlands, I just don’t like it. Can’t help that.
But as the normal dutch dish usually consists of a piece of meat, boiled potatoes and veggies where in Asia the rice and veggies are of a much drier variety and the meat is usually integrated into the meal either being the main ingredient or somewhere in the background as added flavour. The only thing is our wet potatoes and veggies taste awful if you haven’t eaten them for a long time. And believe me I was longing for my favourite dish (cauliflower btw) when I got back in my country, and boy don’t you believe my disappointment when I took a bite from it……. Unbelievable. Imagine never eaten any dutch dishes before, like most Asians coming into our country, that must be a miserable experience. This also goes for my girlfriend who still misses Beijing food. On the other hand she has adapted to our western style food quite well. I personally don’t think it will ever be her favourite but she has no problems eating our boiled potatoes and veggies.