Michiel.

Need sleep now. See Weblog. Or something.

It looks like this september it’s going to happen. Diving on the great barrier reef for a week (maybe a bit more) and then a week of 2-3 of looking about. It’s great to have something like this to look forward to (and save up some money for)!

By sheer coincidence, Borat was on as the in-flight movie. I thought it was hilarious but it has nothing whatsoever to do with Kazakhstan.

When you arrive, Almaty is fairly bleak and stark. The roads are pretty bad, and people drive as though they are at war. They also seem to want to drive the biggest jeep possible. Which, given the roads, makes a twisted kind of sense. A lot of things are, well, grimy.

The weather was strange; no snow, grey skies, temperatures close to zero. Not very uplifting, but at least not minus twenty and a meter of snow like you’d expect.

But I did have a great week here. My colleagues turned out to be very warm and friendly people and after work they took me to all kinds of small community bars/restaurants/dancing rooms. Copious amounts of sashlik and vodka and local cuisine from Kazakhstan and the surrounding countries followed. The Kazakhstani seem to like their meat plenty and their vegetables few.

Most of them speak both Kazakh and Russian so I could practice; it is obvious I have a long way to go. I just don’t have the vocabulary for any kind of meaningful conversation, but I learned a lot of new words :)

What I found very interesting was the fact that there are so many different and sharply contrasting ethnic groups mixed, and yet they all seemed to get along and get it on fine. They even seemed a bit nonplussed about my remarks on the topic. At the same time, I spoke with several people who thought it obvious that a homosexual couple cannot raise a child in a proper fashion, something which I think is incredibly backwards and outdated. They also didn’t know what a Nintendo Wii was, which was pure heresy.

All in all, it was a fantastic week although I didn’t get much sleep, being dragged from one place to the other. This plus the vodka equals some 48 hours of sleep shortage, which I will correct right now.

On a totally unrelated sidenote, the military hats were BIG. I mean REALLY BIG. I didn’t dare take a picture but it looked like a hat with a guy attached.

the pace of French dinner. Take it easy. Eat well. Drink (a lot) of excellent wine. This is how dinner should be. Not the effecient intake of nutrients (as a geek I am more than guilty on this count) but a social occasion, a chance to taste interesting things, a time to reflect on the events of the day.

Gawd I love eating in France.

I’ll be blowing through here on 11/12 and 14/12 during the day time on my way to and from Limoges (by train). Anyone wanting to meet up for a cup of coffee?

Through some bizarre chain of events in my company I was sent to fix up some network issues in our Chiang Mai, Thailand office because nobody else was available (Normally I manage the EU affairs).

This was a great week. The weather was perfect, the rain season was over and the temperature hovered between 25-30 degrees. The Thai people are very friendly and helpful and it’s kind of hard to describe but there is some vibrant quality to them. Even if I did sometimes get the feeling I was perceived to be a giant wallet with legs and penis they were very laidback about it all. Any excuse to party will do is the feeling I got, and it was hard not to get caught up in that mood. Whether or not that is a good thing when you have work to do is up for debate.

It was weird to sit in a large hotel in the morning and eat my breakfast before going to work and be surrounded by tourists. In fact, the entire area is covered with bars, stalls, night clubs and markets and restaurants.

Since it was a work week I did not get many chances to wander around but we did go for a wallkabout in the city center, visited a local temple on a hilltop, and explored a giant furniture market on the city skirts. Saw some amazing things there, it’s a collection of some 70 (or more!) different furniture/design/freight forwarding shops.

Since I completed the designated work tasks on friday I felt I had deserved some relaxation so I went on a massive bender and so sampled the local night life. This too I can wholeheartedly recommend. I wouldn’t mind going back there at all, be it in a professional or a more touristy capacity.

yes, worth visiting. But I would never want to live here. So many rules, so many fines. Like a local commented with a sarcastic tone, ‘Singapore is a fine city’. On the other hand: very friendly people, clean city, efficient. But its not for me. They say this is a very safe place, but that safety comes at a price. Granted, I came here smack bang in the middle of an IMF meeting so there were lots of security forces around and extra checks and closed-off roads and such.

Be that as it may, I am in two minds about Singapore. I stayed with some locals and we had many interesting discussions about freedom (of various kinds), politics, laws, and races living together.

On a lighter and consumerist note: this is an excellent place to buy your electronic gadgets and gizmos. Also a good place to have a suit tailored.

It will be interesting to see how Singapore solves its problems in the near future with a ever-growing population and lack of land for developing new housing. In that respect Singapore is a preview of one way to handle a large population and little land. Which, sooner or later, is something a lot of countries are going to face.

So, again, yes, interesting place, was fun to visit (you can see most of the main attractions/famous places in a couple of days) but I prefer the more free/chaotic places, even if they have their own signature problems like higher crime rates and gum on the street and whatnot. But Singapore is certainly a place to go see on this planet.

busy, weird, lovely, bizarre, Hong Kong has it all plus the best subway in the world. Go here, don’t bring a suitcase or clothes and buy it all here at extreme bargain prices. I would recommend this place to anyone. I spent a week here and I am definitely coming back.

Where Wrocław is lively and metropolitan, Złotoryja is quiet and rural, surrounded by smaller villages. Still, I liked hanging out here, even if it was only for a couple of days.

Beautiful city center, very lively. One of the four really big cities of Poland I think, with a large student population.

Good nightlife, cheap drinks, cute girls. Yay! I need more time here.