Blogaddict?

Remarkable how I sometimes long to write the next blog… When I kickstarted this thing, it was meant as a lazy way of keeping all of Timmo and my friends informed about our lives in our new hometown. Then it turned out that I actually enjoyed writing about our adventures and sharing pictures with you all. And recently, since I’ve been living on my own, it’s almost an addictive form of therapy. And a damn lot cheaper than a shrink… ;-) It definitely beats spending evenings alone watching television, drinking beer and falling asleep with a half eaten home delivered pizza on my lap… Not that that would happen of course, it would have to be take-away sushi at the very least… :-)

The good thing about writing a blog is that people who don’t want to read it don’t and those who do, can do so at their own leisure. I don’t really know who reads my blog (except for those of you who leave comments of course), but it doesn’t matter, writing is half the fun anyway! And as I said, it’s a nice way of keeping myself busy, you know me, I easily tend to get bored and depressed... No, all jokes aside (or on a stick if you prefer), I have hardly had time to be alone in my new house.

Because soon after Anjo and Jan-Joris and mom left, I took off for Taiwan to spend some time with my dad and his family. Ying Wei flew in from Holland a couple of days later as well and we had a very nice time. In short, it was all about food, shopping, food, fireworks, food and some other stuff… You’ll find the pictures grouped by category rather than in chronological order and my writing below the same.

Food pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=31740&l=4c60e&id=523210814

Other stuff:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=31744&l=8f1aa&id=523210814


Fireworks
By coincidence, just like two years ago, I was in Kaohsiung during the celebrations of the end of the festivities for Chinese New Year. Yes, why not celebrate the beginning of Chinese New Year and the END of the celebrations too? Any excuse for a party will do for me! Anyway, in Taiwan the ending of the CNY festivities is celebrated with 14 days of fireworks, lots of food stalls along the harbour front and performances by the Taiwanese Idol (yes, there too) and other famous pop artists. I took lots of pictures of the foodstalls and I witnessed three evenings of fireworks. At 9 pm sharp (on the last evening at 7.30 pm as well), 10 minutes of the most amazing fireworks lit up the sky, right in front of my balcony. As my dad lives at the harbour front, he has first row seatings every year and this year I got to enjoy that luxury too. The view was terrific and it really was quite a display of the most terrifc colours and loud bangs…

Shopping
I discovered that living on my own makes me spend (even) more money. I decided it was time for a new wardrobe, partly because my clothes have become at least one size too large. But hey, who’s complaining? I lost weight AND I get to buy new clothes! What more can a woman want? So I dove into Kaohsiung’s nicest department stores and splurged on new trousers, shirts, skirts, lingerie, a new belt so I can still wear some of my old pants with style and whole range of Biotherm facial care products (nothing to do with my new weight but yes, I spotted a wrinkle! :-( ). The new gear make me feel great! New life, new clothes, new me?

Vantage Point
Naonie (my step sis) and I went to the Gold Class movie theatre. Now I don’t ever want to go to a normal movie theatre again. After buying our tickets for Vantage Point (and I recommend this movie!), we entered the lounge where a hostess welcomed us and asked us what we drinks we wanted to order. The menu included all sorts of drinks, including cocktails, so I ordered two Vodka Lime at once, one to be served at the start of the movie, the second one halfway through. How wicked is that!!? After the hostess pointed out where the toilets were in case the drinks would get the better of us, we were ushered into the theatre and brought to our seats. This Gold Class had chairs larger than the Business Class seats of Singapore Airlines. The chairs could recline to a complete horizontal position and the hostess asked us whether we would need blankets. Now this is the best part, for in all the cinema’s I’ve been to so far in Asia, it felt like minus 10 degrees celsius and I always wished I had my mittons, woolen hat and skiing socks with me. But in this Gold Class theatre, the temperature was just perfect. So, no thank you, we won’t be needing any blankets. Shoes off, chair down, let the show begin… ah, there’s my second drink, fabulous!

The works
Pedicure, manicure, footmassage, full body massage, hairdresser, we did the works! That’s what holidays are for right? And other days too, come to think of it… ;-) Anyway, it’s a fact that these luxuries are just the best in Asia. Pedicures are extremely meticulous, tiny small women massage you as if they have coalminers hands (it hurts, but boy, does it feel good afterwards!), they do a ballet standing on your back, a pizzicato with the tendons in your arms, the foot masseur plays your toes like Mozart the piano and the haircut is not just a haircut… no, it comes with a head, neck and shoulder massage that makes you want to go for a haircut every week. Actually you can go for a wash only, which could get the dreadlocks out of Jimmy Hendrix’s hair in 5 minutes and includes that heavenly massage too. And in this hairsalon, they even take pictures (and pretty good ones too) of every customer after a haircut, for their own collection. I copied the ones they took from us onto my camera’s memory card so that I can prove to you that my hair can actually look good. Of course, that only lasts for one day, as I can never bring up the patience to take care of it properly in the morning… :-)

Major tearjerker
I finally read The Kite Runner. I had started reading the book whilst at my dad’s, but finally got to get a good read once on the plane back to Singapore. I plugged my earphones in, turned my music on, started reading, ignored all the intercom messages (would not have noticed anything even if the pilot would have said we were embarking on an emergency landing), said no to the food, started crying at page 50 and didn’t stop till the end. It’s one of those books where you think, oh no Mr Pilot, don’t land the plane yet, I only have 60 more pages to go, can’t you fly a few circles above Singapore so I can finish the book without any interruptions? But no, I had to stop 30 pages before the end, go through customs (come on, come on, come one), get my imperative bottle of bubbles, wait for my luggage (ah, time to score 5 more pages) and get into a taxi, where I could finally finish one of the best books I read in my life. I even cried more than when Dumbledore was killed at the end of book six and when Hasse Simonsdochter’s husband jumped off the tower to save her life. And I went through a whole pack of tissues. And I probably got all the stewardesses and the taxi driver thinking that I had just left my lover at the airport. I don’t care, this book deserves anybody’s and everybody’s tears.


Food
Now the food in Taiwan… there’s a topic I could write a whole chapter on. It started as soon as I landed in Kaohsiung. I was on firm Taiwanese ground approximately 30 minutes and we were already in a restaurant having lunch. South Korean rice dish. I had just had a copious brunch in the plane, but hey, who can say no to that? This ogrous food feast went on until I left. Congee for breakfast, the freshest fish and vegetables for lunch and dinner, black bone chicken handpicked from the market, all home made by Jeannie and all delicious. And then there was this Japanese restaurant… I want to marry that sushi chef. He can sleep with any woman he wants (not me preferably), as long as he makes sushi for me every day. But I advise you to look at the pictures and the video on my Facebook to see it for yourself. All I could say during breakfast, lunch and dinner was “Mmmm…” every five seconds, and that would make a rather boring blog…

Anyway, I’ve decided to fast for the next two days, until Paul & Pauline arrive for their second stopover in Singapore during their amazing trip around Asia. They will be staying for a few days, after which dad, Jeannie and Ying Wei are flying over from Taiwan to spend a few days with me too. Anyone else who wants to visit Singapore and have me as a personal guide? Better book quickly… ;-)

Big hugs,

Yaisa