Fake or real?

I guess many of you have heard the internet clip with a voice calling out from some British airport, names -fake or real? - that sounds like i.e. "My colleague Just farted and Left the room The bastard". Today I heard someting similar, in real life! I wonder what the poor person who made that call thought. Sitting at Schiphol Airport waiting for my flight I suddenly heard; "Attention please. Passengers Strange and Motherless, travelling to London Heathrow on flight no YY, please immediatly go to gate XX".

Holland Holidays

This weekend I am off to Holland! Looking forward to see good friends and have a good time. Hopefully there will also be a little more spring there then here in Sweden. Nice!!!!!!

Domestic travels

This weekend I enjoyed some travelling in Sweden. I visited some friends in southern Sweden, in Helsinborg and Lund and besides the nice socializing and partying we also saw some wellknown sights I hadn't seen before, as Ale Stenar; kind of a Swedish Stonehenge. Felt like holiday. Nice!




Some small houses in the picturesque village of Kåseberga.

New Name?

Hmmm, I have been thinking whether I should change the name of this blog or not. Somehow it seems less apropriate to call it Travels 06 anymore. But on the other hand, just to upgrade it to 07 isn't too creative either or...? Maybe just Travels? Or maybe just leave it the way it is? Any suggestions?

Zimbabwean tears, again

It is amazing how far and fast country can sink. I somehow thought Zimbabwe had reached the bottom and would soon start moving upwards. I mean from the bottom there is only one way…
From having been the second riches country in Southern Africa in year 2000 it is now one of the world’s poorest countries, and it has the world’s fastest sinking economy, 30 % of the population is living off less than 1 USD a day, from having been a net exporter of agricultural products it can now hardly feed it’s own population, the inflation is over 1200% and there is a constant lack of foreign currency leading to ever more frequent power cuts, cuts in water supply, deteriorating water quality and constant fuel shortage. As if the country was not already pretty isolated it seems to get worse by worsening connections with the rest of the world as internet and mobile phone network providers are cutting down on their services due to lack of foreign currency.
I thought somehow that the land invasions, that really kicked off this down going spiral, had stopped, but recently I read that those few white farmers how still remain on their farms (I think there are just about 400 left) are threatened by prison if they don’t leave. I also heard the government had brutally stopped another demonstration by the opposition. So it seems they have not yet reached the bottom. It feels so hopeless. This is a country that could have had all the chances, but is so completely mismanaged and ruined. I know it is not the only one in Africa (unfortunately not), but as I have been there and know people there whom I care for it feels so frustrating. Maybe there is some kind of Zimbabwean action group I could join?! To support the local opposition?! Any suggestions?

Wor(l)ds of wisdom

I don't want you to understand the previous post as some kind of challenge. It it of course just for fun. It does not matter how many countries you have seen, but what you have learned during your travel.

Competitive travelling

So who's the most experienced traveller? Test it and post your result.

http://www.world66.com/myworld66/visitedCountries

Obviously I have seen only 15% of the world, and 35 countries. That makes me happy, there is still a lot left to see!

To my close distant friends

Well, you will probably not be able to see it at the picture, but every stop at this underground network is another major city or caplital of the world. I use to have a look at it every now and then to remind me of the fact that all those wonderful friends I have all over the world are never further away than a phone or a computer or a few stops away at the global underground. We are all connected and if you are really close you are never very far away.

Sibiu -European Capital of Culture 2007

Beautiful Romania

Well, maybe the Parliament Palace in Bucharest is not exactly beautiful, but for sure it is impressive and I must say, the interior is not as tasteless and tacky as I feared.



Our very beautiful racer Dacia and the nontheless beautiful co-driver!



The Peles Castle in Sinaia.

Sigisoara

Biertan

La multi ani 2007

Well, not yet. Still it is Christmas Eve and we say Craciun Fericit. Party girls on thier way from one party to another!

Christmas in Bucharest

Gathering for Christmas lunch at Bille's place.






The girls as well as the Christmas tree were nicely
decorated!













The preparations the day before was somewhat more chaotic, but great fun! Be glad I don't show all the pictures! These are girls you don't find too often in the kitchen!

Happy new year!!!

I would write something about Romania and add some pictures, but that will have to wait. Anyway it was a great trip and lovely place and I had a perfect Christmas celebration.

New year's party was also great with wonderful Swedish and foreign friends in Stockholm! Sooo nice to see you all again and thanks for the perfect party! Big hugs and kisses to you all!

And to everyone I could not see this time; whish you all the best for 2007 and hope to see you soon!

Romania

It seems my next trip will be to Romania. I will celebrate Christmas in the land of vampires. And of Bille! :-)

Anyone who has any nice tips on things to do and see in Bucharest and surroundings in the middle of winter, please leave a comment here!

Travelling without moving

If you can not travel for real, there are ways you can pretend you are travelling. Today I suddenly found myself in southern France, racing the Tour de France! And still I never left Stockholm; I just went to my local fitness club! I went there to join a body combat class, but the class turned out to be full and I was suggested to join a spinning class instead. It was a long time ago since I did any spinning, but why not… Once there I found out the class was called Tour de France and the idea is that the class follows a different section of the real race every time. Unfortunately for me, this; the sixteenth section supposedly was the toughest, uphill, uphill, uphill. Oh my God, I am not sure I will be able to get out of bed tomorrow. But, hey, I have been to France on a Monday evening…

Another way of travelling without moving is of course to let someone else do the travelling for you. This weekend I watched the film; Borat!: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. All I can say is; go and see and have a good laugh! It is hilarious! If you have read the travel guide; Molvania, A Land Untouched by Modern Dentistry, and liked it, you will love this movie. If you haven’t read the book or watched the film, you have a lot to look forward to!

Tuesday in November

Ahhhh!!! It is cold, wet and DARK! I can't stand it! Please anyone, take me away from here!

Why must autumn in Sweden be so depressing?!

But, dear friends, in just another two days it will be the first "Tuesday in November" of the year! Something we really have to celebrate!

For those of you who might not yet be familiar with the concept of "Tuesday in November", I can just inform you that this is a tradition to celebrate and cherish. If you have ever experienced November in Sweden or any other northern country (maybe November is not great in a lot of places) you know it is not the most enjoyable time of the year. And it is hard to think of a more depressing day than a Tuesday in November. So, what to do about it?! Of course you should turn the whole thing around! Make something nice of it! Gather your friends around a nice meal and some wine, go to the movies or the theatre, make a afternoon visit to a spa or just do anything that you like and will make you feel better and get you through the month. That way you might even start looking forward to Tuesday in November!

Climatic travels

Last week I made a short guest appearance at Circus Belgrade again. It was good fun to see all the old friends and familiar (and new) places. Unfortunately a party-induced cold prevented me from fulfilling my promise to get very drunk, behave badly and cause a scandal before I went back, but nevertheless it was fun. Worse even was that the cold made me stop the running at Ada, before finishing the whole lap! I am sorry, Wout! That will never happen again! (What was your excuse Sepp?)

What did not improve my health situation was the climatic travelling this trip also meant. Having recently come from Africa to Sweden I had barely got myself adjusted to the cool autumn temperatures when I landed in a sunny Belgrade and 27 degrees. Guess whether the winter clothes I brought felt appropriate or not!

During my stay there it got a bit colder, but that still didn’t prepare me for what I met coming back to Sweden again. Snowstorm with bad traffic chaos! I wasn’t the only one however that was taken by surprise. It is funny, but in a country that every year suffers long, cold winters with lot of snow, people and authorities are still taken by surprise when the snow comes. This time I understand that the meteorologists had even said it would come now. We used to laugh at reports of snow in countries like Spain or Italy, where two centimetres of snow caused chaos and complete standstill, but we are almost there too now!

Kinky Philippinos or simply tasty cakes?

On another walk trough Makati I suddenly saw this sign at a bakery.



Looking in through the window I realised why this bakery was called Kink(y) Cake. I just had to go in and ask if I could take some pictures. I wonder what they taste like!

The Streets of Manila

Ok, as I started this blog after I left Manila; there is not much about Manila here. Now I have decided that there is no reason why I can not write a little about Manila now, or at least publish a few pictures.

Some of you might know about my interest in funny signs and that I like to take pictures of signs that I see and somehow find funny. This sign I found along one of the bigger streets in my area of Manila, Makati City.


The funny thing about it is that this is the way the sidewalks normally looked like.


Absolutely not made for people!

The Normal life

If there is anyone who still checks this site and wonder what has happened to me, I can inform you that I have started writing about my "normal" life on another blog. Somehow it did not feel right to write about it under the name Travels 06..

So if you are interested check: www.goodrun-normallife.blogspot.com