The flat

OK, I know that nobody reads this thing anymore (apart from some geeks with RSS readers :p) but I've got these nice photos of our "almost-finished" apartment and want to express the joy of settled, finally-no-travelling life. Well, we do go to France in 2 days but this doesn't really count since I bet we'll be staying inside the house on a couch in front of the huge flat screen most of the time (or at the dining table staring at an oyster shell, quite nice time-spending as well).

Merry Xmas everyone!!!

The big move

I moved! After a whole weekend of carrying the bags, boxes and electronics all “crap” was brought to the new apartment. 5 hours in IKEA and new furniture added to a pile of stuff. Well, the boxes with the furniture. And plenty of screwdrivers to bring it to life.
However the most important news is that Magnus is back!!! After staying for almost half a year in Thionville he was brought back to meJ He’s very well, thank you. Very fat, furry and fluffy. If anybody wants to have trendy gloves from an exotic hamster fur – give a shout :p

Since the whole apartment looks like a big construction site now the pictures will follow a bit later… But I believe it’s gonna be beauuuuuutiful J

New Country

The main news is: I moved to Belgium! As of middle of August when I arrived here, or end of September when I decided to stay here or middle of November when I’ll be moving to the proper apartment right in the centre of Antwerpen :)

How did it happen? My former company (ITAB) offered me a permanent position in their Belgian office after my trainee program. It wasn’t the easy chose though because as some of you might have heard we were considering of moving to Singapore to the equatorial heat, fresh juices and cheap tickets to all Asian countries. But at the end we got a bit scared of such a big relocation step without defined living/working conditions (and a bit low salary as well) and here I am now – in Antwerp, the city of diamonds, fashion designers and great local beer De Koninck.
All in all by now I’ve been to Belgium for only a bit more than 2 months and it seems to be quite decent country apart from bad weather and horrible bureaucracy. The beer is very good (and relatively cheap also, especially after Sweden), chocolate fountains are amazing, there’s Yoshi Yamamoto boutique in Antwerp (not like I bought anything there :p but at least I can watch through the windows and admire…), so life is not that bad at the end here:)
Plus it’s only 2 hours of train and I’m in Amsterdam, or Paris or Germany (not sure though why would I want to go to Germany but it’s good to have options :p).

So as from 15th of November if anybody wants to visit me or just send a postcard or a present, just go ahead: Coppenolstraat 14, 2000 Antwerp :)

And as usual some random pictures:

I look a bit like a warrior here though I think. but I didn't know that a friend of mine was actually taking the picture
An annual flower carpet on Grande Place in Brussels. It's absolutely amazing, although I felt a bit sorry for all those flowers that were going to die on that square in 3 days...

Antwerpen. Ok, it's THAT common in here having camels wondering the streets but this city is quite unpredictable anyway, and that's why I like it :)

THE HOLIDAYS!!!

Yeah, yeah, I haven't posted anything here for more than half a year and most probably nobody reads this stuff anyway. But it's grey, rainy and moody here in Sweden, it's freaking cold in the office and I've got an enormous excel spreadsheet to analyse the sales statistics and it's...yes, boooooooring.

Thus I decided to entertain myself by posting few lines and pictures about our fabulous summer holidays in South East Asia this July.

1 month. 3 countries. around 10 different beaches. endless jungles. 40 plates of fried noodles. 1 elephant. 5 monkeys including 1 baby monkey. and much more....

Singapore - skyscrapers, good coctails and cheap food

Unfortunately we haven't met any crocodiles but did 12km trek in the jungles... I still have a little scratch on my face after that "adventure". Those warnings for kids of not going to the jungle - they're all true!
Gunung Mulu national park, Borneo, Malaysia. Canopy walk, 50m above the ground - yay!:)

Mulu Caves. Claimed to be the biggest in the world and can fit 5 Boeing planes. We didn't check though... To Mulu airport by boat:)
Petronas Twin Towers, KL, Malaysia. And we've been on the Sky Bridge :)
Turtle pond in some Chinese temple in Kuala Lumpur
Kayaking near Krabi, Thailand

Father monkey and a baby monkey :)

Elephant trekking, Thailand
Ko Phan Gang - the island of the famous Full Moon Parties. And yes, we've been to one, 19th of July 2008 :)

Ayuttaya, Thailand - the former capital of Thailand, the city used to have 400 temples and some are still out there, though in ruins but still contain some shiny Buddha statues and monks that are having a nap...

These are just the highlights, of course we've been to much more places during this month. Had great noodles in Bintulu bus station (Borneo), drink some coconut milk on Brighton Beach in Miri, got sunburnt on Sapi island near Kota Kinabalu, relaxed in hamak in Railay (Thailand), polluted our lungs with dust and gasoline smell walking around Bangkok etcetc.

SE Asia is a definetely great place to be! Viva las noodles!