Erik's traveller magazine, part 5

Amsterdam

It was a totally random trip. I was sent to do some work for my company in Dusseldorf, Germany and since it is Monday to Wednesday, I asked my boss if they could book the ticket for me a little earlier (on Friday) so that I can have the weekend in mainland Europe. After some discussion with my colleague, we decided to spend a couple of days in Amsterdam, which is only 2 hours by train from Dusseldorf with the ICE.

Amsterdam is a very nice and flat city with a lot of canals (at least that's the impression I get from looking at the google map). Since the business trip was planned with very short notice, this Amsterdam trip was not really planned that well. The whole idea was to just walk around and visit a few places while enjoying the food.



Of course, the first thing that came to our mind about Amsterdam is its red light district. We found it on the map but we were not really looking for it since we were both married. However, we did manage to stumble upon it at night. I didn't want to get beat up by people so I just took a picture of the general area: (notice the swans at the canal, they were suppose to represent purity and yet they are swimming in the middle of the world famous sex district).



The morning after we went to visit the Heineken brewelry and it was well worth my 15 Euro. Heineken is my favorite beer which makes this visit extra meaningful:







Other than that we have also enjoyed some nice Indonesian food.

We stayed there for about 30 hours, it's definitely a place I would visit again when I have more time on hand.

Other pictures:

What a way to end the year

炒咗车. 车毁人没亡. 肋骨裂了, 需要休养几天. 不幸中之大幸.

Erik's traveller magazine, part 4

I should have posted this long time ago, but better late than never :)


Locarno, Luzern, Interlaken, Geneve, Switzerland



So we said goodbye to Venice and continue our trip. It was another 6 hour train before we get to Locarno, a local vacation hotspot and is sitting by a nice lake. Since we had been moving from city to city in the past few days. We are determined to rest up since we got 2 days in this place. The hotel is nice, it is in the middle of the main plaza and it has a nice balcony to it.



After we had lunch we decided to go for shopping since everything seems to be on sale and also the fact that things in Norway is simply too expensive. We managed to buy some clothes and a big backpack (those camping kind), making it much easier to carry the souvenirs we have bought.


After shopping we went to walk by the lake and take some nice pictures, and it was time to rest for the night.

The next day we didn't wake up until afternoon and then we found out that it is time to watch the closing ceremony of the Olympics. We glued ourselves to the TV for the rest of the afternoon.

After TV we have decided to take a walk and we saw the tram that would take us to the top of the mountain. Originally we were tired of mountain climbing, but since this time we do it in a tram we decided to go for it. The ride was just a few minutes, and the view up there is great but there is more. You can ride the "on ping 360" further up to see even better view. Since we are already up there, we might as well do it. However, with someone like me who is scared of hight, the ride was a torture even though it was only 2 minutes long.



The views up there is amazing, just see the pictures. The best part is that nobody is there to fight for picture spot with us. It was just me and Coco and the view. Amazing.









After Locarno we stop by Luzern on our way to Interlaken. Luzern is a famous destination for many tours from Asia and we saw many Chinese people on tours. We had 2 hours and that was enough for us to do some watch shopping. Here we bought 4 watches. 2 B Swiss and a pair of matching Tissot watch for me and Coco.

The train from Luzern to Interlaken is called the Golden Pass because of its beautiful view. However, I slept through it. All I got is the pictures Coco took while I was asleep...







It was late afternoon when we got to Interlaken, it is a place where two lakes join and honestly by now I am tired of natural views. So we just walked around the town and had a fondue dinner. Here we spend our last night of our trip.





When we wake up it is time to get to Geneve to head home. We had only 2 hours in Geneve and we had only time to go shopping and here we bought 2 more Certina watches for Coco's parents.

And now it is time to go back. Overall it has been a wonderful vacation and without Coco I wouldn't be able to see so many places in such a short amount of time.

Business trip

I am sitting in Dusseldorf, Germany for a workshop with our client. Before this I went to Amsterdam. Will post pictures of the trip when I come back (thursday), stay tuned.

Smoooooooooth

By Carlos Santana, sang by Rob Thomas

Man it’s a hot one
Like seven inches from the midday sun
I hear you whisper & the words melt everyone
But you stay so cool
My mu-equita, my Spanish harlem mona lisa
Your my reason for reason
The step in my groove

BRIDGE:
And if you say this life ain’t good enough
I would give my world to lift you up
I could change my life to better suit your mood
Cause you’re so smooth

CHORUS:
And just like the ocean under the moon
Well that’s the same emotion that I get from you
You got the kind of lovin that can be so smooth
Gimme your heart, make it real
Or else forget about it


I’ll tell you one thing
If you would leave it would be a crying shame
In every breath and every word I hear your name calling me out
Out from the barrio, you hear my rhythm from your radio
You feel the turning of the world so soft and slow
Turning you round and round

十大服務生最討厭的行為

以在下多年的餐館服務生經驗，以下的行為絕對可以稱之為可惡：

10：小費用嘴給
在外國沒有加一，小費變成服務生的收入之一。所以當客人笑譆譆的說我的服務好，但小費欠奉。是會換來我的咒駡的。

9：二十多個人要分單（不是平分）
我只會給他們一個計數機自己搞定。

8: 東西一樣一樣的叫
剛拿了汽水給你，又要水。拿了水給你，旁邊那個又要。再拿水來，順便問還有誰要東西，他們說沒有，回頭跟你老闆講要甚麼。老闆回頭罵你寫單寫一半。

7：問題多多，連自己要吃甚麼都不知道
曾經見過一個人看着一個只有５道菜的菜單想了十多分鍾。然後問你每道菜的材料和汁的成分。不知道，可以試。如果連裏面Ｄ汁點做都講埋你聽，那還有商業祕密嗎？

6：放條頭髮在菜上來要求霸王餐
在外國，居然有白人用金色的頭髮來要求我們（在下的家人全是黑頭髮的）不收錢。

5: 亂改菜單
一陣又加這個，一陣又話咖喱鷄不要咖喱汁。自己在家裏煮吧。

4: 把餐館變成遊樂園
小孩到處跑，到處爬，你追我逐，wee waa 鬼叫。自己拿着熱菜像避地雷一樣。真的想一頭淋落去。要知道一個差不多一米八的人要看一個在地上爬的小孩一點都不容易。

3：指鹿為馬
有個叫了牛排的客人咬牙切齒的說他吃了的是羊排。恨不得立刻找個化驗師來。

2：二十個人，每個人叫不同的菜
尤其是他們真的認為二十道菜是真的會一起到的。這還會換來廚房的痛駡。

1：賴死不走
多坐半個小時還能說的過去，但我見過的最高記錄是三個小時（都怪我爸媽太仁慈）。

後加：

Ａ：吃薯條要茄汁就沒甚麼，但吃飯也要茄汁？無語.....

Ｂ：用碟食飯但又要學中國人用筷子，看着他們用筷子把飯一顆一顆的從碟裏拿起來。真的還沒吃玩已經餓死了。

黑米粥問卷

由于本人今天生病，老婆特意煮了黑米粥給我吃。但由于真的從沒見過這東西，所以最後我的午飯變成出前一丁。請問各位，你們聽/看/吃過黑米粥嗎？

應該大慨是這個樣子：

生病了

甚麼事情都做不了，只能聽歌了

三國群英傳4的主題曲：相逢在夢中



相逢在夢中
演唱者：張信哲

走過舊時的時空 回盼已見落日紅
多少風雨交織的歌頌 興亡成敗都如夢

漫步昔日宮廷中 還聞暮鼓與晨鐘
若問世間多少分與合 不如笑看江水流向東

人間悲歡離合飄散在風雨中 三國壯志豪情誰能懂
留待浪花淘盡這世代的情仇 期待你能回頭
與你相逢在夢中

群英爭鋒山河動 天下英雄誰敵手
千古江山瞭看月矇矓 坐望中原戰事何時休

人間悲歡離合飄散在風雨中 三國壯志豪情誰能懂
留待浪花淘盡這世代的情仇 期待你能回頭
與你相逢在夢中

是非成敗轉成空 愛恨情仇有時窮
逍遙看秋月春風

人間悲歡離合飄散在風雨中 三國壯志豪情誰能懂
留待浪花淘盡這世代的情仇 期待你能回頭
與你相逢在夢中

难得一见

今天午饭以后跟同事们玩飞标. 本来没什么特别, 因为天天都玩. 奇就奇在我的威爾斯同事居然可以这样:


http://s168.photobucket.com/albums/u181/kongmingo/other/?action=view¤t=09012009.jpg






一支飞标插在另一飞标后面, 而且力道刚好, 让我们可以慢慢拍照.

看电影就看过, 现实生活第一次看到.



又一首歌, MLTR 的 That's why you go away.

终于回暖

过去这几天一起床冷到上班. 发抖着去洗澡, 一出们以九秒九的速度跑去我的车. 本来是要开车去火车站(其实只是走路8分钟的路程, 但在这种天气真的不想走路. 看到车里的温度计显示外面是零下15度之后, 连等火车都免了, 直接开车去公司.

这种生活过了一个多星期了. 今天终于有好转. 今天只穿了襯衣和外衣, 走到外面居然不觉得冷. 发现今天真的变暖了, "只是"零下四度.

今天打算下班之后跟老婆去买我的滑冰鞋(她的我已经买了给她做X'MAS礼物) 然后去滑冰.

今天日落特别漂亮, 拍了照片, 下次再上传.

今天跟所有人讲声Hello, Lionel Richie 的 Hello:

减税

OBAMA 讲减税, 在下也讲一下.

有人说减税只会有利有钱的人. 但有没有想到他们在减税之前对社会有多少税务的贡献呢?

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that’s what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. “Since you are all such good customers,” he said, “I’m going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20.”Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his ‘fair share? They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody’s share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man’s bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so the fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 ( 22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

“I only got a dollar out of the $20,”declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man,” but he got $10!”

“Yeah, that’s right,” exclaimed the fifth man. “I only saved a dollar, too. It’s unfair that he got ten times more than I!”

“That’s true!!” shouted the seventh man. “Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!”

“Wait a minute,” yelled the first four men in unison. “We didn’t get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!”

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn’t show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn’t have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

一首自己很喜欢的歌: 别人的歌

怨怨相報何時了？

以色列終于開始地面進攻了。美國為其辯護說每一個國家有權為了去保護自己的國家而採取任何行動。真的是不可理喻。如果揮軍攻入其他國家是自衛的話，那甚麼才叫做惡意攻擊呢？

聯合國到現在還不能同意于一份聲明，原因很明顯。赤裸裸的攻擊被美國說成是自衛，有多少國家願意支持這份聲明呢？

我不是諸葛亮，但我起碼知道除非以色列把Gaza地帶的回教人殺光，要不然的話，Gaza只會變成另一個伊拉克。但以色列不可能把所有人殺光，所以這次的攻擊是不會有任何效果的。

要知道火箭砲不便宜，每一支起碼幾萬美金。難道Hamas錢多沒地方花？

美國常說Hamas是恐怖組織，常說世界的國家都要民主，要民選出來的政府。但當巴勒斯坦把Hamas選出來之後，美國卻不承認這個政府。人家起碼是真心為當地的人民爭取權利。他們也被當地人民認為是最廉潔的。美國政府把他們拒于和談的門外，就註定和談失敗。然後卻由于和談失敗，允許以色列揮軍攻入Gaza。且看看以色列怎麼步美國的後塵。