The life of Niek Storteboom

Happy New Year!

Having celebrated the new year 6 hours ago, I can make a prediction for all those in Europe who will celebrate it in an hour or so:

2006 is fun! :-)

Have a good year!

posted by Niek @ 11:10 PM 4 comments  

Asperine anyone?

In the office after 3 hours of sleep and a night filled with ladies' nights at Shanghai finest bars :-)

Zapata's (see below) and Mint were both very good fun. Have not gone out during a working week in a long time, so it was a refreshing change.

And it's a little over 9am and I'm in the office (tons of stuff to do). I'm good! *cough*

I'm getting crap at my 'who's Dutch, and who's German game' though.

Rohit beat me once already last night (I said Dutch, he German) and then whe I went for double or nothing I failed miserably when I inadvertently checked if a girl was French or Russian (from the way she danced). Duesseldorf actually. Doh! Should've known.

In an international city like Shanghai, it's easy to find new games to amuse oneself. :-)

posted by Niek @ 2:17 AM 0 comments  

Google Earth...................

Sucks. I must be the only person in the world to think this, but it just flat out sucks (balls).

Out of all the places in which I've lived for the last 4 years, only Stockholm and Brussels (both of them) show up, albiet very blurry. Uppsala (both), Haaksbergen, Groningen, the Nurburgring (hey, it's been like a second home) and even Shanghai (Pudong) do not. They're unbelievably blurry, or just plain nowhere to be seen. And it does not matter what distance. 300,1000,500,2000 feet etc.

I heard some people were able to see their cars in their driveways etc. No such luck for me. Crap.

posted by Niek @ 4:31 AM 2 comments  

Xmas

Spending Christmas for the first time ever away from the family. I'm a bit bummed out, but there are a lot of parties going on (Colombian Salsa for one) so I won't be bored.

New Years however, I've been spending in crazy places for the last few years. Skiiing in Slovakia, a cabin in Sweden, a student house in the middle of Germany (by far the best so far) and now in Shanghai. Cannot wait to see who I'll meet and what I'll do :-)

Anyway, feliz navidad (have to get in the mood for tonight) and here's to a good 2006!

And a Christmas card to start the day of with :-)

http://foamy.libertech.net/noxmas.swf

posted by Niek @ 7:48 AM 0 comments  

Hong Kong (with pics!)

Hong Kong:

I love it. And I absolutely had a GREAT time while spending the last 5 days (and a lot of money) in this weird and wonderful town.

Jendrik (Siemens Colleague), Robert (friend of his) and I, after a giant party the night before celebrating both their birthdays, flew over on Saturday afternoon. We flew into Shenzhen (the flight being 30% of the price) and then the plan was to head over to HK by bus/train/whatever. We didn’t realize how much “whatever” meant….. First we got a taxi to the international train station. There on a Saturday night, amongst half of the Chinese population, we bought a ticket, crossed the border (after waiting in line for quite some time) and got on a train. After which, we had to catch a Metro. And then…….. a taxi. Full circle. Only it took quite some negotiation, because protests downtown meant that cabbies were not exactly gagging to go where we were apparently. But we got there in the end. After setting up shop, we went into town. The part of town we were staying in (SoHo) is full of small restaurants and very nice places they were too. Very nice prices too. Just how spoiled I am by Shanghai only started to set in after checking out the fifth menu. DAMN! How will I ever survive again in Europe I have no clue. The Ferrari’s driving by were nice though.

After biting the bullet we slowly walked downtown to Central (everything’s’ walkable on HK Island, again, quite amazing after Shanghai) we heard some noise from a few blocks over and investigated the noise. Cue finding a street packed to the rim with bars and people. Maybe we’ll stay here for a bit…………………. (and we did)

Not much exciting happening, just some beers, but we knew where to go for the next few days.

Sunday morning we got up rather early, this in order to check out the city, see the harbour

and go over to Kowloon to see some of the Chinese parts of town as well as going shopping for some electronics. The buildings are just amazing, loved the architecture, and when we went over to Kowloon, the view of HK island was definitely something to behold.

In Kowloon I think we went into something like 20-30 electronics shops in and around Nathan Road, trying to get a view on prices and see how the negotiation techniques worked there. After that, we went over to Kowloon Park, which was jam-packed with maids and house workers.

Robert said something about them having their day off, and they were supposed to spend it outside of the house, in order not to bother their employers. But this meant the atmosphere was very vibrant and very friendly everywhere you went. Just so many people of the street enjoying the sun and the park.

After this, we headed back to get some food and prepare for a night out. We went back to the same street, and ended up in a place called Hardy’s. The street wasn’t nearly a busy this time as the night before, but Hardy’s seemed to be filled up nicely. This was because of………Karaoke.

Now, please understand that in 4 months of Shanghai, I have not been inside a KTV place…..once. I have to be really REALLY drunk in order to sing. And I’m shit. Unbelievable shit. But it’s HK, we had some beers and I requested a songbook. Jendrik however, seemed to be getting uncomfortable. He didn’t like Karaoke, and needed some more pints. After 3 more, he declared (after seeing the songs available) “the only song I’m going to sing is “Baby got back” “This was of course not available. Or was it……? I got another book from somewhere, and there it was. Bingo. The smile vanished immediately from his face and the worst backtracking and pleading I’ve ever had to witness started. “No way” “Not a chance in hell” “Pplllllllllleeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaassssssssssssseeeeeeeeeeee don’t make me do this”. You get the idea. So I go up. Alone. Singing “Fortunate Son”. I sucked. But most of all, nobody knew it! Philistines!

So drinking from the beer I made Jendrik buy me for being such a pussy, I witnessed another group of tourist. 5-6 English girls that were in HK visiting family etc. So Jendrik and I go u to talk to them. If ever there was a classic group of English women getting drunk somewhere in a bar, this was them. Stereotypical doesn’t even begin to describe it. But they were a lot of fun, and after some pleading (this time, fro the real women) Jendrik was ready. Sweet Home Alabama it was, and with the help from the girls (and a microphone held at least one meter from his face) he managed to pull through. *sniff* I’m so proud.

More songs, more beers and more laughs later, we kiss goodbye to the girls (Jendrik taking somewhat longer ;-) ) and head home. Robert had already left some time go, so we decide to wake him up. Only we get stopped in out plan. About 500m from our destination, I hear some music coming from an alley and go to investigate. Jendrik follows me. It turns out the music is coming from a barber shop. The door is open. I go in. Private party, but before I can turn around, everybody screams out: “Come in!” and so we oblige. Uncle Jimmy (the owner and *the* biggest queen I’ve ever met) welcomes us hands us a beer, and wastes no time at all enquiring bout our sexual preferences. “I’m straight” is my answer. “Pity” was his. I felt flattered for one second, but he turned away immediately to Jendrik who had more trouble to get rid of him. Payback time!

As it turns out, we weren’t the only party crashers. Some diplomats from the WTO conference were there too. A guy from Montreal, a girl from Germany and a man from the Netherlands! Living in Brussels. We talked for 2 hours about politics, future of the world etc. Very cool, and shows you how big (and small) the world really is. At about 4, with Uncle Jimmy already sleeping (with his wife!), the WTO guys and us say our goodbyes and we stumble home.

On Monday we get up a bit later, but when we do, we walk around the city some more, checking out the botanical gardens, the small Zoo and the financial district, which is all rather close to each other.

Then at 4.30 we go up with the peak tram, to see the whole of HK Island from 400m up. The gradient on which it goes up is astonishing. 45 degrees or more. You really have to adjust to not just fall out the back!

The views simply said were great. I took some pics: (although my night ones failed, so I’ll get some from Robert).

In the evening, Robert stayed at home and we went into the city. Now, some of the English girls gave us some tips on where to go. So we went there. Wan Chai. aka. The dodgy area. The bar we went to was filled to the brim with hookers. We left quite quickly, and walked around a bit. Mmmmmmm. Instead of hassling you to come in, like in all the other areas like Wan Shai all over the world, they just grab your arm and ask you: “Do you want to come in………………side me?”

Okaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay. Funny as hell of course and walking around did give it rewards. A kebab place. Could it be? Yes! They had Doner. F**K YEAH! Missed those like crazy. After filling up, we left again to the street we were at yesterday (really need to find the name) and went to the Caverne. Hung out there, talked to some random people before we got to talking to a bunch of Paraguayan and Peruvians WTO people. Two hours of beer and BS later, somewhere around 3am, the place closes and we need to find something else.

So back to Wan Chai we go. This time with 2 Irish guys tagging alone as well, who tell us to a bar just a bit further up the street. This time, no hookers, and a great time is had by all. The discussions were very weird though, mainly about Catholicism (how do I find these people) and its effects on people and the world. At 5am we head home.

Tuesday was spend mostly in a daze of Chinese electronic stores, a 2 hour tram ride from the east side of the Island to the centre in a tram we were convinced was going to crash but never quite did. Some pics:

The evening was spend pigging out on ribs, giant pizza’s and just hanging out to ensure we got up at a decent time for Wednesday.

On Wednesday, we decided to go to Macau. Pics will follow, (my damn batteries failed) but Macau was a bit on a disappointment. The Portuguese influence was definitely there, but in way to small doses. Some buildings were very nice though and I did manage to find the Macau circuit as well, which a month before had hosted the Macau GP. The taxi we then took drove us around it at a very decent speed :-)

We then went to Shenzhen airport via a big jet boat (this is what we also took from HK -> Macau) and they dropped us off almost in front on the damn airport. Next time, I’ll take to boat to HK then, instead of having to change my mode of transport 5 times. Spending 4 hours at Shenzehn airport, followed by a very bumpy airplane ride, the Chinese dude 2 seats in front puking his guts out and taxi ride later we’re back in Shanghai. Now relaxing. Nice.

All in all. Go see HK. It’s all I can say. The people there make it a great place.

posted by Niek @ 5:24 AM 3 comments  

Only in Shanghai.........

posted by Niek @ 6:52 AM 3 comments  

Random pics of the weekend

posted by Niek @ 7:45 AM 0 comments  

Hang Zhou!

posted by Niek @ 7:39 AM 0 comments  

Freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Finally free :-)

No more BS, no more horseshit, no more Asia.

Yes!

posted by Niek @ 8:10 PM 9 comments