Move

Move. This was taken in Singapore at the Youth Festival Celebration outside the Ngee Ann City.
Nice japanese moves by these youthful girls from the secondary schools.

Singapore - my first impressions

My very first impression on Singapore was that it is a living garden city. Maybe due to the humid weather but everything is green around you with a lot of colors.



But it's not only green Singapore is an extremelly clean city. They have very strict rules to make people being aware of their environment.



Its a bit too strict to me but the result is obvious.

Trip to Singapore - the travel

Budapest-Frankfurt-Doha-Singapore

This was our route to Singapore. Almost a whole day travelling but to me it seemed to be like we will fly forever.

First just 1,5 hours between Budapest and Frankfurt. Not a big deal:)



Then we had to spend there two hours and flying again to Doha (Qatar). It was 6 hours and its already around my limitation. But being in Doha was just like the halfway.



3 hours waiting at the airport where we almost bought an Aston Martin but then we changed our mind and we did fly further to Singapore. 8 more hours in the air....



The Singapore Airport is very funny. Its like a living room. Carpets everywhere.

Our home lighting

We have since been living in the Buda area for about 2 years and it was the first time my sister and her family visited us and stayed over for the weekend. The first time she was here was during our wedding. Our place is situated near a hill called 'Cool Valley' and from the name, you can tell it is cooler in the Summer.

We have a very cosy place and lighting serves an important aspect of the interior decorations. We are not those that are head over heels for chandeliers. That's simply because we like natural home lighting. We wanted something that complement in the indoor as well as with the garden or better to say it is a yard area facing the garage. We also have a 'Terrace' area where the family or if we invited our friends, we can have an alfresco styled dinner together. Usually, in the nice weather, we like to hang out at the swing, or having some wonderful cakes or cookies with a cup of tea. My wife likes to bake, so to her, the kitchen light fixtures other than the bathroom light fixtures where she loves to soak in the bath for hour(s), alright, let's say 1 hour :)

Looking at the current kitchen light fixtures which we have, we are planning to add in a new light fixture to give it a better intensity. This will allow Zannnie to make more delicious looking cakes :) She's quite particular about the colour of the creaming these days. My job is to taste and give feedback, how lucky am I, isn't it?

With the application in mind, we can now shop online by making our choices at the wide range of styles available, it is fantastic how we can select something at the best price from dozens of the top manufacturers. Very reasonable indeed!

Party in Kuala Lumpur

My days in KL were pretty simple and wonderful. During the day which started at times arround 1pm to me I visited different places. The twin tower, the China town, the mini India, the national museum, the bird park, the butterfly park or the king`s palace. They have a king. But only for 5 years. Then they elect an other one from 9 sultans. I was thinking if the sultan became a king at the age 20 he has a chance to be king again in 45 years when he is 65. Cool..:)



But when it came to the night I went out to check Kuala Lumpur`s nightlife. First I was just walking on the street they call BINTANG WALK which is full with pubs, stores, clubs and places which provide you feet massage. You cant avoid them. At every third step they will stop you with huge posters of feet in their hands which shows the areas of the feet like in a Chinese book.

First I entered places randomly. I found a place called `planet hollywood` (what a unique creativity). When I went downstairs and was sitting at the bar drinking a local beer for like 29 malaysian ringit (ca. 8 USD) having an almost totally empty club arround me I felt not this is the place I wanted. I tried some other places also but I experienced the same. After a while I was more careful and I didnt enter any club immediately. I was rather sitting near to it`s entry and I was watching if there is any traffic. There wasnt. So I went home and felt stupid. Here is that huge city and I wasnt able to find a place where people are dancing, having fun and not I am the only person they try to get the daily income from.



Next night I tried again. I went to an other place in the same area where I also didnt experience too large traffic but I was so frustrated that i went to the door to enter the place. A Chinese lady stopped me there asking what did I want.

- I wanna enter the club. - and there was a bit surprise in my voice because what else may i want?

- This is not a club this is a karaoke bar. Do you want to sing?

- I dont know. I just simple wanna check the place out. - I started to feel strange.

- Its ok, but could you change your slippers to shoes, please?

This was the point when I got really angry.

- First, these are sandals not slippers. I would change it with a pleasure if its nessecary but I wont do it for a place which is obviously totally empty. You need shoes I need place to feel good. Non of us have the things we need from each other so bye.

I felt even worse then before. I went home with a lot of anger. I changed my dress I took my shoes and I picked up a few hundred dollars. At the reception they couldnt change it to ringit because it was too late, so I catched a cab and I asked him to take me to a place where I can change money. I was so angry that I told him the whole story while we were searching for a place to change the money.

- Ok mister, after we changed your money I will take you to a place where you will feel good.

And after making circles in the city for money he took me to a street near to the twin-tower which was full with clubs and restaurants. The one he stopped at was called Beach…something. I forgot.

Anyway I entered the place which was obviously full with people. White, malaysian, chinese, indian…all kind of people having a lot of fun, dancing and screaming. Standing in front of it in my shoes and shirt (everybody else was in slippers or sandals) I felt…`ohh yes..thats what I wanted`.

I pushed myself to the bar through the mass and I was impressed by the athmosphere. On the stage a music band was playing and large screens were hanging aside showing the football match Germany-Mexico without voice. Under them immediately above the dancing people large aquariums where hanging having sharks swimming in them. I bought a beer for 18 ringit (and the bartender girl knew what does smile mean) and I went to the most crowded place to the dancing hall.

Once Kata told me that she didnt like at home in Budapest when she entered a dancing club and kept the eyecontact with guys for more then 0,5 second they approached her immediately. So she learned how to avoid eyes in clubs.

Here I had the same experience but with girls. There were lot of girls. Small asian angels with long hair, slim body and special eyes. They were dancing everywhere, moving their slim body like snakes. With my 186 cm I was like a giant there having an overview to the whole place. I felt every eyes on me. And when I looked into the eyes of these small beauties they started to smile immediately. I had the feeling I am a superman, and I am so damn handsome that these girls cant resist to smile to me. But it wasnt like this.:)

Within a few minutes I figured out that most of these girls were prostitutes and as soon as I kept looking at them they came to me, approaching me with questions with touches, and within two minutes they asked if I wanted a girl for tonight.

So just like Kata I had to learn how to avoid eyes, how to see everything in a way not keeping my eyes on things. And I never felt before how good is the usually frustrating game, when I look at a girl and she turn her eyes from me even she is interested. But now I was so happy when I saw a proud lady who was not prostitute and didnt keep looking at me just for a little little moment signing that she saw me but she is not the cheap girl who will give even her sight so easily. `You have do deserve it`.

---

2009. December 29.

Splitting of 'Gold' Found

There is an interesting news recently about the split of gold coins found! These 773 gold coins were from the time of Boadicea, being buried by the Iceni tribe, whose Queen Boadicea led a revolt against the occupying Romans in AD 61. I've always like the historical stories and this one about the Iron Age certainly makes sense since I live now in this modern age, an amount like £500,000 is like 584,885 EUROS and that is about 160 million forints! With this money in Hungary, one can build seven to eight group homes or family houses in the rural areas.

Some people who are well versed in the financial investment field consider factors like stability of the financial markets. There are people who considers the tension in the Middle East, the US$ devaluation, and/or the major real estate and mortgage industry problems. If you are not aware, even the government, corporate and personal debt levels can affect the decision to buy gold.

Since my wife teaches Mandarin Chinese to the expats living in Budapest, I am also interested in information related to the growth of China in the years ahead. It's just my natural interest in the topic. Some countries are facing the threats of China growth. And this is part of the consideration of those who buy gold bullion. Smart Money investors are continuing to diversify in physical gold expecting gold to challenge the 2400% gains experienced during the 1970’s under less severe economic conditions.

I like how these gold bullion of the Iron Age looks.

Imagine unearthing those coins in the fascinating story, I will not hesitate to keep them with me instead of trading it with the Museum :) Such discoveries are always interesting in my opinion as it highlights the probable political, economic and religious importance of the area. In this particular case, Wickham Market, Suffolk, East Anglia.

Be it bullion or gold, it can be impactful because, Merrill Lynch is expecting gold to DOUBLE over a five-year period. Don't you want to know why the worlds central banks, governments, and institutions have begun hoarding gold and increasing their gold holdings diversifying further out of paper investments?

Online journalism

Shopwiki UK

The turn of summer is a bit strange in Budapest cos this year, there are hailstorms, lots of rain, sudden strong sunshine then rain again for the month of June. We have longer day (than night) here and recently, I had been trying to shop for a pair of sunglasses but here in Budapest the ranges were quite limited. I started surfing online and found ShopWiki.co.uk. Rather down-to-earth person, I am just expecting a pair of functional sunglasses that provides the UV protection and most important of all, durability.

So my shopping adventure starts at the Accessories section where at a glance, there are neatly grouped categories such as bags, gloves, hair accessories, hats, hosiery and socks, jewellery & watches, Men's accessories, scarves, shoes and last but not least, sunglasses! However the system brings you funny things at times:)

A fantastic feature, unlike all search engines, is that I am able to select the colours, the price range under the 'metal rimmed rectangular' styles of sunglasses which I prefer, with just a single slide using the mouse cursor (see a snapshot below).

Look, it's that easy to use.:)

Majority of people shop offline for shoes, especially if they have doubts about the style on the feet or perhaps they enjoy the shopping experience if the shopping outlets have friendly sales-assistants who provide a good service. I am not sure about you and the others, but definitely buying shoes for me at the malls were not so pleasant. Either the range are not complete or if they do, they ran out of my shoe size of '41' :( With this, shopping for shoes is made so much more convenient since the full range of shoes available from 30,000 stores can be found at once, I'm quite sure one can find something to suit his or her personal taste. From fitting and sizing to some good shoe buying tips. I really like the easy search by shoe type and style, and at a glance I can see what's available for men, women and kids.


So for ladies out there, I've included this link for you: Women's Fashion Trends. I recommended this as there is a great Seasonal Style Guides (sorted by Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter), Classic, Complete Women's Wardrobe, Women's Clothing Designers, Style Resources for Women, Holiday Dressing ;) it might serve you some good suggestions for this Summer. Enjoy your shopping at this one-stop Shopwiki that has 30,000 stores which can generate better savings since there are more deals to look out for!

Kuala Lumpur

They advertise themself like this: Malaysia the truly Asia. But to be honest my first impression was different. I never been to Asia before…so everything I had in my mind about this area was from books, movies, magazins, news etc. I expected an underdeveloped country with a lot of bycicle and without any infrastructure. But when I opened my eyes in the taxi which took me from the airport to Kuala Lumpur in the early morning I thought I was in Europe. (I had a different impression immediately after the driver opened the door of the taxi and I felt again what does 100% humidity mean). I saw a well built highway with new cars and then I was the witness of an awaking huge and modern city at 6.00am early morning.

I havent seen the whole Malaysia only Kuala Lumpur but I wouldnt say this city is the truly Asia. Or maybe we may say the truly Asia in the future. Because Kuala Lumpur is a real cosmopolitan developed city. A few weeks ago I wrote that my experience was that large cities like New York, London, Moscow or even Kuala Lumpur were much more similar to each other then to their own country`s rural area. Now I felt this here even better. Taking the public transportation in Kuala Lumpur is the same feeling as if you would be in Italy if I just look at the infrastructure.



And since I love mixed cultures I found very amazing to see how natural is to see malaysian, chinese or indian people beside each other here. When I am in a new city I like to take the public transportation randomly and going to the last stop with it and then back and so on. My experience is that sitting among local people watching the changing area arround you is much better then any sightseeing in your closed and safe bus. Kuala Lumpur has that funny train we dont have in Budapest. Its like a subway but goes upstairs and called Monorel. In movies I saw Chicago has the same and I guess a lot of other cities have it as well. So when I saw this train I knew immediately I wanna take it because its so much fun. I bought a ticket to the AMPANG and back and I was just sitting there watching the people and the city arround. When I checked on the public map at the station this AMPANG seemed to be close to the famous Twin-Tower so I thought from there maybe I will walk to see that `monument`. But when I saw the towers more and more far from me I knew this is not the day I will have an excursion to there. Going to the AMPANG all the high buildings started to disappear and i saw rather crowded blockhouses with having hundreds of clothes hanging on the small balkoons or windows. Yes, Kuala Lumpur is not only a modern, well developed city with wealthy parts only. They have parts like the China town or as they call an other one the mini India which are poor and dirty. But not dangerous at all. Malaysia is very safe country you can walk even at night on the streets of Kuala Lumpur without any problem. Once I got lost and I was walking in the Indian part having my camera in my neck and people even didnt look at me. Malaysia is one of the `asian-tigers`. Growing economy, very low unemployment rate and a lot of new investments. Maybe because it was a British colony before maybe because of the good education system but in Kuala Lumpur everyone (I mean EVERYONE) speaks English. Not only at the tourists places but you can approach someone on the street asking something in English and you will get the proper smiley answer. (my God I start to feel myself as a PR manager of a travel agency but this area of the world impressed me really very much).



They not only speak English but at times I had the strange feeling that they speak malaysian (which they call Bahasa Malaysia) and suddenly you can hear some English terms included into their speech. Like I was sitting on that train and I heard a woman talking to her son..bla..bla. bla..bla…last station..bla bla bla. early morning..bla bla.

When I am in a new country I like to turn on the TV and to check the local channels. TV2 (it seems every country has a channel called TV2)..English speaking morning program for the youths. A smiley chinese like girl and malaysian guy makes fun, says news and celebrity gossips and you can send sms to answer the question of the day: shall we build more children hospitals in Malaysia?

Cute….