Cruisin‘

I’ve been meaning to write this post for so long already, since it has already been 7 weeks ago when we went on a cruise vacation.

Six years ago, I went on my first cruise with my parents and sister on the Norwegian Jewel on the Western Mediterranean Sea and visited 6 cities within a week: Barcelona, Messina, Naples, Rome, Florence, Pisa and Villefranche-sur-Mer. I especially liked Villefranche – it was a small place close to Nice, but so nice and refreshing.

Villefrance with the "Jewel" in the background

This time, I chose the Eastern Mediterranean Sea and visited Venice and Greek Isles, like Corfu, Santorini, Mykonos and Katakolon (Olympia). The cruise was a good choice, since we had two sea days, so that we could relax on board, but also saw 5 picturesque cities. I have seen views that have literally blown me away, because they were simply so damn beautiful. The reason we picked this cruise was Venice and Santorini – particularly Santorini has been on top of my list of places to see in Europe.

We booked an excursion in Corfu, since we only had limited time, where we could see the highlights. We first went to Perama, where we stopped to take photographs of the famous views of Mouse Island. Then, we continued to Lakones, or “Bella Vista” - I liked the view in Corfu very much, since we could look onto the Paleokastritsa; see mountains in the foggy background, spot vineyards and olive trees. For the rest, we did not have time to explore Corfu town due to the time restriction.

Mouse Island

Beautiful view - Bella Vista

Next was Santorini, where we only arrived in the early afternoon, since it was quite a distance. We had to wait for our turn to get on the tender boats and then again wait for the cable car to get up to the city centre. Once arrived, after taking a few first shots, we took the bus to Oia, where the famous sunsets are taken. It was indeed a gorgeous view from the spot, but I also liked this view very much:

Santorini

Unfortunately, it was sooo windy that we couldn't take any decent pictures without my hair flying around. This is the best I could get:

Windy ..

We missed the sunset, because we were already on the ship when the sun was going down. However, we could enjoy it anyway:

When leaving Santorini ..

After dinner .. having fresh fruit while watching the sunset ..

Next was Mykonos, an island full of yachts and rich tourist, famous for its pelicans (we didn’t spot one), the windmills and “Little Venice”. It was indeed very charming, with its white streets and big cobble stones, but it was very small and a lot of the streets/houses looked the same to me. And we were kinda ripped off for a cappuccino priced €6 – each! Nevertheless, we could benefit from this view whilst drinking it:

One of Mykonos' landmarks: windmills

Our ship and Little Venice behind me

And yes - it was so blue there - blue sky and crystal clear water!

The last greek island was Katakolon, more famous for Olympia. We are not big historic fans, but we felt like having to go, since it was one of the places along the cruise and a historic landmark, but were not blown away by the many, many old stones in a huge park – I know Philistines! It was more like been there, done that – check. The street from the station of Katakolon to the harbor where our ship was located, however, was very pretty and Mediterranean.

Katakolon

Oh and as a proof, I was actually IN Olympia -

We decided to spend one more day in Venice, since we didn’t get to see it when we arrived. Unfortunately, it was very cloudy, but it didn’t rain luckily. Nevertheless, pictures are thus not sooo nice. We took the vaporetto (watertaxi) up and down the Grand Canal and got to see all the “must sees”, like the Piazza de San Marco, the basilica and campanile, the Rialto bridge or bridge of sighs. We had delicious Italian food as well. The only thing missing for me was going up the campanile and having risotto (and maybe Italian dessert). What I didn’t like was that it was so soo crowed. There were tourists everywhere, obviously, but it was a bit too overwhelming – even after spending 6 days on a ship with 3000 other people. 

So peaceful!

Narrow streets in Venice

Bridge of Sighs

Piazzi di San Marco in the evening

The ship itself was fine, there was enough choice of restaurants (there are two complimentary ones and we basically switched from night to night and a various specialty restaurants, where you had to pay an additional cover charge). However, we missed some activities. We didn’t do any sports (swimming, golf, basket ball), go to the casino, but only went to the show every night. We enjoyed the cruising experience anyway and already think about a next cruise :)

at the atrium/lobby of the ship

French dinner at "Le Bistro"

pic of the "Jade"

 

Recap in pictures ..

A quick recap in collages from my 2 months of blog-abstinence. I have been kinda busy in the past weeks with work, friends and enjoying life :) 

Baby shower of my cousin

In the beginning of March, we surprised my cousin with a baby shower. She had no idea, we all hid in the nursery and surprised her with all kinds of different treats, beautiful presents and a few games. She is actually due this week, so I am really excited for her.

Judy and me reunited

Also, my bestie FINALLY came and visited me in Hamburg. We caught up, went sample "shopping", had high tea at Messmer Momentum (afterwards, you can get three tea bags of your choice for free - and they have more kinds than at the supermarket) and dined at the Bullerei, a restaurant by star cook Tim Mälzer. The steaks and sides were really delicious! It was so good to see her again :)

Hamburg

Also, I explored Hamburg more, went to the Dom, had more Korean food, enjoyed the first warm weekend at the Elbstrand and spend more time at home with my new sofa:

Long awaited sofa .. :)

And spent more time in home-cooking .. Most proud of the Boeuf Bourguignon by Jamie Oliver .. it took me more than 6 hours and for the first attempt, it was pretty damn delicious! Will try out more ..

green curry, lasagna, boeuf bourguignon, Laksa, sweet and sour pineapple chicken and spicy garlic eggplant

And I went to Holland for two days .. did a tiny bit of touristy stuff and finally satisfied my sashimi cravings :)

Holland visit

These upcoming weeks are going to be sooo busy at work, but at the end of my favorite month, I can at least look forward to a sunny week off .. :)

Leap year

It has been again toooo long since I last blogged, so I use this rare day to write a little update about the past 6 weeks. I am more and more enjoying living in a big city and always discovering and exploring new things, whether it is new areas (whilst trying out new ways to work by coincidence), new restaurants and getting to know new people. Hamburg has so many opportunities, as I definitely see it as a growing, modern city that still has much in store.

On the work front everything is still the same, although we try to cut back on the many working hours, improve our processes and way of working to allow a cleaner outcome. There are still those busier times, where you have to meet one deadline after the other, but somehow I like it to get challenged and work under stress.

My apartment still looks the same, but I got a new stove + oven, since my old one smelled funny everything I used it in the past weeks. And .. my couch will finally, FINALLY arrive after 5 months delivery time (pictures will follow). I honestly don’t remember for 100% how it looked, felt like and I am a bit worried that I don’t like it anymore, but on the other hand I will finally have something to sit on and start arranging the rest of my living room, like the room divider (from sleeping area to living area), a small carpet, a tv table and ultimately a new TV. I now have a very old, boxy TV that fulfills its purpose, but that’s it.

Also I just learned today that the little bakery that is supposed to open down my street will start selling from tomorrow onwards from a vending car. Normally I am very lazy and go out the door the very last minute that I have to and hardly eat any breakfast. Plus the bakery that is close to my house does not taste and the service is horrible. Anyway, since it’s on my way, I’m sure I won’t skip my breakfast so often anymore.

Doesn't the rasberry-yogurt-tarte look delicious?

For the rest, I have been home last weekend for the first time this year, helped out my parents a bit, met up with some friends and scored some good deals at the McArthurGlen outlet in Roermond. Also tried out La Baracca, an Italian restaurant from the same owners as Vapiano in Düsseldorf, but was not very convinced by it. You also get a card like Vapiano, but you order via a PC-tablet at your table. This tablet contains all the information you need (description of the dish, price, picture) and the dish is quickly served after ordering (maybe due to the lack of other customers). However, the dishes are very small, the pasta is only nearly al dente and the special something is missing. I must admit that the menu and the décor is fancier then Vapiano’s and the only self-service you can choose for is to get wine from the tap, but other than that there is no extra value for me to drive all the way to La Baracca (outside the city center, just like Hamburg that is located in Hafencity).

My new gem in Hamburg is “Hanmi”, a Korean restaurant that satisfies all my Korean food cravings, since they offer Korean BBQ, bibimbap and kimchi! Also half of the clientele is Korean, which in my eyes is in favor of the restaurant. The prices are very reasonable, so I will go back for sure!

Anyway, this weekend I have more time to take care of some long overdue household duties and things I should have done weeks ago. I also need to start with my tax computation .. and if I have some time left, I will come back to my vacation summaries ;)

One year!

Can't believe it has already been a year that I've been working now. The last 12 months have been a big learning and development process for me with lots of ups and downs, looong working hours and skipped meals.

I intend to improve constantly, no matter if it's in learning, engaging in new responsibilities, meeting more deadlines and taking more challenges. Or leaving work on time (not so many 10hrs+) and taking more time for myself. Still a long way to go to follow my ambitions, but it's part of the deal!

Always keeping in mind one of Steve Jobs' speeches concerning work:

"The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.

Do what you love. Seek out an occupation that gives you a sense of meaning, direction and satisfaction in life. Having a sense of purpose and striving towards goals gives life meaning, direction and satisfaction."

Recap - Sanya, Hainan (China)

It's a lazy Saturday afternoon at home and it's freezing cold and windy outside, that's why I cuddle up next to my heater and write some holiday recaps to keep me warm :) - starting with Sanya.

Sanya, Hainan

Sanya is apparently the southernmost city in the PRC and renowned for its tropical climate and has emerged as a popular tourist destination, therefore I picked this place instead of Shanghai or Fuzhou (sorry YY)! Anyway, here a little summary:

Traffic

The traffic here in Sanya is a big Chaos (yes, with a big C). There seem to be no rules, it's so dangerous, crosswalks have no meaning, everybody is honking all the times, which have 3 different meanings (that's what I figured): 1) get out of my way 2) watch out, I'm overtaking/coming from behind 3) U want a ride? Even if it's a scooter, they can transport you. Talking about scooters - I've seen 3 persons one it and a kid standing backwards. Taxis are mostly a rip-off. Since I couldn't find the bus stop upon arrival, I chose for the taxi, who offered me a ride to the hotel for ¥60, which I found reasonable since based on my research it costs around ¥80. After a few minutes into the road, the driver asked for the address and figured it was veryyy far. Then literally halfway through he stopped and said this is half of the journey, I have to charge you ¥100, if you want to proceed. In my poor Chinese, I said no way, you initially said ¥60, you can't charge me more all of a sudden. But I did not have much room for discussion, since my luggage was in the trunk and I didn't want to be left in the middle of nowhere. The busses (more bus drivers) are crazy, the busses are disgusting. On my last trip back to the airport (for cheapy ¥5), the bus driver kept letting people into the bus although it was majorly overloaded, which made him stopping at stops a few meters further to only let people out. However, people were still trying to get it and forcing the doors to open. In the end, it was a mixture of acrobatic act (trying to hold on to the handhangers above) and the constant attempt to avoid being dry-humped by greasy men behind me. The questions is: do you rather want to be ripped-off for ¥100, but have a cab by yourself and arrive at the place you need to be or pay ¥5 and interchange, wait, accepting to be pushed around and risking life voluntarily?

Sanya by night (fascinated by the lights)

Beach

I stayed in Sanya for 2 full days and I think 3 ought to do it. There are a lot of mainland China tourists (that spoil the holiday feeling) and also many Russians. It's a small island, which mainly accounts for beach and water vacations. I've been to all three of them and they weren't as beautiful as I expected them to be. First, Yalong Bay which has a diving/water fun area, then a lot of parts, where you could have your own piece of beach, which I liked. I could only endure 2 hours of sun enduring the massive heat, while reading my book and trying to relax. Second, I went to Sanya Bay to see and photograph the sunset (which is the place one should see it in Sanya). It was nice, but not extraordinary. Third, I saw Dadonghai beach on the first night, which is more the going out place with a lot of food stalls and beach bars. Also not so spectacular, so I'd recommend Yalong Bay for the privacy with a real coconut! ;-)

Swimming I haven’t done in either of the beaches, since nobody could watch my stuff with all my belongings (I didn't leave anything in the hotel due to lack of safety, in my eyes) and I wouldn't dare to just leave it on the beach, like a Russian woman, who put her Louis Vuitton on the sand and went for a swim! I just went 30minutes in the hotel pool in the evening, which was fricking cold, yet refreshing.

Yalong Bay

Sunset at Sanya Bay

Hotel

I picked the hotel after careful consideration - that's what I thought. Seems so many reviews in ctrip.com and Tripadvisor can be fake! It was a 3* hotel in (near would be more accurate) Dadonghai with no lights during day, which even caused problems for the bell boy to find the right room number due to the dark hallways. The breakfast buffet was horrible, leftover leftovers and fluid congee, dry bread or oily fried dishes. The only thing that I liked about the hotel was the pool, especially when it was lit at night.

Not recommended: Sanya Searainbow Hotel

Food

Except from the fresh fruit and coconuts, I was quite dissappointed from the food. I don't know if it was because I ordered the wrong things, but I expected so much more. Too bad the Hainan Chicken Rice is from Singapore!

Sanya food

Conslusion: Sightseeing-wise, I haven't done much, just photographed the Sanya totem and heaven stone in passing. However, Sanya does not have that much to offer. I went at the end of November and it was surprisingly warm and sunny at 28 degrees (C) - I even got a sunburn, but it was very windy, especially in the evening, where you need an extra jacket! One full more day would have let me "sightsee" more and spend one more day at the bay. So, what's left to say is: been there, done that. Don't think, I will return to Hainan.