an.oyster.hunt

your good friend visited you last friday for you both have a date with oysters. on saturday the weather was good, cloudy but warm with a pleasant temperature to be at the seaside dam. you were actually a little too late as the lowest tide is over by the time you arrived and you started at the wrong spot where there is no sign of oyster...

then you decided to move to another location where the water is still considerably low... although most people already finished with picking....

some one is jumping and leaping with joy

while you are taking the photos, he tried to get the girls to work hard in searching for the oysters

you love the attitude, never give up, keep on searching...

and before long, the tide is coming up... the water level increases in split second... you all have to walk in a really fast pace to get back to the shore... there were some panic moments in you but you know in the worst case you will just get wet....

your catch of the day, not too many compared to the last few years but half full is still better than half empty bucket...

p/s: i have to adjust these photos as all of them are over exposed, it is my fault as i set the exposure too high a night before while taking the firework photos...

north.sea.swim

i am back from madrid. i touch down past midnight and only reached home around 1:30am yet this morning i woke up early this morning and fully energize...

that's typically me when it comes to working day, i can hardly wake up yet during my vacation i can wake up as early as it takes as long as there is a program awaiting me...

going to the beach was not part of the agenda today, was thinking of going to amsterdam sail but both of us don't feel like traveling to amsterdam so we head to the beach at our backyard...

arriving at 3pm yet it's still sunny and warm... find a spot, lay our beach mat and here we settle down...

it was sunny, a rare day in this country to be able to sit at the beach and many people are sun tanning like no body business....

while i go swimming, johannes has to watch our belongings...

my very first time swimming in the north sea at scheveningen beach, the water is not cold, just very refreshing... i really enjoyed jumping on the sea waves...

gotta call it a night, tomorrow another day trip to go...

m@dr!d

i have been silence for a few days already, am on the part one of my vacation. it is hot here, i am already a shade darker....

madrid is a great city escape!!!!

safe.cheap.friendly.great food, super weather.

i took so many photos that my netbook can no longer handling them neither the speed of the wifi from the hostal able to cope.

here are just a few snapshots... more stories on this amazing city will follow when i finally get to sort out my photos...

plaza mayor, my first snapshot of madrid, the square is pretty much empty and only turns into life from evening till late night. i passed by here so frequent that each time i tell myself i am going to skip this place yet this seems to be the cross road for my orientation to get to the next destination...

madrid is full of parks, huge parks are everywhere. they are shady, great place for a picnic lunch or siesta when the sun is too fierce in the afternoon. parks have the cooling effect to madrid...

toledo, a Romanesque city just 30 min south of madrid by the high speed tourist train. a complete medieval city on top of a hill and three sides surrounded by water... this is not the view of the old city but the outlook from the old city to the greater surroundings...

summer.vacation.prolog

firework at scheveningen. fine weather. great companion.

i.am.sailing

yesterday we were on a sailing trip, everything has been arranged in advance except the weather is something that we cannot reserve, we thought the weather is a guarantee in august but it turned out that mr sunshine decided to take a day off....

this is the cruise ship sailboat we chartered for the day, zuiderzee is her name and she is born in 1884 thus making her an old and gracious lady at the age of 126, but she is as strong as in her youth!

on boarding the cruise ship sailboat are a mixed of malaysians, dutch and a few other nationalities... but all have a tie with malaysia

the sailboat leaving the docking area, muidenslot (muiden castle) just right in front of us...

ruth is our master and the commander for the day, she is tough and strict...

the gentlemen have to learn the art of sailing, how to tie a knot, how to rise a mast and lowering at the same time, strong muscles are needed for this job...

engine is off, we are now sailing by the wind from the mother of nature...

the interior of the boat, there is a proper kitchen with gas stove, fridge and a dining area enough to sit 12 to 14 people, a bell to ring when the meal is ready to serve... it also have 12 beds if we are going on a overnight sail trip...

johannes in action, together with other gentlemen, lowering the mast as we approaching uitdam

this is our boat docking at a small village, we stopped for 45 min to rest our feet and have a quick walk of the village

johannes and the goat

a small rolling boat by the water together with some wild flowers - how picturesque could it be... a right representation of the moment

there is a row of nice traditional dutch house a the area where we dock our boat, these are like the holiday home with nice view of ijsselmeer

on our way back to the boat, the village is really too small and empty...

although mr sunshin didn't turn up to our appointment, miss rain didn't come forcefully either, there was no strong presence of mr wind too... we didn't sail too far at all, given the wind speed and only manage to reach uitdam (which is technically 10km or so distance from muiden). although the weather looked groomy all day, but we had a pleasant temperature of above 20c, making sitting on the deck an pleasure to enjoy despite of the absence of mr sunshine...

summer.vacations.booked

finally i have sorted out my summer vacations (i am taking three weeks off starting mid august). it's going to be a tale of three cities of which the first two i will be venturing alone... yes, ALONE! but travelling alone doesn't mean that i will be alone all the way, it's always a good way to meet up people along the way...
my first city tale will be... well, i am not going to be specific (you can guess from the picture if you can) but i managed to get a bargain westbound air ticket from my love and hate airline klm... so will be spending a lovely 5 days in that city.

next, i will be heading east to a city which technically made up of two cities (hint), again a lone ranger trip and am really looking forward to soak in the bath and experience a different culture and nation for the first time.

finally a trip that consists of both of us, a driving trip south bound. i just booked a week fully furnished apartment by a very nice sandy beach, it is kind of short stay holiday resort with indoor swimming pool, sauna and self catering... it will be a week of relaxation, sea and sand, hopefully the weather will do us justice and mr. sunshine will show up every day..... i am also looking forward to savour the seafood and fresh catch from the sea...

besides the three trips, the prologue of my vacation is starting with us going for a day sailing this saturday, together with a group of friends we chartered a sailing yatch for the whole day. then with a girlfriend of mine visiting us next weekend, it going to be a day of oyster catch at zeeland...

between my first and second city trip, i am also planning to squeeze an overnight or day trip to visit a big antique market... perhaps i am too ambition??

well, it's summer, so i am allow to pamper myself a bit, making sure i get enough of sunshine index and tan before i know the autumn will sneak in silently....

viva summer vacation!!

german.dusseldorf

well, the entire trip is not merely about japanese sights, scenes and food. we also ventured beyond japanese town to the famous shopping street in dusseldorf which is almost similar to omoteasando of tokyo if i insist to put a japanese tag to it....

we took the u-bahn to the k�, that how the street is called... here you see all the big names and people walking passed carrying brand name shopping bags....

we went into one or two big malls, doing a bit of window shopping, admiring things that are nice but not necessary...

inside the k� karrel, where we find the muji store, johannes got something from here and i like the simplicity and the black color from jil sander...

at midnight on saturday, i gave him a surprise gift for his 4-X birthday!! actually the whole weekend trip itself is to celebrate his birthday, so he wasn't expecting anything else besides the fact that he can shop liberally on the saturday :)!

on sunday, where all shops are closed in germany, we venture out to a rococo style castle just at the edge of dusserdolf

we were attracted by this big standalone mansion and approaching it for some photo shots

and i asked him to pose for a wall photo, but we were told off by an old germany lady basically asking us to stay away from this private compound in an unfriendly way....

then we arrived at the pink rococo style castle called schloss benrath

it has a beautiful and large garden in both french and english styles....

the french style sculpture between the castle and the well mend park

the mansion is overlooking a pond with some summer flowers/boarders and beyond are open fields...

at the other side of the castle with an english garden

there is some sort of fair going on just at the town of benrath, we walked around a little bit, finally see the typical german elements, the worsts grilling on the platform, the tea house with german cakes, the stall that selling the german sweets and biscuits and of course ample of beer stalls...

we went back to the city and took a stroll at the hoofdgarten - a nice park in the city with lots of greens and space...

and the trees lining nicely forming the shade

and of course we saw a german lady sun tanning herself in the park, that's how a typical germany should be in the summer!!