Over the chinese new year holidays, we went for 4 days to Thailand, to Ko Phi Phi, which is a lovely, hilly island, south of Phuket. After 1.5 h on a speedboat from Phuket, we arrived at a beautiful lagoon with white sand, palm trees and huts along the beach. The water was sooo turquoise! The welcome cocktail tastes great and to make things better, we were offered a hut-upgrade to a beach front one. What a start! T checked out the PADI certification courses and he started basically instantly - like in 2 h he was in the pool already, floating masks, breathing under water. The following two days we did 2 dives in the morning and Troy had some theory in the afternoons. Diving was great there - such a plethora of different fish, turtles, even lobsters and snails!

When we took the boat Tuesday afternoon back to the airport, we were two very happy and content people! :-)

Hi Folks, the last few weeks passed rather quietly and uneventful. Well, I ate really good home made hakka noodles with soy sauce and spring onions at a hawker stall for lunch one day. Then, we found a good pasta/salad place called 'Delicious' with some friends one night. Then, I have been taking up gym and swimming again - I love swimming after work! And, I have started regular climbing lessons. :-)

 

KL has the biggest indoor climbing gym in Asia called Camp5 and I am having technics lessons there once a week with a colleague. The trainer is awsome. Really, really good. He explains things logically and his concepts always work on the wall. He pushes you far and leaves you totally motivated and eager for more. yeay! So, how many pull-ups do you think i will be able to do by July 24?

This weekend we went to visit a friend in Singapore and checked out the Volvo Ocean Race, which made a stopover here, before heading on to China. I expected to be able to see more of the in-port race itself, but couldnt as it was further out on the sea. However, we saw all the boats and the team. So the rest of the weekend, we just hung out around the city, went to the chinese Buddha Tooth Temple, Clarke Key and walked around the colonial buildings. Next day we checked out the local Holland Park Village and Dempsey Road, which are both non-touristy, expat aras. 

On my way home to Austria for my xmas holidays, I made a 1 day stopover in Dubai. I had a reservation for breakfast in the Burj Al Arab (sail hotel) and could explore the hotel plus its neighbouring hotels afterwards. It was great to see these absolutely impressive hotels! The rest of the day, I visited Jumeirah Mosque, the gold and scpice souk, took an abras (local boat) across the creek and checked out some historical buildings and squares.

I had an abfab meal at a local iranian restaurant for 4 Drh, which consisted of fresh flat round bread (just made in the traditional oven) with some chicken and salad, followed by mint tea. :-)

Overall, I had a good time in Dubai. The city is rather different to what I have seen before, especially when you arrive by plane and realize that this all was really built in the desert...