Xmass in the sand dunes

First of all, i wish a Warm and Marry Christmas to Everyone. I hope most of you had the chance to spend the holidays with your family and with those who are close to your heart.

Mine is okay. I'm a bit sentimental these days and probably this Christmas was the most dramatic for me. Don't know the reason, holidays never meant that much to me as this year. Maybe because i'm surrounded by ppl for whom Christmas has no meaning. And the more i see different habits, the stronger i feel where i belong to.

All my life dec 24-25-26 had the same strict routine for visiting relatives for lunch and dinner.
Than last year i broke the routine. It was more like a 3-days crazy partying than a holly festival. It didn't affect me too much but i made a vow that it was the last one without my family.
But as years passing i'm getting older.. i learnt a lot of things eg. you can't plan anything in life. Couple of years back i used to get disappointed if something didn't work out the way i expected it.. but now i know it's useless to be upset if your life turns into another direction. I have to realize not a single thing is certain in life.
And also i learnt nothing can be perfect. Mistake on my side, i was always dreaming of a perfect life, perfect people, perfect Christmas.. and so i see in reality nothing is perfect. What is more important, that whatever the circumstances are i have to make the best of it. Stop feeling sorry for yourself, look around..
and also i'm grateful for those ones who are missing me somewhere far away.


So i tryed to make the best of this year's "Christmas" here in the desert. At least i didnt have to be worried about holiday opening hours in the shop. I didnt want to make a big fuss about it, just to remind my close friends that today is supposed to be special. Well, not for everyone.. "O" was sent to India in the last minutes. Well, i had another thing to be grateful for - thanks God, its not me who had to go there tonight.
As i like spending time in the kitchen - seems to be the only place where i can gratify my creativity - i undertook the preparation of dinner. Well, though i enjoy cooking i'm not practising it too often.. i tend to screw it up sometimes.
The menu was chicken (i didnt find turkey) stuffed with banana with some spices topped with cream (i was supposed to wrap it in bacon and most of the receipts mention wine as an ingredient.. forget about it) I couldnt decide wheter i should put it in breadcrumbs and fry it or bake them in the oven so i prepared both options. Well, i dont know which one was better, i think both had a funny taste alltogether with the spices i used (surprising but i found all the spices in carrefur my mum uses at home). I guess my guests were polite, they seemed to be happy with the dinner - they better did coz i dont like negative critics.
Accompanying the chicken i prepared potatoes baked in the oven with spices and olive oil and salad of sweetcorns, apple and cheese in yogurt, mayonnese and spices.
The cake was "I"s responsibility in Russian style. And unlucky "O" sent her cake to us before she left to India. She was freakin out - can be understood.
First i didn't care where i spend Xmass if i can't go home.. but than i was glad to be in Doha at least.
I got an orange-cinnamon flavoured essential oil from Munic and an oil-burner which mixed together with the smell of the spices coming from the kitchen.. felt like Xmass at home.

Eventually we had a nice evening, we were glad that at least we are together. Later we continued the evening in a jazz club of a fancy hotel with some fancy coctails.. my favourite place in Doha (the only one i actually like). The singer has an amazing voice and sings all my favourites Eva Cassidy, Sade, Macy Gray.. no one dancing there but last night after some coctails we were inspired by the lovely music.. we did.

As an army could have been supplied by the amount of food i prepared for dinner today my guests came back for dinner - and "O" joined us finally in the afternoon.

Don't know what to do with the lot of cake in the fridge... i can't eat all - though i'm trying hard - tomarrow everybody is flying away, i'll be in Kathmandu - i guess the hotel staff already know me by name there - where i'll forget completely about Christmas for this year.

Namaste Kathmandu

I am a bit behind with my blog.. which i wont try to make up now.

I've been at couple of places eg. Jakarta, Bangkok, Hanoi, London, Madrid.. my last trip was in Kathmandu, Nepal where we stay in the "hunted hotel". Lots of science fiction stories go around among my workmates that the hotel is hunted by ghosts and other supernatural beings. Well in fact the its quite an old building up in the hills with old fashioned furnitures, dark rooms.. Although my fantasy tends to get quite twisted sometimes i don't let myself carried away by these foolish legends. I was the most relaxed one saying goodnight to everyone and closing my hotel room with no fears at all.. next day probably i was the most tired one because of my nightmare that someone was laying on the bed next to me and kept talking to me and would not let me sleep all night.

The best part was the evening in Kathmandu, i had a nice company who with went out to a pizzeria restaurant downtown the tourist district and had an Italian dinner in candle light with captain morgan too:) . It was getting pretty cold there comparing to Doha, and i was tired after the flight.. i guess captain morgan never tasted as good, i think i could have finished a whole bottle myself.. i love these evenings out of Doha chilling out in a relaxed atmosphere.

Anyway, Nepal is a wonderful place but Kathmandu is a bit sad. I never seen such poverty - i guess i just haven't visited too many places yet. No street lightening in the evening, ppl were sitting on the pavement with candles, rabbish heaps everywhere, raggedy-ass bungalows.. the river which crossed the city has no water but garbage and smells like rotten animals or god knows what is dissolving in that "river".
Anyway, the city is sorrounded by huge snow topped montains which looks marvellous and the air is fresh - well not beside the "river". And the trouble with the city is that too many vehicles trying to get about and the air is gettin quite polluted - thousands of motorbikes and 20-30 years old pocket-sized cars - in one of those the 4 of us plus driver managed to squeeze in and had such kind of taxi thermometer that the driver can set the amount he would like us to pay.

There are planty of fascinating must see temples and sites there which i'll write about in my next entry as it seems i get a Kathmandu trip every month - soon i gonna become a local there.

Here in Doha? As i haven't wrote anything lately i have to mantion that wintertime has came here too. Winter in Doha means you need a jumper in the evening but the sun still does not cease to shine during the day. Also i have seen rain one day with thunderstorm. I was staring out the window and could hardly belive watching raindrops in the desert.
But the temperature is just perfect for desert trips. Couple of days ago i spent a day in the desert with the girls, it was a lovely one.


Today just had a lazy day. As stayed up all night studying, went to sleep in daylight. - thanks to my job day or night, weekend or weekdays, Christmas or New Years Eve have no meaning anymore. I closed all the curtains and decided to stay in p'j's all day. As my fridge has been empty the last 2 weeks i ordered a huge portion of junk food and decided to eat until i explode.

Now packing for snowy Zurich.. if i'm lucky enough i get stuck in the snow for a while.. i can't wait to see the first snow of my year..

Saigon / Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

I'm well rested again finally, needed couple of days to get over the Saigon experience.

First i'll try to describe the city itself - as much as i have seen - i liked it and would love to go back for a longer holiday, i'm imagining a trip starting from Hanoi than down to Ho Chi Minh City, the Mekong Delta, Cambodia, Phnom Penh heading to Thailand, Bangkok.. would be a bit dangerous trip but 100% excitement is guaranteed. Maybe one day..
It's totally different than any other places i have seen before, the city is sparkling, pubs, cute litle bars, restaurants, million lights but not skyscrapers, lots of sellers on the street offering everything from fake chanel bags to fruits, sweets.. they are cooking on the street all kind of stuff, flavoured rice wrapped into lotus leaves and as you walk on the street the smell of different kind of foods are mixed. You can't take 2 steps without someone begging you to buy something from them and the roads have no rules there. The plethora of scooters are coming from all directions, i was almost hit by them several times.
People put chairs and tables on the street and spend the whole night their. Some of them sleeping on the table, some of them on the floor. The city had a character, for me very exotic.
I enjoyed having an insight into Vietnamese streetlife in real which i only saw in movies before.

And so many things to see there eg. the Benh Thanh Market, War Remnants Museum, Reunification Palace, several pagodas, chatedrals, Mekong Delta and tunnels a bit further from the city, i was curious about the floating market as well..
And luckily i had a nice group of ppl traveling, they also wanted to see more of the place.
Than what spoiled my trip?
I'll start if from the beginning..

We arrived in the evening after the 8 hrs flight - took off at 7am landed at 7pm local time. No matter how tired we were, had a shower and got changed in 20 minutes and set off to the night market. The lively city re-charged my engergy.
In the market we managed to make some good bargains, i like to buy something everywhere which represents the country.
After we got out from the crowd of sellers we surched for a place to have dinner. We went to a small snack bar. I loved the food, it's rich of flavours, of course everything goes with rice. I had crispy chicken in lemon souse with a coconut & rum drink.
We were planning the next day wheter we should join an organised sightseeing tour or just take a taxi by ourselves. I said "i dont care where we going i just want to see something of the city" - well, the police station was not on my list.
It was quite late when we started our way back to the hotel. I was completely lost in the small street, but the hotel was close.

And almost got to the hotel when we were crossing the road a scooter suddenly appeared from the darkness and - i thought it's gonna hit me - ripped off my bag from my neck and shoulder and left with it. My first reaction was "fck my PASSPORT!!" - yeah how smart of me, i had it with me in my handbag + all my money, wallet, camera and my lipstick (my favourite one, was quite expensive as well) were gone.

And than the rest of my trip went on how to solve that impossible situation. First i contacted my supervisor at night. She wasn't impressed by the news. But everybody was very supportive - almost everybody...

I was taken to the police station at night - haha i wouldn't call it "police station", it was a joke. I wish i had my camera to take a photo of it - but it was also stolen. The "police officers" were watching the boxing match on tv with their feet on the table, didn't even look at me.

I was told to go back next morning. At night i was surching for a Hungarian Embassy - they were my last hope. The hotel gave me the Bulgarian Emgassy's number - very helpful guys but i explained it's not the same country.

No Hungarian Embassy there of course. But i found a Consul, after making several unsusseccful attempts to call him, i managed to speak with him. And never in my life felt so good hearing someone speaks Hungarian. Broken Hungarian but we could understand each other. He told me the paper i need can be issued only in Hanoi but the office is closed on weekend, i have to wait until Monday. It was Friday, my flight back was on Saturday.

Next morning as i was waiting at the police station - 1-2 hrs - i saw a guy taken into the station, they emptied all his pockets, made a drog-test on him and locked him up, the whole scene happend in front of me. And i started to feel sick.. probably the circumstances and that i couldn't rest at night at all.

Finally they wrote a report in Vietnamese which i had to sign. I had no other choice, i was happy that someone finally dealt with my issue. God knows what i signed. No one spoke English.

Than how did i got home? I was preapring for a nice long Vietnamese holiday when a man showed up in the hotel with my bag. He said he found it on the street - or he was the one who took it, i will never know it.. but i got back my passport and could leave the country in the evening.

My "pleasant" trip continued on the way back.. sometimes you better accept unfair sitations to avoid further troubles for your own good. In these cases you can't do anything else but smile and agree with things even though you see it's all about someone's selfish behaviour. Keep your opinion for yourself and forget it. Next day is going to be a New Day.

And tomarrow Saigon again..

In Autumn

After arriving home from Vienna i had a trip to Manila (Philippines). I didn't devote a separate chapter for it, because it didn't make too much impression on me. Considering the duration of the flight and my short stay.. it was rather exhausting than exciting.
Manila? Hm, Philippines said it's nothing to see there - and they were right. It's a crowded, busy city, not well developed, huge dirty buildings.. - i know i haven't seen much of it.
Though the country has an amazing natural beauty - it's tropical fauna and flora. I'm pretty sure the countryside is awesome.. but the capital just didn't captivate me.
And of course i can't chose my fellow-travellers.. take it or leave it. I know.
Next time i'll try Cebu.

After couple of days off i can say i could sleep and rest enough and it's great to feel fresh again - won't last for long - i'll start my 8 hrs trip early morning to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam. It's always been my dream to get there. And Laos, Kamouchea, Thailand, Burma.. all are on my list. Unfortunately only Thailand will be available of these.

In my days off besides sleeping, cleaning, unpacking and packing.. i spent a day on the sea. The girls seduced a nice Arabic guy in the club who has couple of yachts in the bay - no big deal, here everybody owns one of them. He took us out for a nice day.
Sunshine, sea, music, boat, drinks.. we had everything.

At sunset we were sitting at the back of the boat hanging our legs into the water, holding our drinks, listening music and watching the last sunrises glittering on the water.. and the sun slowly disappeared into the sea between the skyscrapers of West Bay and the Island of Pearl... it was such a perfect moment.

They say the weather is getting better now.. so far i haven't noticed any change but today i could walk to the dry cleaner for 10 minutes without getting a sunstroke.
Well, it's still 40 celsius, maybe i'm just getting used to it now - or it used to be 50 before.


We were on the sea last week as well. I still have some bruises of our jetski accident. The end of the day i was wondering whether the reason of my terrible headache was a head injury or just the drinks + sun combination. Probably the last one.
I recommend everybody not to drink in the desert on the sun or at least have plenty of water too.
This was the lesson of the day.
Unfortunately i never learn - yesterday i did the same..

Wien / Bécs

Just landed back to the desert approx 2 hrs ago.. and now eating mummies home made cookies.
Finally i was in Europe :) And quite close to home. The main event of this trip was to see my dear family and best friend who drove to Vienna to see me for a dinner.
I had a very nice afternoon and evening, i had so many stories to tell to my loved ones whom i haven't seen for a long time that i didn't shut up even for a minute, i couldn't even finish a story i always started a new one. I had a tireing morning, i don't know where i got the energy from to talk so much. I guess i was just excited to see them. Meeting them is different than talking on the phone or skype. We had a nice Vienna dinner in an Austrian restaurant with some nice wine. Wine was specially good to warm up after walking outside. It was quite chilli outside. Mum brought me some winter cloths, coats and jackets - yeah they came in handy. (in Doha it's still "40 celsius, sunny" since i arrived here in July).

Vienna? It's one of the most romantic and beautiful city i have ever visited - i know :) always the last one is my favourite destination. It gave me the same impression as Paris.
Vienna is the place where i could spend endless time. I envy everyone who has the chance to live there.


And at the end of the day my visitors sit into the car after we said goodbye, i was standing on the pavement and watching them leaving.. i felt strange. They were going home, and i had to stay. I just realized how lonely i am. Than i went up to my single-bed hotel room. Always alone. The hotel had a classy antique style - just like the city. I liked it.
I filled up my bath with hot water and bubbles.. the only thing i needed.

To be honest i really enjoyed freezing outside. I missed this feeling. My favourite season is autumn because of it's colours, the way of feel, its atmosphere, it's a bit of melancholic - and i love everything which is melancholic.
Autumn. Summer is gone, you dress in several layers, but not enough, and at 7 o'clock in the morning going to work it's always raining, everybody is holding umbrellas, ppl trampling each other to get on the morning tram, and you can see your breath, and when you get inside the building your nose and ears are burning and having a cup of hot tea never felt as good as these mornings. And in the evening when you finish work it starts raining again so by the time you arrive home you are soaking wet and taking a hot bath is the high spot of the day, than curling up under the blanket with a book...

This is how Vienna made me feel at the end of September.

இலங்கை / Sri Lanka

Just back from Sri Lanka and suffering of insomnia. I skipped the last two nights, slept a bit in the morning, a bit in the afternoon in different time zones.. i arrived home in the morning, closed the window shades, had a shower, put on pj's.. doesn't help to fall asleep.

It was an unexpected trip, nice surprise. Anyway my suitcase is always ready to leave anywhere (bikinis, a pair of flip-flops, towel, set of summer + winter clothes).

I'll try to describe my impression of Sri Lanka (old Ceylon), i think the photos will illustrate much better.
I had a short stay, though i tried to make the best of it. I never leave a city without having a short look at least. Of course you can't see everything in a day but i like to have a general picture of it once i'm there.
My favourite part is always the way from the airport to the hotel. The first look. This time it was quite long, 1,5 hrs but i guess we were accomodated in one of the nicest hotels of the island.

Sri Lanka itself is a teardrop shaped island located in the Indian - Ocean approximately 800km from the equator under India. Due to its geographic location it has a tropical climate - heavy rain showers this time of year, we managed to catch a thunderstorm in the evening.

I tuck-tuck driver took me and another girl for a couple of hours sightseeing roundrip around Colombo and told us some information about the places we were visiting. It was quite heard to understand his accent, like everyone's there. But he was very helpful and patient - waited for us everywhere we wanted to go inside and asked for a very small amount of money. (I have his phone number in case anybody is going there, a friend gave me his contact as well.)

When you give tips they are grateful for every penny. And thinking of the fact that i couldn't even have a dinner in Madrid for the money i spent during the whole stay including the fancy dinner in the hotel' restaurant is funny.

I was spellbound by the island's natural beauty, tropical flora, beaches and landscapes. It's not a developed country but they are very rich regarding its culture from ancient times, religions, believes and the kindness of people. It's the centre of Buddhism, and the second most popular religion is Hinduism. There are several Buddhist and Hindu temples, Christian churches, Islamic mosques around the island. I managed to visit one each of them. (And now i'm blessed by God of all religions, in the Buddha tample i got a bracelet which will bring me luck, in the Hindu temple i got a third eye on my forehead..)

The Buddhist temple was the most impressive for me. First because it's so different to my culture and the view was spectecular (full of golden statues - illustrates mainly Buddha - and cluttered by colourful symbols and holy items, messages of Buddha...) and secondly because i like their main philosophy. They highly respect nature, there was a huge thousand years old tropical tree in the garden, decorated by colourful items - i guess all had a meaning - and women in white dress poured water on it, i asked Jana our tourguide why, he said "for hope".
Also there was a huge elephant in the garden (picture attached).

The island was colonised by Portugal, Netherlands and later by England therefore impacts and remainings from these periods can be still found eg. they are driving on the left, churches built by Dutch..


Besides the temples Jana took us to the centre, huge streetmarkets everywhere, the traffic is a complete chaos, it was very interesting to see how ppl live there.
We have seen the "white house" and the monument of freedom built when Sri Lanka gained its independence (1972).


Later we had dinner in our hotel's garden. I had salmon in coconut and lemongrass with spicy cous-cous, the atmosphere and decoration was amazing, there was a lake around our table full of pink and white fish with size of my arm, surrounded by tropical flowers, million of tiny lights on the trees and candles.. i have to say i had a nice dinner :)




Well, i could continue the story of Sri Lanka for hours, but i recommend everybody to visit it and experience it themselves, unfortunately i didn't have the chance to see the countryside and the fascinating holiday resorts along the seaside.
As for me Sri Lanka is definitely one of my favourite destination i visited so far.

Still in Doha

This is a short video to have a brief look into Doha. The city and the culture is intersting escpecially for those who were not used to the islamic culture. After being here for almost two months.. rather feel myself in a prison now. I miss the lively streets of European capitals full of bars and pubs, caffee shops, crowd on the street, you can flag a cab - or take public transport, dress in whatever you feel like today, no one cares about your look, you can do anything, you are independent and free... here things are slightly different. Many many rules to bare in mind.. no one to blame, this is the culture we are living in.
And in Doha? On the left desert, on the right desert, in front of you construction.. a new city is being built. Gonna be much different in 20 years.. at the moment this place is not for a European woman.
My last week? Getting prepared to work. Prison break out is coming soon.. yeee :) So the final preparations to get started finally. Basically the whole week i was trying to get my optical glasses sorted out - yeah i need one to carry with me. I had couple of unsuccessful trips to the shopping mall.. (shops weird opening time due to ramadan - open after 8pm-, find the right optics.. and that my deadline to be at home by 10pm did not make my life easier either.) Glasses ain't cheap here and taking the taxi costs into account i wasted every day from one shopping mall to another and that stress involved when arriving home by 9:59pm every evening and when i was left without a taxi on the street and went to ask a black guy if he would take me home.. i had some exciting moments this week... plus if i'm in a shopping center i tend to forget what i came for and buying unecessary things "i must have" (eg. widening my lipstick collection)
Never mind, i got the glasses finally! Yeeee