• Press Club,
• The Beat Megaclub,
• Bank Vault Lounge,
• The Mustang Bar,
• birdee num num,
• Ric’s Cafe Bar,
• Club 299

Was a crazy rocking night.

It’s my Birthday today. wanted to go on a trip to Moreton Island but it was canceled yesterday cause of bad weather. It rained heavily yesterday but today it’s great. I go shopping and get me a new pair of trousers. In the evening I get heaps of nice calls from my friends and family in Germany. Thanks alot that is amazing!
Together with some guys from the hostel we went to Valley Brisbane to go to some clubs.

To apply for a job at a game developer I need a portfolio of my work. I decide to build up an online Portfolio, so I can keep it up to date and send it to the company’s easily. It takes alot of time to build it so I need free unlimited internet access. The City Backpackers Brisbane has free Internet access until 11pm. The connection is often broken or slow. Most of the time I spend working on the laptop.
I get to know lots of nice people in the hostel. Even some from the Billabong Gardens visit Brisbane.

Food in Australia is very expensive. I life from a healthy breakfast and Spaghetti. The typical “Backpacker” food, affordable and easy prepared.

When they shut down the Internet connection in the Hostel I go down to the Bar and party with the other people. There was even a Mid-Summer Christmas Party.

From Thursday to Sunday I go to the “Gen Con Oz” Game convention (four day pass 66AUD).
It is focus on table top gaming, role play and Cosplay. Still some video game developers are there.
There are also lots of seminars that I visit

• The Art of Gaming
• Freelancing 101
• How to Get into Games (GDAA)
• Freelance Game Design: The Next Step
• What’s Krome Doing Now?
• What’s Going on in Gaming?
• Building a Game Company 101

On Thursday it is a bit quiet. Mostly kids on school holiday. The few people in the huge convention hall make the place look like empty. There are lots of game traders and Krome showing Star Wars Unleashed and Hellboy. During the convention and at the un-official after party from Yug ( Australian Gamer ) I speak with serval people from:

• Fuzzyeyes Studio
  
• Halfbrick Studio
• Krome Studios
• Pandemic Studios
• Queensland Games
  
• THQ Studio Australia
  
• Valhalla Game Studios

Get lots of good advice for my portfolio the application.

It is interesting to look at all the Cosplay people and to look at all the figures of the different boardgames.

After a nice meal at Burgerlicious with some of my friends from the Billabong Gardens hostel I grab my luggage and head up to the train station. There is an Airport shuttle service from the hostel but the staff told me that it is not reliable at all. I decide to use the public transport. It takes about 30 min from Newtown over Sydney Central to the Sydney domestic Airport and costs about 14AUD. The check in was not busy at all and I got lucky being offered to take a earlier flight. So I don’t even have to wait and can go straight to the airplane. The flight with the low cost airline Virgin Blue from Sydney to Brisbane takes about 1.5.
After picking up my luggage I take a train to the Brisbane Transit Centre and walk to the Chill Backpackers Brisbane. I share a tiny room without windows (it stinks) with four construction workers from Ireland.
After dropping my luggage I walk back to the Transit Center to get some food. Unfortunately everything is closed (at 9pm), even Mc Donalds. On the hunt for food I walk deeper into the City, passing by a Seven11 wich is also closed caused by construction. Back In the hostel I eat some crisps from a vending machine.
All the construction workers snore, it’s a f**king snoring concert. My MP3 Player battery is dead from the flight. It is quite tough to breath. The air is thick and stinks. Wonder how long I can stand to stay here. The showers have cold water only, there is no place to put any cloth and hostel does not lend Towels they are for sale only (10 AUD). There is no free WiFi. The Internet Computers they costs 4AUD per hour. But I am lucky to have a room tonight. I meet some people in the reception who have to stay in a hotel cause all hostels are booked out.

Today I got up and went straight to the Gloria Jean’s Coffee, cause they offer fast and free WiFi access through uConnect from unwired. Starbucks does not offer free WiFi. Indeed it is dam expensive there (15AUD per hour).
I am seeking for a job in the computer game industry. First I browsed through several job pages like but this kind of “game industry related” jobs are rare.

Next step is looking for game development company’s. I found several and geotagged them in Google earth. Most are located in Melbourne, some are in Brisbane. I found just one in Sydney.
They offer some Jobs at their Web page all with experience required.

I also stumbled upon a Game Convention starting at the 3rd of July in Brisbane.

• Student fashion
• Inspired! Design across time
• Cyberworlds: computers and connections
• Space
• The steam revolution
• Ecologic: Creating a sustainable future

We spend about half a day in the museum. Back in Newtown I take some pictures of graffiti art which is present in many places.

After another three days I decided to go to the Billabong Gardens Hostel which is located in the lovely suburb Newtown. I stayed there in 2006 too and it was a good experience (friendly helpful staff, free internet, free bedlinen and towel, discounts for longer stays).
I get to know Rob, Burkhard, Tanja, Silvia, Tron, Will, and lots of the other people who stay there. Some are there for six month and more. People cook together and go out together most times to the same Bar “Kelly’s On King – A Slice of Ireland” and ” Zanzibar – a north african theme bar”.

During the time in the hostel I am looking for a shared flat. Most flats in Sydney are available for girls only or people (two up to six) share the same room. I am looking for a room for about two weeks. Many rooms are eight er much to expensive or in a very bad condition (rats in the kitchen).

• gumtree.com.au
• realestate.com.au
• share-accomodation.net
• roomsdb.net
• flatmatefinders.com.au

I am constantly looking for free Wifi networks. As the one in the hostel eigher costs money or are very slow at the end of the month (512KB DSL – 2GB volume Flat rate downgraded to 56k after the 2GB are used).
Gloria Jeans Coffee provides free internet access

I switch to the Mountbatten Hostel which provides free Internet access for notebooks.
I get to know some people there. Manny people ask me how much my stuff (Phone, Notebook, Camera etc.) cots. Some people were robbed some days ago. I dislike the showers as well cause there is no space to put anything and they are right next to the corridor with no door in between.

The next thing I cared about was a Bank account. The Banks with the biggest coverage on ATM Machines are Westpac and Commonwealth Bank. The Monthly costs for an account is about the same (4$).Commonwealth wants a Adress where they can send the debit card. Westpac allowes me to pic up the card from the counter.
Westpac provides a free superannuation account. Employers have to pay superannuation and I can access this money when I leave the country.

In the evenings I enjoy alot of life music. Even the small bars in some hostels provide free life music. Often I go to the “Three wise monkeys Bar” They provide free life music every day. The different Bands play popular rock and pop and sometimes their own Music. After the Bands there are plenty of Displays showing Music Videos from Night life Music Videos. That’s a service that Provides clubs and Bars with Music videos. So they cont need to hire expensive DJs that nobody knows anyway and who often play bad music.

I am very happy that the Sydney film festival takes place. I am looking forward to watch some interesting “non American blockbuster” Movies.

It is wintertime in Australia and gets quite cold in the night. I decide to buy a pair of sunglasses for the sunny days and a Longsleeve for the cold nights.

Back in Hong Kong. We get up after a horrible night on the very hard bed. The mattress is less than 3cm thick and lies on a board of wood instead of a slatted frame. The room itself is very very small so it gets hot when the Air condition is off. And it is very noisy when the Air condition is on. There’s no space for anything We avoid the disgusting shower cause it’s right above the toilet seat. We look online for a new room, unfortunately most are booked out.
We can’t stand it any longer in that room and visit some other Hostels. They are all fully booked. Others have similar tiny rooms but just for one night. We give up looking for a room at about 3pm.
We go to Sham Shui Po where I buy some materials, a LED light stripe for 120HKD, a magnetic switch and some small components and a screw driver. It took quite a long time to go from store to store and try to explain what I need. But I am happy with what I got. Sham Shi Po is very interesting I love that place. All sorts of specialized stores that sell all kinds of materials.
We meet Paul and June in the evening and have a dinner at a very local restaurant. The dishes are huge. We also have interesting dishes with ‘Squid Mouth’ (No Joke these are the Mouth of Squids!) and ‘Oyster Omelet’. After dinner we go to June’s University and walked over the huge Campus. It’s located on a mountain with a wonderful view over the river and harbor.

We get up very early today at about 6am. Today we go on a day trip to Koh Nangyuan. The islands are the property of the finance ministry of Thailand, so every person who visits Koh Nangyuan has to pay a fee of 100 THB. The trip to the islands takes about 1.30 hours by speedboat from Koh Samui. There are three small islands connected by a Y-shape beach. The water is glass clear and warm. It is also a good place for snorkeling, lots of colorful fish swim in between the coral reef.
We are lucky in organizing some snorkeling equipment, cause all are already rented out for the day when we arrive. We see a tour group and think we could ask nicely if they have spare ones, and guess what we are lucky enough that they have two sets left, so we rent from them for 50 THB each. Snorkeling in Nangyuan is great! The colorful fish gather around the people cause some feed them with bread. Sin Sze even get bitten and licked a bit. We take some pictures with a waterproof camera which hopefully will turn out great (and they do).
After sometime, a gray cloud appears and it starts to rain while on the other side of the beach there is still some sunlight, which I think is kinda cool. We get out from the water before it rains too hard, and shelter under the roof for a long-waited lunch. A cute light cat joins us and makes herself comfortable on Sin Sze’s bag. During the lunch time, the sun comes out again and is much brighter than before.
We climb up the nicely-constructed wooden stairs to the mountain viewpoint. The view is fabulous there, with a clear picture of how nice the three islands are connected and how clear green and blue the water is. We take some pictures and walk down hill before it gets too crowded. We have a short nice swim, I lift Sin Sze up and walk back to the sand, before we get on the speedboat back to Koh Samui.
I’m pleased that the boat arrives on time this time. We get on a bus back to the Sundays where we take a relaxing swim in their black-tiled pool and enjoy our dinner there. We fly back to Bangkok in the late evening and stay at the Reflections again for our last night in the Thailand trip.

After a long sleep, we enjoy breakfast at the Sundays Resort, and drive to the Lomprahyah High Speed Ferry Pier in Maenam. We purchase two return tickets to Koh Phangan for 400 THB each. We arrive the island after a 20 minute journey. The Island looks quite nice on the first glance, not as developed and crowded as Koh Samui. There are lots of diving agencies. It’s famous for the Full Moon Party, which we just miss. The next three hours we spend on wondering around close to the ferry pier since we have to catch the ferry then. We watch an off road jeep competition before going back to the pier, where we wait for the an-hour delay ferry.
We drive back to the Sundays and get ready for the beach in Bophut. It’s about 20 minutes by foot to the fisherman’s village with a beach and many restaurants and bars. We have a short relaxing swim in the warm water, enjoy a nice dinner of sea mussels in white wine, fish with herbs, fried egg rice and Starfish special salad at the beachside terrace in the Starfish and Coffee Restaurant. The restaurant has a cozy and romantic ambiance, where red colour and lit candles dominate its decor.

It is another early start today, as we have joined a day tour to the Ang Thong Marine National Park. We are picked up at 7:30 am when we are still very tired. We get on the ferry with a bunch of other anticipated tourists heading to the islands. I guess many others are frowning a bit like me, since the sky does not look good with a huge grey cloud right above the islands. It is like we are driving directly into the mist expecting to get very wet and blown away from the stormy cloud instead of the beach and landscape.
As we are approaching the islands, the sky gets a bit clearer. We are in the 2nd group which go to the top view point of Ko Mae Ko (the mother island) first then kayaking. The trekking trail is nice and the view is great. There is also a small saltwater lake on the island with glass clear water and lots of fish. Back down to the beach, we get on our kayak with our stuff in a waterproof bag. It is great fun to go around and in between the islands by kayaking.
After some non-stop paddling, we have some delicious lunch on board. Later, we decide to kayak again. The wind is getting stronger this time and so does the waves. It also begins to rain – hard but warm rain. We are totally soaked, but still fun.
At the beach on Koh Wua Kalap (where the Park office is), we are provided some snorkeling equipment. However, the tour guide says she has spotted a red fire jellyfish, so we are advised not to snorkel in deep water and it is no fun to snorkel close to the beach. Besides, the cold wind really drives us out of the water. I have known from the tour guide that it is possible to stay overnight on the island for just 500THB (about 10€), which would be nice in good weather. We kajak back to the ferry and head back to Koh Samui.

We get up at about 9am and have a nice breakfast close to the beach. After we pack our luggage we rent a jeep which turns out not to work that well. We switch to an air-conditioning one with an automatic gear. Thai people drive on the left side of the road like crazy. After stopping at a funny petrol station with “cheap” fuel (33,50 THB for normal fuel) we drive the main road to look for accommodation.
The Sundays Sanctuary Resort & Spa is a bit hidden away from the main road but Sin Sze is a great navigator. The resort looks very nice and it looks there are not many guests. They have a huge pool with black tiles sourrounded by palm trees. It’s like a mini tropical forests. We take a rest, pack some stuff for the beach and drive counterclockwise around the Island.
At lunchtime we stop at the governmental area Nathon and have some nice delicious and affordable food, dead spider in the rice included. Back in the car we continue driving. Sin Sze find a hidden beach “Lipa Noi” in the west which is perfect for the sunset. There are no tourists, only some locals. We are swimming in the nice warm and very calm water until the sun is set.
In the evening, we stop at Chaweng, the most popular area on the Island. We enjoy our dinner at the Ninja Creps, wich is a very cheap very causual 24h open restaurant.
We arrive 10 minutes too late to the Sundays. The reception is already closed and we left our key there. After lock picking, we find out the the electricity only works when the magnetic key is inserted in the switch. We talk to the only other guest at the resort which also does not know how to contact the owner. We drive back to a shopping mall to try to get a magnet, unfortunately it is already closed. And a 24h open supermarket doesn’t sell magnets. So we drive back to the bungalow, unmount the switch from the wall, and with a small piece of wire we crack the electric circuit and finally get power. What an adventurous first night at the resort.

Another less-than-two-hour-sleep night, our flight to Koh Samui departs very early at 6am. Nevertheless, it is the cheapest air ticket we can get – to depart very early and on return to arrive late at night. We take a cab to the airport which is driven by a very sleep driver, it is definitely a scary ride.
After some refreshment at the Bangkok Airways lounge, we get on the plane when the sky is still dark. In less than an hour, we arrive Koh Samui. The airport already looks exotic, very much like a resort. We collect our luggage and catch a cab to the Samui Laguna Resort. Cabs here are relatively very expensive comparing to the Bangkok standard since the Island is pretty much occupied by tourists. They don’t drive with meters, you have to agree on a price beforehand. Also, there are no public transport on the island, except some minibuses like tuk tuk. However, it is cheap to rent a motorbike or a car here. The price for renting a car for a day is somehow like driving in a cab for fifteen minutes.
We take a walk around Lamai where our resort is located. It is interesting to see so many tourists driving on motorbikes, whether it is a guy or a girl and whether they are skilled or not. We have lunch at a local style eating place. The chicken satay and noodle soup we have are both appetizing and cheap. Later, we go back to our room to take a nap and also look for accommodation for the next days.
In the evening, we go out and search for a dining place. At one end of Lamai, we see a big sign saying 99 Baht Thai B.B.Q. Buffet All You Can Eat. It seems very attractive and that quite a number of locals and tourists are already eating. We take a table there which is built from bamboo sticks it has a cover which somehow makes it a small cool hut. They have a wide variety of uncooked food you can choose from, different kinds of meat and vegetables and also some salad and noodles. In the middle of the barbecue pot is a grill area and the surrounding is filled with water for boiling food like noodles and vegetables. We enjoy a full barbecue meal and happy that there are no mosquito bothering us.

After a less-than-two-hour sleep, we meet John-Mark, the brother of my friend Marissa. It is the first time that I meet him, it is nice of him to organise a day trip for us together with his aunt Suda and P’Gvad. Our first stop is Phra Pathom Chedi Buddhist, which is located in the outskirt of Bangkok, approximately two hours by car from the city. The Buddhist is known to be the highest stupa in the world. A stupa is a mound-like structure containing Buddhist relics – typically the remains of a Buddha or saint. We take a walk around the Buddhist on this very sunny day. There are some nice architectural details and a garden with blossom trees. We go into a cave tunnel where we get an orange string to tie around our wrist as blessings.
Back into the car, we have some delicious home-made sweetcorn and sticky rice in bamboo from Mark John’s aunt. After a short car journey, we arrive the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market at close to 12pm. We get on a yellow boat driven by a paddle man. We first pass by some local houses, then we reach a canal with a lot of other boats selling things ranging from hot food to hammocks. Some stalls are already closing. I have no idea why they close so early. Along the way, we get some drinks with jelly, fresh coconuts, bananas and grapefruit. It is definitely a fun boat ride.
We find ourselves a restaurant for a full lunch close to the floating market. After lunch, we drive to a country park where there are hundreds of wild monkeys all over the place. We also see some very skinny cows, the skinniest I’ve ever seen. There are also some kids selling bananas and sweetcorn in plastic bags for visitors like us. Mark John gets us many bags to feed the monkeys. After a while, we walk up the hill and the kids carry the bags and follow us too. Some monkeys try to follow us but they stop after about half-way up. Even though it is a bit hot to walk up hill, it is worth to enjoy the breeze and the view.
We drive back to the city for another two hours. After a meal at a Japanese noodle restaurant, we say farewell to them and get ourselves ready for the following day to Koh Samui.

We check in Suk11 this morning, get a BTS Skytrain day pass for 120THB. We have our breakfast at Au Bon Pain which I think is affordable and quick, so we have more time for the Chatachuk Weekend Market later. We take the BTS Skytrain to Mo Chit after refilling our wallet. We are so ready to shop then.
As expected, we get all sweaty not long after arriving. But it really is better to be hot than rainy. We get some cool t-shirts, straw flippers, hair accessories, a vest from Another Place, beautiful handmade silver earrings and earring holder altogether. We also have some crazily prepared milk tea, where the tea maker mixes the tea and the milk in six different cups and from a certain height at the same time.
For dinner, we have some crepe at Crepe Co in the Sukhumvit area. The place is much more crowded this time. The crepe is not as good as I expected, but the dining environment is nice. At about 22:30 we go back to Suk11 and dress up for the Bed Supper Club. The Club is very crowded with ‘westerners’. I like the architecture and the interiors with huge white beds. We enjoy two cocktails and listen to some house music lying in bed. We stay till 00:50, which is 10 minutes before the Club closes.

This morning we get a confirmation from Suk 11 which is great. For breakfast, we have some delicious waffles and fresh fruit juice.
We go shopping mostly today, in both big malls and some street markets in Silom and Siam areas. By coincidence I see a nice cheap bag without a zipper. It looks good and cheap so I get it quick. I also get a pair of white trousers for myself, while Sin Sze gets a pair of black high-heels to go with her black dress. After a day of shopping, we sit down at a cozy restaurant for some Thai food.
In late evening, we go to ‘Nest’, the rooftop bar in our hotel. We have cocktails in a bed. There are some great views and good beds around. After the drinks, we go back to the room and dress up. Sin Sze dresses in her black dress with her new heels, while I wear the new white trousers, a dark blue shirt and a white tie. I think we look great. We go to the Bed Supper Club which is just across the street. They open only until 1am and it is already midnight but still they want the full entrance fee of 700THB per person. We think we can go there another day earlier so we take a cab to another part of the city where some bars and clubs open till 2am and have no entrance fee. The most well known venues in the area are the ‘Route 66′ and ‘Flix and Slim’ where you can decide what kind of music you wanna go for. We enjoy some good indie live music with a nice crowd and some very reasonable priced cocktails. It is a cool venue with two storeys and it is considerate that they have indoor and outdoor spaces. At about 2am we take a cab home.

Today we go out to check for a flight to Koh Samui. We check three travel agencies in total. The first is the cheapest, so we go back to book the flights and also a bungalow for the first night on the Island.
Sin Sze reads in her travel guide that the most popular hostel of Bangkok Suk 11 is in the area we are staying. So we go to their restaurant for some good lunch and try to book one night before we leave Bangkok for Koh Samui. Unfortunately it is booked out when we check again after the meal which is a bit disappointing. The place looks cool, like a hidden rain forest right which is a high contrast to the surrounding busy streets. We later go back to the Le Fenix room and look for other hotels and hostels. I also contact the brother of Sa (Mark) and her friend Koy.
Close to dawn, we go to a small shopping mall where they have a ‘maid’ cafe. The waitresses dress up as ‘maids’ and serve you with good manners. This is a sub-culture originates from Japan. We enjoy hot chocolate drinks and some chocolate cake and ice cream. Most shopping malls close at 8pm in Bangkok. Sin Sze gets a bag from NaRaYa, a Thai bag boutique store with low-cost quality products.

In the afternoon, we take a walk in the Lumpini Park. It’s interesting that they have an outdoor gym, looks like it’s free for everyone. I am also surprised to see some huge lizards just living in the waterway close to the pedestrian street.
In the evening, we go to Cabbages & Condoms for dinner. Our intention is to actually go to another restaurant located in the same area but unfortunately it is closed or it is the wrong place, this is how we bump into this C&C restaurant. Anyway, as you can tell from the name, it is a restaurant with a condom theme (also with a mission they say). So we arrive after walking through a dark alley, we see a romantic kind of outdoor dining terrace already packed with people and decide to take a table outside. But not long after, it gets a bit hot so we go indoor instead. We enjoy both dishes we order and also the decent environment we are in. They have lamps, figures and other decorations built from condoms. When you pay the bill, they give you a flavored condom each as a small gift too. It was a pretty good affordable dining experience. However, it is a bit disappointing that the shop is already closed when we leave.

After a nice full breakfast at the Reflections, we check in at the Le Fenix Hotel for the following four nights. The hotel stands as one of the newest and hippest hotels in Bangkok, however I personally prefer the individuality of the Reflections much more. Another huge difference is that there is no free wi-fi access at Le Fenix and they charge you approximately 700 THB (14 EUR) internet per day, which is unbelievably sad.
So on this second day of Songkran, we decide to go to the city centre to see what’s on there. There is an outdoor music festival but the weather is too hot for us to enjoy it.
We then decide to do a boat tour along the river. We get a day pass for the tour, and our first stop is Wat Pho (Temple of Reclining Buddha). We walk around a bit, and on the way back to the pier, we are stopped by a tuk tuk driver. He says he can take us for 20 THB, which we think is a good price to go on this special kind of vehicle of Bangkok. So, we are first brought to a temple with a fat Buddha or something, we do not stay long cos it’s nothing interesting. Next, he drives us to a silk shop and we do not stay at all cos we don’t want any tailor-made silk clothes. So we just tell the tuk tuk driver to drive us to the pier, and then he says he would get a commission of 100 THB if we stay there for 15 minutes. I determinedly say no to him and tell him that I would pay 100 THB if he drives us to the pier now. After he hears this, he finally starts his engine, but he is actually taking us to the last stop of the ‘sponsored’ tuk tuk trip – the Golden Mount. Since he does not take us to the pier where we wanna go, I just pay him 20 THB in the end which somehow upsets him, but that’s the way it is. Sin Sze thinks I’m so cool.
So there we are, at a place that we have not planned to go. We take a walk around and find out that it’s actually not a bad place like the other two stops. There are some street stalls where we get some nice food from. We take a walk up the hill where you see a nice view of the town.
After some breezy time, we decide to go back to the pier but somehow we get a bit lost in walking. The maps we have are useless cos not all streets are shown and that the road system of Bangkok is a bit complicated to understand. However, we have a good time walking in some unknown places. We pass by a canal where there are some simple local housing. We also pass by China Town but since it is a public holiday, all shops are closed. Eventually after 2 hours or so, we get back to the river side. We have some small pizzas for dinner and then we take the BTS Skytrain back to the hotel.

We get up a bit late today on the first day of Songkran, the Thai New Year. We take as few belongings as possible and put our money and camera in little plastic bags. It’s really hot today, which is great weather for some water fights. Right after we step out of the Reflections, we already get wet from people across the road and also from people with loaded water tanks and water guns driving on their vehicles. We take a cab to Khao San Road, where the crowds go crazy with everyone pouring water on each other or some locals smear clay onto your cheeks as blessings. Once you are out there, there is no way to get dry again..

We get up at about 9am. It’s a nice warm sunny day with some wind. At 11:30am the bus tour continues. We stop at a small old town – Kaiping Diaolou. Some of the balconies and most of the windows are behind some fences or metal bars. The tour guide tells us to be careful of the pickpockets. Good that I have not got anything stolen. There can’t be many Western people visiting this village. Guess I am an attraction to some locals as well.
After lunch, we ride on a very bumpy road to reach Zili village in Kaiping Diaolou Guangdong. This is a village built between 1920-1935 by some rich Chinese families who were in Western countries before. This area is a UNESCO World Cultural herritage.
Back to the bus and on the road again. We go shopping to Choisan. Sin Sze look at some shoes and I look for a replacement to my bag. It’s really hard to find a bag without a zipper. We get some drinks and snacks.
After about 2 hours of window shopping, it comes dinner time. It’s interesting that the customers in a restaurant clean the cups and chopsticks with hot water or tea. The food is served and eaten very hot, often not all dishes are served at once. The bowls are small and everyone picks for himself. I really like it that way. So everyone can decide how much and what he wants to eat. The food is very different. Most times I don’t wanna know what it is. There are lots of soups with vegetables and other ingredients like goose feet, chicken is “randomly” chopped so that most pieces contain bones as well. The meat is eaten and the bone placed back on the table. For the second night in this trip, we stay at Taishan Country Garden Phoenix Hotel. The hotel is huge with a ‘Disney’ Venice style. We explore the hotel in the evening. On a pool table we practice some pool basics for about an hour. After that we enjoy a nice and cheap midnight buffet before getting some sleep. Ah right – chinese money (Renminbi (RMB)) can look quite different and is not really obvious how much it is worth. The two upper bank notes are 5 Yuan about 0,46 € the lower Bank note is 5 Jiao about 0,046 €.