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Winter 2009 (first snow)

December 17th 2009,

I wake up and look outside and there it is winter has entered the Netherlands, giving the world a totaly diferent look by the snow that had fallen during the night.

The world does look nicer with with all the snow, actualy you do not want to stap into the snow, becuase it looks so beautiful when the snow is un-touched, unfortunately work called and we had to travel to the office.

The disadvantage of the snow shows itself within seconds, the car will hardly move its place, braking and steering is suddenly a totaly diferent chapter in this winter wonderland.

During work it kept on snowing so the looks did not change and neither did the road, of course the highway is ok, some major roads in city's and villages are ok too, but when entering the road that only lead to where we live it gets more difficult again.

Well, the roads, front and back garden do look well cover by the snow, it does give the cosy feeling, especialy during this time of the year, hopefully it willlast till christmas period, so we can have a white christmas this year.

Asia Trip 2009, Sydney Australia, Singapore, Singapore, Jakarta Indonesia and Bali Indonesia

Saturday April 4th,it is 08.30 as the taxi stops in front of my house, he is picking me up for my Asia trip, I am on my way to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport for my 11.30 flight Destination Sydney with a stop in Singapore.

A bit past 11.30 the airplane leave for a 12,5 hours flight to Singapore, after a smoth flight we arrive on schedule in Singapore, at the airport i wait for approx 3 hours for my next flight from Singapore to Sydney, duration approx 8,5 hours, on Sunday April 5th at 19.00 local time i arrive at Sydney Airport.

A taxi will take me to Crown Plaza hotel in Parramatta, where i will stay for the next 4 days while visiting our network company stationed in Huntingwood, a 20 minutes drive from Parramatta.

The weather in this period was good, the week before NSW was traeted with heavy rains, but now the weather was like 25, 26, 27 C and sunny.

When finished working I went back to the hotel to put my stuff away and dress more casual for dinner, just around the corner of the hotel, a street with a lot of restaurants were situated, so enough choices for different kind of foods.

Thursday April 9th was the last working day and they were so kind to book me a hotel in Sydney, which was Crown Plaza too, now situated in Darling Harbour.

I realy enjoyed staying in the Crown Plaza Darling Harbour, close to the harbour shops and restaurants, even the city center, china town and Circular Quay are at walking distance.

During my sty I explored Darling Harbour, Curcular Quay, the Bridge, opera house and Manly, went to see the city center, china town, the gardens, by monorail, tourbus, Sydney ferries and by foot, I did a lot of walking during my stay in Sydney.

Monday April 13th (2nd Easterday) I left Sydney for my next visit Singapore, after a 8,5 hours flight i arrived back in Singapore.

Singapore was manly business visit, I stayed in Furama river front Hotel, although it was a business trip, still there was time to have good dinners and explore Orchard Raod and China town.

Saturday April 18th, my next destination was scheduled after almost 2 hours flying from Singapore I arrived in Jakarta, now my holiday started.

When comming from holland, Jakarta is something different, i was supprised/amazed about the way the traffic flows through the city, sometimes you have to close your eyes, expecting things to go wrong, but with a bit of honking and lights flashing, every body goes the way they planned.

After 2 days Jakarta we Left on Monday morning april 20th for our flight to Denpasar Bali, we took a taxi to Kuta, where we stayed at Yulia Beach Inn, we booked a bungalow,the place was nice and closed to everything, the street almost neded on the beach, the shops and restaurants were nearby and the weather was good.

During our stay we did an organized trip, thay picked us up at 8.30 in the morning and returned us at 21.00 in the evening, incuded where lunch, dinner, we went for a barong show, batik factory, silver shop, paintings in ubud, marked, vulcano, coffee plantage, rice feelds, tanah lot temple, realy nice was dinner, on the beach, the water almost toughing our toes.

We also went to waterbom, which was realy nice with all the slides, the lazy river and the swimming pool with the bar in the pool.

Af course we went to the beach too, bought some souveniers in the local waroengs and had relaxing massages in the massage studio/spa, lunches and dinners were good too.

Friday april 24th almost at midnight we left bali to return to Jakarta, in Jakarta we also bought some souvenirs in one fo the several malls.

Sunday april 26th was the end of my asia trip, my return trip started at 18.45 local time to return to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport with a stop in Kuala Lumpur, Maleisia, the stop was just 1 hour, the trip from Jakarta to Kuala Lumpur was 2 hours, from Kuala Lumpur to Amsterdam 12,5 hours.

At 06.00 dutch time i arrived back in holland, where the taxi picked me up again and brought me home, at 7.30 in the morning i was back home, from my exciting Asia trip, which gave me a lot of new impressions.