23 August 2014

Shenyang, Timezone GMT +8

 I was offline for a while, because during my work trip tho Shenyang in China, local censorship cut me off from all social networks. After coming back, a heavy summer flu struck me down for a few days, but Im slowly recovering.
It was great to have some time in the northeast of China, and together with four colleagues I went to the Benxi caves. Never do it on a Sunday during school holidays - we waited for an hour walking through the narrow caves before we finally got on the boat that took us along the river into the mountain to see the stalagmites and stalagtites. "Waiting" in a Chinese line means that constantly somebody pushes into your back or tries to push in in front of you... not a pleasant experience. But the actual cave and boat trip was great! While it was about 30 C outside, we only had about 14 C in the cave!
After that, we went to see the local fossile museum - great collection of amazing animals, I also liked the crystal exhibits very much. The pilots were hungry after that tour, so before going on the 1,5 hour drive back to Shenyang, they stopped for some food. I was glad I had brought my own sandwiches, as the meals didn´t look or smell too inviting for me as a vegetarian ;)
It was great to visit the site of the ancient culture of a matriarchal tribe that had lived in the Shenyang area about 7200 years ago. If only there was more information in English, as my Chinese is pretty limited... But I understood that they already then had a totem or a myth about a sun bird, or rather a "red phoenix", the female counterpart of the "dragon".
Going on the metro train, it was a bit exhausting to be stared at the whole time, but it´s understandable - there are barely any foreigners at all in this city. It was a great adventure!









11 August 2014

Helsinki, Timezone GMT +3

For the first time I was in Helsinki today for a short stop on a work tour. I was lucky with the weather - it was warmer than at home! Thunderstorms haven´t arrived here yet.
The place is not very crowded, and everybody seems quite calm. I looked at some churches in the center of the city, at the harbour with it´s old ship and the market, then I went for the city beach. When I swam, something touched my leg under water and made me jump out - then I saw a fish jumping up, so the water quality is quite good I guess. Cute geese and noisy seagulls are around too. The language sounds a bit as if Greek people try to copy the talking melody of Swedish or Norwegians ;) With all the double consonants ääkii and öö, it reads very funny for German eyes. Very cool place.







08 August 2014

Work work work

Not really enough time to fly any comp at the moment, because there is a lot of work at Lufthansa - main holiday season and various international crisis make my schedule quite tough at the moment. But I still manage to find a few hours to enjoy inbetween, like here in Prague!
I wish all the best to my friends who are currently competing at Monte Cucco and soon in Laragne and at the Slovenian Open - may you have great weather, wonderful flights and always safe landings! In September I might have a bit more time on my hands again and join you guys :)