Happy Birthday or rather Happy Ipad-day?

On the 31 of July, it was Bastian's birthday and I surprised him with a new Ipad. For the rest of the day, I almost couldn't get him away from it... 

... but after unwrapping a cooking book from his parents, he was open for a dinner in the evening.

I booked a table at the 57th floor of the Ion on Orchard Road. Its an Australian Steak restaurant with a spectacular view.  We enjoyed a beautiful sunset (without his Ipad).

When we came home, we received a call from our friends Chester and Celaste who wanted to drop by. To our surprise, they smuggled a fresh durian into our apartment. Yami!

That is what I call a perfect finish to Bastian's Ipad day ;-)

China trip to Zhuhai and Shanghai


Bastian spent some time to do business in China again. First, he was near Hong Kong in a city called Zhuhai and at the later part of the week, he was staying in Shanghai.

Shanghai is one of our favorite cities in Asia. It changed so drastically over the past few years. Its always fun to walk along the bund and look over to the Pudong side.

Great Eastern 10k Run

Evelyn together with a friend from work signed up for a 10k run. Because of the heat, the race starts at 7am in the morning... It was only about 28C and 90% humidity at that time!

Despite the early hours over 16,000 women signed up for the race. At finish I had a hard time finding her. She finished in respectable 1 hour and 10 minutes.
Wow, in the end it was rank 637!!! Pretty exhausted, but proud (like Oscar!)... The race finishes at the Padang in the center of Singapore.

Welcome to the 30s club!

I turned 30 on June 12th... OMG!!! There is a saying that when you turn thirty, a whole new thing happens: you see yourself acting like your parents...

Weekend trip to Sydney

After lots of traveling in China, Evelyn and I were ready to explore something 'non-Asian' so we decided to go for a weekend trip to Australia. We were strolling around downtown which has a unique mix of both old and new architecture. From the Sydney tower, we had a great panoramic view.

From circular quay we had took some nice pictures of the Sydney bridge and the opera house which are not the only highlights of the city.

Our friend Cuong recommended a couple of restaurant and we explored almost all of them. The food was really outstanding! Our first evening took us to a Greek place... Bastian liked it so much that he 'over'-ordered...

Next morning we boarded a ferry to Manly which is located 17 kilometres north-east of the Sydney. It is a residential island with beautiful beaches, a perfect place to relax. We started with that already on the ferry!

In the evening, we were back in Sydney for one of our favorites: A big fat steak at the Chophouse in CBD Sydney. This was heaven... yami!

After so much meat, we felt guilty! So next morning: Workout!!! We got up early and went to Bronte Beach. After studying the local news and of course having a delicious breakfast at the water, we started our coastal walk to Bondi.

The workout was not over, when we were back in downtown Sydney. Bastian had a little surprise and we finished a wonderful weekend trip with the unforgettable Bridge Climb!

Xi'an - Terra Cotta Warriors

We spend a few days in Xi'an and had time to visit the amazing Terra Cotta Army. The mausoleum, built more than 2,200 years ago, was discovered only in 1974 by farmers who were digging a water well.

The eight thousand strong underground army was buried in front of the Emperor Qin Shi Huang's tomb (210 years BC) to defend him in the afterlife. It was built by an estimated 700,000 workers, each soldier with a different face, a different body shape.
Evelyn fell in love with this archer. Fortunately, he was a bit too heavy to carry him home. She bought a small version of it though as a souvenir!