Weekend in Bali

Big Noah turns ONE...

The baby boy of our friends Mel and Cuong, turned one year old this Sunday. Noah, also known as Buddha, brings already a considerable 12 kilogram on the scale... 

As a birthday present we gave him a Xylophone so that he can start driving his parents mad... 

He also got the outfit of the winning team for the Euro 2012 football championship which he was carrying with lots of pride... Way to go, Noah!!!

Blood, Sweat and Truffle Fries

Buzz buzz buzz... It was on a Sunday morning at 4:30am when my alarm clock went off! I must have been out of my mind when I signed up for Singapore's NTUC 10km Run. I dragged Bastian out of bed and off we went. It was still dark when we were at the taxi stand.

The Race's start finish line was directly located at the Marina Bay Waterfront. Together with 10,000 runners I was eagerly waiting for it to begin...

I sneaked all the way to the front to avoid the masses of people at the start. I am the one on the right side with the light blue hat ;-)

Finish... I made it and improved my time from last year: 1 hour 4 minutes and 18 seconds! Short wave to my fan (Bastian) and: 'no, right now no interviews please'!!!

Hm, are you sure...??? Shortly after the race, someone really came up to me and wanted to interview me for television? 'Oh, ok, sure, no problem'. 'Yes, it was a tough race... and I wanted to thank my trainer and my fans, and my family, of course.'

 Very proud I finally sat down with my finisher medal and drank lots of water...

As a treat Bastian arranged the rest of the day which started with a nice brunch at Robertson Walk at the Singapore River. It was a very relaxing atmosphere and the eggs were delicious.

 After brunch, Bastian surprised me with a foot massage that he booked nearby the restaurant. This was exactly what my legs needed. Perfect!

When we left the Foot Massage, I started to fell hungry again... I was craving for one thing that I haven't had for a very long time: Truffle Fries!!!

Hot Air Ballooning over Sossusvlei

We kept the best for last: Ballooning over Sossusvlei. We had never done it before and we were excited to see the Namib Desert at sunrise from high above. A truck picked us up at 5am and were driven to the take-off site. When we arrived it was still dark. From the distance we could already see fire coming out of the propane burners. It was an experience on its own, watching the balloon slowly inflate in the middle of the Desert. When ready, we climbed into the basket and the balloon started to rise.

We had chosen a superb day with a fantastic sunrise and a few scattered clouds. Gradually, the balloon sailed higher over a rolling vision of mountains, plains and red sand dunes. We were observing the silent dawn at is rises over one of the most beautiful landscapes we had ever seen. It was amazing. 

We were floating at wind speed with only occasional bursts of gas interrupting the silence. The colors were so mind-blowing and so spectacular that we it felt surreal.

We really didn't want this to stop. It was romantic, surreal, mystical all at the same time, but we were already running out of gas and we were slowly going down. As we came closer to the ground, our balloonist indicated that we may have a 'sport landing' in front of us as the wind had dangerously turned. We squeezed in the basket and prepared for the impact... Our balloonist managed the situation very well and we landed safely. 

However, we were about 1 kilometer off there road and the staff needed to pull the balloon all the way back on the truck which was a lot of work. 

We finished our last day in Africa with a champagne breakfast in the desert. The entire trip was wonderful and we - once skeptical about traveling to Africa - are completely in love with the beauty of this continent. We will be back... For sure!!!