There are new photos in the gallery, taken at the Dragon Boat Festival in Taiwan | View album

IF you fly at all!

It could have been a great week: On my way back from Korea, Lufthansa had decided to upgrade my seat from economy to business class for free. Good stuff! Plenty of room for my legs and a massage chair make a long distance flight so much easier to bear :-)
Only five days later I was sitting in a plane from Zurich to Frankfurt again. When the pilot announced a 30 minute delay I got a little worried about my connection but there was still hoping – until I got off the plane way past boarding stop. And of course at the security check they had to swipe my camera equipment for explosives. And even though I told the woman that I had to run she sent me to the checkpoint where the officer asked her why she had brought me over. Her reply: “I’m so bored, I wanted to do something!” – thank you soooo much, bloody idiot!
So yeah, obviously I had missed my plane by a few minutes. An hour later, while waiting for the shuttle bus to a hotel, I witnessed the discovery of a bunch of suspect packages. The police blocked the whole area but then my bus left so I don’t know if there was really a bomb or not.
Now I’m sitting in the lobby of the NH Hotel Möhrfelden, my new flight is tomorrow via Munich – let’s hope the weather doesn’t act up again!

Sorry, but this post is not available in English

A couple of weeks ago Julie’s new hompage it went online! I programmed and designed the page, trying to incorporate Julie’s thoughts and expectations. And even though Internet Explorer kept driving me cazy (if only the different versions were equally uncapable but they actually exceed each other) it was a lot of fun to play around with the site. Pay the page a visit if you feel like it and let me know what you think of it or what you don’t like!

Last Saturday Victoria switched back from daylight saving time to standard time. So now the time difference to Germany is only 8 hrs.

Last Friday Julie got her new old Subaru Outback. A great car for Australia: Station wagon, 4WD and greater ground clearance, but still quite conveniant to drive in the city. A first test went already positive: A short trip to the Grampians over the weekend. Good choice!

Nachdem ja am Sonntag offiziell “Earth Hour” war, d.h. die Lichter dunkel blieben so weit wie möglich, gabs heute die inoffizielle, ungewollte Fortsetzung. Gleichzeitig nicht gerade ein Lobgesang auf die Qualität der elektrischen Leitungen in Melbourne: Da weht der Wind mal ein bisschen stärker (okay, zugegeben, über 100km/h sind dann doch ziemlich schnell) und schon hüllen sich ganze Häuserblocks in tiefe Dunkelheit. Dummerweise auch meiner und so heißts jetzt also Gaskocher und Stirnlampe raus und Abendessen wie beim Campen zuzubereiten – aber in der eigenen Küche! Das warme Wasser hats auch erwischt, also erst mal nix mit der heißen Dusche.
Das hier sagt der offizielle Wetterdienst:

Warning Summary
A severe weather warning is current for the central district, including Melbourne, for very windy conditions. A fire weather warning is current for very high to extreme fire danger for the central district, including Melbourne until midnight. A road weather alert is current.
Forecast for Wednesday evening
Gusty northerly wind shifting squally west to southwesterly during this evening. Areas of raised dust. A brief shower tending to rain periods later. Possible hail and thunder later tonight.

Kann mich also wohl auf eine lauschige Nacht einstellen ….

Zuerst einmal etwas verspätet ein gutes Neues Jahr Euch allen!
Habe lange nichts mehr von mir hören lassen hier – werde jetzt versuchen, das wiedergutzumachen und einen kleinen Überblick liefern, was ich in den letzten zwei Monaten hier in Australien so gemacht habe (weiterlesen …)

… or “Mango Sticky Rice” is THE delicious dessert in Thailand. And easy to make yourself. All you need is

• one or two ripe Mango (Banana or other fruit is fine, too)
• 500 ml coconut milk (containing 100 % milk)
• Two cups / 500 g sticky (glutenous) rice
• 50 g sugar
• A pinch of salt

Wash the rice and leave it in water overnight or at least a couple of hours. Then drain the rice and steam it for about 30 min or until it is soft but still chewy. Meanwhile heat up the coconut milk and stir the sugar and salt in it. Pour 3/4 of the coconut milk over the rice and let it soak for 15 min. Scoop the rice out into a dish, pour the remaining milk over it and put some sliced fruit. Enjoy your Khao Niao Ma-Muang!

Here in Melbourne you can contact me as follows:

Felix Salomon c/o Julie Heller
14 Tower Road
Balwyn North, VIC 3104
AUSTRALIA

phone +61 (0) 3 9819 7983
mobile +61 (0) 4 2311 9791