Posts from — November 2008

The first snow fall for this winter. Its quite early huh? I love the scenery the snow paints outdoor. All in white.

But its freaking cold!

And man, you don’t want to know what chaos these white snow, looking so serene and peaceful, can bring on the road.

After returning from Zimbabwe on Friday, we had a crazy spontaneous idea. I had another business trip to Bucharest scheduled for the coming Monday. So, when I woke up from my recuperating sleep for the Zimbabwe trip, I thought, oh why not spend the weekend in Bucharest? So there we were – hopped on the first flight to Bucharest on early Saturday morning. Crazy he!

Unfortunately thing was that, we missed part of the connecting flight and ended up spending most of the Saturday sitting in the Paris airport. Bah!

Bucharest, Romania – LOL, the first (and maybe only) thing that came to my mind when I think of Romania is the legendary Count Dracula from Transylvania. Bucharest is the capital city with a population of about 2.6mio and still counting exponentially due to the economic boom in the recent years. I think its a city with many characters. A little messy on the outlook, but humble and warm on the insides. Some call it the “Big Mix” due to the eclectic architecture which forms the city.

Bucharest also house the second largest building in the world – The Palace of the Parliment built in the 1980s during the reign of Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. Its made to impress!

Anyway, the trip turned out fabulous. When we touched down, we just sent a mere sms to a Romanian friend we knew in Brussels – tell us where to go? But he suprised us with the Romanian hospitality. He set up our entire weekend itinery. It was spontaneous and intriguing. We were told where to be at the specific time and voila, met some new friends, had dinner, drinks and late night parties.

People in Romania are so warm. We became fast friends with everyone. I was touched by their genuine sincerity and enthusiastic hospitality. I think this should be the way to travel. Getting to know a place by getting to know the people.

That’s me with my silly grin plastered over my face with the girls.

Yet on Sunday, after a heavy night out, we spent a quiet and relaxing day taking a slow lunch in a local restaurant with loud booming classical Romanian songs. Watching people dancing in circles. I think it was a birthday party of a grandpa. When our ears almost popped, we left the restaurant to take a slow long walk in the Herastrau park, breathing in the hustle and bustle of fellow Romanians enjoying a typical Sunday.

Thank you Laura, Christina, Elena, Alexander, Michel, Micheala, Carlos… You have all made our trip great and showed us a glimpse of real Romania. We had so much fun!

Me, shivering in cold with the moon as my halo.

The ever famous Victoria Falls. WHat a pity that the falls is not in its full glory due to the dry season…

And wonderful friendships forged which will last a lifetime.

This was the setting where all the adventures took place.

The Gorge Swing – and he did it backwards! Freefall of 120m!

The Death Ride – I did it twice!

Well, I wasn’t such an adventurous person at all – not even for the food!

But they all love it there, the Mopani worms for snack time.

There were wild baboons running everywhere in the vicinity of the hotel. They were too fast for my fingers so I didn’t managed to capture any good pictures of them.

But I did of this family of wild pigs, grazing lazily about in the garden.

While on the cruise along the Zambezi river, we spotted a baby croc, measuring about 1.5m and a family of hippos. The local told me that the Hippos has killed more people than the crocs did along this river.

And of course, a beautiful sunset along the journey.