A Christmas update.

Hi there. 

It was a long time since I wrote something here and that because of more than one reason. First the obvious one... Time... I have had allot of things going on. For one thing I have been editing the photos from a trip to a really nice place where me and my friends went swimming in a river, and then I have been busy with my Chinese. It really is quite hard for me to learn all these characters of theirs. 

The most important reason though... MY EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE MESSED UP. I cant access my photos. My computer keep asking me to format the hard drive. All my digital photos I have ever taken are on that hard drive. The first photos are from when I sailed from South Africa to Australia with this bad boy (photo from the Internet since all my photos are gone)

The photos from the last trip were also on there... so... Well I went to a repair-computer-stuff place. I hope they can help me. 

Here in Taiwan the legislative yuan (the part of the government that makes up new laws) is reviewing equal marriage rights. Most people I have talked to personally say "gay is OK" but they think that other peoples views are negative, this because of culture. The most negative people, sadly to say, are to the majority Christians. A couple of weeks ago they held a huge demonstration against gay rights. 

Yesterday we who are for equal rights had a kind of demonstration of our own. 

A-Mei, a Taiwanese singer and  superstar had a free concert for which she payed for herself. She told us (I was standing in really close to the stage, next to the base speakers) that she told her producer (or something) that she wanted to hold a free concert to promote equal marriage. He asked when during next year this concert would be held. Next WEEK she answered. The decision came so fast that her hairdresser and makeup artist didn't have time of to help out. 

Here is a video clip from yesterdays concert. (22nd of Dec 2013)

The concert was amazing. About 20.000 people gathered outside and all the lyrics were posted in the bottom of the big screens. It was like a huge Karaoke party. 

Well, its time for me to study my Chinese characters. 

I say happy holidays (no matter which one you celebrate, be it Christmas, Hanukkah, Ramadan or any other holiday) with my favourite Christmas song, performed by Swedish singer Tommy Körberg. 

Stay awake

Love Ove

Tourist in HongKong

 Saturday we decided to see some sights. 

We started by going down to the waterfront. 

 Disney have one of their worlds in HongKong, and at the waterfront they have a small venue. 

This is Jason's Christmas card.

This is mine. 

A little but further on from where Jason is standing they had a walk of fame. Like the one in Hollywood, with stars, hands and stuff. 

I didn't recognize a single name.

But still, this is kind of cute right? 

One guy I did recognize though. 

To walk and walk and walk and walk gets so me, so we had a short break. 

Jason had a coffee. 

I had a Chimay.

A Trappist is a piece of art. 

Sitting there enjoying the sights of HongKong, we came across one of HongKongs more famous vessels. 

At the consulate I saw an ad about a Swedish store. Well we found it. 

The Fish balls (Abba) will be our Christmas dinner. The Djungelvrål is my Christmas present to myself. 

The Pärlsocker (special Swedish sugar) is used for baking Swedish Cinnamon Buns. And the Cheese.... Well its cheese, it doesn't need an explanation. 

After that we had a short rest at our hotel.

Then we went for a second walk. Some markets, and than the waterfront at nighttime.

There were street performers. 

And Disney at night.

And Lights. SO many lights. 

Artistic Lights. 

It was really beautiful. 

Then we went to the other side. By boat. 

We had a great time in HongKong

This was posted all over a building facade and just as it reads, I wish you a great Christmas season. 

Well thats all from HongKong.

Stay Awake. 

Love Ove 

HongKong 2 - The engagement.

After the interview we set out to get a hotel room. 

We went to the subway station, and there we bought two 3-day passes that included a return ticket with the speed train to the airport. Now looking back, that was a really crappy decision. We totally payed to much. If we had bought single tickets we would have saved allot of money.

We went to the subway station named Jordan, and there we started looking around. The first place wanted 750 HongKong Dollars. Said it was as cheap as it got in HongKong. Then I went to another place. A really shitty one, but they only charged 350HKD. But when I say shitty, I really mean shitty. It was the kind of place that rented out rooms BY THE HOUR...

We found a different place and there they showed us a room with 2 single beds. When I asked for a double bed, the woman gave us a short questioning look, but she didn't say anything. She gave us a room with a double bed. 

Now to the second reason of this trip.

THE ENGAGEMENT

We went to the Peak Tram station and from there we made it to the top. 

Hungry as wildebeests we went to the cheapest place we could find. Burger King. The chicken burger did taste good, but as an engagement dinner, maybe not the most impressive. 

After the food we walked to a spot where we could overlook HongKong By Night. It was amazingly beautiful, and that's when I went for the ring. 

(Here I must explain the difference between a traditional engagement, and a modern Swedish engagement. In Sweden these days most engagements is an agreement of deeper commitment, and both parties knows about it. Its a day set by both, and there is no "down on one knee" kind of thing. Quite unromantic many of you might think. Well in Sweden we have this, AND the down on one knee thing. There will come a day when I will go down on one knee for Jason, but this wasn't that day)

So.. I put the ring on his finger and he put my ring on my finger. All kind of hidden out of view from people. The engagement kiss... Well as discreet as possible so that no one would see. 

And for the photo. 

I asked a woman to take a photo of the both of us, and she smiled when she took the camera. Then when I showed her my ring and told her we just had gotten engaged, she took a fast photo with a disapproving kind of look upon her face, and when she handed the camera back to me, there was no congratulations, no smiles, no nothing. She just turned around and walked away. 

It reminded me once again that allot of people think we are disgusting and that we shouldn't exist. 

This is the photo she took.

I took some by myself.

.... 

Well, the evening was, despite of this, a great evening, and every time I saw the ring on Jason's finger, I felt 10feet tall. 

Stay awake

Love Ove