After Hong Kong we headed out to Malaysia, the first stop we made in Malaysia was in Penang were we stayed for 5 day.
After arriving at the airport we headed out to collect our rental car and set off to our hotel. Since the car was a auto and they drive on the other side of the road there Erica took the wheel.
Traffic rules seem to be virtually not existing in Malaysia and it was really crazy driving there. Not only did the cars ignore just about every rule they are also a lot of bikes racing around. And they even care less about rules, they just fly past on every side and have 2 or 3 people on them. After making it to our hotel safely we decided to head out again for dinner. We drove up the coast looking for a nice beach, but there is no such thing in Penang, the beaches there are really filty. After walking around on one of the beaches for a while we headed back to the road and looked for a place where we could grab a bite to eat before heading back to the hotel and a nice sleep :)

After a nice sleep and breakfast we decided to head out again. After checking out the maps and planning what we needed to do we set foot outside the hotel and I was already sweating within minutes. The heat was like I never felt before. We first walked over to the esplanade which looks out over the ocean. We then headed to Fort Cornwallis and old fort left behind by the British. After the fort we headed out to see the marina and on the way there we swung by the old Clock tower and stopped at one of the hawker stores for lunch. It was my first experience eating something out of a hawker store and while it was a little too spicy for me it was still very nice :). Next on the list was one of the many temples there are in Penang, I don't remember which one it was, but all of the temples are amazing to see, definitely worth it. After seeing some more temples and a mosque we couldn't take the heat anymore and headed back to the hotel. We enjoyed a couple of hours at the pool and jacuzzi and then headed back to our airconned room :) After some more relaxing we decided to head out to the Kek Lok Si temple. It was the biggest Temple I have ever seen, and I'm sure it is among the biggest in the world. It was really impressive to see and walk around. Sadly we couldn't make it all the way around before closing time.

The 3rd day we headed out a little further away to the Tropical Spice garden. Sadly there weren't a lot of spices or flowers that were blooming, but we still saw some really cool things :) After the spices it was time for some fruits so we headed out to the Tropical Fruit farm we decided against a tour around the farm itself and just went and had a fruit platter. The fruit really was amazing I had my first ever of a few fruits, but the one that impressed me the most was the yellow watermelon, it was so sweet and juicy mmmmmmmmm my mouth still waters when I think back to it :) Next we headed to the national park were we wanted to head out to Monkey Beach. As the name suggests, the beach is a place with a lot of monkeys. But we didn't make it up to the beach, after walking for about 1:30h and only making it halfway, we decided that it was way too hot for us and headed back to the car. Back at the hotel we decided to go for dinner in the rooftop revolving restaurant. They had a buffet dinner on so we enjoyed a lot of food, especially the desserts :p.

The following morning we headed out to the botanical gardens. Again since we didn't really go at the right time of the year there weren't a lot of flowers and plants that were blooming, but we did get to see some nice flowers. The botanical gardens was also home to some monkeys :) They were really funny to see, and we even got a rare glimpse of some baby monkeys playing :) After the botanical gardens we headed out to the Snake temple. During the festival held for the deity the temple was build for, the temple is visited by lots of snakes. Sadly we weren't there during that period of the year :( But we still got to hold a baby python :) Erica needed some convincing to do it :p Next to the temple they had a snake farm with lots of different snakes. They also had a golden python which according to legend will bring you luck if you stroke it from head to tail. I stroke it, but not from head to tail :p

On the last day we visited another temple and had a walk around in one of the new shopping centers they had build, it was still very empty though. This was the first day I got to use the new camera I bought :) I had to get a new one cause my old one was starting to act up a bit. I guess all the traveling and partying took it's toll. I stuck with Sony as I was very happy with my old one and they had a special release deal on for this camera :)

A couple of months ago I decided to move to Australia to follow the love of my life. On our way back to her home country we made a few stops along the way, the first being Hong Kong.

After a lot of traveling, taking the train from Brussels to London than taking the Tube to Heathrow and then finally getting on a 12h flight to Hong Kong; we finally arrived in Hong Kong.
One of Erica's auntys lives in Hong Kong and we were staying with her during our stay in Hong Kong. She was already waiting to take us back to her place when we got off the train from the airport to Hong Kong central station.
Erica's aunty lives near the top of The Peak in Hong Kong. The Peak is a main attraction of Hong Kong since from the top of it you can see almost all of Hong Kong. So we were really lucky to be able to stay at such a amazing location.
After we dropped our bags, we went back down into central Hong Kong to grab dinner and we walked around for a bit in the main area were people go out. But we were to tired to actually go out and headed back to apartment fairly early for a good nights sleep.

After a nights rest Erica's aunty took us out to Stanley markets to have a look around. There were lots of stalls around and it was all very crowded and narrow. We walked around for a couple of hours, Erica had some fun with bubbles and then went for lunch. This is were I had my first real Dim Sum (I had some before in London, but that's not the same by a long shot). After lunch we headed back to the Hong Kong city and had a went to the Tsim Sha Tsui promenade and the avenue of Stars (like the walk of fame in Hollywood, but with Asian actors/stars). From the promenade we also had a nice view over the Hong Kong city. After dinner we went and had a look at the goldfish markets and headed back to the Tsim Sha Tsui promenade for a view of the city at night. The fish markets were crazy, there were fish everywhere. The Hong Kong nightly skyline was even more impressive than I imaged it would be. Countless lights and neons keep blinking everywhere and all the lighting that is set up to make certain building stand out (like the Bank of China building) is an amazing sight. On our way back we noticed there was an lantern exhibit so we had a look at it, and it is another amazing sight.

The next day we went out to see the buildings I wanted to see. We saw the Hopewell Centre, the International Commerce Centre, the Arch, Langham Place office tower, Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank building, the Bank of China Building and the Lippo Centre. My favorites were the Bank of China building and the Lippo Centre, both are very special buildings with their own unique look. The Bank of China Building also has very nice lighting so it stands out clearly in the nightly skyline. We also visted the Golden Bauhinia Square which is next to the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. For lunch we decided to head to a restaurant Erica read about, the Modern Toilet restaurant. Everything in that restaurant is themed to toilets and bathroom. They even serve you your food in little toilets and urinals. The food was nice and it was definitely a good indicator of the strange things you can find in Hong Kong.After lunch we went out to one of the parks and while the park itself wasn't very impressive, we spend some time watching some guys play around with their radio controlled motorboats. At night we headed up to peak to have a look around, but because it was really foggy we sadly couldn't see anything at all.

On the 4th day we went to Hong Kong park. There are some really nice fountains in Hong Kong park, including one were you can go stand in the middle without even getting wet. There also is a foot massage path you can walk on. It was an interesting experience, it's not all that comfortable to walk on, but once you get off, your feet really feel better. We went to the Jade markets and the Temple Street Night markets, they just keep on going what seems like forever. But if you are ready to bargain you can pick up some really nice stuff for cheap from there. We then headed back to the apartment and went past the Avenue of Stars and the Lantern exhibition again.

The 5th day we did the first of the theme parks: Ocean Park. Since it was the middle of the week, there were very little people and the longest we had to wait was about 25 minutes. This park was high on Erica's list because it has several panda bears. We spent a lot of time watching the panda's and they are really cool animals. They look so cute and cudly. They are defenitly worth seeing if you go to Hong Kong. After the panda's we headed to the goldfish exposition which had some of the weirdest goldfish I have ever seen. Next we took the cable car across to the other side of the mountain (yes this theme park is build on a mountain). The view from the cable car was exceptional we even had the company of an eagle on the way over. Once we reached the other side we headed to do some of the rides. There weren't any special or unique rides, but they were still working on expanding to park so hopefully theye will get some nice new and unique rides. Next we headed over to the sea lions. We were there while it was feeding time so we had a nice show to look at. After the sea lions we headed to the Jellyfish exhibition, this was really amazing, they had an incredible amount of jellyfish and they made clever use of light and sound to make the experience even better. Next up was one of the largest aquariums I've ever seen. It was really massive and they had a wide variety of fish in there, some of them were really gigantic. Along the outside they had smaller aquariums with some smaller and special fish. Before heading back home, we made another stop over at the panda's to have a last look at them.

Next on the list was Disneyland Honk Kong. Just like at Ocean Park there were very little people around and we were able to do every ride and see every show we wanted to do and see. The amazing thing about Disney parks is that they pay attention to even the smallest of details. So every thing in the park is amazing and you get completely immersed in the world they create for you. To give you an example even the train that takes you to the park is themed to Disney, the windows are in the shape of Mickey's head, the handles to hold on are as well, and there are displays of all different Disney characters inside the train. First of we visited a exhibit of drawing and figurines from Disney movies. They also had a zoetrope on display. Which is what they used to make the toy story movies. When we got out of the exhibit Pluto was waiting for us so we got a picture with him. The staff were so kind to take a picture with our camera every time as well as have the photographer take one. Next we headed out to the Lion King show. This being one of my favorite Disney movies of all time this show was really cool to see. After the show we headed out into the jungle to climb Tarzan's tree house. Next up was a pretty wild boat ride in the jungle meeting some elephants and hippo's along the way. They had a few surprises in store for us, and the effect was really nice, some of the smaller kids on the boat even started crying. Next up was Mickey's 4D concert. A nice show in which they add effects that make you feel as if you were in the movie. Next up was a photo session with Mickey himself. After getting our photo's with Mickey we went on the horse themed merry go round. After the merry go round it was time to head into the "It's a small world" ride. This started out fine, but the ride kept going on and on and on and they kept playing that damn song over and over again. I can still hear it now. When we finally got out of there it was time to watch the parade. All the classics were there and the attention to detail in the costumes and the floats was outstanding. After the parade we went to the "Encounter with Stich" ride. In this ride you get to talk with Stich himself. This in an interactive experience as Stich remembers the answers you give to his questions (like you name).Next up was Space Mountain, I have done a few of these rides and I have to say that this was one of the nicest of this type I have done. They keep you guessing what is coming next all the time, amazing. Keeping with the space theme we got out of Space Mountain and went for a photo opportunity with Buzz Lightyear. This was the coolest of all the photo opportunities we had. He was really great and we even posed together for a few photo's. Next up was a car ride of the future. Erica's was the driver and I was the passenger for once. Next up was the Golden Mickey awards show. This was a very nice show in which they visited all of the Disney classics and the respective theme songs. This was the last of the ride we did, but it doesn't we we headed home just yet. We stayed around untill the very end because we wanted to see the fireworks, and it was definitely worth staying around for. It was a continuous display of fireworks for about 10 minutes and synchronized perfectly with the music. A perfect way to end a magic day at Disneyland.

The next day we headed out to Ngong Ping to see the giant Buddha. To get up to the Buddha we needed make a 5.7km cable car ride. We decided to take the Crystal Cabin up and down. This cabin has a glass floor so you can see what is happening below you. It was quite the experience to be able to see everything, even what's happening below. It was very windy as well on the way up so the cable car swung back and forth quite a bit. The view while heading up was amazing, you had a great view of the airport and the surroundings. Incredibly there were people walking up to the Buddha instead of taking the cable car. Sadly it was very foggy on top of the mountain so we couldn't see the the whole Buddha until we were almost all the way up the massive staircase leading to it. While we were there we also visited the Po Lin Monastery (which they were still expanding) and went to see the Wisdom Path, but because of the fog we could really see anything at the Wisdom Path. After getting back to Hong Kong city we headed to Langham Place. This building has one of the longest escalators I have ever seen, it goes up 8 levels.

The following day was the only day we actually had clear weather up on The Peak, so we decided to go up and have a look down onto the city. The view from up there was really amazing, and you could seen all of Hong Kong. After enjoying the view from up at the Peak we headed out to the Chi Lin Nunnery. Inside the nunnery all the hectic outside life from seemed to disappear. It was like a oasis of calm in a hectic and busy metropolitan city. After the nunnery it was time for Snoopy's World. Snoopy's world is a section of one of the many malls in Hong Kong which is themed around Snoopy. It was very cute and all the characters were there.

The last 2 days we just spent relaxing, walking around the city and most of all shopping. There were massive sales happening when we were there so we ended up buying so much stuff we had a lot of extra kilo's of luggage we didn't plan on.
This was our trip to Hong Kong, I would definitly recommend Hong Kong. It is an amazing place to visit and has lots of awesome things to see and do. Plus if you go during sale season then you can get some real bargains.

As you can see the site layout/design has changed. I though it was time to move away from the black and red style I had been using for the site since my move to Joomla 1.5.

So now we have a fresh new look for the site and I finally got around to putting the logo Onlinematthew (from over at Global Hardstyle) made to good use.

Icegod

The pics of 10 Years of Technobo @ Central Studios Utrecht have been put online.
You can find them in the picture section of the website.

Icegod

There are 3 new picture galleries on the site.

2 have been added 2 weeks ago (Auswchwitz & Toxicator) en 1 has been added yesterday (Hard Bass).

Icegod