A day in China say more than a thousand anywhere else...

What is she doing???


Looong day for the skipper...

Hi everyone,

We have tonight realised that a tsunami warning has been issued for most of the southeast Asia region including Japan, Taiwan and Australia. As we know now, no one can say if and in that case how big the water masses can be if it also reaches the Philippines and right now it feels more like a precaution than an actual reality. No one wants to relive the 2004 tsunami so I am sure everyone will overreact to make sure the damages will be as small as possible! Also, for our sake, many Philipino islands are further out to the east which means they will take a larger hit first. The estimated time for the waves to possibly reach the Philippines is about 22 hours, which means about 2 PM in the afternoon here on Panglao. We will keep ourselves update during tonight (CNN and BBC) and also tomorrow morning so please do not worry. The situation is under control and we will not do anything crazy tomorrow incase this actually affect us.

Take care and stay tuned for updates...

Best,
J&J

Leaving at sunrise to hopefully see some dolphins...tired? Confirmed!

We were very fortunate and we did not only get to see more than 50 dolphins this early morning but they also came super-close to our boat.



I could almost touch them but as soon as I tried, they turned into the deep blue...



I know how to swim (!) but the Chinese do not which is obvious with all the people in the background wearing life-jackets...






I found him! (and his brother...)



The coral was pretty good (not Malaysia but still...) and all the small dots in the background is actually fish.

Being away from your "motherland" for more than 6 months sometimes makes you miss certain food...like this restaurant in Malmö!

Mando's famous planksteak;)


So when we saw "their" new outlet in Panglao we had to try it...


They did not have the famous plansteak here but I decided to try something similar; the Filet of Pork with bearnaise sauce and klyftpotatis. Tasting gooood!




Well, since the local food proved to be really tasteless and we know how hard it is to get really good meat in China, we returned again tonight:)

Beef Stroganoff with a cold one - a new favorite!!! We might just have to come back a few times more before returning to the Kingdom of Noodles...

Well, you have already seen the pig and the cock...but we thought to give you some more of the mixed animals of this island:

Some kind of vegetable with legs I guess, about 5 cm body lenght.



Really hungry cows...gave them mangos to grow (into big steaks I guess...)



Geckos are common, but this special breed of Cyrtodactylus philippinicus (not making this up!) is much larger. About 30 cms in length making it a bit more noticable...



The 羊肉串 are alive here!!!



Some sort of spider, yellow and black body and over 10 cm in size...glad it was sitting in its huge net a bit higher than face height... Poisonous? I bet!



This green crab was also of impressive(!) size, that hole is about 1 dm in diameter...



The jellyfish from hell... Ok, so its not a box jelly, but it still looks kinda scary no?



Finally, this monster animal is very rarely seen but I was extremely lucky and got this great picture!

They appearently call it the joanaureolineatus philippinicus... I'd better watch out in the future...

Matching my drinks with my outfits;)


Poolside studies

No, I know what you are thinking...but its not like that!!!


Everywhere we went we saw all these cocks in cages and started to wonder why...

Then we realized that this is part of a serious tradition in the Philippines...




The popular tradition of Cockfighting!

Attaching the sharp leg knife...




Then the betting... Odds are pretty good, 50% chance everytime!




Les coqs sportives...

The fights really gets the crowd going!!! Almost all of the people in the arena are men and many come with their own animal that can get up in the plexi-ring to fight.

Flying dropkicks rooster style!

The red dots, aka blood, splattered on the window shows the seriousness of the sport. The cocks, as mentioned above, wears a sharp knife attached to one of their legs to do extra damage. And every fight ends the same...

The winner stands tall and...




the loosers hangs upside-down...

A brutal sport but nevertheless something that has a value of experiencing.  It seems like quite a waste, raising the cock for more than 2 years with the best of foods and then just give it up in the ring with a 50% risk of getting it killed. But the possibility of owning a winning rooster with all the fame and glory it comes with, is more than enough for putting it in there.

All I can say, I am just glad I'm not a rooster myself!

Looks a bit too cocky...and as we say in Swedish: "Högmod går före fall"

Driving a motorbike in tropical rain is never a great idea, but when you have to get home you have to...just at the last turn before reaching the hotel, the accident just happened...

After they dug us out, we discovered that we were (almost) unhurt from the nasty crash...

Almost...

We always try to view new places with open minds, but the food experiences so far, has left us wanting more...

Really glad I've lived in China for a few years so that I wasn't totally surprised when this sweet n'sour pork dish turned out to be just chopped fat and bones...

Truly delish...

And no food is cheap, at least 50% more expensive than Thailand/Malaysia/China, actually more similar to the levels of Hong Kong...



A "tossed salad" in the Philippines appearently means some left-over vegetables thrown on a plate topped with plain and tasteless "dressing".




I have my reasons for looking doubtful; but today's lunch was actually edible, tenderloin with chilli and veggies...

however...

... this place called Hayahay's service was horrible. 30 minutes waiting for menues (until we finally when to get them ourselves), 50 minutes to wait for the food, another 30 minutes ignored while hoping to pay the bill and even standing inside asking to pay waiting for another 15 min... I hope that the service level we have experienced so far in Alona Beach is just bad luck. Because when I miss the service in Shishi, something is very very wrong;)



Leaving on a happy note;

The mangos are great!

Early wait for the boat...arrived at 3 AM - boat left at 6.40...




Tricycle ride to Alona




Somewhat similar to India, but here they got "holy-pigs" on the beaches instead of cows...




More will follow!

Everybody, tonight its the new year finally! I bet the year of the tiger is really going to be a strong one!!!

Important investment call from some lirare at some bs investment company in Beijing. As an experienced investor, mr. R*nck wont get tricked into lausy investments:)




Who says you can't buy love? If you name is Patrik R*nck you can sure do anything, he says as he buys this girl's heart... ;)




Fashion in the Deathstar...




Mmm...luxury food for a 石狮 sucker!

Joanna is back in Asia! :)



Tonight the view of HK Island, from Kowloon was just too beautiful to not portray!


One day...

Pictures from our highly interesting truckride to the port of Xiamen...

Securing our clients goods are one of our most important tasks and we take it seriously. Even if it means we have to ride in similar cages as the meat we eat...


Thumbs up for security! (not so much for comfort;)...but hey, the truck ride only took 4 hours from our office to the docks...)





And so finally, all the goods from this year's (the year of the rat) productions are on ships and airplanes...Which gives me possibility to hop on a 12h nightbus to Hong Kong and new adventures! ;)

Just a few days before Chinese New Year and everything is extremly busy and we have many productions/new samples needed to be shipped out in time. Moto-ches are definately the fastest way to travel between factories and between shipping offices.

Thumbs up for speed!

in translation but also in geography...

Therefore I decided to give the lost souls of the West a little lecture in Chinese geography.

This is China! I know I cut out Beijing, but China is too big for a screenshot;) So instead please note Hong Kong and Taiwan to the Southeast. Above Taiwan is Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian Province.



Detailed picture of Fujian Province. On the top you can again see Fuzhou. Moving south, you see the city area of Quanzhou, in which the smaller city of Shishi is located. Shishi is famous for 2 things; childrens clothing and QC office of And Trade ltd;) Below Quanzhou you can see Xiamen, China's cleanest city and soon home to me and Jo and possibly some more well-known laowais...

With the Chinese New year just a week away and factories already closing, we have tons of clothing going out - tees, caps, jeans, jackets, dresses, shirts etc etc..

Back to packing...

(btw, the blurry part is the new collection from ****, arrived from the factory last night! Wait for release of pictures)

When you have a birthday cake in China, you just don't get to eat it...




It has to be thrown at people as well (B-day girl in red).




Not the most fun of traditions..




Happy Sam!




This girl could drink...even more than Sam;)

Checked, fixed, re-checked, packed and counted... The dolls are finally ready for their trip to the fashionistas and celebs of the world!