...non sono morto...

eheheh you might have thought you had eventually got rid of me but not yet..;) it's just not that easy for a lazy person like to me to stick to such a challenging objective as regularly updating my own blog, is it?

now let's see if I can make a summary of what happened in the last three months..it has been rather exciting to be honest with lots of trips...one week in Bangkok for business, ten days in Malaysia (Langkawi and Kuala Lumpur, where I also attended the most boring - and hottest, 40 degrees!!! - F1 GP i've ever seen), a weekend in Beijing, another 5 days in Thailand for full moon party (from which the picture has been taken...nice, isn't it?)...all nice, if it wasn't that now my next holidays seem so far away!!! I've uploaded all the pics on kodak gallery anyway in case u want to have a look at..

I am now trying to plan my return to Italy..as my initial plan to come back in May to celebrate Inter's victory had to be revised due to the huge difference in points with the second that did not allow me to forecast properly the Sunday in which we would have celebrated!! ;) it seems i found a rather cheap flight for the second half of September so it will be somewhere around there..in the meantime, I will have to fight against Hong Kong summertime which as expected, is incredibly hot and humid..basically u can hardly walk through the city without immediately turning your light blue polo in a dark blue one (i know, disgusting..:p), and this explains the huge concentration of air-conditioned shopping malls spread everywhere in HK territory. I know all of them by now, I think. I just cannot imagine it's already 8 months (almost) that I am here...time is passing by too fast!!

What else...last thursday Laurent Garnier came to HK for a dj-set in Volar...of course i couldn't miss it, event though it was a thursday night and the day after back to work as usual...result is that i slept 3 hrs, and on friday night i slept in the cinema watching Pirates of Caribbean...never happened before, but hv to say that it's really a crappie movie...;) just for those of you that are planning to go and watch it.

I am leaving now to enjoy the rest of my sunday, I won't promise that I will post more frequently in the future, but i will make an effort...it's also up to you to encourage me, right?? ;)

ciaoooooo

gio

Ski in Japan

2nd March - ...ohhhh yeahhhh....finally after long discussions, checking websites, visiting travel agencies, etc etc...I took the decision to spend a normally whole ski season budget for a 5 day ski-trip to Japan, Niseko in Hokkaido Island..too bad I am back already, but at least able to share my memories without telling any story of broken legs, arms or whatever..:D more, I haven't even fallen this year!

Getting to Niseko has been a journey itself...wake up at 7, meet up with Ander, my spanish ski-mate, at 8 in front of the escalator, and here we go to the airport..4 hrs flight in which we had the opportunity to practice some japanese with the hostess (basic and most useful sentences, such as Kawaii which will prove to be as useful as leng nui in Hong Kong) and making fun of one of our neighbours, who succeeded in ordering - and drinking, of course - 5 whiskeys on the rocks just before lunch time. Arrived in Tokyo Narita, and after succesfully passing the anti-drugs control of Japanese dogs, we spent our 3 hrs in the airport drinking beer and chatting with a US-army officer on his way back home, who became our hero for his curious interpretation of some restrictive american rules...comments will be censored for this time

We arrive in Sapporo airport only at 8pm, rather tired and hungry, where while waiting for the baggage we meet up with the president of Spanish Country-Side (nn so come si dice sci di fondo...) Ski Association who confuses us as being journalist. Cleared the misunderstanding, we proceed out of the gate ready for the last stage - 3 hrs ride on a freezing (and old) bus which will eventually take to our destination, Niseko

We decide to save the energies and go to sleep (it's 1am after all)...wake up call day after set at 7.30am

3rd March - After a nice breakfast, we are finally ready to start our first asian ski experience: it could not start better, since after getting our skis and boots at the rental store, and taking the first lift, Ander manages to break that lock of his ski (apparently previously mounted with Japanese glue - not very sticky i guess), which forces us to go back to the ski rental and change pair of ski (and also ski shop of course, can u imagine lose your ski that way while skiing?).

Ok, it's 11 already and I have done one slope only, Ander hasn't even started...no need to worry though, here lifts are open till 9pm so there's plenty of time...

In fact, at 4pm we are done already, no better proof of how we are getting old damn..anyway it's only the first day, it's saturday, we need to try Japanese nightlife right? so here we go...small nap (1.5hrs), and at 9 ready for dinner...start with a couple of beers, then move to a bar for a tipical Japanese Caipirinha, then move to another one for a couple of rum and coke...apparently we don't manage to find the right place..we find the right person though, a Japanese guy who can speak spanish (!!) will guide us to the secrets of Niseko nightlife, and the results by themselves are worth the whole holiday price...I won't go in details but what we saw that night in Mash-up is unfortunately difficult to describe..you can write me maybe personal emails?? ;) anyway at 3.30 we are done and ready to go back home with a big smile on our face - just to make everyone safe, no illegal or immoral things happened that night !:D

4th March - The day after is awesome (with the exception of waking up with a small hangover and little sleep), nice snow, beautiful weather...only problem is again Ander who manages to break the lock of his ski for the second time in two days (hence it is you the problem eh??), so we are forced to get back to the ski rental once more to fix it...not big trouble though, since it's a good occasion to have some bread with italian soppressata, brought for the occasion to save some money. We ski this time till happy hour time, after which we decide to go back to the slopes and enjoy some night-skiing...too bad the snow it's not perfect, it's march already so the temperature tends to be a bit high (after all the ski resorts goes from 300 to 1200m) and the snow is extremely slow at lower altitudes...nevertheless, it's worth to give a try and we enjoy as much as we can..

No crazy night this time, it's sunday and you can feel that people around are probably tired frm the night before..so again after a few beers and dinner it's time to go to bed (anywya it's 1 again)

5th March - Last day in Niseko, few centimeters let us think tht it's finally time to try the famous Niseko powder snow...yes, maybe it would if it was not for the 80kms/hr wind that blows and makes the slope a ultimate adventure to see who is crazier..we decide to change resort but things don't change that much, it's even raining so the quality of the snow is horrible...pity since it's the last day already, but there will be probably be another chance next year...who knows!!

6th March - time to go home, these few days have been so intense that I leave with the only thought that I should get back to Japan at the soonest...wonderful and funny people, interesting and fascinating culture, nice and crazy nightlife...next stop will be Tokyo for sure!!

more photos on kodakgallery.com

user fiurello@hotmail.com

pwd hongkong

Ciaoooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Kung Hei Fat Choi

as you might have noticed, I love showing off my cantonese knowledge, especially because it helps me to forget that after 4 months here what I wrote so far is basically what I can say :D

what does it mean this time?...buon anno/happy new year/feliz ano nuevo...for the second time this year (so eventually i can start using my red underwear more often hihi)!! the year of the pig has just started and apart from having the advantage of some holidays (monday and tuesday office closed) and overall a relaxing week (mainland China is still celebrating, office closed the whole week for the most important festival of the year hence less work to do even here in HK), it has been nice to take part to some of the local celebrations, like dragon dance, fireworks (wow...can't imagine how many people were there both in Wan Chai and Tsim Sha Tsui to assist to the 30 mins show - unfortunately the camera I bought sucks and the one above is the only decent picture I could take), food (a lot!!!! of course won't talk about drinking this time since i would be monotonous), gambling, etc...and of course red pocket, which is a very curious way for people (married people) to bless the unmarried ones donating them a red envelop with money inside..always good not being married, even on the other side of the world!! LOL

Apart from this, and apart from the fact that in these days my brother and his friend Mattia are in town to make my nights longer (and Mattia in particular has immediately understood the chinese "gom bui" culture giving a wonderful show yesterday :D right?) and my fridge less empty (I guess i have now enough parmesan for the whole year of the pig), the big news is here to come and next week I will finally start (and end) my ski season in Japan, 5 days (2 of which travelling...:s) in Niseko, looking for the best powder in the world - at least that is how they sell it, no doubt i will update you right afterwards with pics and full summary of what happened (hopefully i will come back with no damages..)

Now it's time to leave you again, ready to go out but not till late since tomorrow we will go to Shenzhen to buy some fake dvds (I already saw all of those i bought the last time), bags, belts, socks etc etc..and especially to enjoy some (not full) thai massage at Queens Spa...I am not becoming gay yet, promise!! you should try it!!!

a presto!

gio

P.S. what about the credit card story??? mmm...ehmmm....well not that bad actually, at the end it seems that i only used it twice, around 60 eur in total...it could have been much worse!! anyway next time I will avoid going to that place in those conditions, that is for sure! ;)

Enjoy! :p

Gom Bui!

...I haven't kept my promise this time either, 3 weeks with no news from my side, right after some people started writing the first comments (come on don't be shy...:p)..too bad, but unfortunately this period is getting extremely busy with work due to the Chinese New Year getting closer...people are now working like crazy, since in less than one week (almost) everything will stop to start the celebration of the lunar new year! but this does not matter since it still looks so far away, I need some vacation!!!

some of you will wonder what is the meaning of the subject this time...well, it's pretty easy, it's the classic "bottom's up", "alla goccia" common in the western style..with the small difference that when chinese people are involved, at least from what I have seen and experienced, the results are even more out of control.

The history begins this tuesday, after another hard working day, with the annual company dinner supposed to celebrate the Chinese New Year (with a typical chinese menu made of jellyfish, shark's fin - by the way, wonder why someone has to spend 50usd for a shark's fin soup that tastes like chicken :p - abalone, and other chinese delicacies). Wine, as mentioned so many times, is an expensive rarity here in Hong Kong so whenever there is an occasion, how can I miss it and avoid cheering up with locals? the problem, is that I have never got so drunk before (somebody I talked on the phone to can witness, right dodi/besso'?). Luckily this year not being in Italy there is no picture putting myself in a bad situation, but colleagues the day after at work (can't remember what time and how got back home, guess it was 4 maybe? just know that i slept on the couch and i could only wake up at 10 - supposed to be at work at 8.30 hihi) easily spotted what happened the night before since after 30 minutes of struggles in front the pc, I took the sane decision of going back home and close well in advance another work day :D legend! I wish I could tell something more about that night, but the problem is that I absolutely have no idea of what happened (and i am still waiting to know what I paid with my credit card which can be pretty scary...)

So, next year at the first "gom bui" mentioned by some local colleague I will start thinking that it's time to go home..

What else..I eventually booked my holiday, first week of April 5 days in Langkawi followed by 3 nights in Kuala Lumpur to assist to the F1 GP...maybe next month I will alos fly over Japan for skiing but still needs to be decided...the thing is that I though it was cheaper to travel around here in Asia but it's not really the case

to the next update....
ciaooooooooo

Latest News..

Ciao a tutti...after a while, eventually i can find some time to write something new...definetely have to keep it up! It has been busy and rather exciting since the beginning of the year, I spent a couple of days in Bangkok (business, but enjoyed it so much...btw, if you ever have the chance to go there, bookmark this place www.thedomebkk.com/home.asp), I received the first visits (Dave, Sara, Ingrid, Karan...thanks to all for the wine :p - And Ingrid, I am waiting for the pictures of Kate Moss!!) and had some changes in my daily job taking up some more customers which will mean extra-work for the coming months :(( but all in all, can't complain about it!

also, i finally got back to the Sat tv and will be able from tonight on to watch Inter games...which means that if the series of 12 victories will be interrupted, the very tomorrow I will also cancel the contract (cannot let people think that I am the responsible even fm overseas, can i?)

It's time to go for breakfast now (it's almost 12..), let's see how long it will take this time before another "update"! Take care and keep in touch!

gio

Buon anno!! or....

sun nin fai lo!!

long time with no posts...with xmas celebrations in between, and the Taiwan earthquake which disconnected most of Greater China websites I haven't had the time before to update you about the recent developments...well, no big changes or travel, you know, just kind of routine if I can call this new life like that since every day I am discovering new spots and places...

anyway, time is running out and in few hours I will be in the new year while most of you will be still choosing which lingerie (red of course), dress, hair-cut, etc to go for the very last night of 2006...so, just wanted to wish you all the best for 2007 and hope I can see you again at the soonest in the new year, wherever we can...

And now....let the party begin!! oooohhh yeah

P.s. Tanti auguri alla Miky che oggi compie gli anni (27)!! un bacione!

It's getting cold in here...

...yes, eventually winter arrived...12 degrees with no heating in the apartment is not that nice, especially when you're still suffering from the hangover of the previous night (carl cox and deep dish, great...especially seeing the freak "techno" chinese..:D) and even a tough breakfast made of beans, bacon, eggs and tomato (sure, typical italian) doesn't help..

But on the other side it's much nicer to feel a bit more in the xmas mood, seeing the city full of Christmas decoration while you are still wearing summer clothes didn't make much sense. Actually in these days Hong Kong is even nicer than usual, especially at night when from all the skyscraper a show made of lights and laser goes live!! only, I don't think I will ever see a christmas with snow here...and thinking about a whole year without skiing (especially knowing that "someone" has just gone yesterday...) it's too bad...damn, I think I should fly to Japan or New Zealand soon!!