House-sitting

We are currently watching over a friend's dog and apartment...Relaxing at the pool and making use of the gym.

New year will start with a trip to Hong Kong on the 3rd January.
Seeing Marcel and his family.

Let there be light

This is on the way to my first meeting this morning. Love the way the sun shines right onto the Sincere Building in the center. And then there is the guy in the rear view mirror...

Look what the wife brought home!

The wife leaves early in the morning for some errants. Then I get this call from her 'I have this huge probelm'. And I am thinking there could have been an accident, people being hurt, the car broke down in the middle of a 3-lane highway or some serious issues in the family. Nope. The missus rescued a stray kitten and now Spike is a dad for a day until we find a new home.

Obviously, not much work got done between sheparding these 2 jokers and finding a new home.

In Germany with Xeralife

Just got back from a trip to Germany with Xeralife (www.xeralife.com). The weather was absolutely phantastic. Cold, yes maybe a bit too cold, but bright sun and cleasr skies. Got some running done in the forest.

Stayed in Dormagen, which in my books, now ranks as the most boring town I have ever seen. The most happening Pub had some 3 people in it besides us. On a Friday evening. What happened to Germany?

It was also great to see Inke, who returned from Chile to live in Frankfurt (Why?).

Personally, I did not like Frankfurt. Hey, I have problems buying tickets for the trains and I should know as I grew up with that stuff. Too complicated and people in Germany too unfriendly. Or just suspicious?

Xeralife just sent a note, we are going back for Compamed 2012, so I'll be back in November 2012.

Business Trip to Germany

In Germany for the third time this year. Xeralife is attendind the Compamed and we have come over to help the German distributor with the exhibition.
Arrived yesterday after an uneventful flight and trip. The weather is nice. Cold but very sunny, just perfect November weather. Forecast says it is to stay that way.

Got over teh time difference pretty good too. Only woke up at 6:30 this morning after a night out with some frineds. Ended up in Hameln, at least there are some vibrant places left. Later going to work a bit and going for a run. Gotta keep fit, no?

Ill constructed

Now, if heights and no safety net is not enough, then you need to go to Langkawi and take a ride up the mountain with the cable car. At the top you will find this bridge. Interesting concept as it is suspended and therefore swings. One could have just erected the supporting pillar directly attached to the bridge, but then it wouldn't swing. Boring innit?

On vacation

Just got home from our Launchpad event and now it is time to take a break. We have had a good event with our clients, we managed to stay until the venue closed.

Monday morning we will be heading to Langkawi. Finally I get to see the place that is so heavily advertised in Asian Journeys. Work rests for a week. After that, we will continue with renewed energy.

Keeping busy

The last quarter of 2011 will be hectic and busy. We started with a week in Hong Kong, followed by a day trip to Singapore. Both rides very good and successful. Yet another trip to Singapore coming up to cover teh opening of Volvo's first multibrand dealership. That is next week already! Time flies.

Finally, we are taking some time out. A full week of laziness on Langkawi. Well, that again means everything else that needs doing has to be done before.  Right after our company party on 28th, there is a day trip up north for an exhibition.

Then there is a trip to Germany in November. Compamed again with Xeralife. Staying in Duesseldrof again for a week. Ahhhh Wiener Schnitzel and hopefully some Gluehwein.

To get some more content for the Asian Trucker Hong Kong edition I am planning a trip towards end of November / beginning of December.

In between, we are now starting to look for a new place to stay. Three years is enough in one place, no?

In Hong Kong - Launching Asian Trucker

In Hong Kong again. Launching Asian Trucker, the HK edition in Traditional Chinese,... Very exciting as it is only one of two more editions we are launching within 6 months.

Hong Kong is bustling and booming as ever before. Couldn't get a seat in McDonalds during lunch time, everyone was out and about. Went back to Happy Valley where i stayed in 1998. The place has changed with new coffee shops, pubs and lifestyle places around.

Alright... time to get Lucy (Doug's dog) off the bed and get some sleep.

I, Lobster

Maybe I shouldn't stay in the sun so long. Or I should stay in it more often. Went to the pool over teh weekend, sat there for 30 minutes and now I look like a lobster...

Lessons from cross cultural training

In Europe, when you travel further East than Berlin, you will be subjected to "Cultural Sensitivity Training" as it could happen that you meet someone from another ethnic background. White means something different in various countries. One thing is simple and I have not come accross anyone else that does it: Chinese Family names come first. Easy, right. Ho Ching Dew is Mr. Ho.

As I am not Chinese (No, really, I am NOT), my first name comes first, the last name last.
Can someone please tell the people in the banks and authorities about this fact? Just tell them that Caucasians and Chinese are NOT the same and that they also don't use the same logic for names.
Maybe eventually people will stop calling me Mr. Stefan (to which I am not reacting, cos there could be a Mr. Stefan. There are only a few families named Pertz. I react to Stefan or Mr. Pertz)

Less beer, more WORKOUT

After consolidating the 6-pack into one big one, the time has come to reverse this. This week I have signed up in a place where they have some rusty equipment and machines. I am not sure if one would call it a gym. The dust on the 100 pound dumbells dates back to the independance of Malaysia, there are the owner's kids sleeping on the floor (as if it wasn't difficult enough to control the weight, now you also have to watch out not to step on someone's face).

Here in the Condominium they have installed cameras in the gym, which is really silly. In any other fitness center they ban camera phones. Why? Cos you don't want some pervert to post videos of your wife in the gym on Youtube.

This month I am going to Hong Kong 2 times. Both trips are for the Asian Trucker.

New business idea

Everyone is talking about China being the next leader in the world. Now, let's follow the trend and do some China inspired products. I will start a new side business with China inspired light switches that I will call "Dim Some".

Spike says hello

Great picture of a small dog. Taken in our favorite Japanese restaurant on a Sunday evening.
Bit quiet at the moment with Ramadan and Ghost month at the same time. Maybe I should get some sport done?

Yesterday evening I "got stuck" in House Frankfurt. Happy Hour beers and such... We came to the conclusion that there are only bad news these days. Europe in a mess, USA total chaos. Let's not talk about the Middle East... And you thought you have problems.

So, now I am going to break a record by going to bed at 21:30. A new first for me!

Killer likely insane???

Maybe I am missing something here...Someone goes and kills 100 or so people as a result of some idiotic political views and the press says "Killer likely insane"?

You don't need ANY academic degree to certify that this fella is clearly a nutcase. Publishing a 1000 page manifesto on racial views alone is indication enough. What else to call a mass murderer like that?
"Nice and highly intelligent chap with some queer world views, expressed in the wrong manner"?

Who moved my Whisky?

Stefan Pertz is now certified senile...
I just realised that I already posted the toilet roll below in this blog. Ok, still funny, but hey, this isn't the public TV channel where you can re-run stuff forever...

Speaking of which: We don't have any working TV channel and have to depend on DVDs.
We are now down to D-Movies. Handy-cam quality and story lines as flat as plate.
The other day I was watching a movie. 1,5 hours (90 minutes feature film in jargon) later I have no idea what it was about. Maybe about some people doing some things.

Anyway,.. Dinner is ready. Off to warm up my new barstools.

Art

Singapore here we come again

Singapore here we come again. This time for the wedding of Alan, Nicole's brother. Three days in the island state. Had a hard time getting hold of a hotel room. There must be something going on. Indoor ping pong world championship or something. Since the opening of the so-called Integrated Resorts, tourist numbers have (according to Asian Journeys Magazine) gone up from 200 000 a month to 1 million!

Will send you a picture from the bus... Well, palm trees mainly.

Hong Kong - Surprisingly familiar

Off we went to Hong Kong on a biz trip. It was the best Hong Kong could offer in terms of excitement. Taiphoon warning, a surprisingly cosy hotel with harbour view and some great food. Some. We missed the Dim Sum. But we will come back for that later.

Amazingly, we bumped into friends. How do you do that in a city with 7 Million people milling about?

Few things have changed. Unfortunately, Union Bar & Grill is no longer. They had great Burgers.

In Bangkok with Clients

Scania is celebrating 100 years Bus in Thailand and they have flown me to Bangkok to cover teh event under Asian Trucker. Here the view from my Hotel.

I like the swimming pool sized bath tub... Too bad I did not bring my rubber duck (Where is one when you need it). Service in this hotel is great. Called them to see if they have an adapter for my powercords. In no time they had one delivered to my room... Normally, you get to hear "Solly sir, we no hab".

Here we are in our Brisbane "office"... aka McDonalds.

Deutsche Sprache

Da stehe ich irgendwo Naehe Frankfurt auf nem Rastplatz. Steht an nem Muelleimer: Nur fuer Reisemuell.

Was bitte ist Reisemuell? Wie unterscheidet sich dieser von anderem Muell?

Return to Oz

Just back from Singapore (Biz trip) I am heading up north for an interview with a logistics company next weekend.

We also secured a new project from Australia. This means I will be going back to Oz for a few days. Should be fun as I haven't been there in a while.

Brother in law is getting married, we are heading to Singapore to check out the food for the wedding. This will be over labour day. Hopefully not too labourious.

Chaos Central

Came back from Hong Kong just to go through the same choas as Doug the other night.
So, you arrive at 12:30am in LCCT (I am now referring to it as Chaos Central). The luggage is not on the carrousel it should be. Other passengers don't believe you when you say that this is luggage from Sri Lanka, not Hong Kong. 4 minutes later someone checks and 200 people run from left to right and another 200 from right to left.

Of course, the ATMs don't work at this time of the day. Why actually? The kiosks where they sell taxi coupons don't use cards, they only accept local cash. Sure, why make it easy by offering credit card or local debit card payments??? So, unless you bring money along, you CANNOT get away from the airport. Lucky for us, Doug still had some.

While we cue up at the taxi stand, the women from the bus countrer are yelling accross the hall, trying to sell their bus tickets. Thanks, we skip that. Busses usually leave only 45 minutes later, take twice as long and you have to be scared of all the creepy crawlies on board...

Well, if I wanted to tell you about the discussion with the cabbie regarding a small detour, I would need another 2 pages. Let's just say it was no fun at 2:30am...

Joys of international travel.

Hong Kong here I come again

Just realised that I booked an earlier flight. Now rushing to the airport.
Next 3 days in Hong Kong, after I return to KL, I have a busy schedule.
Right away, Wednesday morning I am heading to Melakka.

I still have to re-direct the blog to my original URL... Too many things to do.

See you all!

Ask me about Ipoh

I am in Singapore, at the airport. There is this leaflet on the "Ipoh Heritage Trail".
Great, since we are in Taiping for the Chinese New Year anyway, a trip to Ipoh makes sense.

So, off we go... The traffic is not too bad, considering that a lot of people are on leave. No major incidents on the way.

We arrive. We park. It is 1:00pm, we are hungry. Plenty of stores, all packed. Great. Means good food. 20 minutes later we sit down and order. 20 minutes later, the food arrives. Just then the phone rings.

Spike is sick, having some Diaroeha. Great. So we wrap up, go back.

I have now seen 1 local food store in Ipoh. Guess we have to do that again, minus a sick dog.
He looked sorry to have ruined the trip though...

Time to take up this hobby again

Alright, I admit it. 2010 I have been lazy posting my thoughts or images here. If that is a new-year-resoluton, so be it: I will post more often again on my blog.

Also, I know that the site www.stefanpertz.org is down. I simply need to renew some hosting and stuff. But we all know how it is. The beer in the fridge is more important than that.

We have had a good start into 2011. Not that we had a massive party or anything, we just slipped over into the new year. Business is doing fantastic. Which is very re-assuring as last year this time around was a complete catastrophe.

Next week I will be in Singapore. At the end of February I will compete in the "Las Vacas Steak Eating Competition". 1,3 Kg of steak are to be beaten.

Hopefully I will have some more travels with the Missus and we can post more stuff here.
Keep coming back for more.