Day 167 – 184 Joyful Christmas in the Philippines and Norway

Posted on January 17, 2017 by sivgr

Thanks to all of you for making Christmas 2016 full of everlasting memories!

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Our family spent Christmas three different places in December 2016. Ole Martin went to his hometown in Norway, Narvik, to spend some days with his father Reidar and the rest of his family and friends. Ib Margido spent it with friends in Trondheim in Norway, and Emeric Philip, Luna Noor and Siv Johanne spent it with Siv’s father Ingar and Jenifer and their family and friends in Dumaguete in the Philippines. As I am the one staying in Dumaguete in the Philippines with Emeric and Luna – and took a lot of pictures (“as usual” – I hear Luna Noor says…) I will attempt to summarize the main happenings as best I can.

Dumaguete is situated in the Negros Island in the Philippines where there lives about 150 000 inhabitants. The official languages is Cebuano, Ilongo, Filipino and English. The currency is Pilippine Peso and the temperature varies from 24 to 32 degrees celsius all year round with one wet (June to November) and one dry season (December to May).

During our stay in Dumaguete we experienced the colorful and diverse flora, the green and lush mountainsides, the helpful, smily and relaxed people, an interesting geothermal power plant in the mountains of Valencia, the busy town center, a very joyful Christmas spirit, early morning walks with my dad and his dogs in the neighbourhood, Christmas parties, local food, a local fish market, swimming, a beautiful hotel resort, Philippine fishing, happy karaoke nights, a confused Santa Claus on Christmas eve, and a magical church on our way to Cebu :-). Hera (my little sister) and Luna Noor were having a great time together playing, singing and swimming in the pool. Frances (Jenifers son) and Emeric also spent some nice moments together. 🙂

Jenifer, dad, Hera and Frances

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Early morning walk with the dogs, Rushka and Mali

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Visiting the Geothermal power plant in Valencia (using hot water steam from vulcano heat many thousand meters into the earth soil to generate electricity) 20161221_102533

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Luna Noor om Serbia

Posted on January 13, 2017 by lunanoor

Jeg ser på en skulptur utenfor en kirke i Subotica i Serbia 20161117_124056 Tina, jeg, mamma og tante Lara 20161113_155021 20161113_173043

Først var vi i Thailand i en dag før vi dro til Norge med et fly. Flyet vi satt på fløy i ca. 10 timer. Når vi kom til Norge møtte jeg Tina (en av vennene mine) og Lara (tanten min). Etter å ha vært sammen med dem på flyplassen i ca. 4 timer dro vi med et fly til Budapest i Ungarn. Så tok vi baggene våre og dro med en bil som skulle hente oss og kjøre oss til hotellet vi skulle bo på der mamma skulle fikse tennene. Forresten – flyet vi tok til Ungarn kjørte i ca. 2 og en halv time. Mens bilen vi satt i skulle til en by over grensen til Serbia, så den brukte ca. 3 timer. Dette blir til sammen ca. 19 timer. Og det som var det verste var at når vi kom fram var det midt på natta, og jeg og mamma var stuptrøtt. Noen timer senere dro mamma på tannlegekontoret. Nesten hver dag var mamma hos tannlegen i flere timer. På bursdagen min dro vi på bowling og selvfølgelig vant jeg. Jeg har et bevis som jeg kommer til å legge ut nedenfor her. Serbia var faktisk et fint land. Men tilbake til bursdagen min. Mamma tok 4 timer av dagen min på tannlegen. Men vi fant en veldig god restaurant. Der det var en bravissimo dessert and “very awesome Food”. Dere husker vel sikkert Susan fra Vietnam. Hun sendte meg en gave. Hun sendte meg nutella-sticks og en fin t-skjorte. Thank you for the gifts Susan! Enda en ting vi gjorde. Vi klippet håret. Men jeg fikk også krøller men mamma fikk ikke. Og så shoppet vi litt og fikk samme luer. Det som var best var at det var salg på sommerklær fordi det var vinter. Fra Elin og Sturla i Trondheim fikk jeg 2 jumpsuiter som jeg kan bruke på reisen. Forresten – jeg møtte en jente på tannlegen. Hun var veldig snill, hun het Sandra. På bursdagen min kom hun med noen tegnestifter, noen kule klistrelapper og hun gav meg et ludo. Pluss at vi dro ut på en cafe og spilte ludo med henne der. Det var kjempeartig. Tusen takk, Sandra!

Jeg er hos tannlegen med mamma i Serbia

Jeg og mamma tuller med tenner før hun får de nye tennene sine 20161114_140124

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Day 161 – 166 Mourning Bangkok in Thailand

Posted on January 7, 2017 by sivgr

One night in Bangkok… OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Arriving Bangkok in a period of national mourning (already lasted for over a month) over loosing their king Bhumibol Adulyadej, made a huge impression on us. He is the longest-reigning king in the world with over 70 year at the throne. The prime minister has now declared a one year mourning for state employees and it seems like the whole country is going to follow this long-lasting mourning period. For many people he was seen as a demigod or as a close family member because of his wise and caring way of reigning the country. He administered with his daughter over 4 000 environmental, rural and self-sustainable projects throughout the country to help it grow and develop for the benefit of Thailand and it’s people. On several occasions at the cinema we were kindly asked to stand up in order to remember and honor the late king for a minute watching a video with highlights of his deeds and life. I have to admit that I got tears in my eyes while I stood there understanding what a great and unifying king he must have been…

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Our experience of Bangkok is that it is full of culture (museums, monuments and art), cosy night markets, riverside hotels and restaurants, river cruises and taxis, good food, interesting activities, modern buildings, skyscrapers, and technology. People are busy but friendly and try to help whenever you ask. The low prices make it easy to enjoy the diversity of the many possible activities and cultural sites and art of the city. We visited Wat Pho, The Grand Palace, Wat Arun, Khaosan road (backpacker’s road), Asiatique The Riverfront (night market), as well as travelling by water taxis, Tuk Tuks and SkyTrain to visit the city center Siam where we went bowling, shopping and watching movies. Both Luna Noor and Emeric ended up buying their very own ukulele… I hope we will have much fun and pleasure listening to them in the future when they probably will be able to entertain themselves and us with nice music! 🙂

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We also spent our last days touring with our oldest son, Ib Margido in Bangkok, as he went back to Norway after half a year touring the world with us. He decided it was time for him to continue where he left off before the worldwide family tour started back in Trondheim. We miss you already and wish you all the best in your future life journeys! Love you soooo much! We will be checking up on you from time to time… 🙂

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