TRAVEL AND LIFESTYLE DIARIES

My brother-in-law has been to Taipei a few years ago and he told me that if ever I will be visiting the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial monument , which is a very popular attraction in Taipei, I better go and check out the changing of the guards. My plan really is to visit the CKS memorial monument but I didn’t know about the changing of the guard's ceremony. So I did some quick research and found out that the ceremony happens on the top of the hour from 10:00 to 16:00, thus, on an hourly basis. I have seen a couple of changing of the guard's ceremonies in other capital cities, namely the Royal Palace in Stockholm (Sweden), the Parliament Building on Syntagma Square in Athens (Greece) and the Buckingham Palace in London (United Kingdom) where I got bored waiting together with the massive crowd that I decided to leave. I may have seen more changing of the guards in other countries but these 3 are the ones I can recollect quickly. The Liberty Square Main Gate. I wanted t...

This is probably my eight or ninth canal cruise in Amsterdam... and the fourth dinner cruise. The first and second dinner cruises I had were work-sponsored. If I remember it correctly, the first one was a company dinner cruise for new hires in EMEA and the second one was a Christmas dinner cruise. The third was with the Dutchman on board the Supperclub Cruise. And now this, the fourth one, also work-related =) Cruises, as you can see, are very popular events in Amsterdam. Since this is a work-related event, I won't be able to tell much, except about the food, the boat ride and what I saw. We booked the dinner cruise with the boat company called Lovers. It is located right across the Amsterdam Centraal Station (on the side where you can find the 3-storey bike parking). The dinner cruise package was a 4-course meal on a 4-hour program cruising through the old canals of Amsterdam Centrum. As this was a rather touristy activity with an equally touristy boat operator, I h...

For Bubbles and I, we had our last (late) lunch out for our April jaunts at this unique restaurant that is shaped, designed and located extraordinarily in the outskirts of the Haarlemmermeer forest in Hoofddorp, just a stone’s throw away from Schiphol Airport. I have been here before many years ago as well, having had lunch with a business partner who was quite pleased when I told him we are eating here. He obviously knew the place. A restaurant with the perfect location and view. I just loved the tranquil surroundings of this place, the restaurant right on the water and with an abundance of nature around it, gives diners just the perfect reason to retreat in peace and enjoy the food and time spent here. It would have been better if the weather cooperated but at least it wasn’t raining when we were here. Spring in the Netherlands can be very tricky you know. Restaurant Vork & Mes is not easy to get to with public transport. It is about 14 minutes drive (or with the ...