Monday, November 19, 2007

Am on a flight from Shanghai back to the USA and just realized that a few hours ago I had my first piece of candy since I arrived in China 10 days ago. Out of sight – out of mind, I suppose. I did not see any chocolate the entire time I was there. The Chinese are not big on chocolate, yet I normally am. But I’m happy to report that, when in China, I did as the Chinese and didn’t even think about any type of sweets the entire time.

I am always so lucky when it comes to finding accommodation around the world. I usually try to rent a room in someone’s private home everywhere I go. Even in Shanghai I managed to do it, thanks to “Craigslist”. The apartment is one of the newer buildings that are springing up everywhere in this city. It is only a very short walk from the official media hotel, from which I could get the shuttle bus to the tournament. My flat mate’s name is Holly, she is Chinese/American. Here is a picture of her on our balcony:

This is my room and my very interesting shower (don’t move to rapidly while inside or you might bring the whole box down with you – and don’t stay in there too long with the hot water steaming up this tiny space or else you might suffocate – other than that, enjoy!).

Holly and I got along very well. I was so happy to have all my many questions about China and the Chinese language answered. We went to lunch together several times, to places where I would never have gone by myself. Here are a few pictures of the good food:

The Chinese eat a lot of noodles in various shapes and sizes. I loved the dumplings!! The noodles are made very fresh. You can see here that the guy is making them in the front of the ‘restaurant’ (= hole in wall), then throws them in this steaming water bucket, and the other guy takes them out and puts them right into a bowl to serve to the customer.

Another great thing I experienced was a real Chinese massage. No, not one of those with the happy endings – quite the opposite…it was more like pure torture. But it felt soooo good after it was done (yes, of course it did, right? The relief from the torture…).
No, seriously. It was incredible. I have this constant pain in my lower right back, but the massage made it a lot better. 3 days later I am still in virtually no pain in that spot. I only hope that I can find a Chinese massage place in Orlando. I might be addicted now.

Before I left the States, one of my main goals was to do a lot of shopping in China. I even left a lot of space in my suitcase for that reason, so that I can fill it with fake jeans and sweaters. But then the shopping didn’t really happen for me. I just could not get into that mood. Maybe it’s because I saw how people are happy with a lot less there. And my closet at home is already pretty full with useless stuff. So … I ended up buying only 2 pairs of jeans from a regular store (not the fake market) and a pearl necklace, in which Holly is an expert shopper. I only paid $8.00 thanks to her (and she thought that was still too expensive).

Anyway, here I am, on my way back again to the land of chocolate and fat people, who complain that things are never convenient enough. And although Shanghai is full of noise and traffic and smog and spit on the streets, I sincerely hope that I will have many more chances to visit this intriguing place.

A Manu-Guide to London in the Rain

What to do on a rainy day in London? Visit museums? No.....go shopping, again!!

This time my tube-exit of choice was "Knightsbridge", which practically took me directly into Harrods. Oh no, not another department store, you say? Well, Harrods is anything but the ordinary department store, believe me! I was walking around in there with my mouth wide open. But before I could actually get in, there were two incidents that almost dissuaded me from entering.

First, there were a group of demonstrators outside, who were shouting to boycott the store, because Harrods is the only department store in the UK that sells real fur coats.They had brochures with pictures of "defurred" animals and I really thought about not going in. But then I thought that it was probably ok to go sightseeing in there (the likelyhood of me buying anything was slim anyway). If I had thought a little quicker, I could have taken a bunch of brochures inside and stuffed them into the pockets of the fur coats...!
So then I made my way to the door, but was told by the doorman (and yes, there is one at each of the many doors) that I could not carry my backpack on my back. Instead I had to carry the darn (heavy) thing in my hand. "Impossible" I said and turned around back into the street. But after lurking there for 5 minutes it started raining heavily and so I went to another door (where I was told the same thing) and decided to venture inside.

And I have not regretted it.....what a store!!!

I could have spent a whole day in there, but think I managed at least 2 hours and didn't even see half of it. They have got absolutely everything (yes, including fur coats, unfortunately). And everything I saw was unusual....from hats to top-designer dresses to extravagant writing utensils and notepads. Ah, they even had official Wimbledon souvenirs!

There are five enormous food halls with meat, cheese, fruit, chocolate, cakes, etc... and everything looks delicious (with the exception of those chicken heads maybe).

When I was almost at the end of my tour I stumbled upon an information desk where they handed out Store Guides. Would have been handy before, I suppose. Anyway, I took one and had a look at what else I should possibly see in there. And there I noticed that the store has a 'Diana and Dodi Memorial' - couldn't leave without seeing that of course.

So, to summarize my trip to the Disney World of London:

1. go there on a rainy day
2. do not take any heavy backpacks
3. pick up a store guide at the beginning of your tour
4. don't buy anything unless you want the "anti-fur-trade" people to shout at you
5. oh and if you really must buy something, look out for the discretely placed signs that read "Seasonal Reductions", which I think is posh for "SALE"!

Greetings from Europe

Hello everyone,

Long time no Blog...I know, I know...!

I am in the middle of my yearly Europe-Mega-Tour and my original plan was to blog at least once a week, as I was in a different place almost every week since the end of April. But as things rarely go as planned, I didn't blog at all until today, 8 weeks after departure and 2 weeks before I fly back home.

The reason why I'm finally getting off my 'lazy *^#%' today is that this is my first proper day off since the German Open at the beginning of May. And I'm all excited because I went shopping in London today. Not that I bought very much, but I finally had a whole day all to myself. I did whatever I felt like doing. It was great - and involved visits to several London Cafes - as you may already know, one of my passions is to sample coffee from all around the world.

For shopping I frist went to Oxfort Street and visited the department store 'Selfridge' and several smaller shops along the way (like FCUK, ZARA, etc...). It was fun, but everything is a bit expensive. I saw one really cool blouse in the Designer Section of Selfridge's, but when I looked at the price tag (230 GBP), I started running. In fact, I ran all the way to the Underground Station and jumped on to go to one of London's coolest markets instead. It is on Portobello Road in Notting Hill. And here is where I fell in love with London. Notting Hill is where I want to live (if I had around $100,000/year in rent money to spend).

Anyway, the market is really fun....if you are into wacky stuff, this is the place for you!! I may have to go back there again before I leave this city. I heard that Saturday is a better day to go than Friday (today). I came just before 6 pm and all the stalls were about to pack up. My Lonely Planet guide said "Fridays until 7 pm", but it aint true!!

Tomorrow is Saturday.... :) And I have another day off!

Will try to relax and get the needed energy for the next two weeks of Wimbledon tennis, before I get to finally fly back home on July 9.

Here in London I live in Southfields in a private apartment sharing the flat with two locals. I can walk to the tennis, it is not far at all. And occasionally I run into some tennis players in Southfields or Wimbledon Village. Already bumped into John Roddick (Andy's brother) at Starbucks, Marcos Baghdatis at the Tesco (groceries) and Bec Cartwright (Hewitt's wife) in the street.

Hope to make at least one more entry from London before I go back home :-)

Here is a quick visual tour of what I've been up to since my Europe-Tour began:

June 15 - Halle (Westfalen) Germany after a big storm that knocked out our internet service on the farm where I was staying!

June 10 - Paris, France - the city of Love...



May 7 - Berlin, Germany - what would Germans do without the 'wurst'?!

May 1 - Wetzhausen, Germany - near my parents' home. Just to show you that Germany can be nice when the sun is shining..... ;-)

Melbourne, Australia - January 10 - 29

So this is it, the city of Melbourne. Not that I saw very much of it this year, as I was working at the Australian Open every day of my 3 week stay from 10 am until late at night. And I mean late!! Sometimes unitl 3:30 in the morning.

It was a very strange Australian Open. During the Qualifying Rounds we had the best weather. Always nice and sunny with temperatures between 28 and 36 degrees Celsius. It was hot, but still bearable, as long as I had sunscreen and water.

In the second week (first week of main draw) it got intolerably hot. The temperatures were extreme - over 48 degrees Celsius (120 F). The extreme-heat rule was in effect for several days, which means that there is no play on the outside courts and the matches on the main courts (Rod Laver and Vodafone Arena) were played under a closed roof. Needless to say that is not ideal for photographing action images.

And to make matters even worse we had a few days of rain in the third week, with more matches under closed roof. It even got rather cold. During the Mens' Final on Sunday evening I was sitting on the side of the court with a sweater and a jacket sipping hot tea. I still managed to catch a cold. All in all we experienced (almost) every kind of weather Melbourne has to offer.

On the few days toward the end of my stay where matches started in the late afternoon, I was enjoying some time off in the city of Melbourne. The very best thing about Melbourne in my opinion is the cappuccino. I'm a total caffein addict and have sampled coffee all over the world. With the exception of maybe Italy (where I have never been), I would say Melbourne has the best brew in the world. Who would have thought that??!!

Here is a picture of my delicious breakfast cappuccino on Friday (January 26), which was also a holiday (Australia Day). I went to Fitzroy Gardens and sat there in an outdoor cafe enjoying this great cup (it was so good that I ordered a second one :-)


Melbourne has beautiful gardens in every corner of the city. I saw this colorful flowerbed on my walk through Fitzroy Gardens after breakfast on Friday morning. It was just the thing I needed to do to recover a little bit from all the stressful days of work....

January 9, 2007 at 2:35 am – somewhere over the Pacific Ocean

Exactly 12 hours after my departure in Orlando, Florida I am finally bored enough to switch on my laptop for the first time and make an attempt at something that is commonly know by the modern world as “Blogging”.

Why do I want to make such an attempt? Heaven only knows…! I don’t really have the time to record my daily activities nor do I possess any kind of writing skills. I’m a photographer, and I don’t have any intention of changing that any time soon. Besides, who on earth would be interested in reading what goes on in my little world?!

To make a long story short (and “short” most of my future entries might well be) – the odds are definitely against this blogg and I will be extremely surprised if it still exists a month from now.

However, let’s give it a chance first, shall we?!

Ok, ok, so what the heck am I doing over the Pacific Ocean in the middle of the night? Ah, well, I’m heading to Australia, what else!

The off-season, short as it was, is now over and I am ready (at least I think I am) for a brand new tennis season, with almost frighteningly high enthusiasm. It’s like everyone is starting with a clean slate, not just the players, but also us photographers - a new season with new chances to get (even) better pictures than last year, to “win” the big one and take home the trophy ;-) Hey, why not?! I think of it as a small trophy every time a picture of mine gets published. So there! We’re not so different from the players!

But before I can start hammering away like a mad-woman (with my camera) I have to get through this endless flight first. Luckily I actually enjoy flying (now you do think I’m mad) and don’t mind even this long flight. In fact, I was able to drag it out as long as possible by booking the Orlando – Los Angeles portion with not one, but TWO stops in Denver and Las Vegas. Oh what joy! I managed to “visit” a total of 4 cities, stretching from East to the West coast, in less than 8 hours.

Now I am on the Los Angeles – Sydney portion in a very comfortable Exit-seat and the seat next to me is empty. Who needs business class in that case, eh? Economy is perfectly acceptable. Ughh…except maybe for the food that they serve in Economy, but let’s drop that subject.

Time for me to sign off and try to go to sleep. Hey, this blogg was good for something already – it made me sleepy!! How’bout you? Still awake? I’ll take that as encouragement… ;-)

Bye for now,
Manu