Ghost Art Exhibition

I was ready to just go home after an exhausting day at the office... But then my cousin Andros called me, and was like: "Hey, grab some dinner?"

We went to Tenerife Restaurant at Youngstorget, serving one of the best tapas in the city. We shared a bottle of wine, and everything was good!

Then Andros suggested that I should come with him and his friend Remi, to see the art exhibition of Ghost.

One of Andros' friends, Edouard was excited about showing off his first art pieces. I thought what a heck, let's go!

We were greeted with a glass of champagne (yes, more booze!) and extraordinary, weird art.

I can't describe it, so I'm just going to show you the pictures...









Interested in a visit?
The exhibition is open from January 22nd to February 28, 2010.

Address: Maridalsveien 3, 0178 OSLO (not far from the club "Blå")

And FREE ENTRANCE! ;)

Amanda

A Make-Over at Adam & Eva Hairsaloon

Aaaah.... I loved my long hair, but when it reached my ass, I started to wonder if it was too long. So I decided to just cut it shorter!

Adam & Eva at Arkaden in Oslo, is a great saloon! Clean, professional and they know what they're doing. Well, at least I was impressed by Stian (my hairdresser). He's got magic hands and knows exactly what to do, and he knows what you mean. I absolutely recommend him!

So I sat there for 70 minutes (I've got a lot of hair), he cut my hair with 6 inches, straightened it, gave it a nice lift and voila... I was done! :-)

So how much was it?
Eeeegh. Oslo is expensive. But I've just accepted it. A haircut cost me 680 kroners (= 115 US dollars). Was it worth it? - Yes.
I've could have chosen to spend these kroners on beers and drinks, but confidence and feeling good about yourself is more worth it! ;)

Hotel Policy at Hotels.com... Watch Out!!!

I ordered a hotel in Amsterdam via Hotels.com. Due to personal matters, I had to cancel the entire trip. I thought: "I'm not leaving before this Friday, so I have plenty of time to cancel it." Well, think again!!!

This morning I called Hotels.com. They told me that I could cancel it, BUT THE HOTEL WOULD STILL CHARGE ME MONEY FOR THE ENTIRE PLANNED DURATION. He asked me if I read the hotel policy, and I was like "shit." I read it, but didn't catch it because a) I didn't think that I would cancel it b) The way I read the policy, made me go: "Nah, nah there must be some sentence error here."

Here's what Bilderberg Hotel Jan Luyken's cancellation policy says:
(...) "cancellations or changes made before 12:00 AM (W. Europe Standard Time) on Jan 14, 2010 are subject to a 7.40 EUR penalty and a 100%% Cost of Stay penalty. Cancellations or changes made after 12:00 AM (W. Europe Standard Time) on Jan 14, 2010 are subject to a 100%% Cost of Stay penalty."

Normal people like me and you would think that if you cancel days or weeks before "deadline," you can get off the hook. That's how it works in normal hotel life. And it should be part of their service!!! I'm kind of angry that they can write policies like that. It felt like a big damn scam to me.

The poor Swedish man in the phone tried to help me out, but I was just frustrated and angry... at myself...

So please read the hotel policies first at Hotels.com and take it seriously!!!

I just lost 1500 kroners (= 250 US dollars)... AAAAARGGGHHH!!!

Amanda the Frustrated

Tapas Night....

... I just came home from a girl-night -- a fantastic dinner with my friend Liv!!! :D

Visiting Oslo, and wondering where you can grab some tapas in this town?
Our plan was to get inside the doors of "Delicatessen" at Grunerløkka in Oslo. "Delicatessen" is ALWAYS full whenever I'm there, and it bugs me because I don't know why I'm standing and waiting in a line. I've never tried the food, and don't know if all the waiting is worth it.

Why should I bother to go there if I know the chances of getting a table are minimal?
The reputation of "Delicatessen" has spread its roots across town. Almost everyone has either eaten or heard about this tapas-restaurant. In the summer, people will wait outside for several hours to get a table... In other words, their food must be good... And PS: You can't book a table, it's a drop-in restaurant!

But guess what, I met my girlfriend at Delicatessen and it was of course full. How long did they say we had to wait? -- 1,5 hour to get a table. Ugh!

So we went to San Leandro instead, which is a two minute walk from Delicatessen. To our surprise, it was also full... I guess that the impatient people who don't get a table at Delicatessen, goes straight to San Leandro... :-P

But we didn't have to wait that long... 15 minutes tops... finally! I was starving!

After 15 minutes we were given a table, wine menu and food menus. The options were variable and it wasn't that hard to choose. If you've eaten tapas before, it shouldn't be hard to know what to pick! ;-)

Here are the 7 dishes we chose: potatoes with aoili, tomatoes with basilico, king shrimps, the classic meat balls in tomato sauce, croquet with ham, chorizo, and mushrooms in tomato sauce. All in all good, but the croquet tasted weird. It tasted like melted cheese -- that's all. I just washed it down with a glass of sparkling rose wine (Freixenet Rosado Brut), NAM!



And be aware when you're deciding portions... 3 of the 7 dishes we ordered were in "large portion," and then 4 small ones. It was more than enough. I think I could have settled for 5 small portions and 2 large, or even 6 small portions and 1 large.

How much did the dinner cost?
Total of 977 kroner (= 172 US dollars). The tapas varied from 55 kr to 200 kr per dish, depending on what it is; veggy or sea food.

Verdict: Good, but not the best
I've tried the tapas at "Barcelona Tapas" in the same neighborhood, and the food was better there. But the place has been closed for a long time now, and I'm hoping that it will someday open again... :S

Positive: Friendly, English-speaking staff. The only Norwegian word they could understand I think, was "regning" (= as in the bill). Most of the food tasted good, like the meatballs and the king shrimps. The sparkling rose wine was excellent! It was like soda! (dangerous, we got a little drunk on one bottle)

Negative: Some of the dishes weren't worth its price. Like, the croquet and the mushroom.

I wouldn't order the mushroom again. I was expecting a little more extravagance. At other tapas restaurants in Oslo, you would get whole mushrooms with melted cheese on it. At San Leandro, they just sliced the mushroom into tiny pieces, threw it in a tomato sauce and added cold cheese on it.

Address:
San Leandro Tapas Grünerløkka
Thorvald Meyers Gate 76B
0550 Oslo

Amanda

Have a nice weekend!

Avatar... WOW!!!

I just saw the Avatar Movie in 3D version at the Colosseum in Oslo, and it literally blew my mind!

It lasted for 3 whole hours, but it didn't feel like it... I just wanted it to last forever.

All the colors and special effects (I didn't know that all these colors existed), the sexy but weird characters, the story, and of course the political message behind this movie is intriguing.

The humans are invading Planet Pandora, so they can get their hands on a super mineral.... Gee, that doesn't sound familiar.

To me, it's more like a metaphor for the wars going on around the globe.

-- A popular example: The Western World wanted more oil, so they invaded Iraq to acquire the oil in the northern and southern parts of the country.

What so provocative about the movie, is that the humans didn't have the right to invade the planet. It screams: "We take what we want, at all costs!"

It's a movie I absolutely recommend. If you haven't seen it yet, you better see it soon! I think this is a movie you have to see at the cinemas, and not on your TV (unless you have a large wide screen).

ENJOY! Amanda :D

Eat Baby Soup to Boost Your Sex Life...

The pictures below are not for the fainthearted...

My mom received an e-mail from a friend of hers who just got back from China. What mom had to say, was so disturbing. I'm not into babies, and I don't have that biological clock as many women have, but the pictures surely brought out the empathy in me...

First, I'm just gonna paste the article, then the pictures...

"Brief translation: Shocking news circulated in China.

A town in Canton is now on trend taking baby herbal soup to increase health and sexual performance/ stamina. The cost in China currency = approx $4000. A factory manager was interviewed and he testified that it is effective because he is a frequent customer.

It is a delicacy whereby expensive herbs are added to boil the baby with chicken meat for 8 hours boiling/steaming.

He pointed to his second wife next to him, who is 19 (he is 62), and testified that they have sex everyday. After waiting for a couple of weeks, he took this reporter to the restaurant when he was informed by restaurant Manager that the spare rib soup
(local code for baby soup) was now available.

This time, it was a couple who have 2 daughters and this 3rd one was confirmed to be
a daughter again. So the couple aborted the baby which was 5 months old. Those babies close to be born and die naturally costs 2000 in China currency. Those aborted ones cost a few hundreds in China Currency. Those couples who did not want to sell dead babies, placentas can be accepted also for couple of hundreds."













Amanda

My highlights of 2009!

Here's a piece of the good stuff in 2009 ;)



1) More traveling -- this time to Hong Kong and the Philippines Dec 2008 to Jan 2009

Our schedule in Hong Kong involved visiting Lantau Island and the Big Buddha, sampling delicious Cantonese food, shopping, and more sightseeing. Unfortunately I caught fever during the 3rd day in Hong Kong, and was sick for 1,5 week.

Nevertheless, we had to catch the flight from Hong Kong to Manila on Dec 23rd.

When I finally could walk and stopped freezing in 30 degrees,
me, my boyfriend and my family went to Bohol in the Philippines! ;)

We visited the Chocolate Hills, Butterfly Sanctuary, Alona Kew Beach, Loboc River and the Tarsiers. Tarsiers are so cute and can fit in your pocket.... I resisted my urge to kidnap one, when some of the locals told us that the tarsiers are capable of killing themselves if they feel trapped (like if they're caged)...



Here's Alona Kew Beach. It wasn't sunny, but we still got blinded by the beautiful white beaches.



Nam, nam fresh and cold coconut drink! :D



2) Backpacking in Malaysia <3 June - July 2009

We (aka me and my boyfriend, he wants to be anonymous so I will only write BF or something) loved the beautiful beaches and the mouth running Malay food! We just loved KL, KK and the Perhentians.



If you're going to Malaysia, you're bound to visit Chinatown in KL. It's a bustling area filled with colorful food stalls, markets and all kinds of accommodation types. We just couldn't pass the fruit stands without buying fruit.... Hihihi... Can you blame us..?! ;-)



And of course... my 6th tattoo... a sea horse was painfully taken in Chinatown, but it was definitely worth it!



3) "All I want for Christmas is a new mobile...."

I've had this lousy Samsung for almost 5 years now. They're nice-looking in design, but I wouldn't rely on its durability. During two of these years, I had to load the battery EVERY day! And it would turn on and off by itself. My Samsung was dying, that's for sure...

... So my boyfriend came to rescue. For Christmas, he bought me a HTC Tattoo.



I'm not a huge tech-fan. But the HTC is actually very smart and fun to play with. I haven't exactly mastered the touch pad yet (last night I managed to call my pregnant friend at 3am by a mistake.. Ooops), but I'm getting better and better by the day! :D

4) I conquered my fear --

Ever since I saw the Arachnophobia Movie, I've always been fascinated and disgusted by large, hairy spiders.



Here I am at a spider exhibition at "Gamle Posthallen" in Oslo. If you're interested, and you're in town, go and visit. I think that the only venomous spider at the site was the Black Widow, and that's NOT the one I'm holding ;)



Are there only spiders at the exhibition?
Nope. I met my ugly enemies: the cockroaches.

We're not talking about small cockroaches, but large ones like the Death's Head Cockroaches, hissing cockroaches, scorpions, and centipedes.

The Exhibition is open everyday until January 31, 2010 from 10 am to 6 pm. Entrance is just 100 kroners!

It's the perfect place to get rid of your phobia! I believe that I got ride of mine ;)



5) Obama accepting the Nobel Peace Prize



When Obama and Michelle arrived in Oslo in the beginning of Dec 2009, there was pure madness in the city!

Around 1000 policemen from south to mid-Norway were gathered to protect ONE man, ONE president. And 10.000 civilians occupied the entire center of Oslo, so they could have a look at America's future hope. I wasn't one of the them who followed him like a crazy teenager, but I have to admit that the craziness was contagious.

I like Obama. I like the idea that the majority of the US population finally chose a democrat, and not a republican. But did he deserve that prize?

If you missed it, here's some relevant links:
Did Obama deserve the Nobel Peace Prize? (opens in a new window)