Still waiting for my Indian entry visa... how long should bureaucratic bullshit take?

Me and 30 others in my class are still waiting for our Indian entry visas. We went to the TT Visa Services in Oslo almost two weeks ago, and still no visa has been dispatched.

We're neither tourists or students, so entry visa is our only way in to Kerala.

I had to pay 50 kr extra because my parents aren't ethnic Norwegians... in total I had to pay 985 kr, while my ethnic Norwegian class mates paid 935 kr.

Apparently the rules have been stricter because of the recent terrorist attacks in India. What appears weird is that they asked for my father's name, his nationality and any previous nationalities. They didn't even ask for his date of birth -- so how can they check his background...?

On top of that, my application is supposed to take at least 11 days to process. Do they really need that much time to check out my father's background (without his date of birth)?

All of this smells very bureaucratic, and a way to suck money out of Norwegian pockets especially students.

TT Services is lousy when it comes to service. Our teacher sent them several emails asking if we could still apply for a entry visa since their website was not clear on this. Their reply was:

"Please look at our website for answers."

Great!

I just hope that we will get our visas on time --

Amanda

Christmas Arabic Dinner with My Former Colleagues

I just got home from a dinner party with my former colleagues. Being without a "formal" job nowadays leaves me out of the Christmas dinners and parties that each work place arrange for their employees. I think that's probably one of the nicest things about having a job -- a work place that actually spends some money on their employees to show their appreciation.

Well, even though I quit my job 4 months ago I still got invited to their Christmas dinner party :-)

There's no shock that a group of Middle East experts chose an Arabic restaurant, Sahara Bedouin Restaurant. It was Arabic "Christmas" food last year as well, at Habibi Cafe near Oslo City.

We arrived at 19.00 and we were met by a Swedish lady dressed in a traditional Arabic cloak. The atmosphere was nice and I liked their Bedouin concept which was reflected in their furniture, warm design and earthy colors, strange decor and exotic music.

After 20 minutes the appetizers arrived!

Meza! Great meza and their hummus was delicious. Every one was having a good time, and I got the chance to hook up with my favorite colleagues :-)

While we were eating and in between the waiting, there was some belly dancing in the room. The belly dancing was OK. I've seen better and I personally think that she could have shaken her hips a little harder! The guys were just staring at her like she cast a spell on them... MEN! :-P

Time went and we were still waiting for our main course.

How long did we have to wait?

1 hour and 15 minutes. They apologized and said that they were short-staffed...

The main dish:
Lamb with rice and vegetables. How was it? My god, I've tasted better than this. It didn't taste awful -- it just didn't taste...anything. Lifeless salad and cold lamb. So I'm kind of disappointed about their food. With such a reputation you would think that they served the best Arabic food in town. The only dish I liked was their Meza.

Price: 259 kr (appetizers + main dish)

Address: Dronningens gate 21
Tel: 22 41 90 00

The Closest You Can Get to Thailand in Oslo, Norway

A couple of months ago I discovered a small Thai shop in center of Oslo called "Thai Yum Yum", only 10 minutes from where I live. My boyfriend was the one who discovered it first, and he was like:

"Amanda, I know where you can get your cheap Pad Thai now!"

When I heard the words "Pad Thai" I totally lit up :-)

On a cold day we tried their warm Pad Thai and spring rolls (89 kr for the Pad Thai and 35 kr for the spring rolls). They're nothing like the Pad Thais you find on the streets in Bangkok, yet they're delicious. Their Pad Thai dish has more sauce and the smell reminds me more of biff chopsuey than noodles.

If you're in Oslo and want cheap food, you should definitely try this place! Food for less than 100 kr is considered cheap, and there are only a few restaurants that serve dishes to reasonable prices. Most of them are located around "Torggata" (the main street where different cultures are in business -- Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Arabic, Kurdish, Turkish).

Other dishes they can cook up for you:

Appetizers:
Tod Mun -- fried fish cakes (45 kr)

Soups:
Tom Kha Kai -- sour chicken soup with coconut milk (58 kr)
Tom Yum Kung -- sour scampi soup with chilli paste(58 kr)

Rice dishes:
Kaow Pat -- fried rice with chicken, beef, scampi or vegetarian (89 kr)
Pad Med Mamoung -- fried chicken, beef, scampi, vegetarian with chilli paste, cashew nuts and vegetables.
Kaow Na Pet Yang -- grilled duck with rice and sauce (118 kr)

Thai curry:
Gaeng Panaeng -- chicken, beef, scampi or vegetarian dish in coconut red curry, panaeng and rice (98 kr)
Gaeng Ped Pet Yang -- grilled duck in cocobut red curry, vegetables and rice (128 kr)

Mango Sticky Rice (58 kr)

They also serve sushi if you're interested in that! :-)

Another great thing about this place is the fact that you can order take-away. As I mentioned this is a small restaurant, and there are very few tables and seats.

If you do decide to sit there and eat I can definitely tell you that you will feel like you're in Thailand. Plastic chairs, colorful table cloth, "christmas" light and souvenirs hanging on the walls.

Yaya's is another Thai restaurant in Oslo and is a lot more popular than Thai Yum Yum. But the prices at Yaya's are a lot stiffer -- most dishes cost between 150-200 kr. The atmosphere there is fantastic though; the whole place looks like it was taken from Koh Phi Phi -- hammocks, reggae music, wooden tables, plastic chairs, plastic plates, fake thunder storms once in a while and colorful bathrooms styled with under water themes.

Cool place! But as I said: more expensive.

Here's Thai Yum Yum's contact information:

Tel: 21 37 82 87
Mobile: 96 88 11 79

Address: Rostedsgate 16 A
Open: 11.00 - 13.00, 15.00-22.00, Sat and Sun: 15.00-22.00
E-mail: KP_IMPORT(at)hotmail.com

Amanda's Telegraph Taking a Break!

In 10 hours I'll be on my way to Bangkok! Amanda's Telegraph will be on hold from April 3 to May 6! ;-)

Stay tuned!

Amanda

7 Incredible Natural Phenomena You've Never Seen

I stumbled upon this article. Theres a lot of weird stuff here, but the one that caught my attention was this:

Its top 3 was: "Moroccos's Climbing Goats."



If you want to know what the 6 other incredible natural phenomena are, click on this link (opens in a new window)

Green Zone and Matt Damon

Last week I saw "Green Zone" at the cinema. The movie was almost slaughtered by Norwegian movie reviewers, so my expectations were low. But it's about the Bush invasion of Iraq in 2003, and Matt Damon played the main character so I had to go and see it!

Well, in the beginning you're thrown into an action sequence, and it just...stays there! I was waiting for a climax, but it didn't show up. Even my cousin (who I saw the movie with) almost slept through the movie, but woke up sometimes when there were shootings.

The director of Green Zone (Paul Greengrass) produced the Bourne movies which were awesome! Because of his earlier work, I expected more of this movie!

What's Green Zone about?
Everyone knows that former president Bush and his administration invaded Iraq, to find biological weapons. Matt Damon is a sergeant of the US Army, placed in Iraq to find these weapons. But does he find it? Of course not. Because there were no bio weapons to begin with.

Green Zone raises the cliche, like:
"Who do you think you are? You can't just take over our country!"

No bio weapons were found in Iraq. Then why did they go to war? To free the people of Iraq from Saddam's tyranny? Or was it simply to get their hands on oil? Oil that belongs to Iraq.

The war in Iraq has been a delicate issue for 7 years, and still is. When Obama became president, I thought: "Shit, poor guy, now he has to clean up the mess."

I'm sure that I'm not the only one who gets pissed when the question: "Why did Bush do this?" pops up. But I'm not into politics, and thank God I'm not, so I will leave it to the politicians who obviously know what they're doing.

Amanda

Amazing Pics from Plitvice Lakes National Park in Croatia!

Still some hidden gems in Europe! ;-)

Here's an introduction from beautifulplacestovisit.com:

These gorgeous pics are taken by Colorado photographer Jack Brauer.



"The stunning Plitvice Lakes National Park lies in the Lika region of Croatia.

The park is surrounded by the mountains Plješevica, Mala Kapela, and Medveđak, which are part of the Dinaric Alps. The 16 blue-green Plitvice Lakes, which are separated by natural dams of travertine, are situated on the Plitvice plateau.

Waterfalls connect the lakes, and the tallest waterfall is Veliki Slap at 70 meters (230 feet) tall. The Plitvice lakes area boasts a large variety of interesting and colorful flora and fauna.

Visitors can enjoy walking and hiking the many pathways and trails, or exploring the lakes by boat. The park itself has 3 hotels and a campsite, otherwise visitors can find accommodation at any of the number of villages and cities nearby."

Zhang Ruifang: Growing Devil's Horn

Here's the highlight of the day!


What they say about the her horn: (from newsbizarre.com)

"HENAN, China- A 101-year-old Chinese woman from the small village of Linlou has a bizarre growth from her forehead liked to that of a devil's horns.

Great grandmother Zhang Ruifang said she discovered a small growth on her forehead just over a year ago, but never imagined it could grow to such a large shape and size.

The horn like growth on the left side of Zhang Ruifang's forehead measures around six centimeters in length and continue to grow.

The son of Zhang Ruifang, 60-year-old Zhang Guozheng said: "Now something is also growing on the right side of her forehead. It’s quite possible that it’s another horn.”

Reports said the bizarre Zhang Ruifang horn was most likely to be a "Cutaneous horn." A Cutaneous horn is a clinical diagnosis referring to a conical projection above the surface of the skin that resembles a miniature horn, usually experienced in some elderly people around the world."

Finally moved in! :D

Good news, I just moved in to a new apartment, in one of Oslo's most popular (and expensive) areas called "Majorstua"!

The rent is 5300 kr (= about 883 US dollars) per month! And it's not even an apartment I'm renting, but a ROOM of 18 square meters... So yes it's expensive. But then again, it's a nice room in a very nice neighborhood, and I'm sharing the apartment with 5 nice people :-D

Amanda

Viva la Spain!

It's snowing outside my window, and my sneezing is pissing me off..

Well, good news, we're leaving for Spain on Sunday! :D

Who's "we"? -- Well, me and my family!

I'm looking forward to dorado dinners, and warmer climate! I miss hearing Spanish and I'm going to smuggle chorizos out of the country :-P

Jealous?

Hihi.

See you at the end of February!

Amanda :D

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