Blog (WebLog)
Past posts in the HMPAdventures.dk weblog (2005 to 2008):June 29, 2008: Moving In & Backpacking in Israel
This month can be characterized by 3 activities: handbag markets, moving into our new house and going on holiday in Israel. On May 30 at 10am we got the keys for our new house (two days earlier then expected :-) and we started to move all our things right away. In the same weekend Melanie participated in the marked at Herregården Lundegård with her new summer bag collection (see more about the markets at MyHandbag.dk). In the first week of June we arranged our new home before leaving for a two week vacation to Israel on June 9. It was a bit difficult to leave after only having stayed there for one week, but on the other hand, we also needed a vacation “in the south” (coincidentally the Danish summer weather also decided to take a break from June 10 – and we are still awaiting it’s return!). A few photos from moving in and making BBQ in our new home with our family and friends: Moving In
Israel is a very easy and interesting country to travel and backpack in. Despite of all the troubles that the region has encountered our general and overall impression of the country is very good. First of all it’s a beautiful and very diverse country, both on the natural and cultural scale. The country stretches over a pretty small and condensed territory. From the Golan Heights Mountains via the modern Mediterranean cities (Tel Aviv, Haifa) & ancient cultural sights (Jerusalem, Tiberias, Nazareth, The Dead Sea) in the center to the deserts in the south by the Red Sea. Everything reachable by bus, car or train in less then a day of travel. Populated by a hugely diversified set of cultures and ethnic groups: Jews (from all over the world), Muslims (Palestinians), Christens, Africans, Pilipino, etc. The places that we traveled we felt welcome and safe. We experienced a lot of checkpoints and the military/police/security takes up a considerable part of the public space – but conflicts and war is a natural part of daily life in this area of the world. It’s definitely a country that we would like to return to and explore more and deeper. We just bought a return ticket from Billund to Tel Aviv and used Lonely Planet as a reference to backpack around the central part of Israel. See some photos from the trip below: Tel Aviv and The Old Jaffa | Jerusalem | The Dead Sea and Messada | Netanya | Haifa, Akko and Cassarea.
May 17, 2008: House in Assens
Since we moved to Assens in April last year, Melanie and I have been looking for a house. About one month ago, we finally fell for one and we are already gonna take it over from June 1st. The house is 140 sqm and located on a quiet one-way villa-road (Kalkbrænderivej) in the center of Assens. We can't wait to get some more space and our own garden for making summer BBQ's, etc.
The last couple of weeks we have been enjoying the great spring weather. The below gallery contains some photos from my fathers birthday on May 3 and a small sailing trip outside Assens, that included a swim in the chilled danish spring sea-water (~15 celcius):
MyHandbag.dk is getting it's new summer bag collection by the end of May. The new bags will be introduced on the Spring Marked Herregården Lundegaard on May 31 and June 1st from 10 til 17. Read more at MyHandbag.dk. See a few of the new summer bags below:
April 28, 2008: A Hot & Sunny Hamburg Marathon
This weekend I completed the Hamburg Marathon in the time 3:37:11 (See videos here). It was a great race with more then 15.000 participants, more then ½ million spectators and very hot summerlike weather conditions with temperatures reaching 22 Celcius. More to come....See some photos from our trip and the run below:
The photo above was taken by Melanie about 200m from the finish line...so near and yet so far :-)
April 20, 2008: MyHandbag.dk Launched!
Our new web shop is now fully up and running with full product catalogue, info, etc. MyHandbag.dk is specializing in original and unique handmade bags of the finest quality from the Philippines. Check it out!
March 24, 2008: Easter Holiday in Sweden
We just returned from a small Easter holiday in the southern part of Sweden called Skåne. We stayed at a great place in the center of Helsingborg called StayAt Hotel Apartments (highly recommendable and affordable place!). Helsingborg is the 2nd largest city in Skåne (after Malmø) and it is a really cozy city with some good sights and many shops, cafes and restaurants. We also spend a day in Malmø which is an hour by car south of Helsingborg – we would like to visit the city again when it's summertime. The last day we took the ferry to Helsimgør (Elsinore) where we stopped by Rosenborg slot.
This Saturday my brother Anders got married with his fiancee Vidya. The marriage ceremony and party was for the close family and it took place in my parents’ home in Assens. Congratulations to the newly wedded!
On March 12 the coach Jens Lünekilde visited the company where I work (Interacoustics) to make a 3 hour seminar with the theme: “Running – the Ideal Mix! Development oriented training.” The seminar included 45 minutes outdoor practical running exercises about how to improve our technical running skills, such as body posture, step frequency, etc. One of Jens’ main points is that it’s important to continuously focus on the more technical side of the running in order to avoid injuries, run more easily, run faster and ultimately to enjoy running more. Most people have the conception that because running is so easy, everybody can just do it, without any knowledge or skills. That is to some extend also true. But because of this common conception many people actually end up stop running after a while because of different reasons like injuries, not being able to feel any real progress or not having fun. Just like most other sports, only a small amount of knowledge, skill and training can make things a lot more fun and exciting!
After the exercises Jens gave a presentation about the main components in a good running training program and all the important considerations to make when creating one. Most of the things presented were interesting for runners at any experience level, either newbie’s, 5-10 km runners or people aiming for longer distances like a ½ or a whole marathon (or ultra (100+km) runners for that matter). One of Jens’ mantras here is to compose a diversified training program containing the following four components (with the following priority): distance (base), endurance, speed and strength. Make sure to incorporate intensive interval training into the training program, and always try to keep it balanced. Also, make sure to run in different environments e.g. “off-road” (forrest roads) and hill training.
All in all a really good seminar with lot of useful information and good advises – highly recommendable. For more info see: http://www.lunekildecoaching.com
Other good links about running, including marathon training:
DoURun.dk
Marathon.dk
Motionslob.dk
Vivamarathon.dk
February 17, 2008: Sceneries from a mild winter
The winter weather in Denmark has been pretty mild so far this year. I have tried to capture some of the winter weather sceneries in the following photo gallery: Winter Sceneries
We have also been making some tasty Korean-style food lately: Korean Food
January 28, 2008: Marathon Running 2008
The 2008 running season has begun! It's time to lay out new running goals and training programs. My plan for this year is to participate in 3 marathons (Hamburg in April, and probably Berlin September and Hillerod in November), one of them below 3.30 hours. My training program will be based on this (created by Allan Zachariasen for Marathon Travel Club - Marathon.dk) and some good training advices by the triathlon coach Jens Lynekilde (http://www.lunekildecoaching.com) at EOS Active. This is a so-called "complex" program composed of both long/slow, endurance and fast/intensive (interval) training, i.e. containing a lot of variation.Have a great running season, and good luck with your kilometers! :-)
January 16, 2008: Handmade Bags - Boracay Arts and Crafts
We are launching a new shop specializing in original handmade bags from the Philippines: My Handbag - Boracay Arts and Crafts. The site will be under continuous construction the next few months, until we will launch completely sometimes this spring. Stay tuned for future updates!
January 1, 2008: Back in Denmark
After almost one months traveling in the Philippines we returned home to Denmark on Dec 31 early morning. On Dec 28 we flew from Kalibo to Manila and on Dec 29 we flew to Bangkok were we spent a day doing some sightseeing around Khao San Road, the Chao Praya River and China Town. See some photos from the home trip here: Home TripWe wish all of our friends and family a Happy New Year!
December 26, 2007: Christmas in Kalibo
The last 2 days we have been celebrating Christmas here in Kalibo. We wish all of our friends and family a Marry Christmas! See some photos from the home trip here: Christmas
December 19, 2007: Busuanga Island and the Calamian Group, Northern Palawan
Since last Sunday we have been in the Northern part of Palawan on an Island called Busuanga. We stay in a small city called Coron in the southern part of Busuanga near the Coron Island. This Monday we had a great island hopping trip where we explored some nice beaches and the two crystal clear lakes on Coron Island, together with a Danish-American couple from New York (Anders and Stephanie) that we hooked up with on the plane from Boracay (Caticlan) to Busuanga. The first two days we stayed at the Discovery Dive Resort on a small private island 10 min boat ride from Coron Town and yesterday we moved to the Sea Divers resort located more conveniently on the pier in the center of Coron Town (a small coastal village and the largest city on Busuanga). Yesterday Hans went on two pretty adventures wreck dives (the area is famous for its Japanese wrecks that were sunken during an American attack in WWII) while Melanie spend the day on a nearby island with Anders and Stephanie.Photos updated 22/12: Palawan
December 14, 2007: Boracay
The last 5 days we have been enjoying the beach life here on the little beautiful tropical island called Boracay (where both Melanie and I have worked before). I have uploaded some photos from Boracay here: Boracay
December 6, 2007: Kalibo
After two nights in Manila we took a 45 min. flight to the province of Kalibo where Melanie's parents live. Kalibo is located on Panay Island about 2 hours drive from Boracay Island. It's a small province with a population of about 60.000. The city is like a very big village with almost no cars, only tricycles. We live in a small pension in the center of the city near the marked place and the mall. The next few days we are going to hang out here in Kalibo together with Melanie's family and friends and see some local sights.Photos updated 8/12: Manila and Kalibo
December 4, 2007: Shopping in Manila
Yesterday we arrived to Manila after almost 30 hours of travel from Copenhagen via Moscow and Bangkok to Manila. What a trip. Today we are a bit jet-lagged and we are mostly doing some shopping while trying to adapt to the new timezone and "cultural settings". The weather is fine - 28 celcius and a bit cloudy. We just met with Melanie's sister in law her two kids. It's great to be back Philippines, though we have still not 100% realized that we are actually here. I have uploaded a few photos from Manila here: Manila
November 29, 2007: Christmas Time
Christmas time has arrived. On sunday we are leaving for a long vacation in the Philippines where we are going to celebrate Christmas by Melanie's family. We are also planning to visit one or two other places, propably Palawan (El Nido) and Busuanga (Coron Island - offers WW2-wreck diving). We will be back again on Dec 29 late in the evening.Below som November photos from a family weekend in Aarhus celebrating my mothers birthday and a dinner in Assens with Renuka and her two sons Givan and Gaian.
November 5, 2007: Newline Forrest Marathon
Yesterday I participated in the Newline Forrest Marathon in Hillerod north of Copenhagen - known as one of the most beautiful marathons in Denmark. Almost ideal conditions for a great run were set from the morning: sunny weather, 10 degrees, clear sky and no wind. 1593 people participated in the run: 219 on the marathon distance, 769 on the half marathon distance and 606 on the 10 km distance. It was a 2x21km circuit on small but good and stable Forrest roads in a relatively flat terrain. The two previous marathons that I have completed (my running page) have taken place in a city environment, so I was looking forward to try running a marathon in a Forrest. All in all it was a great experience, but the soft Forrest roads makes it a bit harder - in the long run - compared with running on asphalt / cement roads. The lack of spectators (that may feel a bit overwhelming the first time, in a big city marathon like in Copenhagen) actually also makes it feel a bit harder to push oneself the last few percent. Especially on the last few kilometers when it's getting really hard, external motivation can be highly appreciated. The great feeling of running in free nature in clean and fresh air is however something that a city run can not offer. I finished in the time 3:46:16 (see here), and without any problems or injures :-) It is definitely not the last time that I participate in a Forrest run! I have uploaded a few photos from the run and our weekend trip to Hillerod.
More info: Newline Skov Marathon
October 27, 2007: Autumn Time
Time is running incredible fast and we are already more then half way into the autumn season. Days are getting shorter and the leaves of the trees are turning brown- and yellow-ish. Today the weather is perfect with blue skies, clean, cool and crisp air. In the beginning of the month we moved to a very cozy apartment in the old Tobacco buildings in the heart of Assens - the cultural center of Assens: Tobaksgaarden. The below photo was taken today from the window of our apartment.
Gallery: Autumn in Assens
At the moment we are planning our Christmas vacation in the Philippines from the 2nd to the 29th of December. Our current itinerary looks like this: Copenhagen -> Moscow -> Bangkok -> Manila -> Kalibo -> Boracay -> Palawan -> Cebu / Bohol -> Kalibo (Christmas at Melanie's family) / Panay Island -> Manila -> Bangkok -> Moscow -> Copenhagen. See trip on map here: Philippines Map. It has been more then 2 years since we have been in the Philippines, so we can't wait to go there !
Working wise, Melanie got a permanent full-time job at the Gammel Avernaes hotel- and conference center near Helnaes, about 10 km from Assens.
Running wise, I am training to participate in the Newline Forrest Marathon in Hillerod (north of Copenhagen) on Nov 4. My goal is to finish in between 3.30 and 4 hours, depending on how everything works out. I have never tried to run a Marathon in a Forrest before, so that will be a new and hopefully interesting experience.
Last month we attended the wedding celebration of my cousin Peter and his fiancee Sisse at Norsminde Kro. See some photos (taken by my brother Jakob) from the great party below.
Gallery: Wedding
September 02, 2007: Faxe Kondi Half-Marathon in Odense C
This sunday I paticipated in the Faxe Kondi Half-Marathon (21,097 km) together with four collegues from Interacoustics. The photo below shows Jakob, Johnny, Niel, me and Johannes ready for the start of the race. My result was 1:36:01 which was better then expected :-)
August 31, 2007: Late Summer Camping
This month we have been on 3 weekend camping trips around the south-western part of Fyn (the island where we live). We visited the following beautiful places: Loegismose (map/info), Vindebyore (map/info) and Helnaes (map/info). The photo below of the Helnaes light tower was taken last Sunday.
July 25, 2007: Island Jumping in the Cyclades, Greece
Last Thursday we returned home from a great summer holiday in the Greek Islands. First we spend a few days in Athens and then we went on jumping around 4 different islands in the Cyclades: Paros (map / info), Naxos (map / info), Santorini (map / info) and Milos (map / info). See some photos from the trip here:Leaving Denmark (July 3) | Athens (4/5) | Pireaus (5) | Paros (6/7) | Naxos (8-12) | Santorini (13) | Milos (14-18) | Going Back (19)
Photos from Athens and the 4 islands we visited:
June 24, 2007: Sankt Hans Evening
Assens May-June | "Hjemmet" April | "Hjemmet" May-June | Sankt Hans
May 21, 2007: The Copenhagen Marathon Challenge
This Sunday I completed the 42,195 km Copenhagen Marathon distance in the time 03:38:56. Read more here: The Copenhagen Marathon Challenge 2007.
May 1, 2007: Life in Assens
The last 3 weeks Melanie and I have been busy (in a good way!) moving into our new apartment that we have rented in the center of Assens and seeing our family and friends in the area. I have started at my new job in the R&D software-development department in Interacoustics, which is also very exciting for me. I am learning a lot of new audiological expressions, e.g. what an REUR (Real Ear Un-aided Response) measurement is :-) In short: We are really enjoying the great spring weather and our "new life" here in Assens.
April 9, 2007: Top of North Africa and Sahara Camel Trek
We (Anders, Jakob, Thomas and I) just returned from a two week Marocco Ekspedition. The first week was spend in the Atlas mountains climbng the highest mountain in North Africa, Mount Toubkal, 4,167 metres. The second week we explored Dades Wally, Todra Gorge and the Sahara Desert in Merzouga. We went on a 2 day camel trek were we lived in tents with the local berban nomade people in the Erg Chebbi Dunes (Sahara). See a photo diary from the trip here: Marocco Ekspedition.
View and download MPEG video clips with sound using Windows Media Player:
From the top of Toubkal (1:18 min):
From the Sahara Dunes in Erg Chebbi (1:21 min):
High speed running descend down the Sand Dunes (2:00 min):
View Videos at YouTube.com (http://www.youtube.com/hmp1976)
Photo Galleries:
Marrakesh |
Imlil and Tachedirt |
Toubkal Climb |
Benhaddou |
Dades Wally |
Tordra Gorge |
Erg Chebbi Sahara desert |
People
March 10, 2007: Spring is in the air
The last few days some very early signs of spring have been starting to appear. Today the temperature has been up around 10-12 Celsius, which is pretty good, this early in the season. We are looking forward to the real spring and summer...
March 07, 2007: We are moving to Assens
Melanie and I are moving to Assens on Fyn where I grew up. I got a job in Interacoustics starting from April. We are looking very much forward to move there, though we will certainly miss Aarhus, and our friends and family here, too.
February 11, 2007 : Klitmoller
We just returned from a 3-day weekend trip to the northern part of Jylland to an area called Thy. We stayed in a summer house in a small city called Klitmoller, located at the western sea. In the summer period Klitmoller is one of the best places in Europe to wind surf because of good wind and wave conditions. We spend some of the weekend going on long walks along the beach in the cold winter weather. The area is well known for its unique and untouched landscape. We visited two of the cities in the area: Thisted (a very cozy small city) and Hanstholm (not so cozy, but the port is one of the centers of the Danish fishing industry). And of cause used the opportunity to get some tasty fish dishes. See some photos here: Klitmoller
February 04, 2007 : Hiking Trip
This weekend Anders, Jakob, Thomas and I have been on a 50 km hiking trip from Silkeborg to Skanderborg through some of the very beautiful areas in Denmark with hills, forrests and lakes - a perfect place for outdoor adventure sports. The main purpose of the trip was to train for our Mococco Expedition 07 in the end of March, both physically, mentally and equipment wise. We started out Friday afternoon from the train station in Silkeborg at around 4 pm and finished the two day hiking trip at the train station in Skanderborg at around 1.30 pm Sunday afternoon. Our first camp site was about 8 km outside Silkeborg and the 2nd was south of Ry by the Mossoe lake. It was really great to get out in the fresh air and get some kilometers in the legs, and I think that I can say on behalf of the team, that all of our objectives were met. See some photos here: Hans' Photos, Thomas' Photos and Jakobs' Photos.
January 27, 2007 : Birthday Party
This weekend we have been celebrating Melanis's 24 year birthday here in Aarhus. Friday evening we had a big family dinner in our apartment and Saturday we went shopping. Jakob, Leif and I also went to Moesgaard beach to take some test photos with their new EOS400 cameras. Saturday evening we got Wok food in Jakob and Rie's place. See some photos from the weekend here: Melanie's Birthday, Jakobs's Camera and Leif's Camera.
January 02, 2007 : New Year Holiday in Pisa and Florence
Yesterday late night we returned from a 5 day holiday in Toscana, Italy. We had a great trip - we will write more about the trip soon. We spend 2 nights in Pisa and 3 nights in Florence (Firenze), including New Years evening. We saw a lot of amazing historic monuments, buildings, churches, etc. and great renascence arts, e.g. Leonardo Davinci and Michelangelo. We also got a lot of tasty Italian food and Wine! :-) We have uploaded a lot of photos here: Pisa and Florence.
December 12, 2006 : Marry Christmas and Happy New Year 2007!
Melanie and I would like to wish all of our friends and family a Marry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
We have just returned from a three day great Christmas vacation in Assens by my parents, together with my brothers, Anders and Jakob, Anders' girlfriend Vidya and her sister Nima. Leifs brother, Palle, also joined us Christmas evening. The only thing missing this year is the real winter weather, including snow. See some photos here: Dec 22, Dec 23 and Dec 24. I have also uploaded some photos from my mother's birthday in November: Birthday
November 27, 2006 : November in Aarhus...
More then a month have past since the last post. I few things have happened since then. Melanie has started in the Aarhus Language Center here in center of Aarhus and she have got a lot of new class mates from all over the world. Aarhus Language Center is the biggest international language school here in Denmark with more then 1400 international students representing more than 100 nationalities. See some photos from the school here: School Photos and FriendsI myself have been having a bit fun getting dirty riding my new mountain "Ghost-" bike in the Marselisborg forrest. See a few photos taking in our garden after arriving from one of the trips: MTB Photos
October 14, 2006 : Exit summer - Fall is over Denmark
I have not updated the home page for quite a while now. This is soon gonna change! The long cold winter nights are good for creating and updating home pages :-)On October 12 Melanie and I got married in the city hall here in Aarhus...we are planning a party here in Aarhus soon! :-) See a few photos here: Wedding
I have uploaded a bunch of pictures from this summers trip to Turkey here: Alanya
On June 23 I passed a major milestone: I had my 30 years birthday! See a few pictures from that day here: 30 year
I have also updoaded some mixed photos from this summer/fall in Aarhus, Gammel Ry, Assens and Copenhagen: Garden | Mixed Aarhus | Gammel Ry | Assens | Copenhagen
Thomas (Tom), my brothers and I are planning a winter expedition in march/april 2007 to the Atlas mountains in Marokko (Morocco), to climb the highest mountain in North Africa - Mount Toubkal, 4,167 metres (13,671 feet). We are going post some more information about that trip soon here: Mococco
July 05, 2006 : Face Lift
HMPAdventures.dk is in the process of getting a major face lift. Not all pages and links are fully updated yet.The old home page can be found here: www.HMPAdventures.dk/old
June 21, 2006 : Oslo Mini-Cruise
Photos from a Mini-Cruise to Oslo, Norway, on June 3 2006. Gallery: Olso Trip
May 27, 2006: Engagement in Assens
Melanie and I got engaged on May 27 2006 in Assens, Fyn. The engagement ceremony and party was held in my parents House in Toroe Huse just outside Assens. About 40 family members and friends were there to celebrate the day with us. We would like to thank everybody for a wonderful and unforgettable day, evening and night.Photo galleries: Preparations | Ceremony | Party | Mixed
May 15, 2006: Finally spring came to Denmark
After a very long and cold winter, the spring has finally arrived: green trees and colorful flowers is appearing everywhere. See some photos from our garden and from a camping trip to Blommehaven camping in the Marselisborg forest just outside Aarhus. Here we visited Moesgaard museum where we saw "Gravballemanden". He's from 300 BC.Photo gallery: Spring 2006
January 01, 2006: Godt nytaar 2006! (Happy New Year 2006!)
Photo galleries: My Mothers Birthday | Aarhus Nov-Dec | Gammel Ry | Assens December | White Christmas in Assens | Christmas Party | New Apartment
August 23, 2005: Return to Aarhus
After a few weeks of intensive job hunting (sending applications and going to job interviews) I got a job as a Software Engineer in a IT/Software consulting firm called Mjolner Informatics, located near the center of Aarhus, starting from september 1st. Right now I am looking for a new appartment here in Aarhus. See some photos from a biking trip in the beautiful Marselis forrest:
