Thailand and friends

My journey around Asia continued back to Thailand. It's still one of my favourite places in this world, specially because of the food, the mix of flavour in such a great way and everything just cooked to perfection.

We had a blast with the KTA, as this tourstop in Pranburi was one of our best ones, surprisingly we had wind every day and managed to do 10races and a full double elimination freestyle. As a special bonus in this round we were running a Old Skool competition, with great success. Toby came all the way from Germany to join us here and he put out a big show for the crowds and competitors. It's not all about as low and fast as possible, specially for the crowd, mostly they get lost during the normal freestyle competition, as they have no clue what the riders are doing out there, but when mr. crowd pleaser Toby goes out, they can actually see what he's doin.







Another great add to the KTA Thailand stop was Alberto Rondina, he was on his way back from Haiwaii and joind out tour again. This time to give us a Freestyle clinic and some usefull tips for the rider on how to improve their tricks.

The last day of the event was topped wt a home made fullmoon party... pictures speak more than words...

So after a very nice competition i made my way back up to Bangkok to meet up wt some good old friends. Cindy and Andrew let me stay in their appartement again, they have the best housemate!! She cooks great food wt passion, i got lucky enough to try her newest creation, Laarb dumplings... soo yummie. So i like to thank them again for the hospitality.

Bangkok was also the perfect joice to buy all the b-day presents for my family in Switzerland, i hope they will enjoy it ones it all arrives.

On my way back i felt the stupidnes of the Philippino Airport and travel tax system again. It is one of the last places on this planet where u still have to pay airport tax, instead of just including it into ticketprices.
The best invention lately is the tax u supposed to pay if u wanna get a totally overpriced Trycicle from Caticlan Airport to the Jettyport, the ride cost u 50PHP plus 25PHP tax...for what??
Can i now setup a trycicle stall in front of our kiteresort and start to collect tax?
If you walk up to the mainroad (100m) u can get the same ride for 6PHP...  that's about 12% of 50PHP or 88% cheaper, plus there is no tax for nothing. I know that 69PHP is not much for a tourist but it is still a rip off and not a nice way to treat the poeple that bring all the money to the island.

so long and thx for all the fish... (-:
Stephan Read Full...

the rabbit is on the run

What a January... Started with a big bang and a decent hangover (-:

As always we had some great party's on Bulabog and White beach for a few days. The wind was strong all time since beginning of 2011, and most riders got used to their 7m kites.
So soon after recovery it was already time for some more x-mas and new year.. this time Russian party... and again a big bang went down in Jungle bar.

So mid January i went off to Vietnam, we had a good time there and made a full competition in very taff conditions, on the water and beside. As the main sponsor jumped the fence a few days before the event started and KTA had to pay most expenses on their own. But still we stayed strong and pulled a great event.
So far this year hasn't been lookin good for the Asian tour as we always have big troubles in getting answers on emails and phone calls from all the organizers.
There is a big thing here in Asia, it's called the loosing face... first time i encountered it was a few years back in Thailand. If people can't give u a proper answer they rather just stay silent and run. They cannot tell u, sorry we have a problem here we need to solve. They just run.. like a rabbit... so i hope that this will not happen to more tour stops even if we are now officially in the year of the bunny...
We got a kick ass product here but all people think they can get it for free...

So right at the end of the KTA Vietnam it was time for my b-day... as i had to spend most of it on a bus back to Saigon and a night flight back to Manila, i decided to make only a small celebration on the closing party of the event. So now i'm started successful into my 34year on this planet, i hope it will be as successful as the last one, with lot of travelling and meeting up new people all around Asia and the rest of the world... maybe i should make another visit to south America (-; haven't been there for a while...

So now i'm in the middle of the Chines New Year celebration "Kung Hei Fat Bunny".

We had another great party and if i talk about big bangs, maybe chinese are the most famous for it. So the island is overloaded with Chinese expats and thousands of Chinese people all on a 2week holiday with one goal, walk as slow as u can and make it impossible for others to overtake u. So that brings back some memories of a facebook group called "i like to kick slow walking people in their a**".

The afterhours of the Chinese new year is celebrated in Hangin now, since this place is turned more into a party location then a kiteschool and on the behalf that there is no more Hey Jude and Epic cannot really keep up wt what the old Hey Jude crowed wants. So i haven't been much on White beach this season, as we keep the party's on Bulabog side.

So after tonight it's time for some detox and off to Thailand on the 13.Feb. for the 4Tour stop in Pranburi.

Keep the bunnies running and catch me if u can... Read Full...

my favorite quote for 2011

Take this as a new years resolution!

“Twenty years from now -
you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do
than by the ones you did do.
So throw off the bowlines.
Sail away from the safe harbor.
Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore. Dream. Discover.”
"Mark Twain" Read Full...

Happy new year...

So here we are again... standing at the edge of another year that passed. If i look back i gotta say it was another great year filled with love, hope, harmony, up and downs, sunshine and nice beaches wt good winds and friends.

So what can i do better for the next one? hmmm i think i should just keep goin the direction i chose and don't change much, as it was a very successful way and i like it.

All that is left of the old year now, is a few hours till midnight, waiting till my babe arrives back on the island, having a deliciouse dinner, some beers wt friends and watching the fireworks goin off wt the midnight bang. The new year will start the same way the old one ends... with a cold beer in my hands, sand between my toes and Rebecka in my arms (-:

So as a little outlook to 2011 - it will be a busy KTA year again, travelling around asia till the summer starts in europe. Including some amazing kitespots like Busan in Korea, Pranburi in Thailand, Boracay here at my homespot, Mui Ne in Vietnam and hopefully Bali beginning of the summer... and mybe one or another sidetrip to China.

So happy new year to all my beloved family and friends.... Read Full...

Merry x-mas everyone

It's time to say....

Merry x-mas everyone out there in the world.

I just came back from the KTA Daet competition in the Philippines. We had some taff conditions from stormy rainy freestyle comp to beautyful sunset session in the butterflat lagoon of Bagasbas beach.
These are some shots from the kicker session, for the Cabrinha Kicker Competition. It was defenitly good fun, we need more of those kind of comps.

It was a busy time during the last weeks, KTA China in Hainan was a great success, wt lot's of competitors from all around the world, competing on a high level of kiteboarding.
Whenever we go to those asian countrys where they don't really speak english we get students to translate for us to the locals to work with em. It's really a great experience for us and them, we get to know a little bit about theire culture and they got to speak some proper english with someone else then theire teachers.

Now it's about time to stay home in Boracay for a while to enjoy the x-mas celebrations and new years madness.. (-; It will be a fun time, wt lot of kiting and partys all over the island. Would be even better to spend it wt my girl that is stuck in London airport for the last 3days.
Hopefully she will be home in Oslo by tomorrow... How the heck is it possible that Oslo Airport is open wt over a meter of snow and London and Amsterdam cannot deal wt a few centimeters? The best of all they don't even pay any money back for cancelled flights and lost connection flights...

I will be very busy in January again, we have the next KTA event in Vietnam in January, then back to Boracay for the Funboard Cup and maybe a trip to the north part of the Philippines after that, then off to Thailand in the middle of Feb for the 4th round of KTA.

So i wish u all a peaceful x-mas time and enjoy time wt all friends and family...

xoxoxo
Stephan Read Full...