Back to normalities!

I was happy that the fasting was over and now I can openly drink and eat in front of my staff!

having coffee on my desk in the morning! back to normal!


having lunch at my office! I was too full with a double cheeseburger and fries! belch!
back to normal!

And more important... I also wanted to celebrate my staff's birthday which came right in the middle of Ramazan and we couldn't buy a nice cake for him...

celebrating with a nice birthday cake weeks later from his birthday!

Ramazan was very stressful even though I'm not a Muslim as I always tried to be careful not to cross over the line to frustrate the fasters, including my staff. Anyone who is fasting would surely not like someone drinking fresh water right in front of you as non-smokers hate to have someone smoke right into their faces. Well, the anxiety is over and I can enjoy eating and drinking more than ever!

PS
Summertime is over and we had to rewind the clock one hour back! I have to wake up at five tomorrow and this one hour would really help!


one hour back at 24 o'clock tonight!

It was getting cooler and cooler...

I declare it's the start of coffee season!

Generous tip?

As I was turned down my plan to offer my staff a reward for all the pains they have gone through these two months, all I could do is use my private money as the bureau chief to show my appreciation for their services...

Going to a restaurant serving "Caspian" food!

starters...

mahi (fish) my wife had!

and the kyabab I had!

dessert!

This is always my way of showing appreciation to them, but maybe it would only be a small tip for them... I'm trying to make it generous as possible... natural as possible... humble as possible... and hope they would understand I'm happy for their performances... though my bosses in Tokyo wouldn't care at all...

Bonjour!

It was a crazy day... After packing, and sleeping for perhaps 15 minutes, it was time to leave and we were in the airport by 3:10AM.


leaving Iran... not for good... for a while!

Our first flight to Dubai was the usual Emirates flight, but I was so sleepy it felt like a 30 minute ride to a neighborhood in Tehran!


the familiar plane...


bunch of people for transit routes!

We took the transit route to Paris and I had some time to watch the multiple Oscar winner "Slumdog Millionaire" and tried to watch another one, Brad Pitt's "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" but I couldn't finish watching the 166 minute film as we arrived in Charles De Gaulle 30 minutes earlier than expected!


the nice "i c e"


quite a trip...

We took the bus to the city and though I was very sleepy, we first went to see my colleagues working in this beautiful city and at night went on to meet an acquiantance I've known for nearly 7 years when I was covering disaster news.
It was a pleasant day and how refreshing it is just to be out of that country!

Pics in Paris!

waiting for the bus!


how refreshing just to see the view of the city!

having a café at a café!

and taking the Metro like ordinary Parisiens!

the Tower!

at night time too!

and the world famous!
they're everywhere but not Iran!

Just like vacation... briefly...

As the plane from Amsterdam was scheduled at 5:30PM, and we had equipments for filming, we decided to enjoy our stay in The Hague. I really didn't care about the museums that the city fostered, and I went out one of the other "must see" spots!

The beach!

cold... but nice...

This part of the city has a name that any Japanese would think it's a joke... I know you don't pronounce it like... "Su-keh-beh-nin-gen" (I think it's actually "shu-feh-nin-gen"), but if you do, it would make any Japanese laugh!

the name is... Scheveningen!

signs saying Sheveningen everywhere!

on the small port...

hotel near the beach...
they say it's very expensive here!
of course, this is not where we stayed!

and the Heineken emblem everywhere!

Returning to the central part of the city... we took a stroll around to find a nice cafe to have lunch... Everything in the city looked "historical" and "European"...

nice tower...

trams running around the city...

even the pigeons look "European"!

Lunchtime!

found a nice cafe!

can't read the menu...

but got a nice sandwich!

After having lunch, we took the taxi together to Schipol and said good-bye to one of our elder correspondents and spent several hours at the airport. The Amsterdam Schipol Airport's terminal had many stores, and there were lots of stores to look around.

heading to Amsterdam!

found the "Miffy" corner... my wife's favorite!
I didn't know she's called "Nijntje" here!


and my favorite!

sushi, sushi, sushi! with can of Asahi Super Dry!

Leaving The Netherlands, we landed on Istanbul again and right before midnight, we went into the plane to say goodbye to Europe (if you'd say this is Europe... well, the Turkish football team is competing with the Europeans to qualify for the World Cup!)

people were gathering in front of the TV showing a match between Turkey and Spain!


need to fill up with coffee!


my favorite Caramel Macchiato!

No disturbance!

It was such a nice day... no, not the weather... because there was no disturbance from Tokyo! Well, maybe I should be ashamed of myself hoping I don't have to do my job as a foreign correspondent, but who cares!
Spending time at my home, I almost forgot that there was an one hour difference on the clock! On 12 o'clock midnight today, the clock jumped to 1AM having the Daylight Savings Time in effect from today.

adjusting the clock!

After setting the clocks, we left for a walk to the north, heading to a hotel to have a nice lunch.


there were quite a lot of people out in the streets!

We decided to have a Thai meal!

some spring rolls...

and green curry and beef with mushroom sauce!

finished with coffee!

and the Haft Sin on the table!

The weather seemed to turn to the bad, but thank God while we were having lunch, it became sunny again!

this is how it looked while we were having lunch...

but it seemed fine later on when we started back towards home!

We stopped by a supermarket on the way back...
You can find some Japanese imported food here...

curry package...

and soy sause... ones on the right are made in China...

but also Snapples!