A Danish Vacation in China

Way back in 1982 a young Rotary exchange student from Denmark named Kristian came to Canada for a year to live in my hometown of Mission. He spent part of the time living with my parents, who having raised 4 boys of their own were considered more likely to survive another. Kristian enjoyed sports, watching TV and doing just about anything but clean his room. Not surprisingly, we got along famously.

Four years later I spent a harvest season working on his family’s farm in Jutland. My favourite activity was driving around on their John Deere tractor, plowing fields while listening to a German rock station on the radio. I also seemed to show a natural aptitude for shovelling bullshit. Periodically, Kristian’s father Peter would tell me that I was doing a good job and hand me a cold bottle of Tuborg beer. These were the times I really like farming. Kristian was doing his military service, but would often come home on weekends. I was always impressed to find that a small village like Toftlund could possess so much beer.

Kristian eventually married Stine, an intelligent, beautiful and charming lady (yes, she is one of my blog readers) from a Danish farming family. Moving as far away as possible from anything resembling a Danish farm they now live on a houseboat in Hong Kong. I’ve been meaning to visit them for a while, especially since we are on the same continent (its only a 6 hour flight). Also, as they are expecting their first child (not counting Kristian) in July I know that the time is now if I want a relaxing visit.

I am flying to Hong Kong on June 2nd and will return to Pakistan on the June 20th. I don’t anticipate spending my whole holiday lying around on a boat in Hong Kong (although you never know) and expect to travel in southern China for a week or so, visiting places such as Guilin and Yangshuo. While it will be nice to see a bit of mainland China the focus of my visit is to see Kristian and Stine and their boat (in no particular order). Kristian is meeting me at the airport on Friday night and tells me that the fridge is already stocked (with Tuborg, I wonder?) I am expecting that there will be lots of time for relaxing, sports, watching TV and not cleaning my room.