sunset 2007

As I walked along the beach here in Koh Chan, Thailand, the sun set over the beautiful ocean for the last time in 2007.

And as it was setting I thought, wow 2007 – how quick you have gone.
And yet quite a lot have happened…
I moved to HK.
Started a new job.
“Found” new friends, of which one has turned out to become one of my very best friends in life.
I’ve gone on some great holidays and seen amazing places (Beijing, Phuket, Yangshou, Shanghai and Koh Chan).
I’ve had some of my beautiful friends and my darling parents over from Sweden, and been able to share my daily adventures with them.
And I met Kris…luv ya.

Right now I’m about to head out into the darkness; the electricity just went out…, to take part in the gala dinner the hotel is throwing.

With that I want to wish you all a very Happy New Year and all the best for 2008.

dear friends

On one of the evenings in Stockholm last week I met up with my dear dear friends.
Dinner and drinks.
And a lovely lovely time.
Thanks guys.

Happy days in Sweden!

swedish christmas

It's cold in Sweden. But oh so beautiful and good to be home. To be around people that likes me and mean so much to me.

The busy (and sad) days in the office feels very distant all at once (oops here I go and am being "disloyal" to the company again, sorry....).

Have been showing some of the sights to (a cold) Kris. He now says he understands why I appreciate the warm weather so much...

Have also been visiting lots of toy stores. And done the obligatory work days inside them too.

And then we did the scary meet-the-famliy thing too... It all went "superbra". Everyone likes everyone and good good times have been had.

Chritmas Eve today, Kris is on his way to HK, and I'm waiting for Santa to come. Again... he made a sneaky visit the other night, said he had to meet the Aussie guy that was here, but he promised to come back with more presents today... hurray.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

advent

Candle number 3 has been lit.
X-mas is just a week away now.
And tomorrow I'm leaving for Sweden! (Mamma's meatballs and all the other yummy X-mas food - here I come!!)

The 3rd Advent was spent in bed to start off with... very tired after the night out yesterday...
Did the last X-mas shopping, and then I got going with the packing... Never thought I would fit it all in, but I did (or to be fare, we did... Kris has a bag full of toys and what not now...).
All done and am about to go to bed and snuggle in "holiday style".

All my readers in Sweden, see you soon.
All you others, see you later.

schools out

Rumors were flying around the school yard. Everyone who's anyone gossiped about the big coming party. The school hooter was just about to ring...
And we got invited!
The invitation said: Bring on the dorky school boys, the hot school girls with their not so long anything, the good little scouts and the popular school rugby teams.
So off we went as... well it's up to your own interpretation I guess... but we thought we looked pretty hot anyway...

lucia

One day late lucia greeted us with a visit here in HK.

She spread her light in a Spanish pub in Lan Kwai Fong, where a group of Swedes were drinking glogg and eating Swedish candy.

A good end to a very busy week at work and a good start to my coming X-mas holidays.

unique piece

This Chinese Warrior is said to be a unique piece.
Carved out of stone, he is hard and heavy. But regardless of if he is unique or not I really like him.
So welcome to my home Mr Dong Ping!
Am so glad we met in Shanghai.

advent (in shannghai)

While Tom Cruise ran the streets of Shanghai in MI3 rescuing his wife, we decided to take a relaxed Sunday stroll in the famous water city just outside the city. A beautiful place for sure, and when I tell you that the city is referred to as the Venice of China, you know what I mean...

Back in the city again later that afternoon, I got pleasantly surprised when I all of a suddenly felt overwhelmed by the Christmas spirit. And very suitable to the occasion (and the day - the 2nd of Advent), I seized the opportunity and got around to do some X-mas shopping. So for you that have been good this year, well if you're lucky you might just end up with a little something from Shanghai...

No glögg was had this Advent Sunday, but instead (and non the less) we ended the night with different Chinese teas at a Chinese tea house. A very suitable ending to a very good China trip.

shanghai

It was due time to have a closer look at Shanghai.
So that's where I just spent my weekend.
And this time I liked it even more! Even though the city again proved to be bloody cold.
However, this time I came prepared, brought both jacket, warm jumpers and gloves, but still felt cold though...
(Next time I go there I want it to be Summer, or at least Spring).

As always on my and Tiinas travels, we had a great time.
We did lot's of walking, since that is truly the best way to see a city, but we also went under water in a very special (and special doesn't necessarily mean good) tourist light tunnel...
But that was after all the walking, so the rest was well deserved.
The photo is from when we finally reached the Bund, as the famous boardwalk, on one side of the water that is dividing Shanghai, is called.

After our tunnel ride to the other side and back, we were displayed with somewhat a different view. An even cooler one in my mind.

advent

X-mas sure is getting closer, there is just no way of denying it any longer. We have entered the official waiting time for the big day, it's advent.

Depending on where you live in the world, this waiting time is spent in different ways. Back in Sweden this is the time when we light up the darkness with candles all around our houses. It's a time most people love, just because it's so cosy.

In HK, where it's not that dark, nor cold, the 1st Advent was spent like this:
Three hours and a bit in the sun on my roof top (got a little bit of a tan again).
A brisk walk to IKEA and back to buy some goodies.
Dinner at my place with Tiina, Kris and Valter (my little santa) accompanied by Swedish X-mas music.
And as we lit the first candle, glogg, pepparkakor (ginger snaps) and other goodies for dessert.

The X-mas spirit has started to get a hold of me and I'm enjoying it, just as much as I'm enjoying the sun. Only two weeks now until I'm standing in the cold in Sweden again, so I'm gonna try and make the most of the warmth that is still here. But also make sure that I eat a lot of pepparkakor, as they are supposed to make you "nice", and that feels very important since Santa only visits the good kids on X-mas eve...

meetings

There are meetings, and then there are meetings...
In all companies.
But not in any company before the one I work for now, have I experienced the kind of meetings I experience here...

Yesterday I attended a very important one, where we discussed how to use the shelves for our toys around the office. You see, in the toy business, it's all about samples. (We have the first "try out" samples from the suppliers, then we have the working samples, the pre-production samples, the production samples and the shipment samples. We also have the reference samples, the future samples and the samples that we don't know what to do with, cause we're not really sure where they came from or who brought them there...) And naturally we keep the samples around us when we work with them, which makes the office look pretty messy.... But apparently we're not using the shelves we have to put the toys on in a correct way, so this we have now thoroughly talked through...

A big discussion regarding where people should keep their folders followed. (On the bottom shelf behind them it was decided. Well that, of course, depends on whether they have shelves that are better (?!) for folders on the side of their desk or not, cause if they do, then the folders are supposed to be placed there of course... still on the bottom shelf though, God forbid).

But wait, it is not over yet, the best is still to come...
During this informative meeting I was also told; that I am not supposed to file my papers in the folders the way I do. Because it has been decided long ago (before my time), that everyone should have one folder, to the right of their computer, where the papers belonging to the projects they are currently working on are kept. Once the project is over, we are allowed to and should put the papers in an other folder.

Well there you go...
Amazing...
I actually feel speechless still...

And as I said. There are meetings, and then there are meetings...

lunch time music

While I was eating my very garlicky chicken strawberry salad at lunch today, I all of a sudden realised that I was accompanied by some Swedish music.

And not any music, but dansband music at it's best... Which, for you who don't know, means - very cheesy love songs in Swedish, played by usually solarium tanned, middle aged, trying-very-hard-to-look-cool-but-not-succeeding men in "man-bands".

Not really what I expected to hear in an Australian restaurant here in HK... Found it very funny to be honest and it surely made me smile :-).

macau

The sun was shining upon us in Macau.
Had a beautiful day yesterday, and since I was lucky enough to end up in a team with 7 good colleagues, the team building was actually fun. The fact that my team won several of the competitions throughout the day including the most prestigious one - the treasure hunt - definitely added to the fun and real good day was had.

Now just to be ahead of you Tiina, I know your team somehow managed to get the total win of the day, but that was only because we let you win the first tug-of-war competition that we had... And in the end we showed you who was the strongest and best team anyway... So I don't want to hear anything more about it...

After a day of play, we continued with some gambling. Kris, who joined us in Macau during the afternoon, had already started gambling, and had lost several games but gained several alcoholic drinks, when we met up with him at one of the big casinos in town.
When we decided that we were more interested in going and seeing some pole dancing rather than staying there and gambling, I was up 700 dollars! A win that I decided to hand over to my dear boyfriend, who had suffered pretty big losses by then...

The pole dancing was pretty seedy, the drinks were pretty strong and we got tired, so off to sleep we went.

And today we continued our tour of Macau. A place I must say I really like. Nice atmosphere, cool combinations of the Chinese and the Portuguese and in places real stunning architecture.

I will most definitely return to Macau.

team building

We have a full day of team building tomorrow. Could get very interesting...
You know why.

It's in Macau though, and we have decided to stay the night, so Saturday I will do some sight seeing and also some gambling. Keep your fingers crossed for me will ya, maybe I'll return home as a rich woman. Or maybe not.

poster in japan

Remeber that bag photo shot I was attending in July?

Well it turns out that the Japense really like the bags so now the bag company have decided to expose the bags more.

Meaning a BIG poster on a building for 3 months.


Who would have ever thought that me coming to HK would make me a poster girl in Japan?!

And you can check the bags out at www.homanz.com

golf

The European Tour (Golf) has been on in HK the last 4 days.
And today on the last (and most exciting) day we hit the golf course.
My friend, Simon, played, and he played pretty well too! (He finished on 15th place) Unfortunately the luck wasn't with him today, so when the ball was supposed to get in the hole, it stayed a few millimeters from it instead, on several occasions... Not fare, still great play though and as always fun to watch the really good guys play.

Kris is not a professional golf supporter like my self (some people have even occasionally called me a golf groupie... ;-)), as a matter of fact it was his first time to see a tournament, and in spite of the all the walking golf supporting actually requires, he seemed to enjoy it just as much as I did. (And there was free beer when we got to the club house too, which put an even bigger smile on his face...)

So thanks for a great day Simon.

simon says

Come watch me play golf. And we will - on Sunday.

birthday

Happy Birthday dearest Mum!
Grattis på födelsedagen käraste Mamma!

Have a great day, eat a lot of cake and open those presents.

Wishing I was there to celebrate with you...

Enjoy.

Ja må hon leva, ja må hon leva, ja må hon leva uti hundrade år!

hot news

Not only did we have a good day at the races last week, we also ended up in the paper...
Beautiful ladies it says...
Yes that's us! :-)

friday dinner

We decided to have a girls night out (plus one guy) last Friday.
Where at? Cru of course... (Food is good and so is the manager).

Dinner was yummy, conversation fun and company great.
We have to do it soon again girls!

a year ago

Can you believe that a year has passed already since I landed on Swedish soil again after a visit to HK with a signed contract in my hand... A contract that stated that I, not only, had a new job, but also stated that I would move to Hong Kong.

I was so excited.

melbourne cup

Hangin' with Aussies means that even though we live in HK, the Melbourne Cup tradition is kept. And what is it? Well, Melbourne Cup is the Horse Race day of the year down there. More or less everyone in Australia has had the day off today just because of Melbourne Cup. It's the day when people do their very best to look good and put their finest clothes on, men in suits and women in dresses and hats. And besides looking good the day is all about betting on horses of course...

(I only got half the day off though and had to beg to get those hours off.... My boss seems to think that as I already have had 8 days of holidays this year, I don't need any more, cause I'm busy... However, I do not really agree.... Anyway, what ever...)

So this morning we put our good clothes on, and at 9 we had champagne breakfast. Then we mingled with all the well dressed ladies with hats at the race course here in HK, while sipping more champagne, before we did our bets, watched the races and had a four course lunch (and more champagne). None of us won the “best dressed” competition, but then again, we didn't wear any hats...

While the others could continue there day out and about in the sun, I had to leave for work. But it was fun as long as it lasted...

halloween

Halloween is BIG in HK.

Everyone dresses up.

Including us.



Lan Kwai Fong, which is the bar street of HK, is always filled with people. However, on Halloween the place is packed! And when I say packed, I mean extremly packed... So packed that if you want to get into the area you might very well have to wait in line for hours just to be able to step into the street. Crazy!

Patrik you once asked me, pa bred Ostgotska; skulle du aka 7 mil for att ga pa disco? Maybe, is my answer. But if you asked me; would I stand in a line, that are hundreds of meters long, for an hour or two to get into a bar area, my answer would be NO.

Instead we caught a taxi last night, and went to the horse races. Where they also had a Halloween party! And afterwards we went to have a look at all the people lining up to get into Lan Kwai Fong.

naked chef

Last night I had the privilage of a visit from the naked chef...
Very entertaining and also a very nice dinner.
I like!!

wedding

A few days ago (Sunday) I went to my first Chinese wedding. Carrie, a colleague of mine, married her Daniel. It was beautiful of course.
Apparently the wedding wasn't so traditional, but it was still different to me...


And my favorite little girls here in HK were the prettiest flower girls ever.

my mum always says...

Nothing bad that doesn't bring something good with it.
And she is so right!
For instance when you have a killer cold that won't let go of you and you seriously are starting to believe that you never will get well again...
...you don't have to worry about being able to taste the food at the Chinese supplier lunch, so you don't have to feel like a spoilt Westerner.
...you can't feel all the ugly smells when walking through a fish market.
...you make people smile at you because they think you sound so funny when you speak with that stuffy nose voice.
...and you, as the man you share your bed with so happily pointed out, can't smell his farts.

bike ride

Last Sunday we went on a bike ride.
It was great fun, and I rode that bike in the sun with a constant smile on my face the whole day.
Where ever I turned my head I was surrounded by beautiful sugar top mountains.
And the dusty dirt roads lingering together with the river just added more good feelings to the experience.

It was relaxing, fun, amazingly beautiful and sweaty exercise- all at the same time.
Probably one of the best travel experiences so far in my life.

yangshou

The words BEAUTIFUL and WONDERFUL easily sums up my long weekend in Yangshou.
However, pictures say more than words...

improvement

My friend complained the other day; when are you going to write on your blog…
Sorry sorry, I know I’ve been neglecting it a bit lately. Broken computer and lack of time is my poor excuse, but I will improve.

And to start off with I will make a short summary of my last days with my “wife’s”, i.e. the Chinababes, in town.



Thursday: The babes arrive, dinner in “Rat Alley” and drinks by the sea.
Friday: Dinner over at the darks side (Kowloon), visit to jazz club and then cocktails at the cool bar Aqua.
Saturday: Beach and later; dinner and many drinks plus dancing until the Sunday morning was a fact.
Sunday: Shek-O Beach and dinner at a really cosy restaurant there. Movie at home at night (Painted Veil, good movie and beautiful surroundings – am so happy we are going where the movie is shot this long weekend).
Monday: Work, dinner at great tapas place and then I took the girls to the Peak for them to have a look at this beautiful city at night and for a nice relaxing walk up there in the trees.
Tuesday: Work, then foot massage and Vietnamese dinner before heading home to the “husband” for another movie night.

Told you I was busy… :-)

time goes by…

They say time flies when you have fun.
I say time flies anytime.

Time flew in Denmark during our toy fair, busy long days.

Time definitely flew in Sweden the 3 days that I was there. (Saw my dentist and went for a wax – wanted to be all smooth returning to HK. Spent a few hours at my old job – great to see my old colleagues and even greater to feel welcome and appreciated when you walk into an office – miss that feeling a lot… Had dinner and drinks with my dear and missed friends. Had fika with some other dear friends. Saw my parents and my sister, went for a Italian dinner and had a really nice time. Ran a few errands in town and that was it… Was at the airport again before I knew it…)





Wait a minute, times doesn’t fly, when you fly… When you’re stuck in an airplane for many hours, every minute feels like an eternity…

However, time has flown since I got back to HK too.
The first night was dedicated to Kris of course (and so was the second…).

And then I got visitors. The China babes (former French babes) have come to HK to see me and to fill up their bags with different things.


Good times are being had and to be honest I think Kris is pretty pleased. He now claims that he has a harem to come home to.

sing-along

Sometimes it's the little things that makes you smile or laugh real hard.

Like an especially written song for my company.
Here are a few lines, enjoy and why don't you sing-along!

We're one big family, all around the world.
...We love to do our job...
We all make an effort...
Each and everyone has a responsiblity to help each other reach our goals...

plus one

It was with a blocked nose, sore throat and dear friends that I celebrated my birthday last night.





After the dinner at a cosy wine bar we went to an other bar for what was meant to be a drink, but became a hot chocolate, before we headed back to the hotel for some girls talk and then bed.

A quiet but yet definitely a very nice evening was had. And the best part was that I was with people that I love.
Thanks guys for making my night a good memory!

And thanks to all of you out there that remembered me through out the day. I appreciated all calls, emails and messages that kept coming in all day immensely.

I'm now (+ one year) older, however probably not wiser, but I'm happy anyway...

happy birthday

There are definitely reasons to celebrate today!
It's my birthday!!
It's my friend Ann's birthday!
And it's my cousin Lotta's birthday! And as if that wasn't enough, Lotta just had a baby girl the other day. So big congratulations on the miracle of life!

However, celebrations will be had tonight. In Copenhagen, with Sofia and Teresa (they arrived by train down here yesterday!), with Tiina (of course!) and with my handsome Danish friend Morten.
And since it's my 26th I think it requires my own very special cake... Don't you?!

no serial killer

Met up with my dear friend Gary in London. Haven’t seen him in a couple of years... That’s how our relationship goes, we see each other seldom, but we always have a good time when we do.
Actually, Gazza announced that I’m his longest and most successful relationship outside work. Now I think that is something, don’t you?!

Anyway, love him to bits and no exception to the rule was had this evening, meaning: we had a great time and a good chin wag (and yummy raspberry sours).

So Gaz, if you read this, thanks again for everything, you are great.

Don’t know if you guys ever google people? Well I do sometimes…. and if you google my dear friend you find the following sentence at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: This article is for the English golfer. For the American serial killer, see Gary C. Evans.
Think it’s hilarious and must say I’m very glad to know that I’m not friends with a serial killer.

Big kiss.

toys 'r' tiring

Tired…
Who knew toys could make you soooo tired…?
Or maybe it was the long over night flight without any sleep. Or maybe those busy days before leaving… Or maybe the fact that we arrived at 5 in the morning to LHR and then took off into the great city of London after a quick shower at the hotel, and then walked from toy store to toy store all day.
Or maybe a mix of all the above…
Anyway, picture is taken in Hamleys late in the afternoon. The teddy bear was very, very soft and cuddly… And made me feel even more sleepy...

Conclusion; toys are us but also tiring...

good times

Question:
How can 16 days go so fast?

16 days of fun. 16 days of play. 16 days with kids. 16 days of love. 16 days of trying to see my favorite people as much as I've could. 16 days of not living in my own apartment (am actually happy that that part went fast, not that I'm complaining about the accommodation I've had or living with Kris, but home is always home...). 16 days of excited guests. 16 days of Ullis - vet du vad?! 16 days with my best friends.

Have loved having Sofia, Patrik, Gustav and Maya here! So great to be able to share my foreign-babe-days-in-HK with people from home. So natural to have them here, yet so special for them to see, and for me to show, my new home town.

Don't want them to leave, but I know that they have to...

16 days, for them, of: beach and ocean, pool, Disney Land, red taxis, buses and trams with 2 floors, Ocean Park, shopping, general sight seeing, light show, play grounds, model shoot and toys, plus so much more... Imagine all of that in a 4 year old's mind.... must really be immensely exciting, if not even mind blowing...


To do a little sum up: Good good times and memories to tuck into that fortune in our hearts.