beijing - part 2

Beijing is under construction. They are building everywhere - new things and touching up old things - houses, roads, shopping malls, well you name it... A lot has changed since I visited the city last (5,5 years ago) and the city has grown... (the city is of the same size as Belgium - a whole country... crazy... and around 16 million people live there). And more or less all is because of the coming Olympics. Pretty incredible.

However, regardless of all
the big new things, some of
the old Hutongs are still there.
A different world, like a little city,
both old and poor, within the city.
Interesting to walk from
contrast to contrast.

And even though there are so many tourists around, you get stared at like you were the first white person they ever saw at times... And you get approached for photos like you were some kind of rock star... Funny! But if a photo will make someone happy, who the hell am I to decline...

beijing - part 1

It was the head of a tired but very happy foreign babe that hit that pillow back in HK again last night. Tired and happy because of 4 outstandingly great days in the capital of China! I mean it, you can't have 4 better days than we just had...

Perfect weather (warm and sunny, hardly any clouds in the sky), good hotel, yummy food (Chinese, Arabic, Finnish and Vietnamese), great company (thanks Tiina - what would my life here be without you...., and thanks Janne for taking us two girls around, showing us all the good food spots and most of all for being you. Really regard you as a dear, dear friend of mine.) and of course BEAUTIFUL sights!


The Temple of Heaven - so big and so much more than "just" a temple. And I can see him in front of me. The emperor - surrounded by his people - all in amazingly colourful robes, praying for good harvest and walking on the same marble stones as I do now, between the different buildings on this historical ground.



The Great Wall - it's history and grandness knocks you off your feet, and it's simplistic beauty together with it's lush green mountainous surroundings leaves you breathless.














The Summer Palace - the colours on these amazingly detailed buildings, the tranquillity of the garden of harmony and the calm water of the cooling lake - water always enhances a places' beauty, and this place is no exception...


















The Forbidden City - again, the colours, the grandness, the detailed simplicity, the history - all those feet that have walked there before me, and all those feet that will walk there after me....


Amazing.

days off

We're busy busy at work. Peak season has started, toys have to get ready for Santa, which means that not only am I doing long days at work (10-12 hours) but I have also been humming different x-mas songs for the last month...(now that's too early, it's only May, but I just can't help myself...).

Luckily I'm getting a break from this madness though. It's Buddha's birthday tomorrow, (happy birthday) so we have the day off. And Tiina and I have taken Friday off as well. So tomorrow morning this foreign babe and her hustling Finnish friend are taking off to Beijing!!

I will let you know all about it.
But for now, over and out.

love struck

What do you do when love strucks hard?
You have to have, so you buy!


Shoes and handbags that now are loved by me and also live with me are the following:


Lovely flowery summer bag from BOSS Orange and sweet brown/pink shoes from Anne-Valerie Hash.


Grey gorgeous bag from VanessaBruno and and cool black shoes with bling bling skull from Pedro Garcia.


Love is a beautiful thing...

tropical spring party

Well, I didn't get drunk but I had a great time!

And it was tropical alright; heavy rain showers, pineapples, palm tree earrings, sunglasses and lots of pool time (more or less everyone got thrown in, including me...).

However, they say pictures say more than words, so here it comes:

The pictures are showing, Tiina, Annie, Ben and me.

tropical friday

Am off to a Tropical Spring Party tonight.
Promise a report tomorrow.
And it will most likely say, great party, got drunk and had fun.
Later...

too fast

Weekends really go too fast.
A Saturday by the pool.
A Saturday night out and about consisting of a warm up with vanilla vodka at home with Tiina, a crashed birthday party at Cru (with new fun people to meet and talk to and more alcoholic drinks), and continued partying with newly made friends in VIP section of popular club until 5 in the morning.
A (slightly hung over but lovely) Sunday on the beach with Ben, Tiina and Juuse.
And then it's all over...

visual dna

Apparently a lot can be told from what pictures you like… It’s your visual DNA talking.
I have just looked at some pictures and been told that I’m an EasyRider.

What does that mean you wonder?
Well according to my visual DNA I love feeling the sea breeze in my hair and the sun on my skin. I always take life how it comes and I live in the moment. I don’t get faced by life, I just breeze through it. I’m a bit of a romantic and have a taste for the exotic. I like my surroundings to be simple and stylish. I try to show my feelings in simple ways every day. My heart is right here on my sleeve.

I’m probably happy spending time alone, and my drive and curiosity will take me all over the world. When I think of freedom – I think of living here and now. I’m pretty fearless and take any opportunity given to me.

birthday girl

Teresa - Happy Birthday!!

Hope this cake tastes just as good as it looks! Enjoy!

And hope you have a great day my sweetest friend! Wish I was there to celebrate with you...

Oh, by the way, was it really necessary to scare the hell out of me?! I would have remembered your birthday anyway... !
WHAT?! you are wondering...
Well your picture on my wall fell off in the middle of the night, and got 3 other pictures to go with it, so I was awakened by a bang and a smash as the glass broke on one of the frames...

But that's ok girl, it's your birthday - so you are allowed to do whatever you want!! :)

Många stora kramar!

new visitors

I've come to understand that my blog has attracted some new visitors the last couple of days... (Always good to know that my life is of interest to people. Even to people I really didn't expect to be interested at all... ) So I guess a welcome is in place...

And how do I know? Well, I've sort of been told and I've seen it.
If you also want to learn more about where your visitors come from and how they interact with your site - check google analytics out.

dreams

I think we dream so we don’t have to be apart so long. If we are in each others dreams we can play together all night.

weekend visitor

Since my friend Grant arrived to HK last Thursday night I decided to have the Friday off, just to be able to make the most of his 3 days here. However, weekends have a tendency to go very fast. Even long weekends go fast... But they are usually good, and so was this last weekend.

The weather gods gave us rain on the Friday, which gave us the opportunity to be very lazy. We started off the day with some pampering - facial and pedicure. Nice. Took the ferry over to Kowloon for some shopping and then I dropped Grant off at his HK office. (And then I didn't see him until 3.30 in the morning, incredible pissed...). So Saturday had a bit of a slow start..., but once I got some brunch into that big (120 kg of muscles) body of his (I like! :)), the day improved. Massage, snacks, nap, fireworks and a good dinner.

A good nights sleep later the sun tried it's very best to come through those clouds, and finally managed in the afternoon, so Grant and I tried our very best to catch those rays, and mission was accomplished. And once that sun came through it did so with an outstanding performance, and gave us the most perfect blue skied clear evening. Which gave us the opportunity to have a lovely dinner outside at the Peak. The view was just spectacular. A very suitable ending to a great long weekend.

my balcony

One of my favorite places in HK is my balcony.
Such a great place to just chill.

Right now I have just had two cups of tea out here, while just letting my mind go. I like that.

And it's a great place for people watching too. The other night when Ben and I was standing out here talking, Ben said I should get some binoculars... Maybe I will... Then I could take my people watching to an other level...

Love my view as well. It's full of contrast - just like this city, some older low rise buildings with balconies full of washing hung up to dry and then newer high rise buildings behind them framing them in. This is the HK I like; the city for all people - rich and poor, Chinese and Western, the scabby looking buildings and the new and shiny ones, the big shopping malls with Prada and Gucci and the tiny corner shops with chinese tea and cheap umbrellas.

muay thai

You might just have heard about it, or seen it on TV— the furious punches, crushing elbow strikes, lethal kicks, powerful grappling and artful feints. Muay Thai, also known as Thai Boxing, is the Thai name for a form of hard martial art practiced in several Southeast Asian countries including Hong Kong. Muay Thai is referred to as "The Science of Eight Limbs", as the hands, shins, elbows and knees are all used extensively.

So when we got offered to buy tickets to go and experience a proper fight night, we did. The fight night was Monday night, and off to experience this was Tiina, Juuse, me and Ben (“the cute guy from the restaurant down the street”).

And let me tell you, seeing fights like these executed to loud cheers and heart-racing tune of an accompanying wind-and-percussion ensemble is really cool. It is hard core, sweat and blood is shed and it is filled of adrenaline. (Even I, just sitting there watching, got all pumped up and I was kind of surprised of how much I enjoyed watching men beating the hell out of each other…).

Sum up: fun, exciting and cool. We had a good time, all of us enjoyed our evening event and think we definitely might go and see more fights in the future. (Actually, my box-instructor Joey will fight on the 2nd of June in Macau, I might just be in the audience then…).