Oh Sydney, my love

I have always wanted to go to Australia. Maybe just because it is so far, far away (especially so, if you happen to live in Finland). The way I had pictured it, we would be driving around Australia for four weeks. Maybe five. Diving at the Great Barrier Reef (although in my day-dream this is always mixed with fear, since I associate the reef strongly with sharks), admiring koalas and kangaroos, enjoing the great beaches and waterfalls, and the gorgeous cities like Sydney and Melbourne.

I am here now, but the rest didn't quite turn out the way I had planned: I am here on business, I am here alone, and I certainly will not stay here for five weeks. But regardless of that, so far: I love this place.

My trip could not have started better:

First great thing

I needed (or wanted) to pick up my jeans from the tailor (they needed to be shortened a bit) before I left to the airport. Unfortunately, all the company cars were taken, and I had no time for a round-trip to the tailor. So, I decided to take my changes: I took a taxi, told him I wanted to go to the airport, but needed to stop at the fabric market first for one minute, if that would be ok with him? Ok, he said. I have mostly met honest taxi drivers in Shanghai, even so, that they turn off the meter if they accidently take a longer way (which never ever happens anywhere else, at least not to me). But still, you never know. I wasn't going to leave my handback or my computer back to the taxi while I picked up my jeans, but I didn't want to loose my clothes and shoes either. Sigh. Could I really not go to Australia equipped with some other jeans? I got off the cab in the traffic lights before the fabric marker, and told the driver to wait for me in front of the main doors. And of I went, to get my jeans. I was in and out in two minutes, and got slightly worried when the taxi was nowhere to be seen when I came out. Only to find out, that he was still in the lights, and just heading towards me. Great job, I praised him and gave him a 20 yuan note, after he had gotten me to the airport via fabric market in about 50 minutes.

Second great thing

I slept like a baby during the flight. And by "like a baby", I mean that I did wake up every two hours or so, but without changing or feeding went quickly back to sleep. I think I slept seven hours altogether. That never happens. I was happy as a bird and brisk as a bee when I walked to the terminal.

Third - not so great thing, but at least I wasn't evicted

In the terminal I had a little incident. Involving a working dog. And an apple. An ashamed me. In the entry card they ask a lot of questions. You know how it goes: have you EVER been in contact with livestock during the past 30 days? No. Have your EVER been to Africa or South America during the past 30 days? No. Have you got shoes or other items that may contain soil? No. Not really. Have you ever been convicted of a crime? Nope. Do you have any food, including dried, cooked, jaba jaba jaba... Yes, I have a chocolate bar and two protein bars in my bag. So I crossed the box. There were several posters reminding us passangers that we can either trough our food items away to the several available bins, or present them at the guaranteen. I didn't want to loose my protein bars, so I decided to go through the guaranteen. I wasn't in a hurry or anything. But before that, I needed to pick up my luggage. While waiting for it at the belt, I placed my cabin bag to the ground. Within a minute a woman with a working dog passed by. Except that the dog didn't want to pass by. "Do you have a dog?", the lady asked. "Actually I do", I said. Never mind that the said dog resides in Finland and I in China, I still find her black hair almost every day. So, the lady was content to move on, but the dog wasn't. So she asked if I have any food in my bag. "I do", I said again, and presented the chocolate and the protein bar. "And that's all?" she said. "Yes it is". I was sure it was all. Still, the dog was not happy to continue, but instead was happily wagging her tail: she had found something. Actually I had grapes in a plastic bag, and I still have the empty bag, I offered and showed the bag. That did not do it either. So we went through my entire bag, full of everything I might have needed during the 10,5 hour flight. Like two pairs of jeans. And we found an apple. Oops. I had totally forgotten the apple. I knew it was there, I just didn't remember it was there. I wondered if I would get a ticket, because that's what they told in all those posters: If you cross us, you'll be fined or even send back to where you came from. I didn't think they would send me back, especially when I wasn't even pass the guaranteen yet, I could have still presented my apple for them. I might have. If I had remembered I had it... But I wasn't sure how big the fine could be.

Well, I wasn't fined, and I got to keep my protein bar and chocolate. I even think the guaranteen-officer tried to flirt with me. Which leads me back to my original topic: every one, or, shall we say, every man I have met in this country has been so polite and gentleman-like that I have just been taken aback with that. I dropped a pillow in the plane, and before I had time to do anything, it was handed to me. An elevator at the train station was broken and I started to carry my bags up, only to note they were taken from me and carried up. I dropped my cardigan, and a yong man run it for me. That just does not happen in China.

I don't know yet if it is only the long Easter-weekend, but people seem so relaxed, friendly and nice, that you cannot but like this city.

Also, there are abundand options for good food, there is a lot of water and waterfront areas, sky is blue, sun is shining, and shopping is good. The city center is easily walkable, and it doesn't feel unsafe even for a lone woman. My head is spinning and I think I may have found my soulmate.

More to come, as soon as I get photos loaded to my laptop...

Sticky and sweet

The past weekend it was time to sweept the dusts from the anchestors' graves. And for that reason Monday was a national holiday. I of course don't have any anchestors here, thus no grave stones to clean, but I welcomed three day weekend warmly.

For it was Qing Ming "festival", according to Shanghai Daily, more than two million people in Shanghai went to the graveyards during the past weekend to pay homage to the anchestors. Took them flowers and fruits. And another 2 million went already the weekend before. Traditionally also (fake) money should be burned at the graves, but at least my colleague told me that it is nowadays strictly forbidden in many places, to prevent bush / forest fires. So people will have to settle burning money elsewhere. Personally I prefer to burn my money shopping. It is really a really safe way to do it.

Chinese have a different snack for every festival. Or at least so it seems to me. For this one, they like to eat little green monsters. That's not relly what they are called, but they are sticky and sweet green slimeballs. Like big green snails.

Actually they are some sort of rice glutein, colored with a type of grass, and they have red bean paste inside. The taste is mild, sweet and indeed "green". Not bad, actually. But the texture feels like something you are not supposed to eat. It is soft and elastic, hard to bite. One of these is more than enough. Really. More than enough.

On a different note: guess who's going to see something else in the theme of Sticky and Sweet in August :o) I think I like that one more.

Long life in China

You can leave your money as a heritage for you children, but in China, you may also leave your ATM / debit card for the future generations.

Shanghai Baby

I don't find any inner burning to read each and every book that has been written of my native home town, Tampere. But for a reason or another, now living here in Shanghai, I am quite intrigued about books, movies, and what nots about Shanghai. I guess it is one way to learn more about the city. To feel more Shanghainese, less like an intruder. To have another viewpoint to the life in this buzzling, multi-polaris city. I am especially interested, if it is something that has been banned in China. Literary forbidden fruit.

Recently, I bumped into a novel "Shanghai Baby", by Wei Hui Zhou. There is a strange mood in the story. It is not violent, but it is a tad oppressive. I had nightmares if I read the book at nights!

Within the first 20 pages you can see why it was "banned and burned in China": If you remember, I told you at the beginning of my stay, that any physical intimacy, even if not that explicit, had been cencored from the romantic comedy I went to see to the movies. In this book the sex is explicit and über-realistic. And rude, at times.

I kept reading, 'cause I wanted to finnish the story. I wanted to be released from it. It is not an easy reading though: sadness, death and betrayal present at all times. To be honest, the greatest satisfaction comes from possessing and reading a book that is banned here. That's my inner rebel!

You didn't know I have one, did you?

A movie of the book was made in 2007. That hasn't received too high scores from the public, either. I haven't seen it. My friend said "if the book is not good, the movie is just poor, plain and simple". So I'm not sure I am gonna see it either. But got to keep trying: I have "Se, jie" (Lust, Caution) awaiting: "An espionage thriller set in WWII-era Shanghai". I'll see tomorrow if it is any good. Should be, based on the reviews. This one, too, was cencored (or heavily edited) for Chinese markets. C'est la vie dans Chine.

(I don't speak French, so please just forgive me any mistakes, will you.)

Sweet indulgence

One of the things Shanghai offers that you rarely (ok, never) get to enjoy in Finland is champagne brunch. (Or maybe we have those in Finland too, but I doubt.) It is utter indulgence, and that is just what makes it so great. It is free flowing champagne and abundant selection of delicious food. And friends. And an opportunity to use all those silk dresses that you have had tailor-made here. And, above all, it is a lazy, indulgent Sunday afternoon.

Here, many *****-hotels (and propably 4*, too, but why bother) offer Sunday brunch with either no champagne, one glass of champagne, or endless flow of champagne. We, naturally, opt for the latter. There are few hotels, where you can have the cool Bund / Pudong view while brunching away, but this time our hosts had chosen an inland establishment, Le Meridien.

They all offer a great selection of foods, but of course there are differencies in the selection and quality. Comprehensive selecton process is required before you can say you Le Meridien brunch seemed to have a sort of a modern air to it. They had an excellent grill stand, sushi, loads of sea food (from hummer tails to tuna Nicoise and from gravad lax (hmmm... I wonder what is the correct english term?) to oysters), good salads, quiches, roasted meets, asian delicacies, antipasties, cheese table, soups, fruits and desserts. Have to have desserts. Even though usually when it is time for desserts, you would be better of not eating anything anymore. It is like Christmas, in that sense.

In Le Meridien they also had a girl dressed-up like a nurse, except in pink and giving out medicines, except it was booze. I did not find that very classy. And who, in the name of Dom Perignon, wants vodka if there is champagne?

It is way too challenging to stuff down all those delicacies and enjoy at least a few glasses of champagne.

'Cause let's be honest: that is why we are there for. You can usually get champagne free brunch with about 100 RMB less.

*********************************

Le Meridien champagne brunch on Sundays 12-15, 458 RMB (~50 euros) per person.

Nanjing Est Road 789

Next time I plan to check what are the Shanghai Hyatt's offering. All three Hyatts in this village offer spectacular views to the river.

Other options:

- J.W. Marriot

- J.C. Mandarin
- "Tables" at the Portman-Rizt Carlton. Many people like this, but to me, the room was a bit dark, food selection was not that impressive. For example the signs telling which is which food were misplaced, and all in all it didn't left that high quality impression.

Sweets

Someone please tell me why on earth there are candies that taste like jalopeno or pop corn?

And someone please tell me why on earth I bought them?

More names...

I know it hasn't been long since I pondered about the "english" names of the locals, but I have got to tell you this to emphasize my point. Recently four people have joined our company. Namely, Kiro, Subrina, Marine and Harway. All pretty words, but hardly pretty English names. But hey what do I know? Though, I am not to only one to raise an eye brow or two for this.

Please have a look ma'am

We went to Hong Kong with another couple few weeks ago. It was only a long weekend, Thursday through Sunday, but boy, was it just what I needed! I was slightly stressed before the trip. I was not myself, I could feel it. Hong Kong was lush and green compared to Shanghai (although now the spring is kicking in in Shanghai, too), sun was shining, and I left the laptop home and switched of pushmail. I also considered dropping my passport accidentally to the sea so I could stay few extra days. I love Hong Kong. I love many places. I don't know what to do if I need to stop travelling.

Banana flower (or so I was told)

Climbing up the wall...

Hong Kong is buzzing city. A little on the noisy side, but not nearly as noisy as Shanghai. And it is clean. Not as clean as Singapore, but sooo much more cleaner than Shanghai. And it is so international! The people on the streets of Hong Kong are colourful and look interesting. People also seem more open, and more active than in Shanghai. I mean, Shanghainese are highly active and many of them work really really hard. But for example the sales assistants, waiters /-resses, and other service people seemed different, more interested in their work, more service-oriented than most of them do in Shanghai. I don't know why.

We stayed at Kowloon, but of course visited Hong Kong island. For you who don't know HK, Hong Kong island is the side which has the financial center, the high-rise buildings, which form the signatory Hong Kong view. Which you can see, not from Hong Kong island, but from Kowloon.

If you like a good steak, I would recommend the Steak House in the Intercontinental Hotel. The service was magnificient, and food was excellent. We hadn't reserved a table, but we asked for directions to the restaurant from the hotel lobby, and when we arrived at the restaurant door, they told us our table is ready. They asked the name of our "host" (in Chinese dinner parties you pretty much always have to have a host, I have understood) and used it through out the dinner. You get to choose from 8 different salts and eight different beef knives (although this might be a bit of a show-off). The signatory Hong Kong view was gorgeous, as it always is. Unless there is haze. And then again, it still can be rmarkable through the haze / fog. Anyway, go there. It is not pennies we left there, but it never is in that kind of places. And it was totally worth it. After dinner, have a drink at the Aqua bar, which has an amazing view from the top of the 1 Beijing Road. They also serve food, there is an Italian kitchen and Japanese kitchen.

The indian-looking tailors and hawkers were there, on the streets, as before. You can hardly walk 5 meters without someone offering you fake handbags, Rolexes, Guccis and Pradas. Have a look mam. Tailor made suit, sir. Have a look. I may have gotten used to it a bit, since it didn't seem as aggressive as previously. It is funny that they actually offer you fake goods, in most placed they just offer "Gucci" and "Prada", but in Hong Kong they are honest :o) Fake Gucci, mam, have a look.

We didn't see our favourite hawker. Can you believe I have one? We met him first in 2005, and he was the only one of them who actually remembered we had said "no thank you" to his offer. The next day when we saw him and I was readying myself to say the word ("NO!", incase you didn't get it). "No worries", he said, "I remember you, I never offer twice if I know someone don't want it." My jaw dropped. What a great hawker. If I would buy copied goods, I would certainly buy from him. Then, few years ago (2007, I think) J. was back in Hong Kong, and the guy STILL remembered him. I was kind of looking forward to seeing him again, but we didn't see him. Maybe he has found another line of business. I hope he's doing well.

We went to Macau on Saturday. Actually the guys went in the morning, we enjoyd of few hours of girl-time, did some shopping and went to Macau later in the afternoon. Macau was like a smaller version of Las Vegas, except there were a lot more Chinese. And many of the casinos were kind of apart from each other, where as in Vegas you can see most casinos just walking the strip. (In the evening, that is, othervise the sun will grill you to death before you have had time to see them. I've only been there during the summer, winter is a different matter.) Anyway, I would go back to Vegas any day, and I would go back to Macau any day, too. I gambled mind boggling amounts. Eight euros, in total. AND I was just on the verge of feeding in MORE money, when we left for dinner. Saved by the dinner bell, I say!

It takes an hour by ferry to get there, the ferries leave every hour, and the terminal was just below our hotel in Kowloon. Tickets were about 150 HK dollars, which is about 15 euros, one way. Only complain is that you cannot enjoy the fresh sea air, but are forced to sit inside. And, coming back, the sea-road was slightly bumpy. It made it fairly difficult to gulp down the bottle of champagne we decided to share with my friend (despite of the disapproving looks from our gentlemen(?) companions). Note to self: rough waters and champangne from bottle don't go well together.
Picture altered to protect the innocent and to demonstrate the feeling with the Moet and the rough sea.

In Hong Kong island, they have these escalators, world's longest. People use them to get to / off work. What a fantastic way to cut (car) traffic on the narrow streets down the hill! There is only one line of escalators, so in the morning they go downwards so people can get down from the hill and to the offices, and some time before noon they start going upwards, and continue like that until the next morning.

You can get of the escalators in several points, and the area surrounding the escalators is magnificent! There are stylish, cosy, comfortable, modern, all kinds of restaurants near the escalators, and we were practically screaming from exhilaration and happiness! If only we had time to ferret through all of them! (The guys again didn't really see what is that big deal about it, but then, they often don't get these really important things.) We tried some, of course, but there were so many more left. Also food market is near, and we bought some kiwi-berries. The first I have ever had: tasted like sweet kiwi, but you can eat the whole thing, peels and all.

Did I mention I love Hong Kong?

They also had an interesting umbrella fashion there:

And demonstrations. That is not something you see in the mainland China every day... There were people in front of many banks, and from below photo you can see they had warm feelings towards the bank management. I am not sure, but we concluded from the posters that those people had lost their savings, and somehow thought the banks had stolen their money. I am not sure we can blame the banks for the entire economic downspiral we in (we also need to blame the Americans). Perhaps those people didn't realize, due to last ten years of stock price development, that there actually is a factor of risk involved with investing to stocks... Anyway, it was good to see that at least you can demonstrate in Hong Kong (at least if the subject is in private sector..?).

We of course visited the Victoria peak, and went up and down with the 120 years old tram. The picture doesn't replace 100 words, 'cause it doesn't tell how steep the hill really is, but the tram staid on rails, once again.

I warmly recommend the peak, you can see to the other side of Hong Kong island, too. I just so love the greenness of it.

On Sunday, we went to Disneyland. It was a disappointment. If course, if I had done any preparations and actually looked it up, it would not have come as a surprise, but there was only ONE (ONE!!) ride. One lousy roller-coaster. The rest of it was for kids. Or true Disney-lovers. You know, I've read my Donald Ducks where the next guy, but I've already seen it all in Los Angeles Disneyland. Which, by the way, also had many good rides! The weather was great, so we enjoyed the Hong Kong Disneyland for few hours, but to say it was "the happiest place on earth", no way. There was just no love between the two of us. I could have used the time in the city so well, too!

But no hard feelings even for Disneyland, as those four days were a great break. When we came back I didn't subconsciously clench my teeth together in my sleep anymore... I still love Hong Kong.

Go and see for yourself. Cathay Pacific had a really good offer: the four days and three nights package was 3090 RMB per person (considering that, I am puzzled where all my money went?) and the hotel (Royal Pacific) was on a very good location. Our rooms were a little outdated, but we had a view of the sea, and we hardly but slept there. There were other hotels available in the package, and I would have chosen one of them, but we booked too late and they were already full.

Superstition

Do you know what that thing in the photo is? The ugly plate on the right side of the photo.

Care to even guess?

Could it be...

...a small portion left of a prison wall?

...an only standing wall of a warehouse taken by a tornado? (Or some other grazy storm, I am not an expert.)

... an old, abandoned billboard?

...a slightly rusty climbing wall?

Nah, maybe not. I'll give you a hint. It has a purpose. It is being used all the time, even as we speak. It is on the "backyard" of the factory, where my other office is. It is beside a road coming from a river.

Maybe it is a huge backpane for equally huge dartboard (tikkataulu)?

Or, perhaps, it is a huge metal wall set up in the midst of "nowhere" to stop or mislead all the evil spirits before they reach our factory. Oh, you knew it right away? Why didn't you just say so! Because that's what it is. As you surely know (I don't even know why I bother to tell you this), the evil spirits live in (on?) the river. For reasons unknown to me, they like to get off the water at times, and try to reach our blessed site of employment. But aren't we just LUCKY someone was smart enough to set up a wall like this. Phiu. I don't know whom to thank for it, but indeed the person should be granted a medal (Valkoisen Ruusun Ritarikunnan risti, ihan vähintään).

I have been wondering how long we can fool the evil spirits so that they don't go and learn to go AROUND the wall. I find it hard to believe they would be that stupid, but I try not to voice my concerns. Who knows when the evil spirits are listening... I don't want to be found guilty of such a treasonous leakage.

Btw: Does anyone of you know if they can READ?


Where some westeners believe number 13 will cause you bad luck, for Chinese, number four (4) is evil. In Chinese, it sounds similar to the word "death", or "si" in mandarin. No one wants to have a phone number ending with four. Prices usually end with eight, never with four.

Due to this, there is no 14th, 24th, or 34th floor in our building. Maybe they have had some symphaties for westerners, as we also don't have 13th floor at all. I am not so particular about these number issues, but if it makes someone happy, what's that to me? Go ahead and skip all the fours.

But what I don't get is why we still have 4th floor?

(Apologies for the high quality pictures. I have excuses. First one was taken in a hurry with a mobile phone (and if the sky is grey, then the sky is grey, that cannot be helped) and in the second shot you can see my concentration reflecting from the mirror like elevator panel. There isn't much room to take photos, and the mirror kind of makes it a little difficult... Lame excuses, I can hear you say to yourself. But I ain't got any better ones right now.)

On a completely different note: can you but just love the spring?

Friendly service

Who wouldn't want something special and meaningful that is worth your money? I certainly would! Well these guys provide exactly that AND "friendly service and product" to you.

Unfortunately the shop was closed, and we never found out what services and what products they have. But it must be special. And meaningful.

If this rose your interest, just go to Beijing, call to the car rental company in the tourist map, ask to get Sabrina for guide, and ask her to take you to see the most famous Hutong. Or, just find out in which hutong are Bell Tower and Drum Tower. This is to say, that I don't remember the name of the hutong we went to.

Touristing in the Capital

In Beijing we had 2,5 days to take it all in, which meant we had to use time efficiently. And we did: walking and sightseeing from 9 am until 10:30 pm the first day, 8:30 am 'till 00:30 am the next day. I can tell you I slept like a baby. But then again, I usually do.

Who said in Beijing you cannot see the sky?

From my Lonely Planet China book I learned that spending a day in Beijing is equal for you lungs to smoking 80 (yes, eight zero) cigairettes. Personally I have never (never-ever) smoked. Now by spending couple of days there I was off to a good start... (No, not for real, I still dislike smoking). But, I am not sure how many cigarettes Beijing meant to my lungs: certainly you could see the haze if looking far to the horizon, and at times there was something black inside your nose (I'll spare you from the rest of the details) but still generally, the air was actually very clear and sun was shining. Maybe we got lucky. Or maybe the recession + Olympics have closed some industrial polluters... Who knows.

We decided to spenf the pther day in the car and go see the Great Wall of China. As you may know, it is some 80+ kilometers away from the city, so we needed a transportation. As we had one in our group who was not willing to join any group tours, we had to get a car. W asked from the hotel of the options they could offer us. They sáid it is 1400 RMB, which we considered too expensive (as to what should be the going rate for a car and a driver for one day). So, intead we opted to do what stupid people do: we called to the company who had an add in the tourist map. We don't want any lunch, tickets, tour guides or anything additional. We just want a good car and a driver. And they said:

"Ok, ok. 700 RMB. You'll have a car and driver for your use the whole day. You can go anywhere you want to."

Well, the next morning when they arrived: the first thing we saw was that there was a guide. A nice girl, but a) we didn't really want a guide b) we sure as heck were not going to pay for it, and c) she wasn't too knowledgeable of the tourist attractions in Beijing.

But off we went, and decided to start with the Olympic stadium, the famed Birds Nest. At that day, some seven months after the Olympics (on a beautiful Sunday morning, but still) the site was still very busy. There was nothing going on, but there were many (Chinese-many aka seriously many) Chinese-looking tourists (and us) there to admire the famed Bird Nest, and the glowy Cube. It was 50 RMB to see the Nest from within, but we skipped. Empty stadium chairs were lower on the list of "must sees" compared to the Wall.

The Nest is prettier from farer away...

We also saw the glowy Cube, and the dragon-shape-reminding 7-star hotel (the head showing in the picture, the rest of the body is hiding behind the Cube.) I don't know who want's to stay there, in the midst of "nowhere", away from the city center, but maybe I am not in the target group, and therefore cannot understand this.

When we started towards the Great Wall of China, the guide told us there is no time to see both the Wall and the Ming Tombs. (The Ming Tombs held the remains of 13 of the 17 Ming and Qing Dynasty emperors, if my memory serves me right.) Nooo, no no no. We agreed that was what we wanted to see. Yes, but the drive to the Wall takes 90 minutes, it is another 90 minutes to the Tombs, and we need some time to see them. I figured we would need two hours at the Wall, one would need to cover the Tombs, and we would be fine. After a short exhange of arguments (in a friendly tone, of course) we agreed to decide later, when we see how long the Wall takes, about the Tombs.

But before long, the guide ligthly mentioned that now we would be going to the silk factory. Come again? We don't want to go to the silk factory! You are taking us to the silk factory, but we don't have time to go to the Tombs? Come on. You must be kidding me. Well, you can imagine that there were some words after that. The girl was determined to take us there, even I told her we hired a car to take us where ever we want, not where ever they want, I told her we are not going to buy ANYTHING, no matter where they take us and they better take us to the Wall as soon as possible. There were various reasons why we should stop there:

"We just need to stop there for twenty minutes."

"We just need to stop there for ten minutes."

"We always go there."

"It is a nice place."

"It is just part of our job to take you there."

And finally my favorite:

"Government pays us 100 RMB for gasoline money to promote Chinese culture if we take tourists there ."

Nice try, but the poor girl did not consider she was talking to:

a) people who live in China

b) one of whom is naturally leery about anything and everything

c) one of whom is an internal auditor, and suspiciousness comes with the job.

Well, J. then said: "We have had it. Take us back to the hotel. Now."

The guide swiftly called her manager, and what do you know? We can go to the Wall, without silk factories or others stops. I felt bad for the guide-girl, who propably thought we were the most stubborn, horrible tourist that had happened in her way, but then again I felt bad for us too, as we felt scammed, we had to fight over such a stupid issue, and for the next few hours we were not that trustful about the driver and the guide.

My friend later on commented, that for the duration of the negotiation I had a wide smile across my face. Maybe I have earned yellow belt in this avoid face-loosing came, 'cause I sure as hell wasn't feeling very smiley...

But we arrived at Mutiany, which is one of the locations you can go to see the Wall. It is supposed to have one of the best views and not be quite as touristy as Badaling (but almost). We were lazy, so we went up to the Wall by this:

And we came out sliding slates in this:

It was fun, though I went down after a German lady, who wasn't exactly a daredevil...

The views were quite nice, and we walked several watch towers, good hour and half. Sun was shining, and all was well.

Except that I don't think I had realised (history teacher might not appreciate this) the whole Wall is really "new". It has been totally re-done. I think all of us expected that there would be something authentic left of it... But at least not in Mutiany.

There were hawkers offering drinks and snacks every 100 meters or so, and there were tourists there, but it wasn't crowded or anything, like I have seen in some photos.

I cannot but wonder how do you run a marathon there? I have to see if it is actually going on the Wall the whole way, as at least the stint we saw, was up and down, up and down, stairs and slopes and more stairs. I admire anyone who runs a marathon there. Truly. I humbly knee in front of thee who master it :o)

Busy

I have been a bit pre-occupied, so I haven't managed to deal with the photos of our Beijing trip yet, but they are coming, I promise.



Meanwhile, a piece of censorship for your enjoyment: http://ispyshanghai.com/2009/03/04/thats-i-spy-shanghai/#more-2076



Who knew you cannot call a beverage by the name of a late statesman.

Train to the capital

My friend is visiting China now. I have no idea why anyone (or more accurately everyone) would think we are sisters. (I am on the left, by the way.)

She wanted to travel to Beijing by train. Train ticket, a soft-sleeper one, is almost as expensive (well, it is not really expensive, 514RMB, including delivery of the tickets) as flight tickets (from 540RMB; ours were last minute, and about 600RMB), but I guess train is a bit different experience compared to flying. We took the Z14 train, which leaves 7:20 pm and is in Beijing 7:00 am the next morning. In our cabin there were two Chinese men in addition to us. Which felt strange at first, but then... they didn't speak and didn't bother us, and mostly slept. To say we forgot them would be slight exaggeration, as used a lot of time to amaze the pajamas ALL the chinese passangers were changing into, when the night fall. Most had brownish, but some had patterns in their pajamas. Anyway, I was too shy to take a picture. Well, I tried, but obviously I am no natural born paparazzi.

We didn't have pajamas. We didn't fit in.

For some other trains they also have 2-person cabins. And some trains have luxury cabins, which have private shower and bathroom. But we (I) booked in a hurry, so our's had for beds. And a small table. Everything was clean and ok. I didn't take one focused photo in the train. It trembled.

We had dinner in the dining car, although we had stocked up fruits, cookies, sandwiches and jogurt just in case. To avoid starvation in 12 hours. But that was a fear with no grounds.

Breakfast was... very Chinese. I cannot eat noodles for breakfast. Or rice. Unless I am starving. But I thought I would make my friend's experience more authentic and ordered her a noodle breakfast. With an egg. Yam. She was very thankful for my help. It is difficult for a non-chinese speaker.

All in all, it was quite easy way to travel, all went well, and it is an experience different from flying.

On our arrival to Beijing, after checking in to hotel, we headed to Temple of Heaven. Outside the gate the Beijing authorities kindly reminded us:

I am not sure if well mannered imagination followed from our visit or not, but we tried our best to remain self-restrained.

And now to the commercials:

If you ever go to Beijing for sightseeing purposes, I can warmly recommend Hotel Kapok. The rooms were very nice to say the least, room rate 802 RMB, including one breakfast per room per night and internet connection. And complimentary fruits and some drinking water. And I liked the style of the decor. The exterior of the hotel is not very impressive, but who cares! I would go back anytime. And they were flexible: we checked in 7 am and checked out 2pm. No extra charge, no extra trouble. And, it is only a short walk away from Tian An Men Square, Forbidden City, shopping / walking street, night food market and some other places. And a short taxi ride to Houhai-lake bar area or some local restaurant streets. Of which you will hear more tomorrow...

to be continued...

Six Harmonies

For a someone, who is called "Six Harmonies", or Liu He in Chinese, this little boy sure looks angry and grudgy. Not harmonious at all.

Besides, he looks like a girl.

If you want to see him, you need to go to Hangzhou.

Aadolf

Aatu the dog went back to his own family already weeks ago, but I happened to flicked through some pictures and noticed the ones taken of that "dog". Oh my. Oh my oh my oh my.

A dog with a hair twist.

Isn't he small! And kind of pathetically cute?




Aatu hates rain. The hair on his ears, which he has carefully arranged and combed, gets tangled and curly. That is common for us. Except it is not my ear hair, just my hair. And I have not arranged my hair carefully anyway. And I like rain as long as I have proper gear.



Sleepy.

But then...

Aatu and a smile. Believe it or not, but this is what he does
when he is extremely happy. It is slightly creepy, isn't it?

Admit it: you did not see this comin'?

This and that

You know, I read other expats' China blogs, to see nice photos of China. Many blogs seem to be kept by stay-home wifes, who have better opportunities to take pictures in day light than I do. Or so I think. That's my excuse. I feel bad I have not been able to present better what it is like in here. But the state of the matter is, that for example the past two weeks I have been going to the mill everyday. That means

5:50 I get up, shower, eat breakfast

7:00 - 8:30 drive to the mill: working, some chatting with colleagues, sometimes sleeping

8:30 - 17:00 working

17:00 - 19:00 drive back to Shanghai: usually working. And chatting.

19:00 -22:45 Having dinner, going to the gym, reading, studying Chinese, watching TV, blogging. Or what ever I decide to do. In less than four hours.

But what ever I decide to do, I need to take into consideration my darling, who came to China for me (which I value and appreciate). And who is working very-very parttime. And who deserves to be entertained and kept company for those four hours that I spent home awake in the evenings. So lately I have tried not to open my laptop in the evenings. Because it is an endless road. It is unnecessary and it easily leads to thinking work which easily leads to working...

I am not complaining. I am just saying, that I don't have that much time to go around and take nice pictures of all the things around me. Well, what about the weekends, you lazy lady, you may think now. And you are right: I should do better. I try to do better. Days just escape me.

Yesterday it was so foggy, I could not see the next building from our office. Good luck to all those flying in our out of the city today. Hopefully that will not continue, my Valentine's date is flying down on Saturday.

While the guys were playing poker last Saturday (J. won some, so his forgiven ;o) me and my flying friend Pigga (above) did some shopping, admired each others dogs (from pictures, as both of those cuties are in Finland) as we always do, and had dinner in Kabb Restaurant in Xin Tian Di area. Pigga's hotel is in Pudong, so she had not been to Xin Tian Di before, and seemed to love the atmosphere: it is slightly polished / touristy, but I still like it. It has dozens of restaurants. And if you feel like it, you can pretend to be in Europe for an hour or two. I'll try to take some photos of it I can actually post. I usually go there in the evening for dinner, and all my pictures are unfocus due to darkness and my photographing skills.

But back to the dinner then: they served Valentine's menu, which was a four course dinner, completed with a glass of Prosecco. The candle-lit table was decorated with rose pedals... the chocolate cake was heart-shaped... and garnished with rose pedals. It was very... romantic.

Ok, no it wasn't but the food was very good, and we had good time.

Oh. Completele unrelated, but I got called "French Beauty" today in a meeting. By a lady. That was unexpected, to say the least. Let us just assume that the beuty is in the eye of the beholder. But people rarely say things like that in work. And secondly, I am not French, I don't even speak French and I have no idea why I would seem French. But hey, I would have NOTHING against being French Beauty, I would very much like that. I just hope it had a little more basis in the real life...

Here is a French Beauty for you.

I think. I ain't no horticultural expert.

Barbering

I had been avoiding a visit to hair dresser in China for nine months. I have been to hair dresser many times since my move to Shanghai, namely every time I have visited Finland. Bad news for me, or my hair, was that I am not going back to Finland before May. And I cannot NOT get my hair done in 5 months. No can do. It is not that my hair is so perfect. Quite the opposite, actually. But I don't want to make a bad situation any worse.

And it is not that I think Chinese don't know how to cut or colour hair. It is just that Chinese hair is very different from mine. If there is something I generally envy from the Chinese, it is their hair. Majority of Chinese have strong (unlike mine), thick (unlike mine), naturally beautiful color hair (unlike mine). Hair that doesn't frizz at the humidity of the summer months (unlike mine). The local hairdressers are not used to handling our northern European hairtype.

For hair cut or color, I have been going to the same Place for... almost ten years. Which is quite long considering my years. Now I had to face the dragon, and try something new. I decided to do so with a friend who had already been in this Shanghai-place for couple of times. Tiffany's, it's called. I just hate going to a new hair dresser. Anywhere. I hate telling the stylist (or designer, as they were called here in Shanghai) what I want. Of course that was not much of a problem since my chinese-skills don't really enable me to depict in any detail the hairstyle I want... But overall, I want my stylist to suggest what to do, and I want to be able to trust him (her) so I don't have to be afraid while waiting for the result. I want to be able to r e l a x when I am in that chair. And I absolutely want to be in and out in 1,5 hours or less.

So of we went, last Saturday. The place was huuuge. And noisy. And I could feel my palms getting all swetty and cold. I decided to try to explain that I'd like some highlights, like the ones that I had already. The girl started to show very very thin (about five hairs) strings, which was not at all what I wanted. I tried to show her that I want wide, but thin section of hair colored, under the top layer, so that it is not so obvious. Nothing too geometrical for me. And she showed me a picture where a girl had a five centimeter wide bright red area in her otherwise black hair. After which I noticed that I had been mistaken: I actually didn't want any highlights. I don't know why I thought I wanted in the first place...

I became sligthly more agitated when they put the color to my hair, and I mean hair, rather than to the roots (which needed the color). As a matter a fact, they left the roots totally unattended at this point, and told they will do something with them after 20 minutes. I made lame attempts to explain that where I come from, we do the roots first and then the rest... but I should have made more powerful attempts: both of us, me and my friend, had red roots and much darker locks. The designer came to see our hair and said "ke yi", which means "It's ok". No, mister, it is not. So, we had to go through another coloring.

End results is ok, but I ended up loosing 5 centimeter from the length of my hair, which was not the plan (don't you people understand what "duan yi dian dian", "shorten just a little", means? Maybe he just didn't want to understand? Artistical freedom and all that...) and three hours, which also was not the plan.

But I got to watch the most amazing things they were doing there: Chinese ladies' heads were wrapped to anything and everything between towels, cling wrap, folio, plastic and some kind of foam plastic, and a mixture of those. Plus rolls. Many of them looked like aliens while in process. Plus the designers were funny to watch: s0 very, very stylish and cool with their shades and drastic hairstyles :o)

But... I don't want to think about what I am going to do after 6-7 weeks when it would be time to go back. It makes me uneasy.

Blueberries and mangos

I am a traditional girl. I like traditional things. I like blueberry pie, for instance. Sometimes that means that I am not quite as open to new things as one should be. I am working on it, but results are not promising...

I have no problem comprehending apple chips. You know, those snacks made of apple that kind of remind potato chips, in form and color. But in my world, there is just no room even for a concept like blueberry flavored potato chips.

Even if they are natural and cool. There just isn't.

Let me know if you have tasted these, because I get shrills if I even think about buying them. Not to even mention mango potato chips and lychee potato chips. Natural and warm as they are, I just don't feel it.

Eating out

Last week I tested four new restaurants: new cafe from where to pick great paninis, pieces of pizza or sets of tapas for lunch (I actually tested all the before mentioned, and went there four times in a week! Well, we decided to be supportive for the new entrepeneur. And it is inexpensive, 50 RMB for luch set, including soft-drink).

Then I went to an Indian restaurant Indian Kitchen with friends. Earlier, I've been restricting myself to Vedas, 'cause I like their food, even the restaurant itself is a little cold. I mean the decor isn't their strong suit. We often opt to eat on the lounge side, it has got loads of more atmosphere and character. But I found Indian Kitchen to be worthy of a new visit, soon. I LOVE Indian food. And Indian Kitchen was much more affordable than Vedas.

Thirdly, on Satuday night we went to Chartre. Kind of French restaurant, but, which is quite common here, not purely French, as they also had French fries, potato skins, rice curries and bunch of other stuff available. Chartre is located in an older building, and I, no, all of us, found the atmosphere and milieu really nice. We ate upstairs, which was more quite and private than sligthly noisy downstairs. All the dishes were reasonably priced, and manu was extensive. There were couple of bummers, though: three of us ordered grilled leg of lamb. It had not been grilled, and it was not a leg of a lamb. To be honest, it had an "earthy" taste in it, so it wasn't very good. But fillet of beef was, or so was reported. Another bummer was desserts: four of us ordered chocolate mousse, and they only had one left. Three of us then had to change, but they were also out of couple of other dessert options. But we got our desserts ordered. When they brought them up, they only had one piece of Very chocolate something something cake left, even though two of us had ordered that. I was one of the two, and luckily for me, the other person was a gentleman and let me have the last piece: it was very chocolate, and very good. But the said gentleman was then left without dessert at all. But very nice atmosphere, maybe we'll try them again sometimes.

And lastly, we also went to Mesa/ Manifesto. I've been trying to go there for some weeks now, but always end up somewhere else. I have no idea what is up with that. But now the important first step has been taken, and I will be returnig. I think. I try, anyway.

Okay, what is the point of this lengthy narrative of what I have gulped down during the past week? The point is, that this city is so full of amazing restaurants, where you can eat with remarkably less than in Finland. But with this remarkable restaurant-scene two things follow: at any given moment I could think of at least 5 restaurants I have not been to, and would like to try. Most of the time it is closer to ten, than five. (Like now: one Japanese, its name escpaes my mind at the moment, beed-place Moon's, Italian restaurant Casanova, and I want pizza at Velvet Lounge (some say it is the best of the city), Whisk, acclaimed for its chocolate cake, Vue, a high-end place with gorgeous Bund views and House of Hamilton and... about 1000 Chinese restaurants. I could go on and on, you know.) At the same time, I would also like to go to the places I have already been to, and that I liked. Or loved. Or drooled at.

But biggest problem of them all: I have no idea how, after Shanghai, I am going to be able to go back to living in my hometown Tampere, which, with love, and all, has only a few decent places to eat, and even fewer of them have any distinctive character! Well, I have more than a year to enjoy Shanghai.

Maden Dino

(Almost) English subtitles from a TV show I have been watching today:


- A den in the day, it's all about her.

You can propably guess it really was -> at the end of the day, it's all about her.
Curiously enough, the same line was, in another scene, subtitled:

- Remember, another day, it's all about her.


Subtitle:
- Just because she and me now alone...
Spoken line:
-> Just because it's you and me alone now...

- I have a little Babylon, here.
->I've got a little problem here.


- I din't know nice is an exaggerate world.
-> I don't know if nice is the exact word.


- Hanke is father a legand father.
-> Hank is the father. Alleged father.

- Right a child I will love it as my own.
-> I'll raise the child and I'll love it as my own.

- All right Mars...
-> All right Marcy...

- I hope you are right
->... or hump your leg // ANd would some one please tell me how they came up with "I hope you are right"?

- Great old guy got to the coma.
-> Great! Old guys go to Tacoma.

- Tell me I will send you. // Like how could that even be a sentence?
-> Tell them who sent you.

- It is my pleasent.
-> No time like the present.

- This is the Maden dino what is shake you
-> Well if it isn't the madre of my bambino. What's shaken sweet duck?

These are just random picks, from one episode, so it was no effort to gather these, really. And there were plenty more.

This kind of humour just remarkably amplifies the viewing pleasure of ANY programme :o)

I wonder what they pay for the translators around here...