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Singapore III

This year 2015 Singapore celebrates 50 years of independence. And it’s also been acclaimed as the world’s best country to visit due to it’s excellent shopping, rich cultural life and food culture. I skipped the shopping on Orchard road completely to focus on for me a much more important thing – the food, which was fantastic. Eating out is everyone’s favourite pastime here. Singapore is a hotpot of cuisines. Influences from the Chinese, Malayan and Indian cuisine of course as well as other Asian countries, the Middle East cuisine and pretty much from all over the world as a result from the country’s history with immigrants from many countries.

There is an endless variety to choose from. From really good and affordable street food found in the hawker food stalls, food courts to high end restaurants.

My first night I went to a hawker food court just up the road and sought out the stall which had the most customers and had a big bowl of tasty soup for nearly nothing. As I’m a soup fan I’m in paradise here. The Singaporean speciality is Laksa, a soup made of leak coconut milk, prawns, cockles, tofu, beansprouts and noodles.

A Vietnamese restaurant close by, Mrs Poh, became a favourite lunch spot for a bowl of noodle soup. Wanton Mee noodles, Chili crabs, fried carrot cake and Kaya toast and soft-boiled eggs are other specialities. I loved all the food. Though the Kaya toast and eggs, which is a traditional Singaporean breakfast requires the taste of a local I think, to fully appreciate the really soft-boiled eggs, read runny, and the old school white bread cut in triangles and lathered in coconut.

These guys at Michelin star awarded Din Tai Fung are making top notch dumplings with near surgical precision. Look how he weighs every dumpling. And of course they were delicious too!

I even found a Swedish cafe called Fika, named after the ritual Swedish everyday coffee break, and had an afternoon tea with the classic Swedish chocolate cake ”Kladdkaka” there. It took a while but then I realised that there are no fruit and vegetable stalls in the streets like there are in Shanghai and Hong Kong. I missed that. The streets become all the more dull and sterile for that.

One day I had a photo shoot at the home of Claudette. She lives in a sought after black and white apartment building from the thirties. The name comes from their white walls and dark wood trim. She took over her apartment from an architect that probably wanted to accentuate this, as he tiled pretty much all the floors in the apartment in chessboard black and white. The black and white houses and bungalows have a distinctive part in Singapore’s architectural heritage. They were built from the end of the 19th century until World War 2 as family homes for wealthy British expatriates and have elements of UK’s Arts and Crafts and Art Deco movements.

Another day I had a photo shoot at the home of Rick, a great personality, who used to host his own TV show. His home was also a black and white house beautifully set in the forest. He shared pretty much the whole of the top floor with his parents. The architecture of this house is adapted to the tropical climate here, as it has big windows on opposite sides that open up to let the wind breeze through, keeping it comfortably cool with the aid of roof fans. I love the way the nature outside flows in through the generous french doors, that can be folded back the whole width of the living room. The whole place has a very old time ambience that reminds me a bit of my own childhood home. Rick loves collecting old furniture and artefacts and he also has a lot of stories to share from his colourful life, which is very interesting to take part of. More about these homes in my upcoming book.

On Emerald Hill there’s a row of lovely old terraced houses with a very characteristic architecture. Built partly in wood with shady porches they often have frilly, ornate woodwork that is very decorative. These old shop houses are purely residential today. I certainly wouldn’t mind living in one of these!

I read somewhere that in the Sir Stamford Raffles city plan of 1822 it decreed that all commercial buildings should have a five foot wide porch so that one could walk protected from strong sun and rain. An excellent idea I think that should be followed today too. Sun starved Swede as I am it was still a relief to escape the sun and walk in the shade of these passages on a hot day.

Tanjong Pagar road is also lined with the same kind of old shop houses, all painted in different colours, some more fanciful than others.

Potatoe Head Folks is a cool restaurant and bar at the beginning of Tanjong Pagar Rd.

It is housed on several levels of this building and has a nice interior design.

Celebrated the Full Moon & Blood Moon and a day of productive work in their bar on their rooftop with a lovely cocktail. Though the haze I even glimpsed the full moon for a short while.

Singapore Changi Airport is ranked no 1 in the world and as airports go this one is pretty special. This butterfly lives in the Butterfly Garden, a small tropical garden with a waterfall. Then there’s a Koi pond and a movie theatre. And in terminal 1 they even have a roof top swimming pool! Who ever would have thought to bring ones swimming gear to the airport?

It’s time to leave. Farewell Singapore!

Copyright and photo: Anita Martinez Beijer

Singapore part II

Published by Anita Martinez Beijer

Of course I had to visit Raffles Hotel. Not only to sample the obligatory Singapore Sling, which I did. But the building of this iconic hotel is truly beautiful. Now it’s surrounded on all sides by the modern life of high-rises and busy roads.

But it also sits in a garden that somehow keeps the outside world at bay giving it a serene splendour. This however is slightly taken away by the fact that it’s also swarming with tourists, well that’s includes me too I guess.

On a spur I felt like I wanted to have afternoon tea here but that was a no go as one has to book that one week in advance! You get the picture.

Oh well there’s always a place in the bar so I went there and had a Singapore Sling instead. This classic cocktail was invented by the bartender Ngiam Tong Boon in 1915. At this time women were not allowed to consume alcohol in public. But he cleverly thought out a way to create a cocktail that looked like fruit juice and so the women could join in on the fun. And now 100 years on they are still flying out of the bar.

The bar itself seems to be totally intact even though it’s moved from it’s original position. All polished mahogany with fans whirring and crunching peanut shells on the floor. Littering is otherwise a big no no in Singapore but here it’s evidently totally ok.

This impressive doorman, who most certainly is 2.0 meters standing and with seriously large feet, is imposing. He so fitted in to his role. Elegant no?

I lived for a while just over the road from Haji Lane and all the other narrow streets in the Kampong Glam Malay Heritage District. This area I liked with it’s bohemian vibe of colourful shop-houses with lots of small cafes and quirky one of a kind boutiques.

One favourite is Salad Bar which isn’t a salad bar at all but a shop with nice home accessories, clothes and jewellery.

I popped into a Japanese restaurant around the corner called Kitikitoki one evening for a quick meal and ended up coming out in the small hours thanks to the gentlemen Trevor and Edwin. They packed up their guitar and Cajon drum right next to me and started playing and singing in such a catching way that I found myself singing along and later sharing a meal together and having a whale of a time! I even learnt to say “totemo shiawase” in Japanese thanks to Wataru, which means being very happy. Which I was! Totally!

One day I had a photo shoot in a very interesting building called Pearl Banks Apartments, standing on the top of Pearl’s Hill Park. It is something of a architectural icon. It was one of the tallest and densest residential building in Singapore when completed in 1976 and influenced urban development both in Singapore and other cities in southeast Asia. I was fascinated by it’s round shape, how it folds in into itself, witch was best experienced standing at the centre and looking up.

The apartment itself was small but had a lot of nice period details intact, which is rare to find here, such as the cool tiling in the original bathroom. Situated on the 36th floor it has a fantastic view, which unfortunately I couldn’t see for the haze. More about this home in my upcoming book.

One thing that struck me was the diversity of religions who seemingly live peacefully side by side. There seem to be no friction between people caused by religion as there are in so many other places. Here the Sultan Mosque and the gopuram of the Sri Mariamman temple, Singapore’s oldest Hindu temple.

On recommendation from my friend Ping I went to Demsey Hill one day. Situated in one of the old Tanglin barracks that housed the British troops from the late 1800s, throughout the World Wars I and II. After the Japanese surrender in 1945 British forces retook Tanglin Barracks and assigned it as General Headquarters of the Far East Land Forces. There is still a bit of a ”The Bridge on the River Kwai” feeling over it. Even though that movie was about the Burmese railway the Japanese were here too. In my minds eye it was easy to see the jeeps screeching to a halt in the yard making huge clouds of dust rise and men standing on attention while the sun belted down relentlessly. Which it was doing now. Military life here must have been so hard. For one thing heat really saps ones energies.

After Singapore gained her independence in 1965 the British started to withdraw their troops in the 70s. Now it houses restaurants, cafés, bars, art galleries, furniture stores and antique shops.

Had afternoon tea at Jones the grocer on Dempsey Road. Being back in Southeast Asia, old childhood habits seem kick in again. Afternoon tea is a craving nowadays. Well that in itself isn’t a bad habit if it wasn’t that I also crave to have a nice big slice of cake with it every time! Anyway Jones is a cool gourmet grocer and restaurant housed in one of the barracks. I liked the ceiling height and the shaded verandah.

Singapore part I

Published by Anita Martinez Beijer

Singapore is a city, an island and a country. Small in size but with a population of 5 million people. I found Singapore very green, humid and…unfortunately very hazy. But also with striking architecture, old colonial houses and the sometimes surreal new buildings and stunning structures such as the Supertree Grove in the Gardens by the Bay.

As the haze was so prominent during my visit I have to mention this issue. I stayed at first with Joe and his friends and his flat that has this amazing view over looking the Gardens by the Bay. This huge recreational park area created from a vision Singapore had, to transit from “A city with a garden” to become “A garden with a city” opened in 2011.

I had envisioned sitting on the balcony looking out over all this splendour, but unfortunately the haze was so bad that most days we couldn’t even have the doors to the balcony open. The haze is seasonal apparently and is the smoke that drifts in from, mostly illegal, slash-and-burn fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan in Indonesia, when clearing away peat-land and precious rainforest to make way for plantations for the lucrative palm oil trade. This smoke spreads widely and affects many countries in South East Asia.

Joe monitored daily the PSI (Pollutants Standards Index) levels that measures the air quality and this year the haze was worse than ever apparently. Facemasks were de rigueur when venturing outside on the days when the levels were between 200 – 300 PSI, which is when the rates are cranked up to Very Unhealthy from merely Unhealthy. One day all the schools were closed because of the haze being so bad, so I guess that the rate was over 300 PSI meaning Hazardous.

I find all this very distressing! And the fact that this is an on going phenomenon that appears every year I find mind-blowing. Who are behind these fires? Why are they so difficult to stop? The huge amount of people and animals that suffer from them. The amount of rain forests, the natural habitat of Indonesia’s orangutans or as they are called here orang utans, that are being destroyed. These precious rainforests that are also the lungs of our planet…

The Gardens by the Bay have two enormous domes of which one is the Cloud Forest with a 35-meter-tall-mountain inside.

Entering there was like stepping into a totally new world, with waterfalls, lush vegetation and CLEAN fresh and cool air.

What a relief being in here and just breathe! It was so nice to walk down the ”mountain” in a mist of fresh air.

One gets to see close up the plant life from tropical highlands up to 2,000-metres above sea level. It really showcases the clever way nature is constructed. How each delicate plant supports another, to cleanse the water and thus the air, whirling around as a thin mist of mini-droplets.

Cloud forests make up about 2,5% of the worlds tropical forests. And a huge concentration of the world’s plant and animal species live here. Many live nowhere else.

But it also showed the dangers these fragile environments are facing today. This became apparent just by looking through the glass panels of the conservatory. Clean air is a gift. Being in the current haze has made me acutely aware of this.

These huge glass domes are sustainable. They collaborate with the Supertrees outside that help them capture solar energy and they also works as exhausts. And the discarded plats material provides them with energy that cool the air. Well eventually I had to venture outside to reality but it was a great break.

The Marina Bay Sands isn’t only a hotel as I first naively thought. It’s a integrated resort which I learnt is: a 2561-room hotel, the world’s largest atrium casino with 500 tables, a convention-exhibition centre, a shopping mall, a museum, two theatres, 7 ”celebrity chef” restaurants, two floating Crystal Pavilions, a skating rink and on the rooftop a 340-metre-long infinity swimming pool!

How they fit in all of this in I do not know since it also is masses of open air in the ”legs” providing it with a cathedral-like feeling.

This kind of place does little for me but the architecture is remarkable. Like a huge spaceship rising out of the park in the haze.

My housemates were amused that I, as an adult, wanted to go the zoo without even a child as a disguise. But I felt very strongly a need to go and visit the orang utans so I went there one day. Singapore Zoo is very green of course and is situated to the north of this very small country, beautifully on a small peninsular of it’s own.

I spent most of my time there looking at these wonderful relatives of ours, peacefully going about their days.

Their use tools such as a long straw of grass to fetch water within a hollow stone. And the ”kids” watch and learn.

Their children play just like ours do.

They all have their own personality. Some are playful and mischievous. Others serious. Serene. Staring at them made me feel embarrassingly like a voyeur.

There are now only 7 500 wild orang utans left in Sumatra. A highly endangered species and this is so sad.

The Supertrees made me feel a bit like being in the movie Avatar. They are fantastic in themselves standing some 30-50 meters high.

But the magic starts really as the daylight fades and dusk comes. Then they light up and become quite spectacular.

The people that are not on treetop level gather under them and enjoy that changing of the colours accompanied by music. A great way to end a day.

Copyright and photo: Anita Martinez Beijer

Hong Kong part III

Published by Anita Martinez Beijer

Hong Kong is not only a city. It’s a archipelago too. One day I gave myself a mini break and decided to make a trip out to an island to find a beach. I went to the quay and found myself a ferry that would take me to the island of Lantau where I had read about a nice beach. It was so refreshing to be on the water and to see the city from this vantage point. And it was nice to leave the bustling and noisy masses of cars, buildings and people behind me for a while.

On Lantau Island I found a bus that took me to the pristine beaches of Cheung Sha. It was quite amazing that only a short ferry and bus ride away was this beautiful beach nearly devoid of people. Only me, myself and the warm waves of the South China Sea. Pure bliss!

Of course Hong Kong is about food! One favourite restaurant was Crystal Jade. Oh the number of delicious dishes I had here! The Dim Sun was spectacularly good here and the lovely bowls of noodle soup I had here were many and all of them yummy.

Another one was Sama that I found thanks to Eyal. It served Japanese curries, something that I haven’t encountered before. And it also has a fun way to order meals. First one has to choose the strength of the dish and then the other main ingredients. The strengths ranges from mild which is 1-6 called Baby Bear, medium 6-15 is called Adult Bear and then there are dishes which are seriously strong called Crazy Bear ranging from 16-30. I had a Baby Bear nr 3 and that was plenty strong for me! The folks who had the level 30 dishes have photos of themselves on display on one wall. I don’t know if this means they have survived. Or haven’t…

Nosh on Tai Ping Shan Street is a good place for a brunch and if you want to people gaze.

For a good dose of local flavour I took the tram to the wet market on Wan Chai Street. The wet markets are characterised by selling live seafood which is quite unique. It’s always fascinating to watch the vendors and their skilful handling of the sharp tools of their trade that testify of many years of experience of using them.

The surrounding streets around Wan Chai Street had markets stalls that seemed to be selling just about everything.

Kowloon has a flavour of it’s own. It felt distinctly more Chinese for some reason. Perhaps because it’s actually situated on mainland China?

In Kowloon I had a photo shoot in Sean’s small studio apartment. What fascinated me here was the placing of the bed. It rested partly on the windowsill, many flights up of this high-rise building! These buildings often have broad windowsills and this is a way of making use of much needed floor space. For me with my fear of heights this was slightly scary.

Facing Hong Kong Island on the Kowloon side waiting for the Star Ferry to take me back I watch it light up as dusk settles. Good bye “Pearl of the Orient”! It has been fantastic!

Copyright and photo: Anita Martinez Beijer

Hong Kong part II

Published by Anita Martinez Beijer

I moved to another part of Hong Kong, to a studio on the 31st floor of a high-rise with it’s own private rooftop terrace. I have always been interested small space living and this studio is a perfect example of this. The cleverly designed solutions worked very well and despite the limited floor space it didn’t feel cramped at all. I believe that the spectacular views on the three sides were a part of this but that the calm colour setting also contributed. Samuel who this home belongs to was currently working in Shanghai and therefore I could stay here. I really enjoyed living here. I liked the design and the views. And it’s location too. Not to mention the private roof terrace! How cool wasn’t that!

I managed during the photo shoot on the rooftop, to crouch on the edge of the roof in order to take a shot downwards towards the street way below. It was seriously scary, as I have a fear of heights. Also as it was a seriously hot and humid day, working on the rooftop left me totally faint and drenched in sweat.

But doing so I noticed two men on the building opposite, building a scaffolding of bamboo. They had nearly reached the top. Watching them balancing seemingly totally at ease on the thin bamboo poles, hanging on the outside a building of that height was staggering. Then I thought to myself, hang on, I didn’t see this scaffolding yesterday? I checked my camera for photos I had taken the previous day. And sure enough, I had a photo of the building but yesterday it had only a few poles of bamboo visible down towards the ground. This meant that these two men had built the scaffolding in just one day. In the heat. And on a Saturday too. And here was me thinking I was working!

I really liked Tai Ping Shan Street, where the studio was. It’s in a trendy neighbourhood that Samuel calls PoHo, roughly between Pound Lane, Hollywood Road and Po Yan Street. It houses small independent shops, art galleries, trendy cafes and restaurants. This area is far from the shiny malls and the business area of Central. Mixed amongst the new, creative and contemporary lifestyle, side by side the old way of life is still ongoing. The temples where the elderly go in and burn candles, the old antique shops, the simple hole in the wall food stalls. All in all a very lively and interesting part of the city that I liked a lot!

The steep stairs on many streets here makes it a bit of a hazard for the taxi drivers to get to the right part of the street. Which mine didn’t and thus letting me hobbling my extremely heavy suitcase down one staircase from one street level to another, till one very nice man rescued me and carried it down. But I believe that it’s due to these many steep staircases that make this place so special, like a little oasis away from traffic and the hoards of people.

It was also in this area where I had another photo shoot that I really enjoyed, at the home of Eyal. He lives in a really fun and creative home and it was delightful talking to him. He told me that he came over his place for a song because as he believes, it has the number four as part of the street number. Four is considered a very unlucky number in this part of the world, as it sounds like the word death. And having a coffin maker in the same building also worked in his favour. More about his home and all the other homes in my upcoming book.

Copyright and photo: Anita Martinez Beijer

Hong Kong part I

Published by Anita Martinez Beijer

Arriving to Hong Kong straight from Shanghai, my first impression was – that it felt small! Who would have thought this? It’s also an extremely vertical city. Densely populated and confined in a relatively small area, makes this a necessity. It’s actually one of the world’s most densely populated metropolises. Also the fact that it’s surrounded by green hills and water makes it a very beautiful place.

I also found Hong Kong very clean, orderly and well organised. Many pavements are raised above the streets, with roofs and glazed walls that provided both shade from the sun and shelter from the rain. Also they make a very efficient passage for the many business people who hurries through them morning, noon and night. Hong Kong is one of the world’s leading financial centres and many of the tallest skyscrapers are the homes of various banks and financial institutes. In Hong Kong rules the principle of ”one country, two systems”. Meaning that although a part of China since 1997 when it was returned to Chinese sovereignty, it retains it’s own capitalist economic and political systems.

It was such a relief that the taxi drivers, at least in parts, spoke some English! And having mastered the subway in Shanghai, taking the subway here was a piece of cake. I felt that I blended in very well when an Asian lady asked me the way one day. And I was happy to be able to reply that yes the next stop indeed was Mong Kok, without batting an eyelid! Because of course I had a handy app for the metro system in my trusted iPad.

I was also glad that they had these reminders on the streets as it’s left hand driving here! Many times I looked in the wrong direction before I cottoned on to that!

At first I lived just beside Hong Kong Park, staying with KaKee. She is an art curator who has just opened her own gallery, shortly before I arrived. As she her home also is filled with artwork and pieces of antique furniture, her apartment was one of the homes I wanted to portrait on my quest about a home around the world. We had a wonderful time together sharing some interesting talks about life, love and art. She is born and raised in Hong Kong and is very knowledgeable about the city, information which she generously shared with me. Outside on the balcony of her apartment the Cockatoos flew wild around the trees and held concerts every morning and evening. The view from here was quite spectacular. It looks out onto the skyscrapers and the lush greenery of the park. In between the skyscrapers through the gap you can see a glimpse of Kowloon. Especially at night the many bright lights makes Hong Kong a stunning city.

The park itself is very beautiful with waterfalls and different exotic trees and also an aviary designed as a rainforest within many exotic birds lived. It really is an oasis in this very dense city.

Every day I trekked up and down the stairs through the steeply rising park and that was my daily exercise done. I also felt very safe here. Even at night when walking back home though the park I felt perfectly at ease. Which was a really good feeling.

Towards the end of my stay they started decorating the city by hanging up lanterns all over the place. The Full Moon party was fast approaching, but sadly I would miss this celebration here.

Of course I had to take the Peak tram up to the famous vantage point of Hong Kong. The view from Victoria Peak is absolutely amazing! Hong Kong’s skyline is considered one of the best in the world. But viewing it from above gives it another dimension. Early in the morning or in the late afternoon and evening is the best time to be there. I went up in the morning and just about beat the hoards of tourists that come up here every day.

Had a bit of a fright when going down I decided to get of the tram one station before the Lower Terminus. And realised, just as the tram started moving, that I had left my handbag behind on the seat! Running down the hill at break-neck speed, seeing in my minds eye my passport, camera and other essential things flying away. I missed the tram despite that, as it was now on it’s way up again. After much hand-waving and explanations to various members of the staff all ended well, when my new friend the station master marched uphill and after ten nerve wracking minutes later, he came down the track with my beloved bag, with all the things inside it intact. Note to self. Do not confuse camera on shoulder with a handbag. Ever. Again. Do I recommend a trip up to the Peak? Absolutely! It’s a must see!

Copyright and photo: Anita Martinez Beijer

Shanghai part III

Published by Anita Martinez Beijer

I met the talented artist Xi one day and she took me to her recent installation, Check-in on Nanchang Road. Up one floor on creaky wooden stairs to a small apartment in an old Shanghai building she has created a totally white room filled with white objects and foam balls. It was a quite extraordinary feeling being there. Her intention is for people to rent it for 24 hours, to disconnect from the outside world and just experience being in this space, filled with whiteness. There is a bed to sleep in and odd pieces of old furniture standing topsy-turvy around the room, half buried in the foam balls. All white or painted white. She is very interested in how environments affect people. “This is art-rental, you rent a space with unlimited possibilities. It will not exist for long, so that no one can possess it permanently”, she explained. Xi is currently designing her next project that is going to be about furniture that doesn’t have a function. Sounds intriguing!

Another great experience was a visit to a massage parlour called the Ganzhi Blindman Massage. It was brilliant! Who better has the right feeling in their hands than a blind or partially sighted therapist. It turned out to be the best ever massage I’ve had. The particular massage I got is called TuiNa and is based on the traditional Chinese Medicin TMC, and it’s more than just a traditional massage. It is a combination of massage and acupuncture, working not only on muscles but on meridians. I guess my therapist couldn’t believe his hands when he got me as a client, a challenge if any. But he worked relentlessly through painfully knotted and tough muscles and though painful at times it felt wonderful afterwards! Unblocked Qi, check!

I also stayed for a couple of days in an amazing artist loft situated in an old industrial building in Wu Wei Creative Park. This is both the home and workplace for Jonas, a furniture designer and maker and his wife Nina, a photographer and their little daughter Anna. However just days before I arrived, they moved to the other side of Shanghai, due to having suddenly received a very sought after kindergarten place for Anna. So unfortunately I didn’t get to meet Nina and Anna. But I met Jonas who is still working there and we had some nice talks about his work.

He is passionate about up cycling and has his work on display all around the vast studio. His biscuit box lamps with touch sensitive lamp control are an interesting combination of Chinese vintage meets German technology. Other items are old Chinese furniture with thin steel sheet tops or big pieces of furniture such as a massive wooden table made of recycled wood from old buildings that they use as a dining table, to mention just a fraction of the multitude of products this very creative Swiss designer produces.

It was an interesting experience to stay in a home which contains a work shop, a photo studio, an office space and showroom for all the products produced here. Obviously creativity and work are very central and essential in this home. As an old industrial building with all the markings of it still in evidence it enhances the feeling of a work space. Jonas and Nina added a loft a couple of years ago, where they have their living room and office as well as a bedroom for themselves and their daughter. The openness, airiness and large space that could accommodate all of this is what made them choose to make this their home.

Wu Wei Creative Park was earlier mostly frequented by artists but is now more or less taken over by wedding photographers. On a daily basis one can see numerous photo shoots taking place. Wedding photography is apparently a huge business here.

They have built fake storefronts in the streets such as a Hello Kitty store and check out the way the word Telephone is spelled on the “old English phone booth”. One also has the choice of an European car as propping with the fake number plate FBI007…The whole thing is so cheesy that I was delighted to find a real artist at work in his studio a few doors down from the loft. We had no words to exchange but I hope he perceived how happy I was to have found him, and I hope that he is still there for many more years to come.

Visited the art fair Photo Shanghai, a part of Shanghai Art Week. Apparently “photography is widely enjoyed in China although the understanding of it as an art form is still developing”, I read in a magazine. Well I don’t know if they have cottoned on to viewing photography as an investment yet, but I do know that they certainly enjoyed viewing them at the art fair. Apart from Chinese galleries there were several international galleries too, with some real classic photos on show.

I found that I loved people gazing as much as I loved looking at the actual art, though there were admittedly some awesome photographs to view.

I soon joined in the spirit of the crowd and started wildly snapping photos of the photos, as well as sneakily snapping some of the visitors, much to my companion’s aggravation.

But you must admit that some, like this young man, doesn’t seem to mind to get noticed and to have his picture taken…

Contrast is one word that comes up when I reflect on Shanghai. The modern skyscrapers, all steel and glass soaring into the sky, silhouetted in fantastic shapes. And huddled beneath them small enclaves of old, low lane houses, not yet swallowed up by progress.

Shiny, new cars and man drawn carts, filled to the brim with rattan furniture.

Sleek shopping malls with all the bling bling as well as all the prestigious international brands and simple street stalls filled with vegetables or household goods. Wealth and rampant capitalism, but also simple life and humble circumstances.

It’s an extremely exiting and interesting city that has it all really. And after all what better place to choose to go dancing in a club, still in flip-flops until the small hours?

Copyright and photo: Anita Martinez Beijer

Shanghai part II

Published by Anita Martinez Beijer

The famous Yonkang road or Yonkang Lu in Chinese with it’s many watering holes, has a informal and rowdy spirit. This is were you go to have a beer or two or after-work drinks with your buddys.

Tianzifang market is a whole area of very old houses between Taking road and Jianguo Road. It’s a permanent market with products like leather goods, clothes and trinkets.

Found a cafe called Bohemia so of course I had to pay a tribute by stopping and having afternoon tea there.

I loved walking around the wet markets with its live fish in tanks and vegetables in abundance. Finding vegetables and fish that I have never seen before. And I also liked that one can buy vegetables and fruit almost everywhere on the streets, very fresh and available.

Displayed very neat and orderly inside in the wet market, more haphazardly and creative outside the shops, spilling out into the street. This is taken just around the corner from where I stayed. However I would find soon enough that’s not always the case elsewhere in Asia.

The bullfrog though is an exotic food ingredient I can manage very nicely without. Feel a bit sorry for them though…

Best view ever from is from Hyatt on the Bund. The view from here is jaw-dropping! It overlooks the Pudongs skyscrapers on the other side of Huangpu river. Bearing in mind that for fifteen years ago there was nothing there except wharfs and farmland, it’s pretty mind-blowing. Pudong means literary The East Bank of the Huangpu River, is Shanghai’s equivalent to Manhattan and it’s estimated to home around six million inhabitants. Breath taking at night with it’s dazzlingly and glittering lights.

The view over The Bund is equally spectacular, with its classical old buildings lining the waterfront and the skyscrapers towering behind them.

The French Concession was also a place very personal to me as this was where my parents met, got married and lived in. And both my brothers were born here too. I felt that even though this was a short visit, I understand a bit more about my family history after being here, walking the streets, soaking up the ambience and visiting their old hunting grounds. Of course life was very different then, but I still can picture their life a bit more clearly now when I’ve seen it for myself.

One place where I really felt the history was at the former British Consulate Residence, where everything seemed to be entirely intact since the roaring twenties. A beautiful old building set in a lush garden with ponds of Karp fish and an old world opulence about it. I could picture party’s and receptions on galore, cars driving up the gravel driveway and dropping of people in their finest rags.

Cocktail party’s in the dark panelled, spacious and elegant rooms. People smoking and dancing. Today it’s a quiet and dignified restaurant. A place where people speak in hushed tones and where a pot of afternoon tea costs an arm and a leg.

One day I had the privilege to be invited to a tea ceremony at the home of a lovely couple, Mark and Essie. They live close to the old city of Jiading. It was also a wonderful contrast to the hectic lifestyle in Shanghai.

The tea ceremony is not a rushed affair but an act of mindfulness, to be savoured slowly.

We shared many interesting talks that day, when I was also showed the old town with canals crossing through it, with beautiful parks with small lakes and temples.

We talked about Confucianism and Taoism, of Chinese history and of life in China today. I feel honoured that Mark took the time to spend with me, a virtual stranger as I am. It was like getting a precious gift.

Copyright and photo: Anita Martinez Beijer

Shanghai part I

Published by Anita Martinez Beijer

At last my travels have started. And what an amazing beginning it has been. But due to poor access to Internet in China and a very busy time in Asia, I have been unable to blog about my experiences. So here is a short recap of my time in Shanghai.

My home for the first week was a ground floor studio in a cute little lane house, nestled away down an alleyway in Jingan. A slice of genuine Shanghai, a place where I perceived folks were going about their daily lives pretty much the same way as they have done for decades.

Hanging their washing in the lanes, drying their chillies outside their kitchen doors.

I didn’t see many other westerners around there. My little lane house was inherited to my landlady Annie, who was very sweet and immensely helpful, from her parents. She has redecorated it into a really comfy and snug little place. I loved staying here. It consists of only one room, that used to be two smaller rooms, a shower room and toilet and at the back a kitchen shared with the neighbours. This is a common Chinese custom apparently. Her studio flat has one half of the kitchen and the people living above has the other half.

It also has a small private, open air courtyard. This is evidently unusual, because these areas are usually covered with a roof. In the old times this is where they used to have a privy in a corner. But Annie loves her outside space that she calls her secret garden, where she has pots of plants, a table and a couple of chairs.

The first few days I spent learning to navigate around the city, and getting used to having millions and millions of people around me. Millions and millions of people who don’t speak a word of English. It was slightly overwhelming at first. And getting used to the humidity, being a two-showers-a-day kind of place. And the honking driving style. I had forgotten about this phenomenon. The honking was sometimes a grateful diverter as it took ones attention away from witnessing some really scary driving habits. One huge discovery, and one that I hadn’t really been aware of was the Internet – or the lack of it, being as I was now behind the Great Firewall of China. That and also the fact that nobody around me really spoke any English took some getting used to. And learn how to navigate around.

For the first issue I luckily had a good friend in place. He has been working here for a while, and for his kind help and assist I’m eternally grateful. I got, thanks to him, small windows out into the worldwide web. To Instagram and Facebook and other, in China, inaccessible sites. So thanks Richard for that and for everything else! As easing my way into my travels by being my knight in shining armour. Gallantly coming to my hood on my first night when I freaked out on dark alleyways, rude taxi drivers and no wi-fi. And the general feeling of alienation. It ended up being a wonderful evening having a very rustic street bbq, with skewers of unknown ingredients, sitting on the pavement on simple plastic stools in the drizzling rain. Classic!

The second issue I solved by talking the universal body language that included a lot of hand waving and pointing and that usually worked. I’m not afraid to ask people and did that all the time. Sometimes the asking resulted in sharing a long train ride chatting amicably to a stranger and thus making the trip much shorter and nicer too. Other times total incomprehension followed, like when ordering food. That could be quite interesting. Or when taxi rides were involved, due to the fact that Chinese taxi drivers don’t speak a word of English and are a law unto themselves. No more said on that. But I also had some awesome apps which I wouldn’t have managed without.

One of them was an app of the Metro system. Which is colossal to say the least. I found out that one still had to use a lot of legwork when taking the subway anywhere, as the stations in themselves where huge and changing lines could involve walking for miles in seemingly endless passageways. One station, Peoples Square I believe, had at least twenty exits, so that can maybe give you a picture of the size of the place. Still the subway system is well organised and very efficient. Though it baffled me that it closed well before midnight. I mean really! In an enormous city like this?! I couldn’t recognise my bustling and lively hood when I arrived back, by taxi, at around 1.30 one Saturday night. Not that very late I would have thought for a world metropolis, but everything, absolutely everything was closed and everyone seemed to be tucked into bed and sleeping.

No wonder as I discovered the next morning when they all woke up as customary at 6 o’clock, stomping above my head, all business as usual. Yes apparently Saturdays and Sundays are not holy and people can work pretty much every day of the week. Even office workers. The overall impression I got was that life can be pretty hectic here. Lots of people, at least some of those that I came in contact with, seamed to be jetting of at all times to work in other countries. Those who didn’t spend their daily commuting glued to their cell phones.

Another great app was Citymaps2Go, an offline map that tracked where I was and allowed me to pin all the places I wanted to save. Map reading is interesting. One thing I discovered was for example that even though a distance on the map looked quite reasonable to walk, in reality it was always far longer. Shanghai is a huge city. It’s the largest Chinese city by population and the largest city proper by population in the world. It’s population is officially about 25 million, but it is estimated that it could be as much as 35 or even 40 million unofficially. Not only very much a high-rise city but also spread out in a vast area. So I had to come to grips with the fact that this map was on a scale that I haven’t experienced before.

My absolute favourite area is the former French Concession with it’s quiet, leafy streets and fantastic art deco and colonial buildings. It’s popular but expensive to live here. A place where quite a lot of expatriates live and it’s full of trendy shops and cool restaurants, bars and cafes.

Ferguson Lane was one place I really liked, as the whole area around Wukang Road, Hunan Road, Wuyuan Road and Anfu Road.

These beautiful streets lend themselves very well to photo shoots and one can often see one or another being performed around here. One thing you can do here is to eat and drink extremely well. The Lost Heaven is a very good restaurant with a menu based on dishes from Yunnan and Burma (thanks Queenie for an excellent dinner), El Cocktail and the Apartment are other great places (thanks Richard, it was epic!).

Copyright and photo: Anita Martinez Beijer

Apps and other preparations

Published by Anita Martinez Beijer

To make a trip around the world like I’m about to do takes som serious organization skills. There are some ways though to make this process easier. Apart from the standard but functional Excel spreadsheets I have found a couple of really nifty apps that I would like to share with you. But first and formost my smartest move was to realize that letting people who are professionals at what they do, are the ones that get the job done best. So thank you Eleonore at Kilroy for helping me make all the flight bookings! She knew of course of all the ins and outs of getting the best tickets at the best prices and also the better travel routes to to take. Her help has saved me precious time as well. Time to focus on contacting people who I want to visit, of getting the paperwork done etc.

In this process I found some apps that have been really helpful. My best friend right now is Evernote, the Organizer with a capital O. Keeping all the nitty gritty details in one place thus giving me a pretty good overview of my project. An excellent tool for anyone with a project. So full marks for that app!

Another one is WorldMate, that is hopefully in the process of swallowing my very extensive travel itinerary right now and is going to help me to keep track of my flight status and terminal location when I’m on the go. It also has a calendar sync, currency converter, weather forecast, tip calculator and has a local search function for seeking out restaurants, shopping and nightlife.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has an app for those of us living in Sweden. It’s an excellent app called UD Resklar, giving advice, tips and current travel information, basic facts for each country and up-to-date information of the general security situation there, travel advice in matters of health and vaccination, maps and contact information for embassies and consulates amongst others. Very versatile and usable I find.

A Wi-Fi finder is a must. Never know how addicted to Wi-Fi one is till one is without it! Offline maps is a must I think. I aslo have downloaded a general Converter that can convert just anything it seems, but I guess what I’m going to find most useful are the basic ones such as temperature, weight, volume and length. And if you are anything like me, getting bogged down trying to remember endless passwords there are apps like 1Password that take care of that for you, to my great relief. WhatsApp is for keeping in touch with my loved ones. But also for connecting with new friends. Some apps are country specific. In China WeChat is the app to use apparently. iBooks is handy for storing seven months of reading for an avid reader as myself. And I do love Yahoos weather app being a picture orientated person, a good looking app with photos from whatever location you choose, realistically animated with showers of rain, and water droplets running down on the “window”, heatwaves, thunderbolts or fog banks that glides past. Right now its raining here as you can see. Great day for working on my upcoming trip! At the same time I can see that it’s 29° and partly cloudy in Shanghai, 33° in Hong Kong, 17° and nice and sunny in Cape Town…it’s a preparation of sorts anyway. Gets me thinking of what to pack in the clothes department. More on that subject later!

What other apps do you find handy for traveling? Do you have any that you can tell me about?

I feel that it’s all coming together nicely now. Slowly step by step I’m getting there. It has become not continents or countries but people that I’m exited to meet. It’s Annie and Jonas & Nina and Ka Kee and Claudette and Thekla and Natalie and Julie and Doreen and…The list goes on but I’m filled with joy with the prospect of meeting each and everyone of you!