All posts filed under: Travels

Hong Kong part I

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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 …

Shanghai part III

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  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 …

Shanghai part II

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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 …

Shanghai part I

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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 …

Apps and other preparations

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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 …

Preparations

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This journey of mine is getting seriously real. Well it would wouldn’t it when one gets a hefty jab in the arm with a needle. And that not only once or even twice. I also have to fill out a four page visa application where one’s required to write down one’s name in Chinese…How does one do that? Google translate? Trying to figure out if the best solution is to by a round the world ticket from the start or to buy tickets on the go? Is it better to be free and take everything as it come? Or is the wisest move to book the whole trip in advance and save time and maybe money? And then there is the whole logistic part and making that work. Which places to visit and whether to stay here or there first? And to take the right steps and to make the necessary arrangements. A real challenge for my project management skills. Making the first bookings now and feeling quite exited. Am getting some nice feedback and people I’m going to visit seem interested and exited …

Yoga mat on the go

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Hurray! My new yoga mat for traveling arrived yesterday! When I visited Mallorca I ran into Malin Berghagen by chance one day. Apart from being a yogi she is a very beautiful and strong woman guided by empathy and love. I admire her a lot for her ability to share her passion, her strength as well as her vulnerability. So she is a something of a role model for me there. She is also brave enough to walk her own path and I felt that I had met a kindred spirit. Talking to her I told her a bit about my upcoming trip and and we spoke amongst other things about yoga mats, and she got this glimpse in the eye when she told me that there is something special about a mat that visits many places together with you. As soon as she had said that I got this picture of “my” mat in my head. Back at home I started searching and I found it. A yoga mat is very personal I find and it’s color is important. The …

Hello travels!

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To kick-start my travels after months and months of unraveling my domestic life as a house owner and to get myself into travel mode again, I took a short trip to Palma de Mallorca around midsummer. If this is a mini version of what my trip around the world will be like – well I can’t wait! I stayed with Maryna and Mike in Santa Catalina. It was my first visit in this particular area and my first stay with them too and we had a great time together. Sharing a home with someone is an interesting way to travel. You get to know new people fast when meeting them in a informal and relaxed environment as a home is. I also very quickly got that feeling of truly being at home. Sharing a glas of wine and enjoying great conversations when my hosts came home after a day at work. Going out for a meal together. Saying hi to the neighbours when meeting them on the stairs. Buying food at the local market. Apart from that I just walked the streets, soaking in the ambience of …

Travel itinerary

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The route for my trip around the world is set. I’m finalising the finer details now but it is going to  be as showed on the travel information board. I begin my world tour in Shanghai and will come back to Copenhagen approximately eight months later. Looking forward to sharing more details with you soon!               <a href=”http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/13623373/?claim=up2uutwhfem”>Följ min blogg med Bloglovin</a>