China tour Summer 2012 ! (part1)

The beginning of our 15 day long trip around China : Beijing, Beihai lake.

Walking around Pingyao ancient town

After 6 years in China I finally visited the pandas in Chengdu !

Leshan - World famous giant buddha ... really nice but would be better without the crowd !!

Guilin local cuisine

My Beijing cloth shoes (老北京布鞋) !

Today I was walking around Yu Garden area (kind of "fake old" traditional area in Shanghai) with my colleague and my feet were hurting so much (we had been walking around since the morning) that when I passed by a traditional Beijing shoes shop I couldn't help but to try a pair on ... 

I had been willing to buy some for a while now, but never really got the chance, or at the last minute decided they were actually not "wearable"... I guess now I've become "Chinese" enough to enjoy wearing them. 

At first, when you have the shoe in your hands the sole feels very hard, I was afraid it would not be comfortable, but the sole is actually made of linen, and can adapt to your feet ... A cheap price (59RMB=6,70Euros) and my colleague born in Beijing both convinced me ...ok, I'll buy them ! As soon as I got home I started wearing them (I think they are more suitable for indoor use) and felt soooooo comfortable !!! So they might not look very "trendy" but they are definitely perfect for wearing at home !

Dongbei trip - Oct 2011

@ Tiger forest, Harbin.

St Sophia's cathedral : Russian remains of the past @Harbin.

Chinese tradition @ Jile temple, Harbin.

At 东方饺子, the best dumpling fast-food chain in Dongbei ! Milie's favorite : the cucumber & shrimp ones !

@ a public bath in Harbin. This one was quite luxurious, I had my own bathtub in a private room (I went for the "rose" treatment) with flat TV screen, and my own "ayi" ("aunt" in Chinese) to take care of me ... felt like a princess :-)

@ Dalian

Got to breathe some clean air, saw thousands of stars (yes, that is something you come to miss when you live in Shanghai), met some friendly people, learned how to play Mahjong ...Short but fun & relaxing trip ! :-) 

Music discovery !

Music being one of my major interests, I have to tell you about my favorite website at the moment : Pandora. Amazing smart online radio that plays the tracks you like ! 

You just need to choose either a "genre station" or a particular artist and it will make the playlist for you ... While listening you can say if you "like" or "don't like" and the choice of the next tracks will be made according to your taste ... I have become a very big fan and even use it for my house parties !! 

Link : http://www.pandora.com 

Below one of my best discovery up to now thanks to Pandora, the Swedish band Miike Snow.

Attention : Unfortunately Pandora can only be accessed with an IP address based in the US... so I'm using a VPN.

First impression = good impression ?

Wow, first post ! 

Feels like I'm a writer looking at the first page, very "white and empty" page, of my future "biography" ...and it makes me nervous :-) 

After years of reading other people's blog, I finally decided to start my own ... 

Must be because I believe I can also do something out there for people and not only be a witness. 

First time I came to China was in August 2006 for my studies, many things have happened in my (short) life since, and my head is already full of memories, encounters, special moments, amazing pictures... and yet, life has just started ! 

I am still unsure about the purpose of this blog, but I hope I can do something good with it !

So, dear future readers, welcome to follow me !!  :-)