Bladdergate

Shopping on Sneaker Street, I was mildly surprised - to say the least - when I witnessed a little boy having a piss. Standing inside the shop, pissing out. Just about missing the man on the pavement, who was a little irritated when he realized what was going on.

Just that same day, I read this in Time Out Hong Kong:

Be a green eagle!

I wonder whether this sticker on an ATM has ever deterred anyone from stealing...

Not sure his heart is in the right place. It sure is in a funny place....

Didn't feel like trying one of them....

:-( well, I guess it's reasonable to behave respectfully in a temple ...

Hmmm, where is the link to the eagle?

red wine mask from Tony Moly

spaghetti layered with two slices of salami. Ironically, it actually made me crave pasta...

sausage donut from one of the many bakeries. Actually quite nice!

Are unlawful activities allowed outside the park???

And a little more shopping

While we did go to a few of the very posh designer shopping malls, I much prefer to go bargain hunting in the local shops and on the markets. My preferred haggling technique is to name the price I'm prepared to pay. The seller then tries to negotiate upwards - somewhere between their original ludicrous offer and mine. But I just say no. And once you start walking away, they usually give in and accept my offer. It becomes a bit of a sport!

That blouse wasn't particularly cheap at ~£20 but I just loved the cute pattern! Another pretty bargain watch (after the last watch I bought still works after 5 years!) and mini perfumes from Sasa - perfect for travelling!

tiny but seriously super sour!!!!

Sleeping in style

I was wrong. Very wrong.
Once upon a time (well, last year), I was saying how I would never spend extra money on staying in a hotel suite. How much time do you spend in a hotel room anyway?! A normal sized, decent room will do.

Now that I've stayed in a suite, a normal room seems tiny in comparison. And especially for a messy person like myself, a suite is simply ideal to scatter your stuff around! ;-)

The Cyberport Le Meridien. Not the most central hotel, located on Hong Kong island, I was very impressed!
Not least as we got upgraded to a Suite :-) Great breakfast buffet and outdoor pool

The standard room at the Sheraton. Tiny in comparison (and also smaller than the standard rooms at the Cyberport).
But just a short walk from the Star ferry, the Art museum and located on Nathan Road.
Breakfast was not included in our voucher. And free Wifi only available in the lobby. Seriously? I think it should be a standard to be complimentary in hotels...

And the W hotel.Quirky details everywhere. The best shower ever! Amazing views over the habour. Fabulous breakfast buffet. Direct access to the Elements shopping mall and Kowloon station - with check in to the airport.

the roof top pool. And my foot.

Food. Lots of food

Mostly Chinese, Dim Sum but also Vietnamese and Thai. Really enjoyed the food. On the other hand, in that very hot weather, I usually wasn't very hungry.

And one of my sister's favourite places from her time living in HK: desserts at Honeymoon Dessert

as well as yummy melon Soya milk from the corner shop

Sneaker Street

You've got to love a city that has a Sneaker Street! And not surprisingly that can be found in Hong Kong. It seems that 90% of the whole population wears sneakers. Every day. Unfortunately, it also seems that a UK women size 6 is not very common... More than half the sneakers I wanted to try weren't available in my size. Probably a blessing in disguise: I wanted to keep shopping! So many different styles and colours to choose from. In the end I opted for these beauties. And can I just say: I've never worn shoes as comfortable as the New Balance sneakers. Highly recommend!!!

of course, I went for pink! and with beautiful views from the W hotel

And because there is no such thing as too many shoes, I also got these sandals:

 

Having come home, I decided to pack away my winter boots. In the process, I noticed that I had two pairs which I had actually left in their boxes this winter... oops. And there is simply not enough space on my shoe rack for the pile of sandals that I already had. 

Motivated by our office clear out, I will spend this weekend clearing out my stuff. Space is getting seriously limited in my wardrobe, too. 

Tired, very, very tired

After I just told my brother how I'm doing fine and am not jet-lagged at all - I am feeling so very tired right now. Forcing myself to stay up for at least a little longer though, as I don't want to wake up in the middle of the night... I'm afraid I'm also postponing writing up my HK posts - my brain can't cope right now.

We had the first day of our two day finance training at work. And it actually was really interesting! And I hated anything finance and accounting related I had to do during my degree ... We'll see how tomorrow goes.

Nearly the weekend!

Back

Did you miss me? :-)

Despite my pessimistic suspicions that something would go wrong - my grand prize of a week in Hong Kong did happen indeed! Except for a bit of a hiccup at the W hotel, it all went smoothly and I am still so grateful for having won this amazing prize!

But since I experiences travelling in business class, economy is just such a nightmare. On the flight out, we were really lucky and the plane was half empty. Plus we had the seats at the emergency exit with unlimited legroom. Only a few hours before we landed did I realize though that lying down on the neighbouring empty seats would have made much more sense. So, all in all, I didn't sleep very much. I did watch (and really enjoyed) Anchorman 2 though!

On the return flight, the plane was packed and we sat in the middle seats. When checking in, we were offered seats with more leg room. But that would have cost 400HK dollars each. We decided not to bother - only to be allocated those seats anyway, as the standard seats weren't available anymore. Unfortunately, I ended up sitting next to an incredibly fidgety girl who moved around all the time and kept ellbowing me. She also thought it would be a good idea to put the armrest up. So, we started a game of putting it up and down as quite frankly I wasn't keen on her leaning on me...

Anyhow, I again didn't sleep (but watched The Wolf of Wall Street). After the taxi ride to the airport made me feel really sick (I decided to treat myself, as I would have otherwise had to lug my suitcase around on the tube in rush hour), I took the tube home. Can I just say how awesome the internet is? I found out that if you need to change from the Piccadilly line to the Jubilee line at Green Park, it's best and quickest, to take the escalator up to the exit, and then down again to the Jubilee line. AND no need to carry the suitcase down any stairs. Perfect!

After a shower, I collapsed in bed but forced myself to get up at 12:30 and have not slept since. Fingers crossed I'll sleep well tonight. Not least as I need to stay awake tomorrow (and Friday!) for an all day Finance training.

More than 200 photos to go through - more about Hong Kong to follow! :-)

subtle

My Mum: so, you still go out a lot?
Me: Yes.
MM: What do you do?
M: I go to the theatre, meet friends, have dinner with them...
MM: So, you meet, but then you all go back to your own places?

I had to laugh. And so did she.

Give me power!*

We recently had 1 to 1 coaching sessions at work based on iWAM: Inventory for Work Attitude and Motivation. I still need to read through the detailed report (about myself) but so far I found it interesting and useful. Given how much I talk, the scheduled hour was of course way too short and we didn't get through everything.... A lot of the results were as I would have expected with a few surprises.

The profile very much relates to the work context only. And it was interesting to see how my work profile differs from my personal profile. It's still a bit of a mystery to me why I sometimes am unable to transfer my work skills to my life. But hey, it's something I'm working on.

*Very High "Power": She is strongly motivated by situations where she has power, authority, and control over people and things.

I can totally relate to the control bit - I am indeed a control freak... Nevertheless, I wouldn't have associated myself this strongly with the term 'power'. Something to think about.

cut it out

I finished these quite a while ago shortly after I attended the Homemade paper cutting course but only when I was in Copenhagen did I find lovely paper at Tiger to use for the background. And clip frames are currently on offer at Wilko for just 80p! :-)

Not my best ironing

Well, that's of course not the only reason, the top doesn't look all that great... I've also given up on resizing it. Whether or not I'll ever wear it remains to be seen. But I'm still proud of having finished it! My first garment sewn according to a pattern - all by myself (and with lots of help from google)!

Finally!

Despite holding a number of football records, Arsenal had to wait nine long years for another trophy. And it surely speaks for the club that they didn't get rid of their manager during those years. And yesterday, Arsène Wenger was able to celebrate winning the FA cup once again.

While everyone thought Arsenal's victory was a foregone conclusion, Hull put up a good fight and even went into the lead with 2:0 within the first eight minutes. But it wasn't meant to be this time.

Sunday soundtrack

When James Blunt' 'You're beautiful' was everywhere, it just became overkill, I suppose. I still don't think it justifies all the hate he is getting from some people. But then I generally don't understand any of the trolling on twitter & co. He has gained new followers though by re-tweeting some of these awful posts, throwing in his own sarcastic comebacks. Makes for funny reading!

Schoener fernsehen

After another busy week, I was had a chilled Saturday. Primarily sitting on my sofa, catching up on my blog, watching Come dine with me - and admittedly also doing a little bit of work... quite sad really. I'm of course not getting paid for any overtime...

Anyhow, I was invited to birthday celebrations in the evening. And I was seriously tempted to send apologies at the last minute. That's definitely the disadvantage of living so far out. Getting into town just seems like such an effort. But I gave myself a kick up the backside and I'm very glad I did. Not only did it just take ~30 minutes to get to the Patch Bar near St. Paul's, it was also a lovely evening.

With an extensive cocktail list, I need to go back during Happy Hour (50% off!)! For a Saturday night, it was incredibly empty though. I am assuming that it's busy during the week rather than on weekends.

Amongst others I met a fellow German. And found out about schoener-fernsehen.com - where you can screen most German TV channels for free and live! Moreover, ARD and ZDF (the two main German TV channels) have a Mediathek where you can watch shows like 'Tatort' and their kitschy romantic films. Admittedly - at first glance - these are not films I would watch if I lived in Germany but it's nice to listen to some German once in a while. There does seem an issue with the buffering of schoener-fernsehen, too, but hey - you can't have it all!

1984

It's a classic. And I can't remember whether I've ever read it. I think I might have done at school. And unfortunately, most of the books I read at school didn't leave much of an impression. I think that's because I was made to read them.

When 1984 was on at the Almeida theatre, tickets sold out quickly. So, when it was announced that it would come to the Playhouse in the West End AND Time Out was offering tickets, I booked straight away.
The play is very intense and I strongly recommend it. I'm always amazed how much you can with just a small stage. For people who haven't read the book, I'd think the story is quite confusing at times. And it definitely made me want to read the book (again).

How handy then, that Time Out is also giving away free copies of the book - voucher needs to be booked by midnight tonight and the books need to be collected from a Joy store: 

And for a cheap pre-theatre dinner: Bistro 1 (Covent Garden branch)

Pho Thursday

Previously Cafe VN and now renamed Nemnem, this is a little Vietnamese place on Clerkenwell Road near Farringdon. Just a 15 minute walk from the office. My geographical knowledge of London remains abysmal.... As I usually take the tube everywhere, I have no idea where places are and am regularly surprised at how walkable certain areas are.

Anyway, we met up for Pho. But as the weather in London this week has been glorious, I actually went for the Pad Thai instead (as Pho is more like a cold weather dish for me).

Ruby Ruby Ruby

I'm not actually very familiar with Ruby Wax. But I do like comedy. So when Time Out offered reduced tickets (£10.50) for 'Encounters: Performers on Performance - Ruby Wax' at the Lyric Theatre (where 'Thriller' is usually shown), I thought I'd check it out.

Ruby was interviewed by Fiona Lindsay. Unfortunately, I thought the whole evening was rather disappointing. Fiona was right up Ruby's a**. Nothing wrong with admiring somebody, but the way she was basically kissing her bum was not particularly appealing, I felt. She got her props messed up (a script she wanted Ruby to recite, which didn't seem to actually have the scene in question on it) and her questions didn't seem all that interesting to me.

I literally laughed once. The topic - Ruby's personal life - wasn't funny and the conversation meandered between attempts to discuss her depression and her degree in mindfullness and Ruby making depreciating comments about her Austrian parents (including imitating her mother's accent).

The evening ended with questions from the audience. Half of which weren't questions but individuals who seemed to just want to present themselves to the world...

May Birchbox

Without having tried any of the products, I think this is my favourite Birchbox so far - because I would use/consider buying all of these products:

• Benefit: They're real! mascara
• Soigne: nail polish in Creme au beurre
• Aromatherapy Associates: revive morning bath and shower oil
• Beauty Protector: shampoo and conditioner
• Liz Earle Beauty Co: cleanse and polish hot cloth cleanser

And a different and pretty box this month - and an exclusive offer for a reduced subscription for Harper's Bazaar

As if it were yesterday

I went to school with N and hadn't seen her in years but when we met up on Sunday it certainly didn't feel like that. Other than of course trying to catch up on years in just a few hours.

We started off in Mulberry Bush - a pub near Waterloo, near the itv studios, parallel to the Southbank and recommended by A. According to their website a great place for celebrity spotting - but no such luck on Sunday. It is a great pub though and clearly popular - so either go early or book a table.

Roast beef with all the trimmings - yummy!

We then headed off to Covent Garden - via Trafalgar Square where the London Symphony Orchestra was rehearsing for their evening concert:

In Covent Garden we stumbled across Canela - a Portuguese cafe with great custard tarts:

Then on to The Globe, a pub opposite the Royal Opera House and finally ending at Waxy's Little Sister in Chinatown - another great pub with sofas and an open fire on the first floor.

The planned lunch thus turned into a lovely day together by the end of which my German was nearly fluent again! ;-)

The sewing continues

I got a bit stuck on this project a few weeks ago, as for some reason my lovely machine didn't want to sew the fabric. I experimented with the tension of the thread and the stitch length, but it made no difference. I couldn't work out why, as I had successfully sewn a skirt from the same fabric already.

When I sat down again tonight it all worked well! No idea what happened, but I am not complaining. So, here's my third skirt. And while it's from the same fabric as my second skirt, it looks quite different due to the pattern.

The waistband didn't work out great and I know I should be more thorough when doing these things. But it will be hidden by my tops anyway. Or that's the plan at least.

skirt on the left is the new addition to my wardrobe :-)

The c-word. Again

I was at a hotel showcase event tonight with my friend whose husband has cancer. We talked about how many people we know who either have or had it.

On my way home, I got a text from my Mum, telling me that one of my aunts has just been diagnosed with cancer. When I started reading the message - and probably because of my conversation tonight - my initial thought was that my Mum's cancer had come back. So, in a way I felt relieved (and then guilty about feeling relieved) that my Mum is ok.

Life sucks sometimes. But more importantly, it also highlighted the other thing we talked about tonight: living your life in the moment and doing something you enjoy. Cause life is short in any case. And sometimes even shorter than you anticipated.

On that cheerful note: carpe diem and good night

With love from Germany

My sister hasn't yet moved back but from her recent visit to Germany, she did send me a little care package. Unfortunately, she couldn't find the stuff I had 'ordered' but I was delighted with the replacement goodies anyway:

Inspired by watching the Faust opera, I decided to re-read the classic

More Yi-Ban

Living closest to the restaurant, I was of course last to show up...
It was so nice to have everyone together as we hadn't seen each other (all together) for months! And we were FINALLY able to give S her birthday present. Just 5 months late. So pleased that she liked the Rob Ryan plates we got her.

And thanks to seriously over-ordering, my dinner is sorted :-)

Life lessons

Only wear lipgloss in windy weather when you have your hair tied up.

I only just noticed that there is a new hotel in the Royal Victoria area: the Sunborn Yacht hotel. It's located right outside the Excel Centre. It has 136 rooms, a restaurant, bar and even conferencing facilities. To be honest, I am not quite sure what to think about this concept. I don't think it really fits into the landscape quite frankly. On the other hand, I do like the idea of sleeping on a boat. Not that I will ever sleep in this particular hotel of course...

Serious hunk alert

If you didn't watch Graham Norton last Friday, you should check it out on youtube: Hugh Jackman, Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy! *swoon* Not only are they all seriously hot, they also have great accents and just seem to be getting on so well with each other. I wish I could be part of their gang!

2 cocktails for £10

What a bargain! At least in London. Being the lightweight that I am, I was very tired and a little tipsy afterwards...

Went back to Shutterbug in Shoreditch for lovely pancakes and a good catch up. It's only been a couple of weeks but it felt like ages! I suppose that's a good sign and means a lot is happening at the moment :-)

The Champion Weasel

He did it!

In the featherweight final Daniel Weichel beat Desmond Green last night in the Bellator cage at Casino Rama in Ontario, Canada. Being the chicken that I am, I of course didn't watch it live. Much more relaxed but nonetheless very emotional to watch it knowing that he will win! :-)
Amazing how five minutes can seem like forever!

Sleeping in style

As I had never been to Bath before, I had planned to stay the night and explore the city further on my day off. But I hadn't realized what an expensive city it is! Hotel prices are pretty much at London level - i.e. extortionately high! And unfortunately, the reasonably priced places on airbnb were already booked.

We visited a few hotels though (with view to the event) and while I didn't take many photos, I did want to mention two of them which are both cool and quirky places.

The Queensberry: an independent Boutique Hotel which consists of a number of town houses that have been knocked together. Each room is different in decor and layout and it would be worth staying in every single one of them! With a garden out at the back and a bar an restaurant on site, I recommend checking it out even if you are not staying over night. Should I ever follow up on my dream to run my own hotel, that's the kind of place I'd like to have!

The Francis: located on Queen Square and also made up of (seven) townhouses, this hotel is part of the MGallery - Memorable hotels by Accor. While part of Accor, they are all unique hotels (and no, I'd never heard of them before). On the ground floor, you also find Raymond Blanc's Brasserie Blanc (and again: no, I didn't make the connection to Raymond Blanc until I read their website). The hotel has recently been refurbished and it is looking great! Check out their website for photos. The feature rooms come with four poster beds and paintings of sheep hanging right above the head, helping you to get to sleep. Each room has so much character and even the wallpaper in the toilets is pretty!

The lounge at the Francis hotel - enjoy afternoon tea in this lovely setting

and the toilet wallpaper - also at the Francis

Bath Spa

I have a weird love-hate relationship (probably not the right word...) with site visits. On the one hand I love visiting new places and really appreciate the amazing venues I often get to see. Plus the sales people you meet are generally really nice, too. On the other hand, it also creates this knot in my stomach. I was never quite sure why, but after my day trip to Bath on Wednesday, I was thinking whether it's the fact that the site visits for a new event always carry the 'promise' of all the hard work that goes into organizing any event. So, the site visits are the fun part that just kicks off the not so fun part...

In any case, I had a lovely day! Bath really is a pretty city and I would recommend a visit. Moreover, the scientific organizers for this meeting - who I spent most of the day with - are also lovely. It always warms my heart to see their enthusiasm that goes into organizing events, which is not part of their day jobs. And I am very grateful for the respect and appreciation they have for my role in all of this.

Bath Abbey, the Royal Crescent, the river Avon

Pump room and Roman baths

Singing, dancing and good food

A belated blog entry: I was invited to another lovely dinner at Church House Conference Centre. The dinner started with a little video about the venue - which included footage from the dinner I organized there last December! :-) I got a little emotional when I saw that. Me and being weird about past events....

Not only was the food delicious as always, I also had nice company at my table: a lovely Irish lady who I had met previously at other events and a gentleman who lived in Germany for several years when he was in the British army and who had then fallen in love with the fatherland (mine, not his).

The obligatory surprise entertainment was this year provided by the Young Guns choir - amongst others with a great rendition of Pharrell's 'Happy'. The turn out on the night was surprisingly good despite the tube strike.

Bitch, Pussy and foxy ladies

I fully expected Pussy Galore's Flying Circus to be some seedy, dark bar - but it turned out to be a stylish, cool bar.I should have realized of course that I probably wouldn't have recommended it otherwise... Anyhow, it was quit quiet on the Sunday night and closed just after 23:00. But we managed to get one drink in - and my Rose Bitch (vodka with rose lemonade) was very nice indeed. It's quite embarrassing how little it takes to make me tipsy....

More food and my Rose Bitch at Pussy Galore
the above left plate came with delicious bread and was surprisingly enough for two

We also managed to squeeze in a bit of shopping. A got herself a gorgeous dress and cool sneakers, and I bought this skirt at a little boutique. Since I started my sewing, I always ask myself whether I could do this myself. And I probably could as it's a very simply stretch skirt. But I really liked the colour and pattern. And I just had to buy SOMETHING, didn't I?!m :-)

Den lille havfrue

OF COURSE we went to see the little mermaid, too. We went on the recommended city boats tour, which was very nice even if we were both freezing by the end of it... From the boat you can only see the mermaid from the back though, so we decided to get a bit closer on our last day.

We also read up on Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale and it's really quite a horrid story... Also made me want to re-read the fairy tales I grew up with.

there she is!

pictures from the boats tour; Mette - our guide - was doing the commentary in Danish, English and German.
The German version always ended up much shorter ;-) Also, Danish is such a strange sounding language to my ears. I couldn't detect any resemblance to German. So, why do so many Danish speak German so well???

Royalty

Yes, another post about Copenhagen :-)
But I am getting lazy, so photos only:

Amalienborg Palace

Rosenborg - the King's Garden

And more sightseeing

I like going to art museums. I'm in no way an expert nor an artist. Nevertheless seeing all this beautiful painting and sculptures also makes me want to be creative, too. Which is quickly forgotten though... I haven't gotten my oil paints out in ages.

The National Museum for Art in Copenhagen is an interesting building, too. The 'old' bit has been extended by a modern bit. Which reminded me of the Ulster Museum in Belfast. Entry is free (always a bonus!) except for special exhibitions. We focused on the 20th century art.

One of the modern art pieces consisted of small photos and facts about the law and homosexuality. I'm probably naive, but I hadn't realized that the age of consent very often differs for homosexual sex and lesbian and heterosexual sex. The stats about homosexuals having experienced physical assault is also depressingly high. I guess I'd like to think of our society as open and liberal and tolerant. But if you are part of a minority, it's still a different story.

The other eerie installation was a hospital room, complete with four beds, three of which complete with a dummy inside. The installation is in a separate room and on entering you feel compelled to be quiet. It's strange how the hospital atmosphere is re-created so well. Not a pleasant atmosphere...
But there were also some very pretty things to enjoy:

Isn't this just beautiful? Nice motive for a tattoo, too, I think.

Statens Museum for Kunst

Marmorkirken - a short walk from the Royal Palaces

Botanical Garden - just across the road from the art museum