With just each other for company, we have resorted to playing a lot of cards.  Unfortunately for Ben, the games often end like this..... haha!

Reasons why I like Vietnam...

1. Great food
2. Cheap beer
3. Friendly people
4. Interesting history
5. Embalmed Communist leader
6. Chaotic, addictive cities
7. People wear pyjamas in the street
8. Cute children and hilarious dogs

Hmmmmmm.... sound like anywhere else to you?

再见!

So, the time has come to leave Beijing (for the time being at least) and I am terribly sad to go. Every time I leave I have this sinking feeling, but I know deep down that I'll be back! Especially now that Ben has been bitten by the proverbial Beijing bug, and would not be averse to spending some of our (married - eek!) life together out here… so I'll have to hold him to that!

 

We had a lovely last weekend here, involving, manicures, massages, Xiao Wang Fu's duck and a dose of KTV - can't get much better than that!

I'll be keeping up the blog as and when I can over the next 7 weeks, as we embark on our trip round Cambodia, Vietnam, Tibet and Nepal.  Until then, 再见!

Photo shoot

Every so often around town, you will spot a photo shoot with a moody/nonchalent/freezing model. I love these!

In action:
Off camera and freezing cold!

Aaah, Christmas!

Christmas is coming! And how exciting to be back in the UK, where Christmas is celebrated with more than a token flashing light and strip of tinsel!

I landed at about 3.30pm on Sunday and made it to the Albion, secret Santa present wrapped and in hand, to hit the Jesus Christmas dinner 2009. Well done Caro for organising! It was great to see so many of us together again - from places as far away as California, Brazil, China and Clapham - enjoying a good catch up as if no time had passed at all. This is exactly what I love about Christmas! Nice one, friends.

PLUS there is SNOW! It's slushy, and it's causing havoc - but hey, that's Britain and we wouldn't have it any other way.....

The infamous youzi, as promised......!

Had my flu jab (not Avian, not swine...) yesterday. I said, "I don't like looking" and turned away. "Me neither!" he exclaimed, merrily jabbing me in the arm. *shudder*

The view from my desk - looks grainy and a bit like it's from the 70s as it was taken through my window!

Weekly round-up

Although there have been a few (largely food-related) posts recently, I just wanted give a round up of all the other things I've been up to and say a big THANK YOU to all my friends and family that sent birthday messages, cards and presents last week. I am very touched!

In the end I had a lovely birthday. After I welcomed Mary back from her adventure to Xi'an (yes, I was surprised as you are that she made it back in one piece!) I had a reasonably quiet day at work with a nice long lunch. When I got back in the evening, Mary had cracked open a beer and filled the flat with balloons and we had a mini present-opening session and a quick Skype with people in the UK before hitting the town.

The rest of the weekend was filled with shopping, eating (see previous posts!), manicures, pedicures, DVDs, hot tubs and reflexology - so all in all, a pretty good week!

Special thanks to Mary for coming all this way and, intentionally or not, being generally entertaining throughout!

I could get used to this....

Karaoke (part 1)

I have numbered this post seeing as there will, no doubt, be many a repeat KTV epic over the next six months. Our trip to Melody (of which I am now a member) this week reminded me about all things good about karaoke, and in China especially. Take note Lucky Voice, you have a lot to learn....

Over three hours, Mary and I successfully* busted out tunes from Elton, Gloria and Whitney, with some Black Eyed Peas and Lady Gaga thrown in for good measure (Mum mum mum mah!). Great times!

* debatable, obvi....

Jiaozi - 饺子

For those of you who know me (which, dear readers, is all three of you), you will know about my obsession with Chinese dumplings, aka; jiaozi. For Mary's first meal in China, I introduced her to these little pockets of magic, and I am pleased to say they went down a treat. So imagine my delight when, an hour later during our stroll around the hutongs north of the Forbidden City, we happened upon this cheerful duo, making jiaozi from scratch:

After some banter (more from them than me) and plenty of I'm-not-really-sure-what-you're-saying laughter from both sides, we established that it was a "mixed-meat" filling and that I was welcome to pap them. I don't need telling twice, so whipped out the SLR and dived in for a close up:

好吃!

Welcome to my blog!

As seems to be traditional in the "blogosphere", this first post is a short introduction to my blog with a little information about my reasons for writing it...

Having recently relocated to Beijing, I have found myself with more time on my hands than normal, and I have yet again been exposed to the treasures of everyday life in China. Simple things about this country make me happy and make me laugh, and what better way to share them with my friends and family than a blog! So please expect a regular run of photos, fabulously-inaccurate and well-meant but misleading translations and other miscellaneous notes and thoughts about life over here.*

Comments, suggestions etc welcome - this is my first blog, and I am not very techno-savvy!

*Though I am well aware that no-one may read this, in which case it shall simply be a personal account of my memories and adventures....!