New morning routine

Keen to become as fit as I was back in 2006.

Forgive my absence. I’ve stared a new habit, and I still need to work out how to fit blogging into it. See, last week was so insanely busy at work, and with the Expo around the corner I am pretty sure that the following weeks will be quite similar. So, I’ve started a new morning routine: namely 5km on the treadmill before work.

It’s actually not as bad as it sounds. I’ve been a morning person for as long as I can remember, and if I pack my bag the night before it’s simply the “getting out of bed” part that’s slightly hard; the rest comes by itself. Anyway, with this new habit I’m at the gym at 6.30 and then run for at least 30 min, before showering and getting ready for work. It’s a pretty good routine (not as hard to run during the mornings as I thought) but I am still to figure out how to squeeze blogging in on a more frequent level than twice a week (planning to do the morning work out 3 times/week).

Otherwise, life’s pretty good. I’ve started to feel human again after last week’s fashion fever. Ann-Sofie Back won an award for “Most Natural Fashion” by Shanghai Fashion Week at the closing party of Fashion Week on Tuesdays night. Go Back! I hope it’s not the last time we see a Swedish fashion designer in Shanghai.

Shanghai’s cold as a fridge. Like, really cold. I bet it’ll be summer any second now, and it will hit us without a single warning. Winter came late last year (not until December I would say), and it seems as we are about to skip spring for 2010 and head straight into summer.

Shanghai Fashion Week featuring Ann-Sofie Back

I've had the most mad, crazy, but also wonderful weekend! A lot of hard work has finally seen some fruitful results: last night, Swedish fashion designer Ann-Sofie Back showed at Shanghai fashion week! It was the first time a Swedish designer showed in Shanghai, and it was a big hit! The venue was so packed that people actually had to sit on the floor, struggling to keep their legs of the runway! 

And my involvement in the show?! Yeah, I bet you all think I work for the Back brand now -which I don't. Back is still to be established in China. However, they need good helpers on set, right? And that's where I come in. 

Ann-Sofie Back showing at Shanghai fashion week was part of a larger project that I've been working on for months: an exhibition called "Swedish Fashion -Exploring a New Identity," which showcases 13 relatively new fashion designers, that represent an alternative to the stereotypical picture of Swedish fashion as blonde, functional and minimal. The exhibition is currently running at River South Art Centre (an amazing old warehouse). If you’re in the neighbourhood I recommend you to go and have a look. It will be up until May 23.

Some pix from last night's action:

Showroom -Daniel Glasman from Ann-Sofie Back showing some clothes to the press
Hair and make-up
Shanghai Fashion Week's most packed catwalk so far -people had to sit on the floor next to the runway!
One of those pretty models that we picked during the casting some weeks ago. 
Grande finale look: The dress!
Muse 1

Muse 2
Daniel Glasman being interviewed in the press room after the successful show. What a night!

Inner Mongolian wrestling

Let's finish off this week with some testosterone. Have a good weekend everyone!

Snack time!

Those of you that have been following this blog for a while know about my passion for food. One of the best things about travelling in China is trying different local snacks! I had a great time doing just that in Inner Mongolia until Sunday afternoon, when I started feeling a bit strange. Moments later, I was sick as a dog. So unfortunately, I missed out on the Monday (+ Sunday evening/night) in Huhehaote, being bed bound due to the fact that I was not able to keep any food and feeling as if my last moment had come. I had some bad experience of food poisoning when I first came her, but since then I’ve been doing OK, so this came as a bit of a reminder. Oh well, at least I had time to try some of the yummy local snacks.

Mongolian fast food, and let me tell you one thing: this was so much better than Maccas! Greasy, sure, but cheap (19 rmb for all of the food above) and oh so good! Mutton sticks, yummy Mongolian bread filled with mutton and, of course, noodles. We didn't eat rice once in Mongolia, it was all about noodles and bread!  

Super popular fast food chain, which was oddly enough called "Sushi Beef Noodles." (the name obviously comes from the pinyin of the characters, but still) I can tell you this much: there was nothing even close to sushi in there! 

Hotpot -with a lot of mutton!

Inner Mongolian milk snacks
Milk tea
Milk candy
Milk... something?!

Xilamuren grasslands by horse

If you ever get a chance to go to Inner Mongolia: go horseback riding! Experiencing those vast grasslands (regardless if they are green or yellow) from the horseback is simply outstanding.

We left Hohhot early one morning in order to make it out to the grasslands of Xilamuren before the afternoon wind kicked in. The 2-hour car ride itself was quite interesting. As soon as we left Hohhot (we literally drove through a gate, and then all civilization was replaced by mountains, it was pretty cool!) I was reminded why I'd travelled to Inner Mongolia. As usual, I was something between excited and terrified about riding a car in the mountains, seeing that I’ve had my deal of bad car experiences in China, but the roads were dry and people actually kept the speed limit, so it went pretty smooth.

We arrived at a small village just after 10am, and quickly picked a Mongolian pony each. Riding alone was out of the question, seeing that neither my boyfriend nor me are experienced horseback riders (I used to ride as a kid until I fell off and got scared. It’s not until recent days when I’ve started enjoying it again), so a Mongolian man joined us with his pony. He immediately took a liking to me, who started off by asking:

-What’s the name of my horse?!

-Name? Haha! Well, it is 小红 “Xiao Hong” (the little red one).

…and then, when he picked up his whip, getting ready to smack Xiao Hong:

-Don’t beat my pony! （别打我的马！）

Completely shocked by this comment he started laughing, although he actually took my advice and kept his whip away from Xiao Hong during our ride.

A few things about riding across the Mongolian grasslands in the beginning of April:

It was extremely windy and cold (it’s colder at the grasslands than in the city). Without our sunglasses and hats it wouldn’t have been possible.

Don’t let the size of those Mongolian ponies trick you –they can run pretty fast! We kept out ponies under control and received praises from our Mongolian guide for our riding skills (me: what skills?!), but I saw numbers of groups of Chinese tourists who had obviously never been on a horse before, and still set off galloping straight away. Eventually one girl and one boy actually fell off, and their horses disappeared across the hills. We trotted by them, noticing that the girl looked pretty bad and probably had to be taken to a hospital.

We rode for about 2 hours, then the wind got too strong and we turned back. The route was pretty “set out” and I suppose that's my only complaint about the experience. However, what was nice about it still was the feeling of complete freedom. The hills were far from green (more like yellow/brownish) and the lakes were frozen, telling us that we had chosen the wrong season for our ride, however, I liked the fact that we barely saw another soul during our ride, and that we could let our horses run across the hills without risking bumping into some other group of riders. Instead we rode past herds of cows and Mongolian ponies, some curiously running next to us for a while. Our Mongolian guide was also quite friendly, especially when he noticed that we could communicate in Mandarin.

I’ve already decided to go back up there, maybe not to the same spot and not during the same time of the year, but I’d like to go again. Then I would rent a horse for a longer period of time (5-7 days) and ride for days, spending the nights in a tent or in one of those small, cute, Mongolian huts that we passed numerous times. It would have to be during summer, however (July –my guide recommended), as the wind isn’t as strong then. And obviously not this year, but maybe 2011.

Before then, however, I need to work on my leg muscles because maaaaaaan… was I sore the 2 days after our little grassland adventure?! Eh, I could barely get out of bed! Haha!

呼和浩特 -Huhehaote/Hohhot, 内蒙古 -Nei Menggu/Inner Mongolia

I’m back! Ha –and what a trip we've had.

It kind of hit us when we lined up at the gate at Hongqiao airport last Thursday night, and received a mix of curious and surprised glances from our fellow passengers (all Chinese). What on earth were 2 laowais doing going to Hohhot (or 呼和浩特 -Huhehaote in Mandarin –try saying that 5 times fast!) over the weekend? When we, 2,5 hours later, landed in a freezing, and somewhat deserted city, we started asking ourselves the same question. We seemed to be the only couple staying at the hotel (Holiday Inn on Zhongshan Lu –excellent location), and it felt kind of odd, walking through empty corridors to locate our room.

Terribly scared of being caught in one of those notorious sandstorms that we’ve heard about, we were delighted when we woke up the next morning and were greeted with an amazing blue sky and sunshine. We curiously peeked out of our hotel window, observing that locals were neither wearing scarves nor hats, but rather some pretty thin spring jackets. Although we are supposed to be Vikings at hearts (and not scared of the cold) I shivered at the thought of stepping outside in a thin jacket, and put on pretty much every single piece of clothing I had with me before hitting the streets.

After a bit of walking, however, I realized one thing:

What might have felt like “being cold” for the first, tentative 5 minutes of walking, quickly changed into “being hot” and then “feeling as if I’m in the middle of a sauna.” The air was super fresh, and the sun was beaming down from a clear blue sky (sorry for repeating myself, but I simply cannot get over that sky, it was as if someone had painted it blue with pastel colours!?). It wasn’t actually that cold during daytime! To tell you the truth, the weather was some of the best spring weather I’ve every experienced in China (and very similar to a Scandinavian spring).

Another observation: There were no other laowais on the streets of Huhehaote –causing us to become a miniature version of a circus show. No kidding –and no exaggeration. I’ve had my deal of being “stared at” in China, but this was something out of the ordinary (I suppose tourists are rare at this time of the year). While young people giggled and pointed, older people actually stopped right in front of us, staring at us with their mouths wide open. Some 846982364 people secretly took our photo (only ONE young guy actually asked! Nice young fella!) and one group of young people (3 girls and 2 guys) got so excited (?) that they decided to PUSH one of their friends at us while walking?! Very odd way to greet strangers.

Best of all, however, were the children. They were not hiding their excitement, screaming LAOWAI!!!! From the top of their lunges when they saw us, and then giggling following us around town. This happened numerous times, and at one point (in a shopping mall) we had a group of 6 kids following us around, screaming with delight every time my boyfriend turned around and said “hello!” to them.

During our first day we felt kind of uncomfortable about the constant staring that seemed to have no end. Even having breakfast at our hotel turned into a freak show, as we were stupid enough to pick a window table and ended up facing the busy Zhongshan street outside our window. Two women almost fell, as they were so busy looking at us, that they didn’t noticed the speed bump on the ground.

The hotel staff was professional, not giving us any special attention, or well, at least not until the first morning at the breakfast buffet, when I asked one of the chefs (in Chinese) if they had some more yoghurts. The next morning, as I was making myself a cup of coffee, one of the waiters showed up next to me, smiling and saying 早上好！(zaoshang hao! –goodmorning!). I happily replied and went back to my table. It didn’t take long for her to come up to me again:

-So it’s true what the chef told us? You can speak Chinese?!

-Yes I can, I said, thinking to myself that "wow, for the first time of my life, I've become hotel gossip!"

-That’s amazing! After the usual, compliment-deny-ritual, she asked me:

-What are you doing in Huhehaote at this time of the year?!

-Ehh… We want to see the grasslands… and ride ponies… I said, realizing how stupid it sounded the moment the words were out.

-But the grasslands are not green yet! And it’s very cold up there.. much colder than in the city.

-Ah… we are from Scandinavia. We are not scared of the cold, I said, tying to add a convincing tone into my voice.

-OK then…

That night, we could not help asking ourselves if we had made a mistake travelling to Inner Mongolia during the beginning of April. My childish dream of galloping across the grasslands felt rather naïve when I said it out loud. However, I’ve never been known for listening to what other people say, and the next morning we got up at 6am in order to travel to the grasslands of Xilamuren…

More about that tomorrow! Some pix from Huhehaote:

Off to Inner Mongolia tonight!!

So long for now, people in suits...
...I'm off to pony-land!

Just one more day in the office, and then I'm off. I'm leaving tonight, and despite the fact that people have been telling me: "You're going to Inner Mongolia -are you crazy?! It's sandstorms up there!?" I'm quite excited. My bag's packed with everything from UGG boots to a bikini (I was hoping there would be some hot springs/saunas up there....?!). I don't care too much about the weather actually (Although pls, weather God, no sandstorms?!?! I cannot find my goggles), I just wanna relax, get a change of scene, enjoy some good food, and see some (dried up or not) grasslands. I hope I'll manage with that. 

Once I come back life is going to be rather full-on in terms of work. I have a mix of things to look forward to next week, including having a speech at a press conference in front of 100 journalists... and yes, of course it'll be in Chinese!

But I have promised myself NOT to start worrying about that until next week. So until then I say, "bye bye!" (should be read with a Chinese, female accent to get the right "vibe"). Hohhot-Inner Mongolia/sandstorm/grasslands/ponies and cowboys (?) -here I come!