Admidst the lush tea plantations, a hazy fog rises as we celebrate with a Christmas Dinner in Ella‘s mountains. We wish you all a happy, merry Christmas! For us, the most precious thing about Christmas is spending time with our family, which makes us sad travelling on Christmas Eve, but even more looking forward to…
Category: The beginning
Your checklist for moving to China
Now that we’ve lived for almost a year in Shanghai, I would like to share my knowledge with newbies who are about to move to China. Especially all those things I wanted to know and couldn’t find out before we left! Apps to download for China Translator, Pleco & Google Translate It’s extremely important…
Golden Week madness – Xintiandi and Qibao
This post is long over-due, but we feel like we still haven’t recovered from Golden Week yet. (For those I haven’t told yet: the first week in October is a national holiday in China). It started off as a relaxing holiday as we visited the Xintiandi district for the first time and went into the Tim Burton exhibit…
German beer, Sunshine & The Ritz in Pudong
Last weekend we went to Pudong to celebrate my birthday. I invited some friends to meet me at the Paulaner Biergarten, which seemed like a suitable choice, not only because it was beautiful 28 degrees sunshine, but also because they serve German beer and food. It was our fist time being in Pudong, so we…
Bureaucracy
It’s annoying, crazy and truly astonishing how high the level of bureaucracy is in China. It took us weeks and weeks to get things sorted here – and we’re still not done! Luckily our employer helps us with most things and sends a Chinese speaker to go with us to the authorities. Before we even set…
First weekend in Shanghai – Longbai & The Bund
On our first weekend in Shanghai, we started off with a guided tour in the morning through the district we now live in: Longbai. You can see its’ Korean influence especially in the Korean characters displayed above the various Korean restaurants. We’ve discovered yet another small market where you can buy all sorts of fish,…
Day 3!
Wow, it’s been a long 3 days! Hard to believe so little time has passed since we landed. My worries about flying in with a keyboard and various bits of fragile music equipment were largely unfounded, and furthermore I sailed through customs without a second glance. Some online forums had suggested I would have to…
Our first two days in Shanghai
That’s it – we made it! After having a mini panic attack at the airport and on the plane as we realised that we’re actually leaving the continent (which feels like moving to another planet) and an 11 hours direct flight, we finally arrived to Shanghai. So far, we love it! It seems to be…
When one door closes…
I can’t even tell you how many times in the past weeks I’ve consciously acknowledged that I’m doing something for the last time – the last Pilates session in my regular class, the last time we went to our favourite restaurant near our flat, the last time I went home to see my family for…
Phew! Flights booked…
For most people this happens rather further in advance. If you’re planning a big holiday, the process of booking a flight early not only ensures the best price but also gives you several months of looking forward to the trip to get excited about. We, on the other hand, are booking our flights only 3…
Jitensha Adventure 