Ancient inner city/ iPad for the menu

Woke up this morning in an ancient building. We are near the Bohai Sea, where the eastern end of the Great Wall meets the ocean. We thought this would be a rural village, no polluted… but it is actually a district of the city Qinhuangdao, and the smog still is with us. The inner city […]

Then oppressive factory, now, living piece of art.

Park 751 is one of the highlights of the mega urban Beijing, located in the 798 Art District. What used to be a large factory area has been playfully reshaped into a spacious park and all the oppressive factory architecture is now a huge piece of art, alive with cafes, trendy stores, art studios and bookshops. Somehow, […]

Life in the Hutongs

Life in the Hutongs of Beijing runs, leaps and turns in its labyrinthian alleys and layers of aromas, colors, dirt, sounds and so on… It was cold… This used to be a city of thousands of bikes, but not anymore. Time for warm corn… and black, spicy tofu steamy something… We found these roasted chestnuts, […]

Random Red, Yellow and Golden

Beijing has vibrant colors with a gray background

China and the Eternity pill

Are we in a desert climate? Are those buildings real or a mirage? Now here in Beijing, I smell like soot, my skin is flaking as if it belongs to a weak fish in a contaminated lake. Someone today used the word “vibrant” to describe this opulent and loud city of contrasts but I am […]

Blurry and hedonistic night in Beijing

We had an hedonistic night under the spell of Monsieur Philippe Starck:

From Temple of Heaven to scammed by a pedicab driver…

Beijing, day…4? The emperors had a sacred place near their private palace where they place offers and pray for great harvest years. It is known as The Temple of Heaven. There are several temples inside the huge area as well as quiet spacious gardens. So I woke up early, kissed my beloved who couldn’t join me […]

Beijing, day 2

Beijing, day 2. 2:54 am. Jetlag is on. We slept 6 hours, however, we can’t still match the time here. Got the lucky cookie yesterday: I went to a park. In the middle of the urban concrete, there is this big green and brown area where the trees have silenced the anxious city. A grumpy […]

Beijing, day 1

Beijing, day 1. Found a green miniature pig as soon as I arrived in the Detroit airport on the way to Beijing. It is a lucky charm. We were freaking out in USA about China, we bought 10 masks, I was seeing myself struggling in the midst of an overcrowded Blade Runner Beijing nightmare… And […]