wish you were (t)here?

Then check out this awesome project! 

A trip to Flanders (part 2)

The coolest part about the Hague: it's only a bike ride away from the north sea! So we got us some lovely dutch bikes (my first experience with back-pedal brakes - i almost fell on my face about twenty times till i got used to them) (apparently, they're also known as coaster brakes. How about that) and got ready to hit the beach.

So after getting some fuel for the ride (pannenkoeken at the Malieveld Pavillion!) we rode through the Haagse Bos (a whole forest, and you're basically still in the city! quite cool). 
 

We stopped to check out the (not so little) House in the Woods, Queen Beatrix's humble digs.... 

and also, the amazing japanese garden! 

(and then it started raining, so we huddled inside the pavilion, had a small pick-nick and waited it out...)

   

The weather was much better when we made it to the seaside. Scheveningen was quite cool -  a bit melancholic under the still grey skies, but lively, and quite artsy! 

These little dudes were so cute: 

 
We walked on the beach, had a much needed cup of coffee looking at the pier, 

and then headed to the Scheveningen fish-market for some street-food: fresh out of the water, raw fish on black bread, so yummy! You pick it up by the tail and pop it in your mouth like an alley cat. The others were less than convinced, but i loved it! 

The coolest thing on the beach: F.A.S.T. (Free Architecture Surf Terrain) is a surfers' village/community that does it all! Surf-school, beach hostel, campsite, bar, and an art space hosting parties, live gigs and art projects. 

photo from http://www.fastscheveningen.com/

I know where i'm staying next time... :-)

A trip to Flanders (part 1)

I've been obsessed with Flanders since my first visit to Bruges (have you seen this movie? so funny, and sort of surreal) and Antwerp some time ago - there's something about it, a quality of light, that made me think all the time: now i understand how the Flemish school came to be (check out this awesome online presentation of Flemish art!). The light, the colours - it's all somehow so mellow. 

So of course i was thrilled when i got a chance to visit some friends in the Hague! After a long ride on the worst train ever (well, ok - it probably wasn't really the worst train ever. But still - the train that connects the three "capitals" of the EU, Strasbourg, Luxembourg and Brussels, has no snack bar, no coffee machines, no plugs, no wi-fi, no nothing. It's a six hour trip, people!), anyway, after a long train ride i was there, all excited and happy despite the fact that i'd been incredibly ill the past few days (i'm still convinced it was swine flu. The doctor didn't agree, but what does he know). 

Have you ever been to the Hague? It's a cosy little town, very pretty (as are, in my humble opinion, all little flemish towns), and soooo young and lively and funky! It's full of students, and there's a ton of cool things to see. 

We visited the Binnenhof, home of the Senate and the House of Representatives - that's where the Prime Minister and his Government work, too! 

I waited forever for the stupid police car to go away - then got bored and took the picture anyway...  

 We walked around the courtyard, and then walked all the way to the other side of the Hofvijver (the rectangular "court lake" right next to it) to admire its gorgeous reflection in the water: 

On the other side of the lake is also the amazing Mauritshuis museum, 

where we saw this, and this, and this - the museum feels warm and intimate, with small rooms and low lighting, and the collection is so beautiful. 

We spent most of our time there walking around (snacking on stroopwafels, of course... ***sigh***). We went to the old city hall, 

and checked out the sand sculpture contest in the city centre: 

Also, we went to the home of the International Court of Justice,

where we got to see the world peace flame (in case you hadn't noticed, it is in dire need of some rekindling....)

(I also wanted to visit this, but... so many museums, so little time... :-) ) 

We also got to spend most of our evenings at friends' houses - it was great! We cooked and talked and got to meet lots of cool people. Everybody was so friendly, and somehow very relaxed and open about everything. And they all had these gorgeous flats! Did you know that it used to be legal, in the Netherlands, to squat any building that has remained empty for longer than 12 months? So in order to keep squatters out, the owners usually let young people stay there for a fraction of the cost.... We're talking unbelievable bargains. How cool is that! (Update: apparently, a 2010 law put a ban on squatting, sparking a series of riots in Amsterdam... squatting is now a criminal offence!).

Beijing, baby! (part 4) (i promise this is the last one)

And now for the fun part. Please allow me to share with you some interesting, erm, particularities of life in Beijing.... 

OK, i know i've mentioned this before, but the first astounding discovery was the fact that everyone and everything is LOUD. Of course it's bound to be, since there are always about a million people standing around you at any given moment: 

And getting around can be a pretty cut-throat business - you get shoved around, bumped into, yelled at, people cut in front of you in lines.... but, surprisinlgy, it can also all be very disciplined and organised. Buses and metro lines run smoothly and comfortably, and the most amusing expression of this rare discipline are the tourist groups! They put on their neat matching baseball caps, gather around the guide's megaphone and obediently allow themselves to be rushed through the sights...

Competition between the red caps and the yellow caps was fierce all through the forbidden city.
(my money was on the reds - i'm glad to say we won)

This strange tendency for discipline just might have something to do with the, erm, omnipresent military: 

outside a neighbourhood school!!

And speaking of schools, another fascinating (so to speak) eccentricity has to do with chinese toddlers. Apparently, they're not very big on diapers - why have a diaper when you can cut a slit through the back of the kid's trousers and have them squat by the side of the road whenever nature calls??? (and then let the kid hop back on your shoulders - now that's what i call fatherly love...)

True story. When i discovered this i started following around the little ones trying to snap
pictures of their bums, but then had to stop because i thought that might seem just a wee bit weird.
I promise though! you see that ALL THE TIME. 

What else did i learn? Oh, yes - the food is strange, and sometimes you don't really want to ask what it is you are actually eating, but it tastes GREAT. Especially street food.

still have no idea what this is

Also, sichuan cuisine is bloody spicy, and if you get served something that looks like fish soup, it isn't, it's just fried fish swimming in the spiciest oil concoction you'll ever taste in your life, so beware.

Also, i learned that chinese people don't eat scorpions, nor cockroaches, nor grasshoppers, nor any other sort of insects. I mean, i'm sure they eat their share of weird stuff, but the infamous Donghuamen market, where you can order yourself those finger-licking fried crickets, is nothing but a tourist trap. I think that's brilliant: it must be hilarious for the locals to watch all the tourists pay to proudly crunch on a scorpion skewer.

For the last bit, i think i'll let the pictures speak for themselves... 

on the desktop of the hotel computer

downtown Beijing

Price list at the hotel spa - i'm still wondering what that ovary care service was.

Despite all its, erm, quirkiness, Beijing is a fascinating place. and even though everything is crowded and loud, even though everything is supervised, controlled and censored, the people are friendly, kind (even when they just seem to be yelling at you!) and warm, and they're really what that made this trip so much fun! 

Beijing, baby! (part 3)

So, where were we? Ah, yes, the search for Beijing's alternative voice... It is to be found at 798 Art District, a cultural and artsy wonderland that feels like an oasis in the cultural revolution desert: 

The future is in the cellar... (photo by Tina!)

that's a real cat!

After that glimpse into a younger, free-er, alternative world, we were finally convinced that there was more to Beijing than the stiff, formal, proud (and for all intents and purposes, military occupied) face it puts up for the tourists....

So we decided that Beijing could be fun too... armed with that new-found conviction, we hopped on our bikes and set off to discover Beijing by night! First stop: the very cosy Bed bar, in the Jiu Gulou Dajie Hutong, for nice music, nice people, and nice cocktails....

...then off to Sanlitun, a hip and lively part of town, to meet up with some friends of M.'s that had very nicely offered to take us out on the town. Hanging out with the locals was so much fun! And the coolest part came after the obligatory bar crawl: street food, baby!!! 

any thoughts on what this is?? 

All you got to do is grab a beer (Tsingtao, of course!), take a seat and help yourself to the pile of funny looking skewers. It's strange, delicious, and fun. And the place was jumping until dawn!

Interesting side-note: it is apparently considered very un-gentlemanly for boys to allow girls to pay anything on a night out.... and a friend of the friends of friends that we were hanging out with was almost very offended when we offered to do so. So our entire evening was, awkwardly enough, sponsored by the only guy in our group, whom we'd never seen before and hardly spoke to all night since he didn't speak a word of english (he seemed very nice though)! It felt weird and unfair, but he became so flustered when we insisted that we let him have his way. 

Art, beer, street food, and cool people: what more can we ask for on our last day in Beijing...