13 years is a long time...

It's been 13 years since Princess Diana died in THAT car crash in Paris - and whilst 13 years is a long time, I still remember it like it was yesterday, as I am sure many of you do. This week in the window at Harrod's in Knightsbridge there is a memorial to Diana and Dodi, lots of flowers outside which have been left by the public. As I watched people stopping to read the memorial and take photos it made me think of other tragic deaths that literally stopped the world - JFK, John Lennon, Michael Jackson.. How incredible is that people have such an impact - and yet at the end of the day, they are just people like you and I....

But anyway - enough of that! Time for me to talk about my amazing week in London.

The weather was of course typically English - but I didn't care (it was sunny a few days). It was so nice to see the sky and to be able to breathe (relatively) fresh air - although I did just read that people in London live 9 years less than most of the Western world given the pollution......

You would have thought that given I have been living on dumplings for the past 6 months I would have gone for something different whilst away. Nope. I managed to eat dumpligs on 4 of the 6 days I was in London. I am a sucker for people watching and what better place than the Dim Sum bar in Harrod's...
www.harrods.com/harrodsstore/visiting/restaurants/xin-dim-sum-bar

I am a fan of staying close to Hyde Park so I can go running in the mornings. This time I stayed at the Sheraton Towers at Knightstbridge - awesome location, right next to Harvey Nic's as luck would have it and right at the Albert Gate entry to Hyde Park.
www.starwoodhotels.com/luxury/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=412

Barclay's have this brilliant new bike service in London. There are racks of bikes all over the city and in the burbs - you basically pick one up from wherever you are and you can drop it back anywhere you like!! At the moment it is only available to people who pay an annual fee, but I am told that will change soon. A brilliant idea and the hire costs are relatively cheap too - under 30 minutes hire is even free! www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/cycling/14808

As anyone who reads this with any regularity would know much of my life revolves around exercising, shopping and eating (no partricular order of course). So being in Knightsbridge was great for all of this. I LOVE the stores they have where you can grab brekkie or lunch or a snack. Check out EAT - brilliant food (arh yes - they had dumplings too!); we need a chain of these in Aus. www.eat.co.uk/

Continuing the food theme... I had a lovely casual dinner with divine Miss Caroline at the cafe on level 5 at Narvey Nics. I also had a delicious brekkie there on Monday morning before I headed to the airport. www.harveynichols.com/output/Page113.asp. Speaking of breakfast.. Caroline (ye who sends me to all the great food heavens...) recommended The Wolseley for Breakfast. WOW. What a fantastic place. Next you are in London go for brekkie - it was delicious (on Picadilly). www.thewolseley.com/

So besides dumplings and breakfast... we also ventured to the Connaught for afternoon tea - how very grown up! It is in Mayfair just off Oxford Street - on a stunning street which just happens to have a Louboutin store on it. Divine sandwiches and a host of yummy pastries and cakes.
http://www.the-connaught.co.uk/afternoon_tea.aspx

One palce I didn't make it to was the Serpentine Bar and Kitchen in Hyde Park - looked super for Brekkie.. next time :). www.serpentinebarandkitchen.com/

So, from food to shopping. How is that in all the times I have ventured to London, I have never been to Carnaby Street!! An awesome shopping area not far off Oxford St. www.carnaby.co.uk/. This is also where you will find the gorgeous department store, Liberty. www.liberty.co.uk/.
Unfortunately, I was 2 weeks too early for the launch of Manolo's Liberty collection!!

One other store I had not heard of before is Desigual - a Spanish label. WOW. Amazing clothes - I think I was in the store for 2 hours and suffice to say, I walked out with a very heavy shopping bag (Tony Tanner's fault). Happy, bold clothes which are fun to wear and make you feel good! www.desigual.com/

Of course I did the rounds of the usual stores (you can't beat Primark for $3 t shirts!) and I managed to discover The Shoe Galleries at Selfridges... It's not 100% finished yet - grand opening 18 September during London fashion week, but suffice to say it is pretty damn nice...
www.selfridges.com/en/Style/Features/The-Shoe-Galleries

And finally, it would be remiss of me not to mention the incredible Harvey Nichol's windows. Absolutely amazing and obviously the brainchild of a very creative mind. Each window was entirely made from something - pegs, nails, tapes, books - very, very impressive (some pics above).

So besides shopping and eating... the purpose of my trip to the UK was to attend the wedding party of Mr & Mrs Bolton. Thankfully the rain stayed away (well until we were packing up and had to don the ponchos - well done ralph!!) and we had a fantastic picnic in Brockwell Park followed by a few very funny hours at the pub! I can't recall the name of the company Caro used to order the picnice hampers - but they were amazing; the food was delicious and there was ample of it. Suffice to say, there was plenty to drink too. I met some great people and had a blast - Caro and Ralph - thanks for having me and I hope you guys had a great day too and are enjoying your overdue Honeymoon.

Finally, I spent my last day with the fabulous Wilkies in Surrey. It's never enough time - but of course we managed lunch at a lovely country English pub followed by afternoon drinks at another English pub - it was a grey afternoon after all and the following day was a public holiday so everyone was in a good mood. Mrs Wilks - thanks for the awesome pack of treats, you know me too well!! Ben and Sam - missing you both already and I hope you have been practicing your Chinese I taught you :)

Whilst I was waiting for Caroline at the Connaught, I got to thinking about how you never know where in the world you will end up. As a little girl I never knew such wonderful places existed - and would never have dreamt that I would be enjoying such amazing experiences. When I was in Year 12 at High School I took Home Economics (I needed the units..) and as a child and teenager, I was a very fussy eater. As I sat at the Connaught last week, I couldn't help but think about my teacher's words; Mrs Oakes once said to me - 'how are you ever going to travel the world when you are such a fussy eater'. Well, I guess times have changed and I got lucky on both fronts :-). But it also made me think about how amazingly lucky I am, especially with so many people suffering in so many different ways all over the world. So this blog is for my Mum - I probably would never have enjoyed that afternoon tea if you weren't so amazing :).

That was my week in London. I've been back in Shanghai for 48 hours and it already feels like so long ago - thankfully the memories last longer. I'm staying put this weekend - off to Saigon the weekend after. Thankfully the weather is not quite so hot here now - only averaging about 32 degrees!

G
xx

PS - pretty desperate to come home.... only 8.5 weeks to go and I do have a couple of little trips home in Sept and Oct.

How time flies...

I have been in Shanghai for almost 6 months - and whilst it has flown by, it does feel like I have been here for a really long time. The first 4 months were crazily busy, the current months are seeing me nearly as busy, but I am making time for some fun trips too - after all, everything is so close. Am sure the last few months will heat up but with 69 days to go till Expo closes and most of us leave Shanghai, I am going to make the most of every day!

The teams at our Pavilion are an absolute delight - a gorgeous, vibrant bunch of young people whose passion and enthusiasm I admire. Each month we have a staff party for them and they put on an amazing show each time - I don't know how they have the time to do it. This month the theme was red... per the pics above.

August has seen me FINALLY visit a few Pavilions, namely China, Saudi and Spain. It was so hot we had sweat running down our faces AND we were being driven around in a buggy and didn't have to queue (well we did at China, but everyone does..)... so kudos to the hundreds of thousands who go and spend full days at the Expo and queue for hours to get in to these Pavilions.

Each Pavilion has a theme, but of course the underlying is the same for all - Better City, Better Life. It is a little hard with some of the Pavilions to see how the story gels together - and some things, like the 6 metre high baby at the Spanish Pavilion, are just a tad odd. But, it is a wonderful world we live in and there are clearly some very creative minds out there - the architecture at some of the Pavilions is quite amazing. Shamefully, nearly all of them will simply be pulled down at the end of October.

I headed home to Sydney in early August for Juz's birthday - we had a great dinner at Uccello with some wonderful friends. Of course, every trip is far too fast and far too rushed, but it was great to catch up with a few people and of course to see my boys - Juz and Vegas. I am not sure who was more excited when I got home - Vegas or me.... only 4 more weeks till I am home again.

Arna and I are still spending far too much time having clothes made by our lovely tailor, Shirley - really, how many trench coats does 1 girl need. We did manage to drag ourselves away and spend the weekend just gone in Sanya - the Hawaii of China. It is the Southern most point of China and sits on the same latitude as Hawaii - so the gorgeous 28 degrees with little humidty was a god send compared to the constant 38 degrees with 110% humidity we have had in Shanghai for the past 3 weeks.

Yalong Bay is home to a host of resorts, which surprisingly they only started builidng back in 1999; the Sheraton alone has 3 new resorts under construction to be completed by 2012. The beach goes for miles and it was just beautiful for a morning run. We spent about 9 hours by the pool on Saturday whilst Sunday saw us relaxing by the pool and in the lobby bar as it rained for the bulk of the day.

Of course, I am jinxed when it comes to travel as many of you would know. Our flight out of Shanghai on Friday was delayed - due to 'flow control' (aka air traffic control) but there was worse to come... For the first AND LAST time, I had booked our flights on Expedia. Our itin clearly said our return flight was at 1625 - we get to the airport and it is at 1940..... We debate if we should go back to one of the hotels or wait it out - we decide to wait. Big mistake; the flight is delayed till 2225.. so we spent 7 hours at Sanya airport and got home this morning to Shanghai at 230am. BUT, we tried to whinge as little as possible as there are many more people far worse off than us and we still had a fantastic time.

Tomorrow I am off to London for 5 days for a fab Wedding Party for my lovely friends Caroline and Ralph - looking froward to seeing them as well as the Wilkie crew in Surry on Sunday. Seems I have some time to shop too...... Well, it is London...

I am having my Chinese lessons 2/3 times a week - am hoping one day it will just come to me but for now, I understand a few words and phrases which is better than nothing. James, my trainer, comes 3 times a week - so my boxing skills have improved but I am still nowere near ready for a half marathon in 4 weeks.. Looks like it will have to be all mind over matter.

And of course in amongst all of this, I have to work too :) - lucky I am female and can multitask ;-).

Better go - time to pack (ugh).

G


xxxx

3 Days in Tokyo

Wow.... How is it I have not been to Tokyo before now? What a city. I am not sure if it is the amazing clean streets (amazingly clean everywhere really), the super polite people, the incredible food halls at the large department stores or the beautifully dressed women, but my first trip to Tokyo made for a very memorable weekend.

Thankfully I had done a little bit of research in advance - because the last thing you want to do is take a taxi from Narita Airport to the city - average cost is about USD250 for a 1 hour ride!!! Whilst some guidebooks had bagged the 'limousine bus' - I actually didn't mind it. It might take 1.5 hours but it does only stop at a few hotels and at Y3000 (approx USD35) - it is much cheaper than a taxi!

I stayed at the Hyatt Regency in Shinjuku. I had debated for a long time where to stay but this was perfect. The location as great, for a Tokyo virgin as getting around was easy and they have a shuttle bus to the metro station every 20 minutes - of course the metro was only 5 minutes away but it was hot!! The only thing I found odd is that most hotels in japan do not have wi fi. They have cabled internet access in the rooms which at most hotels is free, but no wi fi, which seems very strange to me for such a progressive society in terms of technology. Will have to do some research as to why this is.

I think it is true that Tokyo is prettier by night than by day - by day it is another big city with lots of grey buildings capturing the heat of the day. But by night..... the amount of neon is truly amazing. I am quite sure the heat of the day (was about 37 degrees Celsius each day I was there) keeps people inside, because as soon as the sun goes down the streets are heaving with people. Having said that, it is a good busy; a polite busy.

The days were definitely hot - most Japanese people carry a small face washer (they call it a handkerchief) with them to wipe the sweat from their brow (how civilized!), most people have a lovely fan to try and drum up a little breeze (of course the tourists have one the local Pizza shop hands you as you whiz by) and many of the women carry beautiful little parasols in an effort to maintain the stunning milky white complexions the are blessed with. Surprisingly though, more people in China seem to carry an umbrella for protection from the sun than the Japanese do.

Thankfully the Metro as relatively ways to master (okay.. I did get lost a few times but that was half the fun), it was air conditioned and immaculately clean of course. The Japanese are relatively big smokers, attested to by the vending machines selling cigarettes every 50 metres or so, BUT, they are gradually implementing no smoking on the streets - I can only recall seeing 3 people smoking! Someone told me you could buy most things in vending machines in Tokyo... Not true! I only saw drink and cigarette vending machines - but quite literally they were every 50 metres..

As for the shopping.... There are of course many high end stores and the prices are very high for the same items you would find in Hong Kong or Singapore, even Shanghai for that matter. The department stores are full of concessions which makes it feel like lots of little stores all in one big store.

The food hall at isetan at Shinjuku is AMAZING. Think DJ's x 100, Harrod's x 50.... All with immaculate service and packaging and lots and lots of things you want to eat - even if you have no idea what a lot of it is.

I didn't really shop that much - just wandered around and marvelled at the stunningly dressed women and children and watched the world go by from a little cafe I found (in Ginza), that was great for people watching. Ginza is a really nice area with lots of shops.

I went to Roppongi too but can't say I was a fan - maybe I was not in the right area. Apparently there are lots of bars here but didn't get there at night.

Shibuya is of course home to the famous neon intersection you see on TV all the time - and of course was in Lost in Translation. I did go one night, just to have a look - but it was far too buy with far too many young people all over the streets.

I enjoyed 2 stunning dinners. The first at a restaurant called Dazzle in the Mikimoto building in the shopping area of Ginza, http://restaurant-dazzle.com/. The food was delicious and of coruse when you eat alone on a Saturday night, the staff pay special attention to you which is nice. I actually enjoy dining by myself - nice to have the solitude to simply think and enjoy some great food and a delicious cocktail.

Sunday night I gave in to the hype and went to dine at the New York Grill, http://tokyo.park.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/entertainment/restaurants/index.jsp, which is on the 52nd floor of the Park Hyatt, again made famous (or infamous) in the 2003 movie, Lost in Translation. The view was absolutely spectacular and the food was divine. Would definitely go back to both of these restaurants.

I didn't really get my fill of Sushi - as I am a bit of a novice so I was a tad weary as I was unsure what I might have ended up with; will be braver next time when I am not alone.

So besides eating, people watching and window shopping, I did get a little bit of culture and went to the Meiji Shrine. It is dedicated to the spirits of Emperor Meiji who died in 1912 and his wife, Empress Shoken, who died in 1914. The original shrine was made of copper and cypress, but it was destroyed in WWII. The building that stand today were rebuilt in 1958. Located in an enormous forest area, the park spans some 175 acres.

Whilst I was there I was fortunate enough to come across the end of one wedding, and then a second one and the ceremony that accompanies such an occasion. Have posted a few pics - it really was quite lovely.

Right near the shrine is the incredible Takeshita St. It is a pedestrian street absolutely jam packed full of young people buying all sort of weird and out there clothes. I actually did enjoy walking down the length of it - even if it really was crazy.

I still don't quite understand why the Japanese girls dress as they do in the baby doll outfits. They look very pretty, but I am unsure if there is a history or a reasoning to it - more research for me.

I didn't take a lot of photos whilst I was there. Am not really sure why - I think I was just too busy enjoying looking around versus needing to capture the images with a camera that were already sealed in my mind.

So - that was my jam packed time in Tokyo. I had a sensational weekend. 2.5 days in Tokyo is definitely not enough, so I shall be back in the coming months - it is only a 3 hour flight after all....

G
xxxx