woensdag 18 november 2015
vrijdag 13 maart 2015
A nine-month Fairytail
The Shanghai adventure has come to an end. Hardly ever I felt so much freedom to do whatever. Yes I missed my babe, family, friends and home from time to time, but I would not let another such opportunity pass-by when it comes. Of course, I had my miserable moments, but these in now way overshadow the nine months of the project in which I felt so blessed and privileged to have the opportunity to live and work in Shanghai, one of the most vibrant and diverse cities on the planet.
This is a dump of some of my dearest and clearest memories of the past nine months:
Meeting new people and making friends - Risking my life while overtaking cars during city bicycle rides – Failing to pronounce a street name in Mandarin – Crazy nightlife with packed dancefloors during intimate after-hours – Over 500 different taxi drivers, and taxi rides – creative Chinese cuisine with its large variety of dishes you’ll find nowhere – Fancy dinners at Goodfellas or Mercato (or Hakkasan, El Willy, Nest, Tomatito, Garlic) – 6am over-priced beers in Amber (or Lola, D9 and Downtown) – Chill food and drinks at Green & Safe (or Dr. Beer, Café Le Stagiairs, D.O.C, Spice Bazaar, JZ Club, Liquid Laundry, Abbey Road, Cottons, Blues and Jazz, Element Fresh, La Petanque) – Late night hours to finish work – Tough client meetings and workshops – Horrible airplane food, especially in airport lounges – Raising my game in Cirque Le Soir, Bar Rouge, Apartment, Mint, Le Baron – Deep tunes and good times at Amber, Lola, Downtown, Arkham, Dada, The Mansion, The Shelter, Lune, Le Baron – Hiking the Beijing Wall – Good-priced but toxic gin tonics with late morning headaches in Dada (or Shelter, Perry’s, The Mansion) – Visiting the Terracotta warriors and cycling on the city wall of Ancient Xi’an – Early morning waters and green chai latte to avoid the ‘Chinese’ headache – Breakfast at home from Green & Safe – Coming home...
This is a dump of some of my dearest and clearest memories of the past nine months:
Meeting new people and making friends - Risking my life while overtaking cars during city bicycle rides – Failing to pronounce a street name in Mandarin – Crazy nightlife with packed dancefloors during intimate after-hours – Over 500 different taxi drivers, and taxi rides – creative Chinese cuisine with its large variety of dishes you’ll find nowhere – Fancy dinners at Goodfellas or Mercato (or Hakkasan, El Willy, Nest, Tomatito, Garlic) – 6am over-priced beers in Amber (or Lola, D9 and Downtown) – Chill food and drinks at Green & Safe (or Dr. Beer, Café Le Stagiairs, D.O.C, Spice Bazaar, JZ Club, Liquid Laundry, Abbey Road, Cottons, Blues and Jazz, Element Fresh, La Petanque) – Late night hours to finish work – Tough client meetings and workshops – Horrible airplane food, especially in airport lounges – Raising my game in Cirque Le Soir, Bar Rouge, Apartment, Mint, Le Baron – Deep tunes and good times at Amber, Lola, Downtown, Arkham, Dada, The Mansion, The Shelter, Lune, Le Baron – Hiking the Beijing Wall – Good-priced but toxic gin tonics with late morning headaches in Dada (or Shelter, Perry’s, The Mansion) – Visiting the Terracotta warriors and cycling on the city wall of Ancient Xi’an – Early morning waters and green chai latte to avoid the ‘Chinese’ headache – Breakfast at home from Green & Safe – Coming home...
Some colour to the time in Shanghai
Chinese are proud on culture and heritage and do not hesitate to help western foreigners to adopt some of the basics |
Foreign hustlers walking the night streets of Shanghai looking for the next hot-spot |
Poor tuktuk driver looking for business |
Display on Shanghai Apple Store runs on Windows |
Getting my ass kicked by incredibly athletic Chinese, Taiwanese and Korean badminton players in an icy cold sports hall |
Retro bike is more expensive than an electric scooter in China |
Taxi drivers use manual front-window wipers and even these get broken occasionally |
Colleagues in front of Nike China office in Shanghai |
Five level elevated roads are all over the place |
Deloitte China Community Event has similar characteristics as ours and Laurens got the opportunity to present the Nike project on one of the occasions |
Sharing food is key |
Even the Van Gogh imitation was received very well |
Lunch consists of more than 5 different dishes |
Looking at our furnished apartment, landlords perceive IKEA as key selling point to convince expats |
KLM pilots delayed the AMS-PVG flight so we could see Holland beat Mexico live via 4G just before take-off |
Floor ran into NBA superstar Kobe Bryant, who offered support during data gathering |
Chinese like soccer, but obviously the Dutch take over any viewing |
People’s Square Sunday morning 8:15am, no comment… |
You have spectacular view in Shanghai |
Your smart phone is key to tell a taxi driver where you want to go |
Labels:
China,
Fiets,
Reizen,
Shanghai,
Working Abroad
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