Chinese new year has just passed by, by far not as impressive as the one up in Beijing last year, but it was still okey. Fireworks are restricted in our area just as motorcycles. Sad but nothing to do about it.
Today is the 1st of March, 12 days left until it will become quite busy. Studies start the 12th and 小沫 is coming here the 13th.
I've run into a few unexpected problems when it comes to my ideas about importing, but I've eventually found some other ways to come around them. We'll see how it all works out. Anyways there is no rush about anything.

Congratulations to my twin sister who got engaged!

Its February now. Lately I've been travelling around meeting a lot of people doing different things, but now I'm finally stabilised in Shenzhen! In December i met some of my family in Guangzhou and travelled around with them. After that I went to Thailand with Misa (later I also met her friend Daisy and brother Roy there). Was supposed to get back to Beijing for my birthday, however on the way back I made a detour to visit a friend. Because of this I spent most of my birthday on a bus, paid 200rmb for the taxi driver to drive as fast his car could drive but still missed my flight to Beijing. Was nice anyways, got to celebrate my birthday with some friends in Guangzhou, for sure few of the sweetest people in China! Took the next flight on Christmas, this time I didn't want to be late so I tried my best to get there well in time. Of course this time the flight was delayed for more then 2 hours, so I arrived in Beijing around 01:00 after Christmas, it was stormy, -10 degrees C and I had only a thin shirt. Hallelujah!

In Beijing I stayed at Kristians home. Too cold, too much drinking but was nice anyways for the time it lasted. Meeting old friends, meeting some new people, and spending a nice new years eve. Also went to taiyuan for a few days to meet Roy and Misa.
Later I convinced Kristian to move down to Shenzhen with me, I thought Beijing wasn't treating him very well so he needed a new atmosphere.

Now we've got a nice new apartment at 世界之窗. Guess the location is close to perfect for us. There's also looots of entertainment nearby. Happy valley, window of the world, bar-street, indoor skiing, parks, ice skating, subway, shopping, bus to the beach and ikea and also the very cheap dirty traditional chinese streets that we both love. All less then 5min walking distance from our door. Hey we also got cable TV, would be the first time in my life haha.

Last weekend we both went to Hongkong to get a new visa. Was supposed to be a smooth in and out operation but it didn't work out just as planned. Ended up sleeping on the grass next to the pier where the Englishmen docked long time ago since we didn't have our passports and also were short on money. January without jacket.. of course we didn't sleep very well that night. Next night we checked in to a cheap, badly worn down and stinky guesthouse that perfectly fitted our needs.

Well now we're finally back to Shenzhen, got the apartment set up (even bought bedsheets so we dont have to sleep on the sofa anylonger) so now its about time to focus on what to do from now on. There will some very big decisions to make for me withing 1-2 months. Will keep you better updated from now on. So long

Ok, so from Hongkong i took the train to Guangzhou. I stayed in Guangzhou for just a few days checking out the university and the city. Didn’t get that good impression of it and also I got annoyed every time people where speaking cantonese especially in the subway so I just felt I had to go back to Beijing ASAP! However, a little bird in Hongkong told me that 90% would be speaking mandarin in Shenzhen. So, I just had to go and check it out first. Left my big bag in Guangzhou and took the train to Shenzhen just two days after arriving to Guangzhou. And Oh yeah (噢耶), Shenzhen is the city I’m gonna spend some of my coming time in! The university is wonderful with lots of sport facilities, the city is very green (compared to Beijing and Guangzhou), you can take the subway to Hongkong and least but not last there are beaches and lots of nature not far away!!!

3rd phase of the Guangzhou fair was coming so I went back to Guangzhou. The fair is amazingly big! I met a lot of nice and friendly people and my impression of Guangzhou quickly rose a lot! However I had to go back to Shenzhen to arrange my studies there/visa, this time I figured I’ll bring my bag since I had found a place to go. Went to get my bag, took a taxi to the subway station and then the subway to the railway station. While arriving I suddenly realized that I had forgotten something. My bag!!! Fucking shit.. I forgot it in the trunk of car. And how likely is it that a Guangzhou taxi driver will return a big bag full of precious belongings? Well Hugo dream on, you’ll never see your stuff again. So right now I’m the owner of two shorts, 1 t-shirt, 2 tank tops, a pair of sandals, some underwear, a computer and a passport. Hallelujah! There’s a LOT of things in that bag I’m going to miss.

Well I stayed an extra day in Guangzhou hoping for the driver to return the bag but of course he didn’t. No point in forever waiting for the bag so next day I took the train back to Shenzhen. In Shenzhen Vanessa (new great friend who was staying at the same place as me first time I arrived) showed me around a lot and also took me out for some hiking. We were out the whole day hiking and then swimming in the ocean rounding up with some seafood at the evening. Lots of people lots of fun. Thought I would manage the sun quite well since I had been out a bit past days but apparently I got a nice sunburn. Well it was worth it anyways..

The plan for now: go pay the tuition fee for the university, buy some cloths, buy a new phone and phone card, call my old landlord in Beijing because he’s trying to cheat me on some deposit money and then finally the 14th I will go back to Guangzhou, kill the taxi driver and go to pick up my grandparents at the airport.

today i've been in china for one year!!

I've been a few days in Hongkong now but leaving for Guangzhou tomorrow. For me, I must admit I thought Hongkong was just another big city, but really, its fantastic!
The suburbs are totally amazing like some place most people would like to go on vacation, but yet you're just a few minutes away from a 7 million people populated and highly developed city that can offer you anything you need from good food, nightlife, nature and and even cheap labour. In addition its almost taxfree. Wow paradise!
Well now I just have to save up a couple million euro's and buy one of those irresistible houses with roof terrace around the island.

Made a little trip to Shenyang, Anshan and Haerbin with Pan Shou Xin aka. Norman. We stayed a few days in every city. Quite interesting, I think Shenyang has about 7-8 million inhabitants, however i could probably count the amount of foreigners with both of my hands. In Anshan we met Zhang Shi Wei and she showed us around. Somehow the entire city's hotels were all sold out so her parents arranged a place for us to sleep outside the city, great!
These three cities all have a population between 5 and 10 million people each, I had never heard of any of them before I came to China.. And.. actually I think you can compare the amount of bars in each of those cities with a small town in Sweden hosting approximately 40-80k inhabitants (countable with one hand).

Big thanks to Oscar who lend me his passport so that I could check in at the hotels. We dont really look much the same but TIC my friend, TIC.

Oh yeah, I forgot! also managed to get my hair cut..

Just halfways recovered from a flu, it really sucks being sick. Its funny how fast you can drop in weigh! Every little muscle disappears in no time, while the only thing remains is the that unnecessary fat you had on your belly, yeah life sucks!

Yesterday was my last day at work, had planed to celebrate that but still being sick changed my mind. Sorry for that.
Anyways, now new life begins, hallelujah i'm really up for a little change again!

噢耶, today is the chinese national day, they had a big military parade in Beijing. Most of the parade was only for special invited people, but I was lucky enough to get a perfect view from my window! All tanks, helicopters, airplanes and even the nuclear bombs passed by here. There where actually 12 of those bombs passing by.



Had planed to travel during this occasion but I dont have my passport since its out for Visa-extention so I cant go anywhere. Oh yeah, and I heard the extention failed because they changed the regulations before the national day. Great! So now I might have to leave Beijing earlier to go to Hong Kong and get a new visa.. Ya ya we'll see about that.. Often things work out better when you try to solve them yourself so I'll give it a shot later.