juliette

Balibaba | Nothing Is Ever Really Lost

Know that you are my safe harbor and I will come to you again and again as long as you will have me.

And so I did.

by juliette

Manchester | Red Brick Walls

Manchester made me realized that London is not the whole UK, just like how people always say Shanghai is not the real China. I was living in a bubble.

But that's why we travel right? To see things, to experience the uncomfortableness, to seek the truth.

I may or may not return to this city in the future, because nobody knows what's gonna happen tomorrow. But I will remember the smiley Ali from the Treehouse Cafe, who gave me a discount just because she thinks I am lovely(shy). All the people who gave me the way on the roundabout when I got so confused without any signal directions. The girl at the McDonald's wants to know where I get my jumper, and the shop owner was wondering if I was having a study break while I was getting a bottle of chocolate milk.

All in all, I had a lovely time here and you should come and experience it too if you haven't been!

Oh, if I have to give you one advice, or rather, a warning, beware of the city bus drivers, if you don't know the rules, they might make you cry.

Just might.

All photos by me shot in Manchester, United Kingdom.

by juliette

Wuzhen | Last Monday in March

Lies within the triangle formed by Hangzhou, Suzhou, and Shanghai, Wuzhen is famous for so many reasons, an ancient water town to start with, it is also home to the world internet conference, and the annual Wuzhen Theatre Festival, just to name a few.

And the reason I like it is because of a man. Two actually, two writers. Mao Tun is a household name; every Chinese studied his work in school. His book <The Midnight> is a must-read, it's a window to Shanghai in the 30s, the most complicated, chaotic time there was.

And then there's Mu Xin. Writer, painter, poet, and a true artist.

I saw a picture of Mu Xin when he was young much earlier than his poem of his that went viral on the internet a few years ago. Staring at that black and white picture, I murmured "He must come from that time", he looked like a prince, a true gentleman. He was also the mentor of the famous artist Chen Danqing. While Mo Gan Shan is now considering " the hotspot for a weekend retreat, Mu Xin has done his fair share with that place many moons back. He's ahead of us and ahead of his time.

I was obsessed with him for quite a while now and bought all the books I can find about him. Little did I know that Mu Xin met Mao Tun before and he borrowed a lot of books from the Shen Family(Mao Tun's original name is Shen Yanbing, Mao Tun is his pen name).

I love reading his essays, so lightweight but heart-fulfilling.  I think we can be friends if we ever met. But that can only be a dream now. After many years of living abroad, Mu Xin returned to his birthplace in 2006 and died there in 2011 December, aged 84.

He took the charm and class that only belongs to his time with him. I am always a little sad when I can only use the past tense to mention someone. But life must go on and luckily he left us an unmeasurable amount of treasure that we can benefit from forever. And now every time I pick one of his books from the shelf, I will remember the first black and white picture that I ever saw of Mu Xin.

Don’t you get fooled by the blonde hair and blue eyes, this Hong Kong-born, Beijing-raised French cutie shared the same childhood memory with me. We ate the same childhood snacks, and tasted the same Chinese popsicles, I’m talking about the ’90s, baby! We eat tea-cooked egg as an afternoon snack and munch on the slow soy milk cooked corn, proof: as shown in the photos.

Obviously, we have something more in common than just the childhood snack collections. We spent a Sunday together and basically became inseparable ever since. She consistently wants to raid my closet and I've been very aware of no longer using a plastic straw, ever! We share the same love for art, food, travel, fashion, and cute mixed Canadian boys.

Xi Zha- West Fence

Rather in an unconventional way, we started our visit from Xi Zha- West Fence ( Literal translation, but you got the image), whilst most of the tourists would start the tour in Dong Zha - East Fence and come over to Xi Zha at night for the light show. We were only here for the day, surely we are going to miss the light show anyway, we figured it doesn't really matter which end we start.

So it goes.

Xi Zha has in total of 12 islands, connected by 70-something bridges. It has all these long quiet flagstone alleys paved among the hotels and resorts. Yes, Xi Zha has excellent hotels with terraces facing the water. I seriously don't mind switching off my phone for a week and just hiding in one of these rooms to read and write.

I like how quiet and serene this place is. We were definitely not alone, despite it being the early spring and the weather is not as warm as it seems, we still had a lot of company. But it didn't feel like a touristy place where it was loud, busy, and noisy. Everyone really just minding their own business. Everybody is connected with this place and wanted to keep it within them. Annabelle and I accidentally walked into a room and couldn't find our way out for quite a while. But that's okay too, the room itself was an interesting history page for us to discover and we eventually find the hidden push button to open the door and back on the flagstone pavements.

Dong Zha - East Fence

If we heard nothing in the West Fence, we are about to hear everything in the East.

If the West is a nicely and carefully curated half of Wuzhen, the East would be the authentic original, raw, organic another half of the water town.

Why authentic, original and raw? There are people who still live here! They are of course the resident of Wuzhen from the very beginning. But like everywhere else, you would think that once something or someplace develops into a tourist spot, you would relocate the people and make it the tourist spot where you charge the admission, but here, the woman still washes the vegetables by the dock in the water. Granny still bakes the same pie she would bake for the grandchildren, only now she sells them to the outsiders too.

My favorite part of this side of the tour was when we stepped into a place where tourists suppose to stop, but the boy who is also a local decided to feed our curiosity and let us pass. We got the chance to see what the local's houses really looked like and what their lives are. After the main entrance, which serves as a front living room, we came into a courtyard where the flowers and grannies are. I felt like they were been living like this for the last century and nothing much has changed, sure they have AC and maybe internet now, but the layout of the house, the way how they prepare their dinner, you can easily place them back to the 1970s and it would most probably still fit in that time. At some point I was indeed Alice in wonderland and fell into the rabbit hole, I can't really figure out where I was, and which year it is. All the noise out before that door was muted. I only remember the sun reflected and saw a spider's web on the corner terrace of the second floor.

I was born in a water town too, and so was the late Jin Yong (Louis Cha Leung- Yung GBM OBE). The legendary Wuxiao novelist once wrote about his hometown, " 如果你到过江南， 会想到那些燕子， 那些杨柳与杏花，那些微雨中的小船。“ ("If you have been to Jiangnan, you will think of the swallows, the weeping willows and the yellow apricots, and those tiny boats in the spring drizzle" )  It certainly lost some of its charms while being translated into English, even the word "Jiangnan" stands for a heavenly place in Chinese rather than just a region south of the Yangtze River. But when I first read those words of his, I felt I have been SEEN and HEARD.

I went to boarding school when I was 11, and never really return home ever since then. So whenever I think about my hometown, I go through my younger memories. I think about the yellow apricot blossoms and the boats in the spring rain. The black sallows fly through and over the weeping willows.

And on the last Monday in March 2019, I got to live that memory again. I was 9 years old again. And the weeping willows and the boats in the rain, they are all coming back to me.

As a matter of fact, they never left.

All photos by Annabelle and me shot in Wuzhen, China.

by juliette

Balibaba | La Isla Bonita, Nusa Penida

Where should I begin?  Ah Nusa Penida, a place so close to paradise.

You probably have seen these pictures on Instagram a million times already. Me too, but it was only when I got there that I realized what a wonderful thing to be alive and witness all things of beauty in person.

I don't know why would we decide to go party the night before, knowing that we need to get up at 5 am the next day. But if you follow my wife on social media, you would see some of our infamous photos with blurry faces and #poordecisionmaker hashtags. To her, it all makes sense.

So when the driver showed up in front of our door as scheduled, I was still sound asleep on the sofa where I passed out last night. We literally got ready in less than 10 mins. ( We even showered! I know, respect!) When Bali slowly wakes up at 5:10 in the morning, we three packed a beach bag and headed to Sanur in the dawn.

Guys I really want to help and put out a link, but when I asked wifey for the links, she just sent me two phone numbers, and for privacy reason, I will not post their numbers here but do drop me a line if you would like to know their name and contact to book your adventures too! Our driver in Nusa Penida for the day was an actual angel sent from Heaven, what am I saying, we were in heaven!

Nusa Penida is the largest of three islands off the southeastern coast of Bali, the others being Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Ceningan. We took the boat from Sanur and 45 mins later, we arrived on the island, our driver Ketut was already there waiting for us. His smile made the sky brighter and can cure any sadness in the world. I had a feeling that "today is gonna a good good day! "

Kelingking Beach

The first place we went to was Kelingking Beach. This is probably one of the most photographed site ever. The viewpoint can make you have an excellent grasp of the dinosaur shaped cliff edges. It does look like a T- Rex, doesn't it?  We would love to go down to the beach, aka the most beautiful beach we've ever seen. Papi Diego was like let's go down there and swim. What wifey and I said was "we didn't have the swimsuit with us. " He was soooo mad, I know, right? How could you not wearing the swimsuit knowing you are going to the beach! I am mad at myself too!" What was I thinking! So he left us and ventured down 45 mins to swim in that secluded, beautiful turquoise green water. There's one more plus point to this hidden gem, even though it's right down there, not so many of us had the courage to trek down the bamboo railing and so the beach is tranquil and has almost nobody there. Heaven!

Ok, so we learned our lesson the hardest way possible. Bear in mind that it is a very hard trek down, however I am sure it will worth every step of it, but Luiza and I both wore flip flops while all the other people prepared with their backpack and hiking shoes, and I wore all white outfit which is an epic fail, the outfit turned into dark grey in just 10 mins time. And car parking is pretty far from where we were and it's impossible to return and change and back on the trek again. So wear your swimsuit already if you want to go down all the way.

We decided to wait for Papi until he returns, and went to the car to change our outfit. We stopped at one of the shops and had the most delicious coconut! The shop lady told us that she got them just this morning from her uncle's yard. She asked us where we were coming from. When I told her I'm from China, she started to sing a song that's very popular back in the day from a TV drama, and I sang along, it was pretty surreal. She had a great voice by the way.

Angel's Billabong

I thought we were heading to the broken beach, but Ketut took us to this place first, I didn't know this place and only during our visit I learned that it is called Angel's Billabong and it's simply breathtaking.

Me and wifey are the masters of winning at life, why are we wearing all these inappropriate shoes! It was quite slippy and dangerous to walk down, let alone swim. So we just sat down and simply admired the view! We are coming at a low tide time and it's relatively safe to swim actually.

Angel's Billabong is a rock formation with nature built-in rock pool. Nusa Penida is famous for its coastline and from Angel's Billabong, you can have this infinity pool view of the Indian ocean coast! As hard as we tried, we got the shot with just each one of us, but please keep in mind that you will almost never have the pool alone to yourself.

Just a kind reminder that it takes about another 45 mins drive from Kelingking cliff to here so be easy on the coconut water intake. We almost peed our pants but we made it to the closest toilet which is, ...here, 45 mins later, so, just thought it's useful and helpful to share, no? TMI?

Broken Beach

Broken beach, just as its name implies, was broken. It's not actually broken, the reason why they named it "broken beach" is because of the arch. Sometimes you just have to hand down to the mother nature for the wonders she created that no human can ever achieve. Thousands( Insert Liya: Try millions Jooj.) of years of erosion made the broken beach a spectacular site for us traveling half of the earth to pilgrimage today.

Although, because of the name, I couldn't help but wonder if mother nature was indeed heartbroken at that time. And if she was, what was it about? The war, the damage we did to her? Plastic in the ocean, iceberg melting?

Yes Joey, now that was a thinker.

Crystal Bay Beach

Crystal Bay beach is just as beautiful and the only beach that is approved by Ketut for us to swim. Boy was he right! The current was not crazy and temperature perfect. I even went in for a dip too!

While Papi was holding my hands in the water cuz I was still a bit scared, we saw something very sweet, a girl was trying to teach her mom how to swim, and it reminded me of my own mommy and how much I wanted to write her a letter from this island. We always thought mom knows everything and can do everything for us until one day she asks us for help, maybe an English menu that she can't read anymore, or how to online shopping, and those were the moment that made me understand that it might be true each mom is a superwoman, it also feels nice to be protected by her child too. My mom always says I'm stronger than a boy and has a brave heart, and that she's proud of me. I know behind all these words, she knows she can rely on me and I know I will protect her.

With all those thoughts in my head, I fell asleep by the bay and had some marshmallow cloud dreams. You know, like somewhere over the rainbow.

When it was time for us to leave the island and head back to Bali, Ketut helped us negotiated a deal and got us to sit on the deck of the boat!

As the boat started to head back home at full speed, I took a final glance of the fascinating island over my shoulder, the sun started to set into the coconut trees and somewhere by the port, a group of girls was singing a sad old Chinese song.

"In that place wholly faraway..."

All photos by me and Diego Gonzalez shot in Nusa Penida, Indonesia.

by juliette

Balibaba | Never Say Never

Right.

I know I said not long ago that I would most probably never return to the magical island that is called Bali.

Well, I'm happy I used the phrase "most probably", because, not only did I return, I might go there again and again in the future.

My wife moved to Bali early this year in the middle of the night. Sorry to make it sound like she fleed to the island, but that's basically what happened. She packed a suitcase and flew to a 30+ degree jungle, and left me and the furry babies in February Shanghai.

"Big leaver with the stupid suitcase" (Insert Joey on Chandler's leave) aside, I am excited to have a home in a tropical island now, and when the first of May long weekend approached, me and the girls packed our bags and headed down south. Oh, one of the girls is my Papi (haha sorry not sorry Papi Diego).

I learned my lesson last time and ran to the immigration counter once we got off the plane, and it worked! I used 20 mins to get out of the airport. Last time at night, I waited in line for like 2 hours. It was crazy. So run Forest, run!

As short as it was, I am so glad we did it!  It was, without a doubt, one of my best holidays ever! I like to travel solo. I did this time as well, I met up with the girls in wifey's Villa, briefed them about the  "No Zones" (Insert: Canggu, Ubud, etc. Papi accidentally mentioned Holly Spring Temple and I started to tear up, not cool.) and the #GirlsTrip adventure began.

This time, instead of writing the essays, I am going to put up a travel guide for you. Expect a lot of beach snaps coming at you, because that's all we did.

Where to stay:

Well, I am always useless in this department, I stayed in my room technically. My wife's beautiful villa is located in a charming little village called Ungasan. But the other day we accidentally walked into a villa that's very close to the Badung beach. Yeah, that's the closest help I can get for you guys, go figure it out. Haha, just kidding, but Uluwatu honestly has so many Villas, you should totally stay in one of them.

Where to eat: 

Sake no Hana Bali, by Hakkasan Group, offers modern authentic Japanese cuisine with stunning panoramic views of the Indian Ocean. I am very into the interior design of the place. We were enjoying the vast ocean view through the wood crafted open-air cage while the Grand Staircase below offers an alternative more relaxed environment under the minimalist contemporary light installation which emanates a golden glow throughout the entire restaurant. The food is excellent too. Ps, look for my wife when you are there!

Mama San Kitchen Bar & Lounge, by Sarong Group, a great place for quality South East Asian food. We traveled to Kuta for dinner and it was worth it! Staff is friendly and the atmosphere great. Marble top mah-jong tables and oversized tan leather chesterfields, in a purpose designed industrial high ceiling warehouse. Mama San in all her glory staring down at patrons while dining and ponder over a travelogue of old style photographs. Colorful displays of retro-inspiredflowers tower up to vintage clocks and a Chinese patterned mirror.

Where to have fun?!

Omnia day club Bali is right next to Sake No Hana, in fact, a lot of people wouldn't know that there are two separate venues in there, but there they are. As I said before about Sake no Hana, Omnia is also atop of the cliff 100 meters above the Indian Ocean. We were lucky enough to arrive there on their last day of the first-anniversary celebration and Claptone was playing! I don't know how many times I write to his tracks! Dancing to our favorite German techno next to the DJ himself under the fireworks with some of my favorite people is an indescribable feeling. We couldn't help but repeat to each other the next day that"I wish I can relive yesterday again! "

It was that good!

Address: Jl. Belimbing Sari, Pecatu, Kec. Kuta Sel., Kabupaten Badung, Bali 80364, Indonesia

Opening Hours: 11am-10:30pm

Phone: +62 361 8482150

Single Fin is a beach club that was highly recommended by my wife:), The place is filled with surfers from down under and the music is great too. If I remember correctly, the happening nights are Wednesdays and Sundays. The bar is set on the cliff and overlooking the famous surf break, We were there at night, but I would love to come here to see the sun sinks in the Indian Ocean. It must be majestic.

Address: Pantai Suluban, Jl. Labuan Sait, Pecatu, Uluwatu, Kuta Selatan, Pecatu, Kec. Kuta Sel., Kabupaten Badung, Bali 80361, Indonesia

Opening Hours: 8am-11pm

Phone: +62 361 769941

La Favela is a... I don't know exactly how to describe it. It's a bit of everything. It's an underground party place. Using the words of the husband and wife team, Gonzalo and Sandra Assiego, "From the architecture to the street art. From the lighting to the music, the concept of La Favela has always been to bring to Bali the very first underground party scene. No techno, no house music. Just music that everyone loves and can dance to. Old school but never cheap.

Address: Jalan Laksamana Oboroi No.177X, Seminyak, Kuta, Kabupaten Badung, Bali 80561, Indonesia

Life is a beach!

Island holiday is all about beaches right? All you need to wear is bikinis and a beach bag with sunscreen and books!

Badung beach is a very quiet and serene place, which is the exact beach I like. The grandpa who we rent the tanning beds from can only speak a word of English, "Yes", "How much are these beds?" "Yes" "The price is for two beds? " "Yes" But he's smiling the whole time even though he didn't understand a word of what I was saying. What a happy island!

I finished the book <Love Begins in Winter> by  Simon Van Booy and took a long nap on this beach. It was pretty chilled.

I finished the second book of this trip, <Anil's Ghost> by Michael Ondaatje on the Pantai Melasti Beach. This beach is my wife's favorite beach and to be honest the most beautiful one I have ever seen. It's just 10 mins scooter ride from the house and what a view along the ride!

There are SO MANY Chinese couples having their wedding photoshoot taken on this beach, it is indeed, the most beautiful, dreamest location possible.

The current of the ocean was powerful and I got my legs cut by the rocks, but this is the best souvenir I can get from an island right?  Scars and a gorgeous tan. It's like the younger days in summer, you were at your grandparents' in the countryside. Climbing mulberry trees and picking lotus seeds. My legs were always covered in bruises and cuts. And thanks to the summer sun, I always had tanned skin, compared to all the other kids. I guess something will never change!

On this beach, by the vast Indian Ocean, we three never felt more of Charlie's Angles. Except maybe our Papi is way more exotic than the original Charlie!

All photos my own shot in Bali, Indonesia.

by juliette

Vancouver | North By Northwest

I will always remember the day I crossed the Capilano Bridge, twice.

My last morning in Vancouver, my friend A and I were sitting in this Dutch breakfast place by the waterfront. Looking out, it was a picture perfect postcard that I've seen in my aunt's house once. Different shades of blue and thousand layers of green, meticulously decorated by some white roofs of North Vancouver in the uphill and the seaplanes in the water and up in the sky. I can still smell the crispy, fresh, fall ocean air from this picture.

I was born in October, and I always had this theory that people tend to like the season they were born in the most. Autumn is always my favorite season. It's a season to put on your snowy flavored hand cream, to wear your chunky knit and sweater, to fruit, to harvest, and to fall in love.

Maybe now autumn is the season for me to challenge myself as well.  While I was very much enjoying this view over some delicious Dutch pannekoeken, I was also dreading the fact that we are going to the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park.

There's a free shuttle bus to take you from Canada Place to the Park, and it only takes 20 mins from Downtown Vancouver to get there, which is very convenient. The driver would tell you history and stories about different buildings and streets while we passing through town, our driver is a great guy with such a sense of humor, and we had a great laugh along the way, without noticing the time passing, we arrived in our destination in no time.

Capilano Suspension Bridge Park is located in North Vancouver firstly built in 1889. The Bridge itself is 140m long and 70m above the Capilano River. It might sound like nothing to some, but I have a crazy fear of height, any building over 10 floors high, I can not go near the window, honestly. I enjoyed the London Eye by sitting on the bench and holding on to it. I didn't see a thing of London from above, what a shame. So at the beginning of this trip, I already told myself that I would go and walk through the bridge, I have to get over myself and get over the fear. It's such a silly thing that you let your fear to take control of your mind, and I know it's time for me to conquer this little silly thing and prepare to welcome a brand new Juliette! That being said, I still waited until the absolute last minute that there is simply no more room for negotiation. I just have to hit the road and go for it.

Here we go.

It would be a complete lie if I told you that I walked through the bridge so easily and that I just cured my fear of height, like magic. The truth is, I cried, in the middle of the bridge, yes, I cried.

It was okay to walk on in the beginning because you are around people and you will have to move forward as people behind are trying to pass through. But it was when I was halfway through, I found out that I'm all by myself and not a single people were around me. I know in many traveling scenarios, I would be thrilled to have the place alone all by myself, but not under this circumstance. I tried to hold on to the handrails as tight as possible but the whole bridge was shaking and it would do me no good, my friend was way ahead of me and I couldn't move my feet, I started to panic and out of breathe, the fear of falling off the bridge was so strong that I started to cry, I didn't know what to do.

But after the tears come to the senses, what is the worst thing that could happen? Falling off? If that's meant to be, that's meant to be. I don't have problems to take a flight, and that is much higher than 70m. And what are the chances that I'm going to falling off? If the bridge is still firm and running, It should be safe right? Deep breathe and I put one foot in front of another and walked slowly through the rest of the journey.

My friend applauded when I reached the end of the bridge, and I started to cry again, but happy tears! Like the time when I finished 800m run and won first place in high school. Knowing that I have to do it again on the way back, I started to prepare myself and decided that I would walk the second time in confidence and pride! Haha.

I had such great fun in the treetop adventures among those towering evergreens and the cedar-scented rainforest! I could only imagine how beautiful this place would be with the lights on at night. I've decided already that I will come back for Christmas, it must be the most magical time of the year in the park! The air, oh I am so obsessed with the air! You can smell the forest and feel the freshness in your lung. At some point, I could hear my cells breathing.

And I did it! I walked my way back through the bridge with confidence and pride! I walked so fast that this time I waited for my friend to arrive! I know I'm like a kid, but I couldn't be more proud when I received the certificate of "Across world-famous Capilano Suspension Bridge!" Actually, I had it framed and now it's hanging in my living room next to my art pieces. (Judging you for judging me now.)

I wonder if I would enjoy the forest this much if I didn't finish the journey. I guess we will never know. When we crossed again back to this side of the park, there was the Cliffwalk waiting for me. The new Cliffwalk follows a granite precipice along Capilano River with a labyrinth-like series of narrow cantilevered bridges, stairs and platforms and only 16 anchor points in the cliff supporting the structure! Exciting and scary, isn't it? But at this very point, I practically think I can rule the world and I can fly. So I walked faster than ever and across the narrow cantilevered bridges like nobody is watching!

The experience did cure my fear of height. When I say cured I mean now when I go to my balcony at home (17th floor), I can go without shaking knees. I can look far to see the skyline from Pudong, and I can also look down to see the changing colors of the leaves on the street, the warm steam from the breakfast place. There are cars, there are lights.

Down there, there is life.

And all these were made possible because I crossed a 140m long suspension bridge.

To me, it's pretty magical.

All photos my own shot in Vancouver, Canada.

by juliette

Vancouver | Something Old, Something New

Note

"I woke up to a series of messages asking where is my next blog post from the other side of the Pacific Ocean this morning. LOL, I am so lazy I can't even.

So tonight, after the cocktail in the gallery, I changed the plan of going to The Avengers Endgame, and hit "Adele" Playlist button instead of Daft Punk."

And now it's the end of May, and I did watch The Avengers Endgame, The Big Bang Theory finished too, and Game of Thornes, but not my post!

I won't bore you with my excuses because Beyoncé got things done too, and she's like sooo busy.

Here it goes, the actual body of this post begins!

My friend A is an actual angel on earth. The rainy day I arrived in Vancouver without the suitcase, he already bought an outfit for me, just how thoughtful!

It was one of those nights that I didn't sleep at all and cried like a baby after a phone call, he immediately took my jacket, saying let's go for a walk. I really thought it would be a walk around the neighborhood, so I didn't shower, no makeup, puffy eyes and dark cycles, you name it. And we came back around midnight...

Stanley Park

I stayed in a lovely cozy apartment on a charming little street called Alberni, and right at the end of the street, locates the biggest city park in North America, Stanley Park.

Stanley Park is a work of wonder by nature. It was not built by a landscape architect or designer but rather the evolution of a forest and the urban space over the years. You would be amazed to see the trees here that are easily a hundred years old. I still think I want to be a tree when I come back next life. You can just stand tall and look over the lives under, all that drama would have nothing to do with you. How great is that!

There are trails everywhere in the park, people would really use their lunch break and come to jog here. At a cross in the middle of the park, A asked me to choose a path, surely he was not just asking about the directions here but in life too. I walked to the left and A smiled, "I knew you would choose this one." He pointed out the name of the trail on a stick that I did not notice before.  It engraved  " Lovers". I might be incredibly naive and hopelessly romantic, but that's the path of life I choose, and I would forever follow. Who wouldn't?

Love wins.

Always.

The Seawall

I would be lying if I told you the path was easy, the walk was not challenging at all. It was actually a long hike with downhills and uphills. Again, there are many different paths inside the forest, it's your choice, and decision lead you where you want to go. We came out to the lookout point, where you can see Lion's gate bridge and the West Vancouver across the ocean. We then went down to the beach. Yes, people, Vancouver has beaches! The one we went to called "The third beach". I like the name, it's very Canadian.:) I love the fact that they are using the old maple tree trunks as the tanning seats! So original and environment-friendly.

If I haven't said it before my friend A is an actual Angel. He talked to me when I needed him to speak and remain silent when I needed to be left alone. I did some thinking. When you sit in front of the grand ocean, you always just have some kind of enlightenment, an epiphany if you will. I later went down further and stood on the rocks when the ocean waves come again and again to erode them, and we know that after a thousand years of erosion, the rocks would be gone, vanish. The ocean might turn to the mountains and we would just be the dust in the wind.

I crossed my fingers and noticed the ring on my right hand was missing. I was so sure it fell into the ocean and the waves took it away. That triggered the tears, and the tears dropped into the sea, salt water met salt water, they belong together, and I started to believe, started to accept,  started to truly let go, started to grief, and more importantly, started to gain the courage to begin again. After all, we are all alone in this world, each one of us. Maugham figured out long ago, we need to walk our own paths, alone.

I consider Vancouver a very romantic city, they have their Seawall, Skytrain, Sea to Sky Highway. Just listening to those names make me want to embrace nature more than ever.

It was a warm sunny October day in Vancouver, everything looked like diamonds under the sun. It was so beautiful that a girl from the city where she always dresses up for, didn't shower, makeup, had the most wonderful and meaningful day with her bare face, and a naked heart.

She understood now that coming back to the past can't really trick the time, when she goes back home, where there's the future, she already know what to do, and that's something she learned from the past, a past she took a 13 hour flight for, and it was absolutely necessary.

That.

All photos my own shot in Vancouver, Canada.

by juliette

Vancouver | Hello West Coast

Note: I had written the following words back in October 2018, a lot of things and my thoughts towards certain things are inevitably changed since then. However, in respect of the past, I decided to keep the original text.

“ Are you sure to book the tickets? ”   —— The 4 am decision

Do you remember the feeling of being alive? What is the last time you see a car and notice the color? And how long has it been since you watched people into their eyes on the street and smiled? 

If I am completely honest, I don’t remember any of that. 

Life can be lossy and tough sometimes, special when you are twenty-something. Every little hiccup can be a drama that you need to scream, cry, or better, smash something to release the pain. But twenty-something is also the easiest to be rescued, a spa treat, a new hairdo, or a trip, sometimes can just do the wonder. 

It was one of these nights that I was rolling from one side of the bed, to the other, tried everything I can to fall asleep so that I can look slightly fresh and ready for that 10 am event with grace and glam. But my dear friend, don't we just know already that if you go to bed with the need of getting up early, you somehow, always, fail to fall asleep. 

And about 3 am, getting up is no longer my concern, my brain has thought about approximately 25,000 different versions of how my life would be if not like this, I just felt like I was drowning, I couldn’t breathe, so I got up, went to the kitchen for water and  sat back to my desk, not my bed, my desk. I turned up the light, cried a bit, and started to write. I’ve read this sentence somewhere years back, a rough translation would be: if you are crying but still walking, you can be saved. Somehow this stuck with me all these years. 

Well, writing is my version of walking, when in doubt, I always, always go for writing. Not necessary anything I would post or publish later, but just so to keep me sane. I felt a lot better when the first ray of morning sun shone by my window, but not enough, I knew I need another trip, despite the fact I have just returned from a wonderful two weeks trip not long ago to England, I wanted to go somewhere far, somewhere nobody knows my name. So even all friends thought the destination of my trip this time is so random, I knew I chose the right one. And oh boy am I glad I came to the West Coast!

The decision I made at 4 in the morning led to a life-changing adventure. And the stories I am about to tell involves people I adore who, however, hadn’t mastered the language of Chinese just yet, thus, I’m actually going to use my degree to show my gratitude to the people in Canada: thank you for saving me when I was drowning. 

“ Sweetheart, you will be fine. ”   —— To my lovely T

I love every single taking off, the thrust of pushing us up to the sky, is just something magical. I was nervous of course, it’s been a while since I traveled alone to a place where no one I know awaits on the international arrival. 

I had an empty seat next to me, and by the window sat an Indian girl, I asked her if I can take the extra blanket from the empty seat, instead of replying the question, she said to me: “I am sooo happy someone can speak my language! I stuck in the airport for 12 hours and nobody can understand me.” ( Beijing airport) 

We immediately liked each other and started to talk. Sometimes you just wonder how the universe works. I thought I was drowning, well, if so, then this girl, this wonderful, smart Oxford educated architect, is 5000 foot deeper in the ocean than me. (Actually I don’t know how deep that is and I don’t know why I’m using foot, but you get the point.) 

It explains the sorrow in her face, it is why when I asked her before if she’s going home, she paused for a moment, nodded, smiled and said yes. 

It was a beautiful sunset that day when we decided to meet for dinner. I got back from Granville Island, took the ferry to Yale town, poor girl just got back from the hospital. She suffered jet lag and couldn’t sleep at all. Funny thing though, her doctor suggested w**d as the solution, I mean, go Canada! She described the shopping experience, I somehow had an image of Chinese pharmacy back in the day, an old pharmacist with glasses on, reading the doctor’s note and taking 1 or 2 grams herb from one small squared drawer one at a time. How weird! 

One friend said I’m a magnet that attracts the same people to me, or rather people with similar stories, judging on the facts, I can’t really argue with that, although I don’t know if it’s a curse or a blessing, I’m gonna go ahead and call it a blessing. She and I went through almost the exact same thing but crashed harder. But she’s also this girl, who keeps telling me” Sweetheart, you will be fine. ” 

We all will be fine at the end, and the part while we are busy trying to figure it out in between, is called “Life.” 

I don’t remember anything from the menu, but I got IDed by the waitress and not gonna lie, that made my night:)

T took me to her secret garden after dinner. It was a long walk but so worth it. We sat on the bench, looking at the reflection of the lights on the water. Unlike the East coast, Vancouver is a glass city. ( I can’t help but wonder: where do they hang their paintings?)  The water was so still and was mirroring almost everything from the other side of the creek.

“So peaceful.”

We just quietly sat there and said nothing at all.

My head started to act like a jungle and I thought a lot of things: "Why am I here, why I did this, why sometimes things just don’t work out, and how funny when they do. Why people change, why I change, why nothing is forever, why am I a human, why Canada, why anything?" 

But then at some point, I just stopped thinking. I guess I wasn't really looking for the elaboration of "Everything happens for a reason." Whatever happened, brought me here, at this very moment, and made me who I am today. Isn't it?

T, you said, "Sometimes you think you know people since forever yet fail to know them ever, but you are the kind of person I didn't know at all, yet it felt like I have known you since forever."

The feeling is mutual my darling. I know it's sad that someone we thought we knew before is now just strangers with all of our secrets, but I promise there will be lights at the end of the tunnel and boy are we going to reach there fast.

We started to walk back as the night got darker and passed this installation in the water: “Should I be worried? ”

“NO.” Both of us shouted out! 

Ah, sweethearts, we all will be fine. 

(To be continued)

All photos my own shot in Vancouver, Canada.

by juliette

Berlin | Oh So Berlin

First of all, may I just politely ask: "Where the hell did the time go?!

I can't believe it was three years ago that I last visited the oh-ever-so-cool city of Berlin.

It's a quick 50 min flight from Copenhagen to Berlin and I got a window seat on the plane, so it almost felt like taking the train:). Just shortly after we took off, the landscape has already changed from a lot of lakes to a lot of trees. We were already 25 mins delayed when we took off but landed on time. Basically, we were teleported from one country to another.

Hi sunny Berlin!

I always had this very familiar feeling towards this capital city, ever since the first time I visited. It's so down on earth, but also ultimately cool. My friends keep telling me that I need to come here when it's summer, it would be really nice. As if Berlin is not beautiful enough for me already!

It's never the look that matters right? It's what you have inside!

If I am completely honest, my silly little plan for this trip was to sit on the sofa somewhere else with a blanket and feel sorry for myself. I did spend a lot of time on my friend's company sofa and the home couch too, and my friend did leave me and the dog in the house and went to Frankfurt for work. But for the pieces of memory that I was out and about, I had a great deal of fun too.

The Walk

I'm pretty good with direction and I even found the same cafe I went three years ago! The afternoon I walked from Mitte to Kantstrasse was something special. I was recommended to check out the new photography show in Camera Work Gallery. Google Maps shows it would take 1.5 hours to walk.  I don't know what gets to me that I decided to walk down there. I mean If you check my daily steps back home in Shanghai, it would shamefully show three digitals only, like today, 684 steps to be precise. But that cold windy afternoon in Berlin, I decided to walk.

Of course, two blocks down, I was willing to give up. It was too cold, Uber sounded so tempting, and I forgot my headphone, I can't even listen to music! But somehow I just kept walking, I put one foot in front of another, and continued my journey. And while I was walking, I started to think about things, I chose to walk along the river by German Chancellery to Tiergarten, I noticed homeless people who're sleeping by the river, I smelled weed, hipsters were talking to me. But somehow, I felt they couldn't really see me, I'm not here, and as long as I'm moving, all these would disappear.

And it did eventually. I don't know if you can call this a meditation, but I definitely reached a higher place. I didn't even remember where I was. I guess I don't need to go to a mountain to find my inner peace, I can find it among the noises in the city, but maybe just not my city. Like the movie I watched many years ago--Anywhere but here.

Side note: Mobike is everywhere in the city!  I was so happy to discover them in my last 15 mins of walk, I was freezing and decided to take the bike. Same as what we would do back home, scan the QR code through WeChat and the same old unlock sound and voila! Bear in mind though that it would cost not 1 yuan but 1 Euro at the end.:)  Also, you might want to adjust the bike seat.:)

The Place

It was the perfect place to watch the day die.

I wouldn't know that there's this little hidden gem a bit outside of Berlin. Only David, a great friend, and more importantly, a wonderful human being, an interesting soul, would know what I like and take us here.

David works in Fashion and has an apartment to die for, not in the sense that it's so big or all designer furniture pieces but the feeling of it. He has a piano in the living room while all the books are causally sleeping on the floor. Giant green plants from the bedroom to the door.

Right, back to the place. For some, it's just a hill with nothing around. For me, it's perfect. I like the openness, the emptiness, and look down, there's a road goes up to somewhere I can't see, I'm pretty sure that's the path to the amazing OZs!  It was surely windy, and David has two cashmere scarfs from Tibet prepared for us already, what a sweetheart.

I let them talk, and walked around listening to the wind kissing my ears.

A day is almost gone.

I've had this theory since little, before people telling me that we can't actually see time. I always felt that the wind is the host of time, or a carrier, or whatever you like to call it. If you put your hands out in the air, you can see it, smell it, feel it, hear it, and touch it even, that's time passing, fast. Also, when I was in elementary school, the only time in my life that I'd bike home everyday ( I can bike with both hands off:) #awesome), I would always stop somewhere and wait for the sky to fall. But it was always a mere moment of time, I tried so hard not to blink, but never captured that exact second when the day turns into night.

Everybody loves a sunset. I love it that it reminded me of " everything comes to an end, everything will be fine eventually, if there's tomorrow, tomorrow is another day, and what would you do if it's your last day on earth? " Along with the day goes by, we die a little too. And while life is a journey and we are just passing through, let's make it count each day, shall we?

The People

The reason why I love a place is always because of the people (not the animals), People make up a place.

Berlin is so cool, because of the cool humans living in, they are just generally at ease and chill, creative and fun.

P.s. German techno is the only music I listen to if I'm at a deadline or really try to get some work done.

Little did I know that an eye contact 5 years ago on the street of Shanghai would lead to a friendship of a lifetime. (How to? Hint: It involves a lot of international flights.)  I won't trade with anyone or anything for MY germans, they are so unique and cool, and I love spent time with each of them. I won't shout out your names but you know who you are.

Some people just feel like home and if there's indeed such thing called safe harbor, I definitely have one here in Berlin, a city without sea.:)

Ugh, I hate to get all sentimental, but Ich Liebe Dich?

All photos my own shot in Berlin, Germany.

by juliette

Copenhagen | 48 Hours Fairy Tale

You must like the capital city of a country full of coolness as much as I do. Whether it's the reputation of the "most livable city in the world", or the famous Danish design that you've collected a few pieces over the years. Copenhagen has its way to crack into every living human being's life.  Not to mention the ultimate #hygge lifestyle that takes over Instagram, and dare I to remind everyone the birthplace of the Little Mermaid story?

I am a big fan of Scandinavian everything, and I believe that Fairy Tale lives on. So it's only right that I finally pay a visit to the city where literally everyone is cool, especially when they are on their bikes.

I spent four days in total in the city, but it's only until I returned from Berlin that I had a solid two days to wander around and discover the hidden gems of this beautiful city, even in the midst of winter.

Where to stay:

I only stayed in one place because if the hotel is so good why bother to change? But the city is full of design hotels with beautiful decors. I stayed at Skt. Petri (Taught by a Danish but I still don't know how to pronounce it correctly ) in the Latin quarter of downtown. I was looking for hotels in Instagram, (Nope not Booking, not Ctrip.) The number of Danish Bloggers I'm stalking is something I'm very ashamed of, they are literally the only people I follow apart from my friends IRL. I came across Skt. Petri in my feed, the theme color of the hotel is GREEN, so the search is instantly over.

The location is perfect, It's 400 meters walk from the Nørreport Metro Station and walkable distance to almost everything. I used my legs the whole time when I was there. The staff is super lovely and helpful and the bed is soooo comfy that I fall asleep the moment I lay down.

The "Two Duvets on one bed" question.

I have a question, I have it for some time now and I have experienced it before in Germany too. Why do they use two duvets on one bed? Skt. Petri has two duvets on one bed of course. I asked my friends and they didn't really explain it to me, it's like how we see our parents' bed has one duvet and our grandparents' bed has one duvet, they have seen their parents' and their grandparents' bed with two duvets, they think it's just the way it should be.  But that doesn't satisfy me. I went to google about it, yep, I literally entered"Why Danish people have two duvets in their bed?" (my google history is so embarrassing TBH.) Then I discovered this article http://www.scandinaviastandard.com/two-duvets-in-scandinavia/,  (cool website, already favorited.Dah) It answered my question and explained it very well. They are smart people, they figured it all out. Imagine you are 10 years married in, and your husband has ice cold feet when you have fireball body ( Temperature wise you guys.)  Separate duvets would sound wonderful.

However, I wonder if I ever will have two duvets in my king size bed, I have this theory that sleeping is such an intimate thing, and whoever you share the bed with should be someone you love and if you love someone you want to cuddle and touch them, touching is feeling, feeling is emotion, and emotion should allow you to share one duvet! Ok, End of discussion. Moving on. ( Oh one more thing, they don't have a problem sharing a blanket with you when you nap together on the sofa. So I really don't know. )

Where to eat:

Skt. Petri has two restaurants and I was recommended by someone that P Eatery is where I should go. The cuisine is modern European, the decor is black and brown dark toned. I had the scallop and fish, totally recommending. The chef is cute too. Plus, you get a 10% discount as the hotel guest.  Life is good.

Life is also just as good to have a burger with fries at Gasoline Grill. It is literally a burger joint doubles as a traditional gas station.

I'm not, but if you are, like the rest of the population, crazy about avocado toast, go to Atelier September for brunch, I went there for their croissant and coffee, as well as the avocado, cuz it just seems so wrong to pass on, BTW, I actually took away half of the food because I have an issue to never finish my food, and somehow I passed two security control and smuggled them into Shanghai, and my lovely wifey for lifey had a taste of Denmark's finest too! They say they open until 6 pm, but bear in mind that their kitchen actually closes at 3:30 pm, so make sure if you want to have food there, go early.

Even the humble cafeteria in SMK is something I highly recommend, they just know what they are doing and do everything better. Go have a bite and a cup of coffee after you admired some Danish art. It's worth it, in whichever way.

Where to go:

Literally, everywhere.

The city is a postcard at every damn corner, rain or shine. Go have a walk in the King's Garden. You have to go to Nyhavn as a human, I guess. And you need to snap that picture of the old historical Danish canal that you see everywhere for the little girl in you, for your little brother and sister.

I had my first stop at SMK- National Gallery of Denmark.  What is the best way to know a country right?  It was such a lovely experience too. The lady at reception assumed that I am a young adult under age 27, and charged for a lower price for the ticket. I told her my real age, but she's like, but you look younger to me so I will still give you the discount. Haha so sweet. And I asked her if they close at 5 pm, and she's like you are so lucky, normally we are, but tonight we have an event that will last until 10 pm, champagne and performances, you are more than welcome to stay!  How wonderful!

The Saturday Market is a fun place to check out too. If you like colorful flowers, baked goodie, fresh fish and hot coffee, it's a must.

If you are planning your next trip, make it to Copenhagen if you haven't been. Make it to Copenhagen even if you have been before, some places are just worth going back again and again, I already have a picture of me sipping virgin something in a leafy courtyard by the canal in a sunny spring.

#copenhagendreamin'?

All photos my own shot in Copenhagen, Denmark.

by juliette