Tillbaka i Sverige

Skola

2012-01-26T07:29:00.001+01:00

Bank

2012-01-25T07:13:00.001+01:00

Icebug

2012-01-24T20:14:00.001+01:00

Drake

2012-01-23T20:10:00.000+01:00

Alfred Nobel

2012-01-22T10:23:00.001+01:00

Esplanade

2012-01-21T15:46:00.001+01:00

Innertak

2012-01-20T19:49:00.000+01:00

Venice?

2012-01-19T19:55:00.001+01:00

Sollywood

2012-01-18T23:30:00.001+01:00

Rygerfjord

2012-01-17T19:55:00.000+01:00

Södermalm

2012-01-16T20:00:00.000+01:00

Lilla Essingen

2012-01-15T15:27:00.001+01:00

Blåbärspaj

2012-01-14T23:16:00.001+01:00

Gamla stan

2012-01-13T23:14:00.000+01:00

Lax

2012-01-12T23:14:00.000+01:00

Hus

2012-01-11T22:50:00.001+01:00

Båt

2012-01-10T08:37:00.001+01:00

IKEA (VOST)

2012-01-09T21:55:00.001+01:00

Mont' là-d'sus, tu verras Montmartre

2012-01-08T18:52:00.000+01:00

C'est loin, la mer?

2012-01-07T15:42:00.000+01:00

Dubbdåck

2012-01-06T05:34:00.002+01:00

Snö

2012-01-05T19:45:00.002+01:00

Norstedts

2012-01-04T22:46:00.002+01:00

瑞典到了

2012-01-03T08:24:00.000+01:00

Gare du Nord

2012-01-02T07:35:00.004+01:00

The bazooka dosa [=paper dosa] are very crisp and the sambar wada come with coriander and everything. Paris is now fully civilized. Good news for Asian people who live in exile in Europe.

First night

2012-01-01T01:47:00.002+01:00

Singing in the rain

2011-12-31T01:53:00.001+01:00

Ruines

2011-12-30T21:22:00.000+01:00

L'abbaye de l'Etanche

2011-12-29T21:15:00.000+01:00

Vers la Calonne

2011-12-28T21:13:00.000+01:00

Meuse

2011-12-27T21:08:00.000+01:00

Sur les bords de la moselle

2011-12-26T09:56:00.001+01:00

巴黎的结婚照片

2011-12-25T04:43:00.002+01:00

Doha

2011-12-24T04:40:00.002+01:00

Being everywhere and being nowhere.

Being nobody and being everybody.

Forbidden city bicycle ride

2011-12-23T01:38:00.002+01:00

Last stop

2011-12-22T00:47:00.001+01:00

长江

2011-12-21T00:18:00.000+01:00

Floating restaurant on the Yangtse river, Chongqing.

Search and rescue mission

2011-12-19T17:38:00.000+01:00

All the wooden hangers are accounted for.

Recycling

2011-12-19T05:20:00.000+01:00

Bought in Pondy, carried around in China for almost three years, and dropped on the shelf of a youth hostel for a new future life.

平遥

2011-12-18T08:24:00.000+01:00

La vie comme dans un décor de cinéma

Jeff

2011-12-17T01:59:00.000+01:00

Nice to have another photographer around.

东岳庙

2011-12-16T04:17:00.000+01:00

Lost among the high rises of Chaoyang district, I had missed it. It took a visitor with a guide book to find it.

京剧

2011-12-15T14:34:00.001+01:00

Express delivery

2011-12-14T01:27:00.000+01:00

Drinking game

2011-12-13T01:48:00.000+01:00

Drinking game in China for two: Both persons show a number of fingers (from zero to 5) and at the same time predict the total number of fingers for the two (from zero to 10). The one who predicts correctly wins and the other must drink. It gets quite intense, and at time, the two competitors look like they are cursing each others.

Gansu

2011-12-12T14:32:00.001+01:00

Valley of the apples, next to the yellow river

兰州拉面

2011-12-11T16:30:00.001+01:00

Lanzhou pull noodle: A gluten-rich flour that creates a dough that gets extended at will on an exponential scheme, a broth with vinegar and chili, few slides of turnip and few pieces of roasted beef: A pure wonder to be enjoyed early in the morning in crowded joints haunted by the Muslim Hui minority. My recommendation goes to 马队长牛肉面 ("Ma", the big boss of the beef noodle) in 临夏 (Linxia), Gansu province. You can't miss it, there is even the phone number on the board.

Labrang

2011-12-10T14:52:00.000+01:00

Half of the town occupied by the Monastery - The first time I started to realize what Tibet is all about.

Delivery

2011-12-09T16:28:00.000+01:00

天坛

2011-12-08T16:21:00.001+01:00

Surlignage de neige sur les murets: Subtiles traces de froidure dans les pixels.

风筝

2011-12-06T17:10:00.001+01:00

Beached on an overpass, but still scary...

鼎泰丰

2011-12-06T14:46:00.000+01:00

Some of the best dim sum in Beijing are to be found at 鼎泰丰 (Taiwan style). With a kitchen that looks like a biosafety level III laboratory.

No kidding

2011-12-05T15:41:00.000+01:00

Maximum personal protective equipment in this high tech place in Beijing. To handle what substance?

地书

2011-12-03T17:01:00.003+01:00

I tried myself at ephemeral calligraphy, and I got an answer!

钟楼

2011-12-03T06:16:00.000+01:00

Red carpet for the visitors of the clock tower

Fleur de neige

2011-12-01T18:16:00.000+01:00

Ray of Light

2011-12-01T04:07:00.000+01:00

大

2011-11-29T18:11:00.000+01:00

Open your arms, think big

Alba, upside down

2011-11-29T06:03:00.000+01:00

Piaffe

2011-11-28T06:00:00.000+01:00

鼓楼

2011-11-27T02:18:00.001+01:00

朝阳公园

2011-11-26T02:10:00.000+01:00

拆

2011-11-25T02:05:00.000+01:00

The beautiful character that represents the kiss of death to a building

Everything for 5 bucks

2011-11-24T01:58:00.001+01:00

U.F.O.

2011-11-23T01:26:00.001+01:00

Unidentified Floating Object

发源寺

2011-11-21T23:54:00.000+01:00

中国人民共和国万岁

2011-11-20T17:23:00.002+01:00

Ready for winter

2011-11-20T04:00:00.000+01:00

理发

2011-11-19T15:55:00.001+01:00

垂柳

2011-11-18T01:29:00.000+01:00

When I weep on the river, all I see in the reflection is myself.

Barbie and Kent have their restaurant in Beijing

2011-11-17T00:15:00.000+01:00

It's takes some getting used to in terms of design but the Danish "smushi" are very good.

Strokes

2011-11-16T15:47:00.000+01:00

雍和宫

2011-11-15T01:25:00.000+01:00

The early jogging routine involves passing by the Lama temple which stands there by the ring road in a Kodakchrome sort of morning beauty.

Le temps qui passe

2011-11-13T18:25:00.000+01:00

Les feuilles des arbres du canal Saint Martin mesurent les intervalles entre les passages a Paris.

Les couleurs sont plus fortes et l'air plus minéral.

L'hiver guette et le retour en Europe approche.

Sous bois

2011-11-13T06:12:00.001+01:00

Fin d'automne à Dompierre-aux-Bois

2011-11-12T07:03:00.002+01:00

The organigramme

2011-11-11T11:37:00.000+01:00

No regrets

SAGE

2011-11-10T11:45:00.000+01:00

Les paroles s'envolent, les feuilles tombent, et les écrits restent.

Northern light

2011-11-09T10:10:00.002+01:00

Waterfront

2011-11-08T06:48:00.000+01:00

Cygne des temps

2011-11-07T06:47:00.000+01:00

Arrêt buffet

2011-11-06T07:05:00.000+01:00

La voie

2011-11-05T04:52:00.000+01:00

Protocol

2011-11-04T00:41:00.000+01:00

Once in a while, we get the little flag out on the car, like when we go out to see an Ambassador.

Operation Kamikaze

2011-11-02T17:01:00.002+01:00

Window cleaning day at Embassy house.

太极拳

2011-11-02T01:32:00.000+01:00

Very important detail for an enlightened experience: Be placed under a yellow Gingko

Protection

2011-11-01T00:53:00.000+01:00

The winter is getting close, the roping brigade is getting ready to wrap up the trees.

No one left behind, please

2011-10-31T01:47:00.002+01:00

头盔

2011-10-30T12:08:00.000+01:00

Even in the city, it's always better to wear a helmet while cycling.

后海

2011-10-29T13:31:00.003+02:00

View from a bridge

En route for a lakeside breakfast

2011-10-28T03:01:00.002+02:00

Beijing taxi

2011-10-27T14:29:00.000+02:00

Occasionally, one of these beasts is found in the morning enjoying the peace of the Hutong after a good night sleep.

簋街

2011-10-26T02:01:00.002+02:00

麻将

2011-10-25T02:00:00.000+02:00

On the bridge: Adults stuck in a traffic jam, getting nuts while trying to go to work.

Under the bridge: Retirees playing Mahjong.

Hutong colours

2011-10-24T01:22:00.000+02:00

宝贝

2011-10-23T09:50:00.000+02:00

三天打鱼两天晒网

2011-10-22T06:17:00.000+02:00

越来越凉

2011-10-20T18:50:00.002+02:00

D Day for the fall

2011-10-20T06:46:00.003+02:00

Les sanglots longs des violons de l'automne ,

Blessent mon coeur d'une langueur monotone.

The page

2011-10-19T15:44:00.004+02:00

When Chinese people ask you about your Chinese skills, they use an incremental approach. First they chat with you to assess your oral Chinese. If you pass the test, they ask you whether you can read, and if yes, how much you read. If you say you read more than a decent number of characters, they ask you whether you write. It’s the ultimate frontier. Because if you did not learn to write and to read at the same time, there is a chance you can only write a fraction of the characters you read.

Writing Chinese requires knowing the language, knowing the characters, knowing the strokes (from where to where, they each have a name: left falling, horizontal, horizontal folded with a hook, etc.) and knowing the stroke order (Some strokes come before others). While such a rule on the stroke order when the stroke order should not be visible on the finished product? Well, the stroke order matters, because if Chinese people scribble fast, they link the strokes together through that secret order, and then, the invisible rule becomes visible. Worse, it’s actually the key to understand what is written or to write characters on your touch screen smart phone.

So the writing lessons are painful. Not only you need to know what you want to write, but you also need to write it right, and you need to write it in a way that is considered beautiful par by professor. In other word, this rapidly turns into an art class. And if you are lucky enough to have a professor who was studying calligraphy, then you will be taught how to improve the characters you write with just the amount of imperfection that makes them more perfect. As if it was not complex enough already.

The beginner uses the paper with the small squares: The 田格本, the exercise book with paddy field design. It’s actually great to be caught with these exercise books by colleagues (“Oh! Yes! I used those in first grade!”). Then in addition to all the other criteria mentioned above, one need to balance the character in the center of the square so that it does not occupy the entire space. In the end, once you have tried your best on the page, your professor will pick the best-looking character (or maybe the less ugly), circle it in green, and say: “That is the best one”. But if you are not good, the ultimate sanction comes quickly. The exercise book is taken away from your hand, it lands on the table in front of the professor, and soon a green character comes to life: The right strokes, the right order, the right imperfection and the good balance on the square, without taking too much space. It looks so simple when they do it. Well, I am told, it’s only the first 1,000 hours of writing characters that are difficult. After, it comes easy. Like the beautiful green character in the middle of the ugly ones.