dim sum and other Hong Kong tips

If you ever visit Hong Kong make sure to enjoy the culinary diversity the city provides. 

My firs tips is to download the Open Rice App. Don`t spend all your time on HK Island and in Midlevels/Soho (even though that`s where all the restaurants are like in Europe - on street level). 

HK has a lot more to provide. 

The city has everything from huge budget food halls in Sham Shui Po, delicate but cheap restaurants and sky bars, to cat cafes on the 30th floor in Mong Kok. Open Rice lets you search for price range, location and cuisine, and provides intricate directives on how to get to the target restaurant (like exit on MTR, entrance door, which elevator, floor and so on). 

The typical HK tea restaurants (cha chaan teng) which has affordable menues of canto-western food (HK/Chinese feat British cuisine), but not above average food. Here the great experience is to sit at a table with local strangers and eat quickly served food. It´s truly an experience. 

If not the typical tea restaurants fit your taste, there are plenty of different restaurants. Tom Ho Wan (the one near Prince Edwards/Sham Sui Po is my favorite) serves Michelin stared Dim Sum, and is a keystone in HK restaurant sphere. Later during the night you can stop by one of the thousand street food stores and grab a HK waffle or some fried yummy. 

If other Asian cuisines are preferred, there are plenty of them in HK. You`ll find Cambodian (with delicious curry), Thai and Vietnamese restaurants on many locations. If Korean BBQ is more of your taste I have a favorite. My favorite is OPPA in Mong Kok, great place. Once you get hooked on the social and delicious korean way to do bbq, you will always have a thing for Kimchi, salad and delicious Asian bbq sauce. 

the hotel anthropologist

Venetian air deeply fills your lungs. You are stuffed with delicious food and wine. After some sightseeing through the canals, Palazzo Ducale and Burano you return to your hotel. Completely unaware of the fact that Sophie has been there. After some years you find out that someone neatly captured your belongings and clutter on camera due to art. What would you think?

 S.Calle

The french artist and photographer Sophie Calle worked as a chambermaid at a hotel in Venice. Her delicate investigation of the rooms´ appearance made up her project The Hotel  (1981). I am fascinated by how she expresses her self like an detective, or maybe more like an anthropologist in a way.  She describes and interprets identities, narratives and psychological meaning into untidy or tidy rooms, used toothbrushes, drinks and suitcases. Through her photos and describing words an unknown story is unveiled. My imagination starts spinning, and the people staying at the rooms suddenly have a story, a life outside on holiday in Venice. 

In the same time I feel a bit ashamed. I have entered a private sphere. Calle has not asked me to enter, but in a way forced observers in  to these private rooms and areas. We tend to clean and make our homes tidy when we get visitors. These people never knew they had visitors, but still 30 years later they are observed by new and foreign interpreters and hobby anthropologists. Nevertheless, I am filled with ambivalence. My SoMe-sneaky-curious tendencies make me eager to analyze the photos and find the hidden details. In the same time it feels wrong or at least intriguing to look so closely. Maybe this is Calle´s message - to analyze unknown people forces us to stand in this ambivalence. 

Women´s March

Today we march in solidarity with women in the USA. 

We march for gender equality, and against racism, nationalism and intolerance. 

Feminism and awareness about everyday sexism, glass ceilings in society and sexual and reproductive health rights have grown among young women in Scandinavia and globally. Our awareness have increased, but we also need to look beyond our own borders and societies. Women all over the world are victims of war crimes and rape, sexual assaults and domestic violence. Violence against women is happening in our own apartment buildings, on the streets of our cities and through hate porn cites and child porn cites. Young girls are forced into marriages with older men, women are sold to trafficking and suffer under lack of rights to freedom.
Remember this not only today, but on the 8th of March, the 25th of November and every day.

Women´s rights are human rights.

Lighter season

Light and spring.

I really love this time of the year. When the sun keeps up until late afternoon and it gets a little bit warmer every minute. I can put away all my huge winter coats and hats, and keep the lighter (but still warm) ones in my closet. The snow is soon all gone, the and street cafes open up for a drink in the sun. Here up north the transition from winter to spring takes some time. However, in my opinion we are one of the best to celebrate spring and the sunlight. I guess it`s because we finally feel the hope after months living in a dark city. 

Vogue style 

find your glasses

Sometimes I wish life more frequently provided me with filtered glasses to put on when the world feels too dark. They add colour and joy, or maybe feeling of belonging and safety. I would have a stronger pair to use when I feel unsafe and terrorist attacks come closer. In my pocket I would carry some milder ones for rainy days or when daily life struggles come by. 

As a soon to be clinical psychologist I believe people have the ability to put on different glasses. It´s all in your mind. Their accessibility might vary between people, but I strongly believe they are there. The key is to be aware and use them when needed. 

Photo: Matt Sundin 

madrid

Madrid has become one of my favorite cities in Europe. Though it will never overrun Paris, Florence or  Barcelona, still the capital city to have touched me in some kind of way. Compared to the other cities it is much more untouched by tourism, and I find it more authentic and real in a way. The city does´t have the vibrant feeling of romance or wild living as some other cities do. I find it darker, but still wonderful with it´s massive boulevards, art deco restaurants and museums where you can walk alone for hours. 

all photos are mine  

quadrennium

since last time I´ve developed, changed my professional career, lived in Hong Kong. 

Hong Kong gave me much. A vibrant metropolis with the true Asian experience added with a hint of European vibe. 

The years have passed, things have changed and life has served both up- and down-hill rides. 

As it should be. 

unique

shini from Park & Cube has an unbelievable way of making an outfit. In a way her outfits seem so easily and randomly putted together, but in the same time they give a sense of harmony and ultimate fusion. She combines a colourful squared necklace with a romantic and airy skirt. Even though she wears rocked up edgy shoes, it all makes sense. It just fits perfectly and gives a feeling of absolutely fulfillment. She dresses like it's the easiest thing in the world. And in a way the fewest of us a privileged to dress.

park & cube