365 China Photo: One-A-Day

It’s only the first week of the New Year but I don’t think they will be a more controversial movie than the Iron Lady that opened today in cinemas. Its the story of Margaret Thatcher, one of the most loved or hated of Britain’s Prime Ministers depending on your politics. Movie critics are also divided on the quality of the film, which deals with Thatcher’s dementia in later years. Many people think its wrong to make this film while she is still alive. Interesting the film has gone down well in the south of England but not so well in the north of England. Thatcher divided the country when she was in power, so it’s not surprising the movie has done the same. I can’t wait to see it and make up my own. One thing that is good is the uncanny likeness of Meryl Streep to Margaret Thatcher, which I am sure will make the movie more believable.

I wanted to take Canthy to see the Lion King for our anniversary but I couldn’t get tickets for that night. The show was sold out almost every night unless you book way in advance. Everybody we had spoken too had raved about the show so we were very excited to get the last two tickets for tonight’s show. Canthy hadn’t seen the movie so I explained the story before we went just in case the musical was hard to follow without subtitles. Well I didn’t have to worry as the story was easy to understand and Canthy loved the show, which was spectacular. It really is a visual feast for the eyes, with amazing costumes and sets. But what makes it memorable is the music and songs, which stay in your head long after the show is over.

The weather has been very mild, though I would of preferred it to have snowed as it makes it feel more like Christmas. However, today we had 100 mile an hour winds, which caused havoc across Britain bringing down power lines and falling on cars. One of the big trees in my parent’s garden was blown down and just missed smashing into their chicken shed. My dad said it was lucky as the tree is almost 150 feet tall. He said it will take some time to clean up, but we will chop it up for firework for their house, which will last for months.

One of the best things of staying at my parents is that they have a huge garden. It’s got fish ponds and swings and lots of space for Tanya to run around and play in. Canthy loved it too, but said it would be much better in the summer when the weather is warmer. In China most people in big cities live in high-rise apartment blocks without gardens. It’s one of the things I really miss in Beijing. Canthy always says we can have one if we bought a house and moved outside Beijing. But I don’t think we are quite ready to move to the suburbs and commute two to three hours a day.

My big sister turned 50^th birthday today. I cant believe she’s 50 and nor can she. It’s not something she was looking forward to celebrate and didn’t want her picture taken. But I told her it’s a special day so I made her pose for me with her birthday flowers. She eventually agreed, but then said I have to wait another 50 years before I could take her photo again, haha.

It’s the first day of the year for 2012 and the fourth year of this photoblog. I must admit that I have struggled over the last few months to keep up with the blog. Taking the photos is easy but I haven’t got my act together in being able to upload everyday. Still, I am committed to keep it going and just need to create the habit of daily uploading. My brother and sister turned up at my parents so it was the ideal opportunity to take a family picture. It was very last minute and disorganised so it was more like Simpsons on the sofa than a Snowdon royal portrait. Well its real life and a real family so it will have to do until next year. (From left to right Big Sister, Dad, Mum, Kid brother, Jed, Helen, Bella, Tanya, Leila, Canthy and me)

News Years Eve is always a big day but it’s made more special for Canthy and I as it’s also our wedding anniversary. So to celebrate I decided to do the two things that Canthy likes – shopping and eating Chinese food. I took Canthy to Selfridges to buy some Crème De La Mer, which she swears is the best (and most expensive) face cream in the world. Afterwards we went to Yauacha for dim sum, (yumcha in Cantonese) which is one of the best Chinese restaurants in London. The design of the interior is quite dark and rich, so it feels like a nightclub but with big blue-lit fish tanks. It made a refreshing change to eat real Chinese food, which Canthy thought not only looked good but tasted excellent. Canthy looked great but I couldn’t tell if it was the restaurant lighting or the Crème De La Mer, but anyway a great way to celebrate our anniversary.

We have been eating a lot of typical English food which Canthy likes to try. However, she finds most of it a bit too heavy and stodgy as she prefers lighter meals. One of the things she wanted to try was a Kebab so I took her to my local one in Palmers Green. Although Kebabs are Greek food they have become common English food, most often eaten after a night out and on the way home from the pub. We ordered a Lamb Doner and a Chicken Doner, and Canthy watched as the meat was roasted and carved of these big slabs. The meat then gets put in pitta bread with salad and covered in chilli and garlic sauce. I was surprised that Canthy loved this type of food and she ate it so quickly I didn’t even have time to take a photograph of the finished kebab.

Since we arrived in The UK we have been doing a lot of driving and have clocked up over 500 miles. Most of it has been on motorways and main roads, but also a lot on country lanes. These single lane roads are small and wind their way through the countryside. They are not that convenient or fast but can be a picturesque was to see the English countryside. We passed an old red telephone box, which you use to see on every street corner. Nowadays these red icons have mostly disappeared, but you can still see them in the countryside. This one looked rundown and needing a new coat of red paint, but it still stuck out in the green of the countryside.

Canthy wanted to see Covent Garden as she had heard it was a nice place to visit and of course to shop. I use to work there I know the area very well, though it’s changed a bit since I lived there. So I took Canthy on a trip down memory lane to show her all the places I use to go. The Conran Design office where I use to work has now become a bar and the advertising company is now just an empty building. It felt strange going back and walking around as the place, which was full of memories. Canthy enjoyed the tour and thought the area was quite special, especially with its festive decorations, Christmas lights and giant Rudolf reindeer.

Driving in London can be stressful, but the worse part is always finding free street parking. During the holiday you can park on single yellow lines but you need to arrive early. So we drove in at 7.00am and parked just off Oxford Street, across the road from Selfridges. At that time of day the streets were deserted so we went for breakfast before the shops opened. We passed Footlocker on Oxford Street which was still cordoned off after a fatal stabbing yesterday afternoon. Canthy was worried by the news, but I explained it was unusual and gang related so not something that happens everyday on Oxford Street.

I had only just finished buying the last few gifts on Christmas Eve and now on Boxing Day I found myself back in London. Traditionally the day after Christmas is when the big stores in London start their sales, so it’s Canthy’s favourite day. She really is a shopaholic so we spent the whole day going from store to store around Bond Street and Oxford Street. Luckily we drove into town as she ended up with over a dozen bags of goodies to take home. One of her favourite stores was Selfridges but she was disappointed it closed so early at 8pm! Afterwards we went to Trafalgar Square to see the Christmas tree and the London Olympic countdown sign. I am still disappointed I didn’t get any tickets for the games but I am looking forward to watching it on TV.

Every year Christmas comes down to two things: eating Christmas lunch and opening presents. My dad prepared the food, cooking the usual roast turkey and stuffing with potatoes and brussel sprouts. It’s one of my favourite dishes and one that Canthy also enjoys. Opening presents doesn’t have the same excitement as when you a child. But Tanya enjoyed it even though she prefers playing with the wrapping paper and was more interested in other people’s gifts than her own. Once these two things are over the stress of preparing for Christmas melts away. Then like most people I spent the day eating and drinking too much and watching Christmas television. This year’s the hottest TV programme to watch was the Downton Abbey Christmas Special, which is Canthy’s favourite TV series. Unfortunately she drunk too much and feel asleep halfway through so missed the ending. Ho ho ho – a typical Christmas story.

I love going out on Christmas Eve and doing a last minute shop. We went to Brent Cross, which is a big shopping centre near my sister. Although we had already bought all the presents, I like going out to buy some small impulse stocking fillers. Despite the news report warning of travel chaos the roads were empty and the shops weren’t full. I think most people are waiting for the big Christmas sales, which start on Boxing day. We arrived at my parents in the afternoon and then I wrapped the last of the presents including Canthy’s in a Chanel inspired black and silver paper. Tanya was excited by all the presents, but is still too young to understand what Christmas is all about. She enjoyed just playing with all the boxes, making stacks of presents and then messing all the things up. Christmas is always a stressful time, so it always feels good to have everything done and all the presents under the tree. Now I can finally relax, have a glass of wine and wish all my readers – seasons greetings and a happy Christmas wherever you are.

We went into central London as Canthy wanted to do some last minute Christmas shopping and to go around all the designer stores. It was quite busy out and despite the so-called recession in the UK, people seemed to be spending money. We went to all her favourite places including Burberry, Louis Vuitton, and Chanel. I also took her to Selfridges where she fell in love with a pair of Jimmy Choo shoes. Canthy always complains that our wedding anniversary (31^st December) is too close to Christmas and New Year so it doesn’t feel like it’s so special. So this year I promised her I would buy her a few big presents to make up for this. Also since having Tanya she hasn’t bought anything for herself in almost a year and a half. She had already given me a wish list so I knew what she wanted so it made things easier. Designer presents are not for everyone but they would be double the price in China. And as I can claim back the VAT it makes them very reasonable, according to Canthy When we got home the TV news reported that today had broken all records for shopping and that customers had spent a million pounds a minute!

Canthy loves shopping in the UK especially for food. The supermarkets here have so much fresh produce and things you cant get in China. She especially likes the organic vegetables and all the meats, hams and other food she can buy at the delicatessen counter. We took Leila with us this afternoon as she knows where all the food is and she wnted to make sure we got what she wanted too. Everytime we go Canthy sweeps the shelves so we end up with a trolley full of stuff. Her only regret is that we cant take it back to China with us.

The east coast of England is not far away from where we are staying so we drove out for an afternoon by the sea. Canthy was excited but she has never seen the English seaside, which is not that good in summer, but even grimmer in winter. The weather was cold and windy with grey skies, which didn’t impress Canthy at all, who has been spoiled by the beaches in Thailand. Canthy was hungry so we bought some chips and went for a walk along the pier. Southwold’s pier was old and run down and has old definitely seen better days, probably a 100 years ago when it was first built. However, it was nice to get some bracing sea air and for Canthy to experience a typical English seaside pier, even if it is mid winter.

Village life is very quite so there’s not much to do or see apart from enjoying nature and the countryside. It makes for a relaxing time, as the pace of life is much slower. My parents arrived today so we all went for lunch at the Fox And Goose, one of the local pubs. Although it’s a pub the food was more fine dining and the restaurant has a good reputation in the area. All the produce is locally produced and organic so you can really taste the flavours in the food. The pub is over 500 years old and is an old Tudor building which gives the pub a very quaint  “ye olde English” feel. Although the pub is old the food was very modern and was a great place for pre Christmas lunch.

My brother and his family are taking a short break and spending the week before Christmas in the countryside. They had booked a place in a small village called Fressingfield in Suffolk. I told Canthy my brother had invited us to stay with them in a 500-year-old barn. Canthy wasn’t that excited about the idea as a barn on a farm in China so she was dreading the trip. However when we arrived she saw that it had been thoroughly modernised with under floor heating, all mod cons and even an indoor swimming pool. Canthy loved it as it still had all the original wooden beams and high celings, which gave it a unique old English feel to the place. I told her that Jesus was born in a barn, albeit nothing like this one, so it made feel more special to sleep in a barn at Christmas.

We have spent the last few days settling in to my parents house and making sure that Canthy and our ayi knows where everything is. My parents already have three grand children from my brother but this is their first Chinese grandchild so they want to spend as much time as possible with her. They don’t quite understand why we need a nanny as the concept is strange to them. But we try and explain as best as we can that with two working parents there is no other option. We have told our ayi to take a back seat when my parents are playing with her, so she does her best to stay in the background. But she is always keeping a watchful eye over her just in case. She always feels responsible for anything that happens to her and it is afterall her job to keep Tanya safe.

One of the best things about being back in the UK is having cooked breakfasts in the morning made with really fresh ingredients. My parents keep chickens, so the eggs are always freshly laid and taste better than anything you can buy at the supermarket. This morning I made scrambled eggs with fresh salmon, porchini mushrooms and tomatoes on the vine, which are all hard to get in Beijing. While I cooked breakfast Canthy made a start on the wrapping as we have dozens of presents still to wrap.

Our flight arrived at Heathrow and then we had to take the coach to Stansted, which is the nearest airport to my parents. They live in a small village called Little Hallingbury near Bishops Stortford, which is only a 20-minute drive from the airport. In total it takes over 20 hours of travelling to get there so we are normally pretty exhausted by the time we arrive. When we arrived it started to snow but it wasn’t that heavy. It does make everything look more festive, so we have our fingers crossed for a white Christmas like last year.

We are flying British Airways back to the UK for Christmas and New Year’s holiday. We booked World Traveller plus which is in-between economy and business class. You get a slightly bigger seat with more space, but most importantly we get double allowance (2 x 23kg) for checked in baggage. So we ended up with eight suitcases, which seems a lot, but it’s mainly full of presents and stuff for my family. The plan is once we have given away all the presents we have eight empty suitcases for Canthy to bring back shopping and clothing from London. However, Canthy’s shopping started early at the duty-free as they had her favourite new brand Crème de La Mer so she could resist. Just hope eight bags is going to be enough for all she wants to buy!

Canthy got tickets to the hottest show of the year in Beijing. Seats for the opening night of Shakespeare’s Richard III, starring double Oscar winner Kevin Spacey. The theatre was sold out and the mainly Chinese audience was scattered with the usual suspects of A-list movie stars and celebrities. I don’t think many people knew anything about the play and had just come to see Spacey’s performance. You can read more about this on my other blog story King Kevin Rocks King Richard III. The only problem was the play lasted over three hours including the interval. And she was worried about leaving Tanya on her own for so long, even though her mother was babysitting her. At the interval we almost went home but managed to persuade Canthy to stay, as Tanya would be asleep so not much to worry about. Luckily we stayed until the end, which was well worth it. I told Canthy we would definitely go to the theatre in London this Christmas, as it’s a great time to see the shows.

There is an old saying that “people put on 10 pounds when they appear on TV”. Well I am not sure if it’s true for everyone, but I certainly looked fatter when I saw myself the other day on CNN. I did the interview a month or two ago so I hope my new gym regime has already started to pay. However it’s my face that’s always seem to carry the extra weight. Some people say the 10 pounds is a myth; while others say it’s due to different TV formats or the camera angle and lens. Whatever the reason I think I will try and lose 10 pounds before my next appearance then I should come out looking about right, haha. The CNN story China Miracle Markets, was about old western brands reinventing themselves for the China market. You can read more on this story on my other blog, Reinventing Brands For China

There is a good little Ma La Xiang Guo restaurant across the road from our apartment that we often go to. It’s very convenient, has a relaxed atmosphere and you can choose what ingredients and how much of each you want to put in the pot. We normally order the same things but this time they had frog, which Canthy wanted to try. Dead skinned raw animals never look good but I said we could try it. Luckily when the cooked dish came they had chopped up the frog into little bits. So you couldn’t tell what it was, but it tasted just like chicken.

Canthy has been working late and feeling stressed with work, which has been affecting her skin. One of her friends recommended a beautician, so she made an appointment for her to come to our home. It’s quite a lengthy process so I didn’t want to hang around and watch. Although Tanya found it interesting and started to copy what Canthy was doing. So she lay on the bed while our ayi gave her a massage. Tanya is always copying what we do and only has to see us do something once and she can follow. I took Tanya out and left Canthy to enjoy her three-hour treatment, which left her feeling refreshed and calm.

We are in the process of applying for a UK passport for Tanya. However first I needed to register her birth with the British Consulate. It’s a simple enough process as long as you have all the right documents. The most important one is your long birth certificate, which I had to get sent over from the UK. You can apply for a duplicate online but you need to have all original documents. At the consulate they has this poppy display, which reminded me it’s Remembrance Sunday this week. I donated some money and took a couple of them for Canthy and Tanya. Like most Chinese people, Canthy didn’t know anything about Poppy Day, so I explained the story to her about the First World War. She then remembered seeing it on the TV show “Downton Abbey” so it made it more relevant to her. The horrors of that war are so distant that they have little relevance to people lives today. Except that the fighting still goes on in other parts of the world like Iraq and Afghanistan, so the horrors are still there, especially if you have family in the army. I can’t solve the world’s problem but I can buy a poppy and wear it with pride. Saluting the brave British soldiers who have been wounded or made the ultimate sacrifice. It’s more than ninety years since the guns were silenced on 11^th day of the 11^th month in 1918. A day we should all remember and a war that changed the world.

The Sunday roast is an institution in the UK and like the English breakfast is probably the best food that Britain has to offer along. Not forgetting the humble fish and chips, which is one of my favourites J Most people have roast chicken, but it can also be roast beef or lamb, with roast turkey normally saved for Christmas day. I keep promising to Canthy that I will make a Sunday roast, but I can count on one hand how many times I have made one this year. After another usual excuse we decided to have Japanese and went to a Japanese Teppanyaki restaurant at the Village in Sanlitun. They have a great “all you can eat” Sunday buffet, which includes fresh sashimi. I know it’s not very English, but sometimes its easier to watch other people cook, so I can just focus on the eating. I told Canthy maybe next weekend, but to be honest she will probably have to wait till we go back to the UK for Christmas. Then it will be my mum who will cook the Sunday roast.

Like most working parents the only time we really get to spend together as a family is at the weekends. Along with our strategy of “family first” (which incidentally really simplifies our life decisions and choices), we have now added another. “Together Times” is our new weekend strategy, which means we try and do everything together as a family unit. I know this may sound normal for many parents, but it’s a habit that Canthy and I are keen to start. I think it goes back to our childhood memories as both our fathers worked away from home in our early years. It was a reality of work and real life, which meant we don’t get to spend enough family time together growing up. Something that we are both committed to avoid in Tanya’s early years.

Tanya likes hanging out in the kitchen probably because there is always something interesting going on. She has her own little place in the corner that she likes to hangout in. Often we will find her hiding in the corner or just amusing herself. We have to be careful as she is always trying to see what going on and pull herself up on the kitchen worktop. Often she will watch out ayi cooking food but I have recently told her that Tanya cannot stay in the kitchen if people are cooking as its not really safe. It’s OK if we are just washing up or preparing food but once the woks come out and the cooking starts Tanya has to leave. She often doesn’t like it and will create a fuss and start to cry, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.