Chinese Hostels

Last September we embarked on the biggest trip of our life - to China! The biggest not because of the distance we took to get there (US would be the furthest destination we've been to) but rather because it was a trip with a tight schedule (to see as much as we can!). We had quite a long list of destinations with many places to stay at - which were important in order to get good rest and enjoy our vacation. We spent 3 weeks in China and covered around 5600 KM altogether - traveling by train, plane, bus, ship, on foot and what not..! Here is how our route looked like: Beijing - Pingyao - Taiyuan - Xi'an - Chongqing - Yichang - Wuhan - Shanghai - Beijing. We mostly stayed in hostels and were lucky to find some really great ones!

Image by Flickr

Yamen hostel - was the first of those great hostels we stayed at in China and after it - it was quite easy to find similar ones - as they all belong to Utels - an association of youth hostels and low budget hotels in China. Situated in the very heart of Pingyao old town - this hostel is an ideal place to stay:

Image by Flickr

The hostel occupies a very old traditional Chinese building, which reminds about hutongs and has a beautiful courtyad:

Image by Flickr

The rooms are very simple, but gorgeous in their simplicity. The furniture in the room is antique, which is also mentioned on the card you find in the room.

Image by Olga

There are typical paper carving works on your windows and you get a perfect chance to sleep on traditional Chinese brick bed, which originally could be heated from beneath during winter times:

Image by Flickr

If you are tired after a long walk in town you can enjoy a good lunch in the guest area for more than affordable prices and simply hang out - as the place is amazing!

Image by Flickr

Image by Arek

I think this is my last post about hostels in China - many of the hostels we have been to are great and somewhat different.

Почта for Post

Today I started thinking that it's been a good while since I added pictures or posted about any of my works (except for the trees of course!:)) So not to bore you too much with those - here is another card from my collection - and I will repeat myself in confessing that I just love collage technique. If you find it interesting too - more of my cards for you here and here.

Image by Olga

I don't really like how the bottom left white corner looks like, in reality it is a ruffled white paper - unfortunately after the card is scanned - it can't be seen anymore..

Unfortunately there hasn't been too much improvement with my two little pets since yesterday :(... I'm hoping they will start recovering by the next visit to the vet, which is this Friday... They got allergic to something by the look of things - and keep scratching themselves, poor things..

Daisy Daze

Today we had to take our pets to the vet, which turned out to be quite an emotional experience for both myself and the pets.. I hope they are going to get better soon, yet meanwhile some treatment is needed. Here is something for the better mood and just to keep enjoying the wonderful spring time - the daisies I bought this weekend.

Image by Olga

A Touch Of Turquoise

Image by Arek

I first discovered these little colourful lizards when exploring the island of Formentera. And it was actually Floss with her yesterday's post about lizards, who inspired me to bring up this subject - thank you! The legend goes - these lizards, called 'lagartija' in Spanish are found only on the Balearic Islands and depending on the place where you are, they can be different in colours and hues. For example these very turquoise lizards are said to be found only on Formentera.

Image by Arek

They are protected by Spanish law so even if you do harm to one by accident - you can be prosecuted, which I guess led to them being everywhere where there are not too many people and they are so curious they can come very close to you - it is a matter of who gets scared first really :)

Image by Arek

These little reptiles are loved by the inhabitants of Ibiza and Balearic Islands in general - to the extent that they became the Islands' symbol.

Image by Flickr

More on Formentera coming soon!

Image by Olga

Trick or... Tree?

It is time for yet another 2 trees from my collection (I have only 3 left now... ;)). Today I have decided to go sort of more classic way - if one can call it classic of course. I just think the modern art movements I'm presenting today - and actually the trees themselves - are more conventional than those from the previous post. (Do let me know if you don't agree!)

Image by Olga

With the first tree I tried to portray a lot of movement, which is so characteristic of all the works of Futurism. One of the most interesting futuristic works I'd say is 'Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash' by Giacomo Balla. I think the work is very representative of the art movement itself.

Image by Google

As for the second one - I guess many of you have guessed straight away - yes, this is good old Impressionism with all its amazing history, hundreds of genious paintings, colourful strokes and - well - impressions!

Image by Olga

I could add so many pictures of impressionists works here right now - but I think I would just limit myself to posting one of my absolutely favourite works of Impressionism - The Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh:

Image by Google

Image by Wikipedia

Naïve. Super

Image by Google

This is one of the books I learned about from my friend who lives in Sweden, which captured my attention to such an extent that I really recommend it as a very positive, uncomplicated yet very deep work to read. Written by a Norwegian author Erlend Loe, Naïve. Super is deceptively simple - and could be described as a work of naivism.

"I have two friends. A good one and a bad one. And then there’s my brother. He might not be quite as friendly as I am, but he’s OK … My life has been strange lately. It came to a point where I lost interest in it all. It was my 25th birthday. A few weeks ago."

This book is pure emotion expressed in a very simple way - it is a direct portrayal of life of a 25-year old without making things look entertaining or complicated. The linguistic style of Naïve. Super is very interesting as well - for the most part it contains very short, sometimes elliptical and never ironic sentences. The narrator of this book is easily recognizable to those of us who are like him. I laughed at the main character and, more importantly, I recognized myself in him and was able to laugh at myself. That kind of self-reflection is rare and valuable in fiction, just as this book is a rare and valuable treat.

I found a review of the book that is just perfect and evokes the style of the book itself:

After reading the first couple of lines … I was hooked on to it and now I am in need of something similar to read.

This is definitely one of the best books I've ever read.

Because it made me re-believe.
In trees, and bikes and in people.
It's simple. Nothing too bad happens. Nothing too exciting.
It's real.
It's everything we're short of in today's society.

Le Refuge des Fondus

Image by Arek

This is one of those unusual travel tips: in Paris we accidentally came across this place, which is more than just a great fondue restaurant and for the novelty alone, this is a must-see. It’s an experience you won’t soon forget! A tiny, crowded Refuge des Fondues restaurant in Montmartre that serves a one-price menu that includes cheese and meat fondues, an aperitif, and wine.

Image by Olga

You'll be crammed on the benches, reaching over your neighbors to cook meat in hot bouillon and dip vegetables and bread in melted cheese. To sit by the wall I actually needed to climb over the table - but not without help from the waiter ;) But! This place so much fun - you immediately meet people sitting next to you - we got to know French and Spanish people and spent the rest of the evening chatting, taking pictures and laughing like crazy, we even ended up exchanging e-mails :)

Image by Google

The best part is that the wine is served in glass baby bottles! (the rumour has it - this is to avoid a tax on wine served in stemware). And when you finish your first - you will get the second one without asking! It’s a lot of fun, go with a sense of humor and enjoy the young, vibrant atmosphere!

Image by Google

The owner is eccentric and the waiters are notoriously rude and you know the deal when you get in the door and this is great you catch the spirit and you enjoy it in full! The food is amazing, the price absolutely reasonable, and the atmosphere one of a kind. Unfortunately there's no website, but the address is: 17 Rue des Trois Frères.

I'm Talking Quietly Not To Wake Myself Up...

Image by Google

One of the coasters I mentioned in my previous post was inspired by a movie - most likely the best and the most visionary movie I have ever seen. The Science Of Sleep is filled with so much bright and vibrant imagery and eye-candy - it is difficult to take your eyes away!

Image by Google

The movie uses a lot of Spin Art and crafted objects (think back to the days of your school carnival). The scenes range from absurd (a spider type-writer, one second time machine), to the grand (an entire card board city) and the beautiful (a cloth horse back ride to the boat on a cellophane sea). The film develops its full potential where it arrives to such an incredible moment where we have little idea whether we are in a dream or in reality - it is seamless!

Image by Google

The dialogue is in French, English, and Spanish, each constantly interweaving with each other, much like the realities of the film do and then there comes a point in the film where you stop realizing the language of the film is constantly changing. Here is one of the many pieces I like from the film:

Video via You Tube

The movie has a great website - which is - as the movie itself - a great piece of art work. The site is like the main character's dream world - the paint layers upon itself and the colours stretch and mix together. As for the music - the soundtrack is on the website, just listen to this :):

Video via You Tube

Roll Your Coaster!

I enjoy remaking things - I often have ideas related to changing the original state of objects and adding to them some personal touches. Whenever I have things which seem to be of no use anymore I like to look for their new purpose and give them a second life. I don't look to buy old and vintage things I would further remake - it would be a hard thing to find around here.. I try to pick from objects within reach, which look dull and boring and also from those, which are difficult to spoil ;) An example would be the lamp I made of a wine bottle from this post). I tried to give a bit of a makeover to some old coasters I had at home (here is how they looked before), so I cut some movie ads of some of the films I like so much - and which looked appealing - and glued them to the coaster surface. I also added some round black'n'white elements to make the coasters look a little more special and covered the coasters with acrylic lacquer to make them heat resistant. So here is the final result - I think it is quite easy to guess which movies these are:

Images by Olga

A Beautiful Thing Is Never Perfect (Egyptian proverb)

Image by Arek

Today I'm in a very travel mood because of my friend TI from Viagens pelo Mundo blog - thank you, TI, for all the excitement :) I'm posting a couple of more pictures from our recent stay in Egypt from this February. Although the greatest part of the country itself is a desert and most wild life is found under the water of the Red Sea, there are many colourful scenes and objects you can spot when traveling around, so I'm adding some of them in my today's post.

Image by Arek

Tree Time

The time has come for another two trees from my collection! This time I tried to have them more connected to each other by topic - or rather art movement, which they represent. Both of the movements I am presenting today were originated in Russia at the beginning of XX century. First of all let's look at Suprematism - the first movement of pure geometrical abstraction in painting, originated by Kazimir Malevich in about 1913. I enjoyed creating this tree in the similar style as suprematists developed for their paintings.

Image by Olga

Malevich explained that in Suprematism “the appropriate means of representation is always the one which gives fullest possible expression to feeling as such and which ignores the familiar appearance of objects.” I'm pretty sure everyone remembers his 'Black Square' painting.

Another art form is probably a bit less known, but still very interesting - it is Constructivism, which denied 'art for art's sake' concept presented previously by my Dada Tree in favour of art as a practice directed towards social purposes. I'm very curious about your immediate thoughts and reactions on this one:

Image by Olga

Colour Me Pastel

There is a cork board I hung in the hall of my home, where I pin up random things I come across pretty much anywhere because I find them beatiful-funny-weird-old or worth looking at for the second time. One could call it an inspiration board or a mood board. You can see more of them here and here. This one was inspired by my trip to Venice and by pastel colours, which seem to be everywhere this spring!

Image by Olga

Colour Theory aside - there are amazingly many beautiful words and expressions for color in English (blush pink, see green, sky blue, canary yellow...) - and I'm very sure this would apply to any other language.. I like them so much I even made a small list of 'color words' and I want to keep 'collecting' them. How do you like dove gray, emerald green, poppy red and peacock blue? Other color words (and colors!) I'm fascinated with at the moment are powder blue and mustard yellow... I think I also came across 'vintagey peach' the other day.. What words for color come to your mind when you read this? Maybe some really great names haven't been even invented yet :)

Gdańsk, Mariacka

I wanted to start my today's post with saying a big thank you to all of you who have been reading this blog and leaving all those friendly comments. I didn't realize blogging could be so much fun and it is with your support I came to understand how to make it even more so :)

Gdańsk, Mariacka. Image by Arek

Some of you mentioned you were interested in the city where I live... I've already posted about a couple of nice places around here (Jozef K & Indygo)... but not about Tricity itself, which definitely also deserves my full attention. Tricity consists of Gdańsk (which is the city I live in), Gdynia (the city where I work) and Sopot (a great place to go out and party :P). Gdańsk has a lovely old town and Mariacka is definitely my absolutely favourite street here:

Image by Pshulka

This street is the most magic and special one for me of many other streets of Gdańsk old town. Although only 185m long - it is full of small art galleries, amber shops and of course wonderful vintage cafes, one of which I'm going to write about very soon ;) Of course there is so much more to see in the city, but could this street alone be a good reason for you to come and visit Gdańsk? Judge by yourself...

Images by Google

I also want to share my excitement because today was my lucky day to win all these gorgeous treasures from Roc, Troc and Recup blog. Thank you very much, Floss, for the give away fun! I really recommend her blog, where Floss writes about her interest in vintage and second hand stuff, about making things, her own little projects and everyday excitements... and she adds great pictures of all of this! (Also check out the 'lovely blog award' she gave me to the right :))

Image by Floss

Sweets For My Sweet..

Someone is in for a real treat today :). Don't you find this candy lovely and utterly delicious? At some point I started to regret I couldn't try these colourful little things... because they look amazingly real!



Through time and across continents, stories of sweets and their inventors intrigue and entertain us. These ones are made of coloured glass, in the best traditions of Murano glass makers. I came across this little 'candy shop' while exploring the picturesque island of Burano, where also every house has a different colour. I find these little sweets incredible - it seems they could be any imaginable colour!

Images by Olga

4 Shadows of Indigo

I love weekends (and who doesn't?:D)... While it is still not warm enough outside to stay out long - it is a great chance to catch up with friends, go out and enjoy good coffee in some place nice or just stay at home and do whatever it feels like. We spent the evening going through recent photos at Indygo Cafe ('indygo' is Polish for 'indigo'), which apart from offering good coffee and tea prepared according to their special recipe, charms you with its 'indigo interior'. I really like how deep and complex the color is and how it interacts with lights and shadows, giving a feeling of cosiness and pleasure.

Images by Olga