My favourite Kyoto postcard

Hanbok, the Korean fashion

The Hanbok is the name given to the traditional Korean clothing. Hanbok means literally "Korean clothing" and consists mostly of a upper and lower part. It is the traditional garment for women and men.

The vivid colours and full covering are a unique features of the Hanbok and give the clothes a very gracious touch.

This type of clothes is still worn by Koreans for formal occasions such as weddings and festivals. A few older people are not used to wearing contemporary clothes and are still using their hanbok.

In modern day Korea, it is a marvellous site to see these bright colours in contrast with modern day black and white suits. It really stands out!

The Hanbok has a very long history, but the present day form is said to be the style used in 15th century Joseon dynasty. As Confucianism took over from Buddhism as the state religion/philosophy, the adepts of Confucius had their influence on the clothing. Especially the hanbok for women was standardised with a wide long skirt and closed long-sleeves top. So no piece of bare skin could possibly be shown.

Lady in Hanbok at hotel reception

Wedding shop

Traditional arts performance

Clothes shop

Taking wedding pictures

Mom and daughter dressing up to visit Gyeongbok palace

Indian children mascara

Young children in India are often seen, wearing a dark patch of mascara around the eyes.
Mothers will apply a dark cosmetic eye liner, called kohl, which is made by grinding lead sulfide and mix it up with sandalwood, castor oil and some more ingredients.
Children with this mascara are believed to be protected and will get an improved eyesight.

An Indian legends tells of a witch stealing the most beautiful children of every village. In order to protect their children from the witch, the mothers will apply some make-up to make their children ugly, but by doing this they also say that their child is the most beautiful than any other one!

My modeling Career

Generally people think that when working in tourism you get a lot of advantages like free hotel rooms and flight tickets.  Actually these benefits are almost non-existing, although you might get some reductions on hotel rooms. But the great thing in tourism is that you get to meet a bunch of people from all over the world.

Chinese people, especially those who haven't seen a lot of foreigners, are very curious about our different lifestyle. Mouth-dropped starring is quite common, especially if you would be tall and blond.

This Chinese curiousness can be very annoying, as when you get stalked to see where you're heading. Or as people check the groceries you bought in your supermarket trolley.
On other occasions it can be very charming in interesting. Being a foreigner in China can bring you to stardom in this Communist country.

So far I have acted on local TV and did two commercials.
A few years back I got a teacher's job in Hong'An county, Hubei province. For the annual Christmas show in the local TV studio I was one of the three TV hosts. This was broad casted in Hong'An TV.

One day I needed some call credit for my Chinese telephone. At that time I was guiding in Chengdu, Hebei province. I couldn't get any prepaid card at several kiosks. So I decided to go to the local China telecom shop. Upon entering the shop on man was acting very exited. After I got my credit he tried to explain me they had a promotion period for a new phone and he wanted my help for this promotion. I had to hold the phone and smile while he was taking some pictures. I guess he made some posters out of it, foreign models are very sought after in China, so he immediately saw an opportunity.

I played model one more time, advertising a new hotel. For my guiding job I was inspecting some hotels in Shanghai. After visiting some fancy places the Millenium Hongqiao hotel was next. This hotel held its "soft" opening, which means the hotel receives guests and tries to invite travel agencies for inspection, but is not 100 % operational yet. I was very well received and got the whole tour, including spa, swimming pool, all type of rooms and restaurants.  In the lovely restaurant one of the assistant managers and I were having lunch, when suddenly she got a phone call. She ended the call and asked me if I had time to come back in the evening. That day the Millenium hotel held the photo shoot for its website and catalogue, but their international model had just cancelled. The high-payed British photographer could not be cancelled and I was asked if I could help out. Of course, no problem. So I got back in the evening. I dressed up in a neat seat and got my instructions. I had to stand at the front desk, pretending to check in and keep looking in the eyes of the girls at the desk. Standing there half an hour, gibbering with those girls, wasn't an easy task.
The Millenium Hongqiao hotel used following picture for nearly 2 years on there website, but nowadays new pictures have replaced my glorious picture. So my modeling career is silently getting to an end.

Maybe I will encounter some new opportunities in China!

Belgium designer in Hong Kong

Middle September upon strolling on Hong Kong island near Central, I spotted these adds for the Belgium designer Dries Van Noten:

Miss World 2007

This Saturday the Miss World elections were held in China. 112 girls competed in Sanya on Hainan island for the title.
Hainan island is located at the south end of China, and occupies an area of 35,000 square kilometers. Because of its tropical climate it is considered as the place where the nicest beaches from China can be found. It is an island in full development and so are the prices. It is no surprise Sanya on Hainan island was chosen as the location for this election. The whole world knows the cultural richness of China and now a different side of China was shown. More tourist are expected!

Anyway Zhang Zi Lin, a 23 year old secretary from Beijing won this election. 2Nd place was for Miss Angola, followed by Miss Mexico.

Condom fashion

Beijing is a hip city and that can be seen in the clothes worn by the new generations, but will anybody wear this?