06 Sep

15:12

Result

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It may seem like we've had a long vacation but don't worry, we haven't. In fact, we worked really hard on our thesis and on the last week of May we went back to Sweden to defend our thesis. We are really happy with the feedback we received. If you're curious about our work, you can check it out here: http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?searchId=1&pid=diva2:625012
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instagram marketing, interbrand top 100 on instagram, marketing and pr in social media, relationship marketing in social media, social media, social media marketing,

28 Apr

06:05

The Alright Wall of China

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We're off to see the Alright Wall of China. Since Thamwika feels that Badaling is too crowded, we're going to a part called Matianyu. It's a place where you get to take a slide down from the wall. Sounds awesome! See you when we get back!
Chinese Life
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China, Chinese Culture, beijing, great wall of china, vacation,

25 Apr

07:33

Tomato thoughts

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In Sweden, we treat tomatoes as a vegetable, using it for savoury dishes like salads and stews. In China, however, the tomato is regarded as the fruit it actually is and it is often served together with watermelon, mango and other fruits on the complementary fruit platter you get at restaurants. 
 
 
To me they just look kind of out of place. Like they crashed a fancy party wearing sweats, drunkenly swearing at the guests and hogging all the good seats. Just look at them, usurping all the space on the plate, leaving the poor little mangoes cowering to one side. Shame on them!
Chinese Culture Chinese Food
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Chinese Culture, chinese food,

23 Apr

07:00

Vacations don't like deadlines

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It's going to be a little quiet over here for a bit. We have a deadline on Friday evening where our data and part of the analysis has to be presented. But since we're off to yet another vacation we'd like to try to finish our analysis. Wish us good luck and we'll see you on the other side!
 
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20 Apr

06:59

Reflection

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This past week we had skype meeting with our supervisor regarding the thesis. We're now half way through and this experience has been truly interesting. We'd be lying if we said we haven't been struggling. We are in a quite unique situation and we're truly greatful to have been given this opportunity. But conducting a research without access to neither a library nor a supervisor has been proven quite a challange. Obviously we were aware of that fact before coming here and tried to prepare as much as we could. But, when you've never written a thesis before it's hard to know what to expect. Along the process we've changed our focus once, twice, three times... We've lost count. However, this change is a natural part of the process. If you run into issues, which most likely will happen once or twice, you need to adjust thereafter.
 
 
 
 
It makes us wonder, if we would have chosen to write this thesis at home, with unlimited access to books and supervisor, would it have been better? Of course our theoretical framwork would have been deeper and better but how about the research? We would have lacked in the invaluable experience we have gained at Yabroad. We wouldn't change this for anything in the world. And for our fathers Bosse and Micke, and our friends thank you for all your help and support! We could not have done this without you. I, Thamwika, always say that you're only as great as the people around you and you guys makes us the best.
 
And as for our thesis, the first 50% is approved!
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18 Apr

08:58

Instagram promotion

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Today is the start of Yabroad's Instagram promotion and I felt really clever when making this:
 
We're delighted to announce that Yabroad is now on Instagram. Don't forget to follow us to get your daily dose of supercalifragilisticexpialidocious China! http://instagram.com/yabroad
 
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18 Apr

08:00

Yuyuan garden

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Sightseeing in Yuyuan Garden, a classical garden in the middle of Shanghai, which stood finished in 1577. 
 
 
A boat! What should I do with it?
 
 
Paddle around the dam of course!
 
Watching the crowds of tourists...
 
 
...feed the fish. Look at the one in the lower left corner. Omnomnom bread!
 
 
Pretty houses
 
 
Natural posing
 
 
and covered walkways packed with souvenir stands.
Chinese Culture Daily Life
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China, Chinese Culture, IheartChina, Shanghai,

16 Apr

08:49

Shanghai Flower, Bird, Fish and Insect Market

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This weekend as we were strolling the streets of Shanghai we came upon an insect market. Naturally we had to go inside and check it out! 
 
The first thing that hit us was a cacaphony of sound. Birds were calling, dogs barking, cats meowing and hundreds of crickets were making their high-pitched sound.
 
 
The crickets were kept in cans made to amplify their sound. They are sold as pets or as fighting animals, a tradition that dates back to the early 12th century. 
 
 
Other insects were sold in small boxes, presumably also to be used in insect fights. We walked amongst them in constant fear of one getting out and getting stuck in our hair or in our clothes. Everything itched!
 
 
These little guys were quieter, but at least twice as colourful!
 
 
Heaps of tiny turtles.
 
 
Kittens, puppies and birds were kept in cages stacked high on the walls. 
 
This kind of market is rapidly disappearing in China, which is probably for the best. Even though the animals looked well fed and fairly well looked after, their quarters were quite cramped. We were quite happy to leave, even though it was an interesting experience. 
 
If you're ever in Shanghai and want to have a look for yourself, the market is located at No. 405 Xizang Nan Lu, close to the metro station Laoximen. 
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14 Apr

09:00

The key to our hearts

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¨
 
All over Mount Huashan golden locks and red prayer ribbons are attached to the chains guarding the drop-off. The locks symbolize eternal love for the people that are the most important to you. 
 
 
We decided to dedicate a lock to our families, to show our eternal love. 
 
 
Bergström Bäckman
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
We left our lock attached to a chain overlooking the most beautiful view we could find. There it will hang until it rusts away. Vi älskar er!
Chinese Life
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Chinese Culture, IheartChina, family, locks, love, mount huashan,

12 Apr

09:06

On top of the world

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After the seeing the Terracotta Army we sped off on the next leg of our journey. As you might remember, our original plan was to go to Mount Huangshan, but due to miscommunications we ended up on Mount Huashan instead. Well, no harm done! 
 
 
Mount Huashan is one of China's five great mountains and has a reputation of being somewhat dangerous. In recent years, however, safety has been much improved, so we only feared for our lives on some occasions. Mostly the stairs were wide and had sturdy handrails. 
 
 
In the cable car up, just after realizing I'm slightly more afraid of heights than I thought I was. 
 

The cable car took about 10 minutes. We clutched our seats in terror the entire way up. But once we we up on the mountain, we were actually okay. 

 
Well, sometimes the stairs got a bit steep. 
 
¨
 
It was well worth it though. The view from the top was stunning. The temple in the picture can only be accessed through attaching yourself to a harness and shuffling along a vertical cliff wall on a 30 cm wide boardwalk. We unanimously decided that we were okay with skipping that part. 
 
 
A family we met on the way were a bit braver though. 
 
 
After an afternoon of climbing we went to the hotel. The stairs weren't as scary as they look, since you couldn't see over the edge while climbing them. The hotel was really nice! The staff was really helpful and some even spoke some English. We had a hot dinner and then went straight to bed. 
 
 
The next morning we got up at five to see the sunrise from the South Peak. 
 
 
Seeing the landscape gradually appear was truly an unforgettable experience. 
 
 
We borrowed coats from the hotel to keep us warm in the freezing cold. We saw some people dressed only in t-shirts with a thin jacket on top. And they didn't even seem cold! We felt like we weren't really representing our viking DNA. 
 
 
Although the temperature was below freezing in the shadow it was quite warm in the sun. Climbing thousands of stairs kept us quite warm too.
 
Thamwika and I on the West Peak. On the way back I fell down the mountain so we decided it was about time to go home. 
 
We took the ropeway down from the West Peak. The hills got greener as we got further down. 
 
 
We made it! Climbing mount Hua has proved yet again how helpful, kind and caring Chinese people are. Even though we often couldn't make ourselves understood they all did their utmost to help us. As for the mountain, it was beautiful and the view from the peaks was truly stunning. We'd definitely go back if we'd get the chance!
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China, Huasha Mountain, IheartChina, Life in China, Mount Hua, Mount Huasha, xian,

10 Apr

16:37

Terracotta Warriors

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On Friday morning we got up early to get a head start on the thousands of Chinese people we suspected would compete with us to get on the bus to the Terracotta Warriors. We got to the bus station at about half past nine, only to discover that our efforts had been in vain. The square was already full of people who all had the same plan as us. 
 
 
However, I've have to say that this was the most well-ordered line I've seen so far in China. Mostly people push, shove and do everything in their might to squeeze past you. Not here though. The queue coiled across the square in perfect two people-wide loops, under strict supervision of guards with megaphones. There would be no skipping here. Thankfully, queueing only took about an hour and we were soon on our way. 
 
 
Well in the museum, the crowd was thick. The museum is divided into several buildnings, located around a huge square. Before getting to the actual sights we had to pass through a long stretch of souvenir stands and restaurants. With the thought that we had to carry everything we bought up a mountain in mind, we skipped buying a life-sized replica of a Terracotta warrior. As our co-worker Rina said; we can always buy them online. Kind of missing the point of buying souvenirs though.
 
 
Since we were going directly to the mountain afterwards, we did't have that much time to walk around the museum. Therefore, we went almost directly to Pit 1, which is the pit that has been most thoroughly excavated. It was here that everything started in 1974, when seven farmers found the head of a warrior when they were digging a well. The 8000 warriors were buried with the emperor Qin Shi Huang 300 B.C.
 
 
Terracotta pony!
 
 
 Proof that I was actually there. Pit one is about 200 meters long. That's a lot of warriors!
 
 
The excavation is still going on. Digging is still going on in two other pits that we unfortunately didn't have time to see. 
 
 
Taking a rest! 
 
After this morning of speed-sightseeing we continued on to our adventures in the mountain. More to come!
 
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China, IheartChina, Life in China, terracotta warriors, xian,

09 Apr

16:50

Qingming, first day

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Well, I guess it's about time to tell you all about our amazing weekend off.
All packed and ready to go!
 
Typical tourist, anyone?
 
We started off by taking the night train to Xi'an. The train was clean, the beds were comfortable and the kids in our coupé were well-behaved. 5 points out of 5 possible! We arrived at eight in the morning, ready for some intense sightseeing. 
We started off by attempting to take the bus to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, a temple, which is the symbol of Xian. However, stupidly enoogh we didn't have the Chinese name of where we were going, so we ended up getting off way too early and having to take a taxi there. Well, no harm done, it only set us back about 10RMB. The Pagoda was surrounded by a beautiful Peony garden.
 
 
Buddhist temple
 
Lisa's new best friend.
 
After walking around the Pagoda for a couple of hours it was time for lunch. We got some dumplings accompanied with this drink, which was the only one the restaurant offered. It tasted kind of like flour and sugar dissolved in water. A quite peculiar taste...
 
 
After lunch we quickly moved on to the city wall. It was finished in 1644 A.D and is the world's largest city wall. As you can see from the picture it had started to rain by the time we got there. Don't worry though, we came prepared. 
 
Awesome rain capes! 
 
After walking around the wall we made our way to the hotel. 
 
After a bit of rest we went out to get dinner. We got to order the food from an iPad. Pretty hih tech. Sadly, the food wasn't all that. After dinner we went back to the hotel to sleep. We had a big day ahead of us!
Chinese Life Daily Life
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China, IheartChina, Life in China, qingming,

08 Apr

07:30

Planning? Scheming!

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After a long holiday it's time to get back to work. Here we are planning for the coming weeks. If you're interested in the results, make sure to follow instagram.com/yabroad!


 
 
 
 
 
 
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China, SMM, SNS, Shanghai, marketing strategies, social media, social media marketing, social media marketing strategies,

07 Apr

10:30

Office Life

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According to contract our working hours are 8:30AM - 5PM. As we mentioned in an earlier post, in China it is colder indoors than outdoors and that's why it is so nice to have this little park outside our office, where we can go out and warm up ourselves.
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China, IheartChina, Life in China, Shanghai,

06 Apr

09:00

Finding Mr Right

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This saturday I went to the cinema with some co-workers while Thamwika was at home nursing a cold.The movie was a Chinese romantic comedy, which, thankfully, had English subtitles. The movie tells the story of a spoiled Chinese girl who comes to Seattle to give birth to her rich lover's child. She gets stuck in a house with two other pregnant Chinese women and when her lover runs out of money,she faces a hard time trying to take care of herself. Luckily, she finds solace in driver/doctor Frank, and the rest of the movie follows the twists and turns of just about any other rom-com ever. 
 
Apparently, Chinese women giving birth in America is a quite common phenomena. There are special birthing houses for Chinese women, called maternity mansion, where they can live while waiting for their delivery. Children born on American soil automatically get American citizenship, which opens up a lot of doors that are unavailable to Chinese citizens. 
 
A funny thing about the movie was that they turned on the lights in the auditorium in the middle of the last scene. It was like the attendants were saying "Okay, now you know how it ends. Go home!". Another, not so funny part was the constant ringing of mobile phones. One guy sat looking at his ringing phone until the caller hung up, without turning off the sound. Gaah! 
 
Even though the movie was quite cheesy, it was actually okey for a rom-com. The tickets were 34RMB, which is fairly cheap. However, we had to pay four yuan extra because the movie was longer than two hours. Three minutes longer to be exact. Weird!
Chinese Life
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Life in China, chinesemovie, finding mr right,