When in China | Part 2

Now as you guys know, I am back from my time in china which saddens me greatly. It was such an eye opening experience and filled me with such energy, change of heart and change of understanding. Something quite indescribable unless you do it for yourself. After spending week’s pre departure being hesitant about my decision, I’m so glad I didn’t go back on it.

Although I have a few more posts with china related pics coming up, I want to share the last leg of photos to sum up my last 6weeks out there immersed in an internship, meeting new people and finding new things.

This place that was the first of many long haul trips and this place is one of the most unreal places I have ever been too called Jiuzhaigou (without the tones roughly pronounced joe-jie-go). It looked like an oil painting and every image taken made it so much more worthy of embarking on a 7 hour walk to the main tourist centre within the park. This route was free from the crowds of tourists we encountered at the entrance and a chance to breathe some fresh air, and have long chats with friends made. This place will always hold a special place in my heart especially as we were still there coming towards the end of the trip, this place was hit my an earthquake and luckily there were very few causalities but it’s a shame how such a nature driven place could have been partly destroyed just like that. Well I guess the pictures will just have to speak for itself.

The second of the lengthy journeys we made out of china was to Kanding, the Tibetan area of china. Another one of those indescribable experiences.

I have thought long and hard about going into depth about what it’s like to go to china and be there who isn’t strictly from china because, especially for me, it was tough to feel like you kind of belong somewhere where they continue to see you as outsiders or other. But if you want me to talk about it more let me know.

Kanding is another place that holds a special place in my heart because they are treated like outsiders in their own country, but they are some of the nicest people I had ever encountered throughout my time in china. Beautiful fashion, history and place to visit. We went horse-riding, joined in this daily town dance that they have and embraced a new culture. Plus this was also the first time I had had a yak burger and I have to say not too bad. It kind of tasted like a beef burger but yak…this will only make sense till you have had one.

I touched on the food a little bit in my first post but I have to say thinking about it again, there is a shit tonne of food to choose from. Some looked questionable but others were really enjoyable. Always bear in mind that if you find a non-Chinese cuisine, it’s a Chinese version of that cuisine haha! But at times, I do find myself craving it especially those little white buns. That with like a mince meat mixture was soooo good. And potato noodles (kind of like gnocchi but Chinese) were sooo good. I think I need to stop talking about it because it’s making me really hungry.

All I can say is that china I will be coming back for you. You have given me such an unforgettable experience that I would do over and over again in a heartbeat. But here are the final thoughts; the good the bad and the ugly

The good: gaining knowledge about somewhere on the complete opposite side of the world to you as well as being able to gain working skills to take back for future jobs. Aside from that it’s a rapidly developing country with soo many things that I wish the UK had, like their bike system

The bad: the air pollution. I can’t tell you how much I missed breathing in fresh air whilst I was there and how opening a window is something you just shouldn’t do there. AC is the way forward.

The ugly: how backwards and uneducated they seem to be about race and diversity. I feel so lucky to live (most of the time) and have grown up in London where being black wasn’t such a bigger deal and being a bigger size wasn’t such a big deal. Now, London is in no way perfect but it’s a giant leap from china. I feel blessed that I have a diverse group of friends and we have different interests and styles. As they are slowly being exposed to more western media and ideals, you can see with some of the people that you encounter it doesn’t bother them but they have a long way to go.

I hope you enjoyed the post. You can check out part one here and let me know some of your favourite destinations you have been too below.

Much love

Hello September

I think we have now said goodbye to the summer weather and hello to the darker mornings and nights. Although I wasn’t in the UK for the summer period, I am sad to see it go and sad to pile my very summery clothes into storage to make space for autumn. But, there is one last outfit I wanted to share with you from summer, because it works great as a transitional piece in your wardrobe with the florals and, I think Boohoo have it in other colours now

This oversized shirt dress, served me well form the more formal occasions at my internship. Made of a cheesecloth type material, it was breathable enough for the humidity whist staying true to my love of mustard colours and black

For those days I finished it the look off with my Adidas trainers because what else would i do and I also picked up that h&m bag in the sale but a very Mary Poppins bag.

To transition this, I would wear my over the knee boots as I don’t want to have so much leg out or add tights and some flats which is always a go to in my books. A leather or suede jacket also works well with this but nothing too structured as the dress is light and airy.

Dress (similar) // Bag (similar but I think this is better!) 

Aside from my sadness of summer leaving us, here is what’s new. I am back on Instagram. I have been trying to increase engagement more over there and posting outfit pictures where I can as well as a little bit of extra content I don’t always get around to shooting for the blog. I am @amirathe365 on there too if you want to have a scroll through but planning content for that too as we speak.

I have been clearing out my belongings like nobody’s business. It’s come to the point where I just own so much stuff. I will swear I need it all but in actuality I don’t. Now I want to just cut back to the bare minimum and be a bit more conscious of the things of the things I consume and take a step back and think ‘do I really need this?’

I go back to uni next week for my final year which is the weirdest thing because I’m only a child right?! But alas, I must become the adult I am and finish the final year with a bag. Pre uni thoughts have already clouded my mind especially with a lot of my friends dotted around the world.  But, I think this could be a turning point for me in finding out what it is that I need to be doing (I hope…I pray haha)

Lastly, i have been enjoying blogging once again. Once getting over the fact that i don't fit into this mold that most people seem to have taken too, I've found a creative streak that suits me and my lifestyle. I have no schedule so i don't feel pressured but still remain conscious of how long it has been since my previous post. And as much as i am changing, my blog should reflect that too so that's why things always seem all over the place but i hope you find something enjoyable about this little blog i have built. 

I thinks that’s all for today but I hope you are having a great start to September. Only less than 4 months left of this year (OMG) so let’s make it count.

Much love 

Friday Favourites #1

I thought I would switch it up this week and every so often do a Friday favourites lowdown. It’s not every month or every week that I am going to have this on the blog, but they will be frequent enough to have a different circulation of items within them.

Favourite items

Skincare – the not so clarisonic

This is a vibrating facial cleansing brush that I picked up whilst I was in china because it was like £4 and how could I say no to that. I have been using it every week or so with an array of different cleansers and facial scrubs in circular motions around my face. The brush is really soft and doesn’t irritate the skin. I got it in the best shop in the world, Miniso (think muji meets tiger- what a dream shop)

Minnie mouse goes travelling

This was definitely a head turner buy all of the flight attendants whilst I was travelling but who can resist, it’s just so adorable. This Minnie mouse neck pillow is a great find from Primark at only £5 from the Disney collection. It’s made of memory foam as supposed to those god awful beans that don’t support your neck and has a little clip making it great for traveling. Oh and long car journeys

Denim galore

Because I pop this over outfits, it’s made its way to this section but another china purchase (sorry, not sorry) but it’s this true blue oversized denim jacket. Does what it says on the tin really but goes great with my black wardrobe and is an oversized fit as supposed to 5x larger than I actually am fit

What I’ve been watching

Two words – CHINESE DRAMAS

They are in a completely different ball game of their own and I am just obsessed. It’s a nice change from English tv shows and the endless cycle of Netflix and plus, they are all on one convenient little app called Viki. It works sort of like Netflix but has Chinese dramas, Korean, Japanese and Taiwanese ones. All with English subtitles because the smallest amount of Chinese that I know could not save me here.

Favourite outfits

This has been my go to recently with the English in between weather. I featured this on my Instagram recently and I’ll take the hearts as a people liked this look. Works well as a causal and formal outfit and is a great transitional piece that I will be taking from summer to autumn. Plus this blush pink colour is all the rage at the moment

Exploration

Because I haven’t stopped talking about it and I have no intention of doing so, you guys know that I was in china for 2 months exploring another culture and another part of the world. You can read more about it in my When in China part 1 post and there will be a follow up coming soon. But until then enjoy these sneaky pictures.

Something to think about

And to end this favourites post, I leave you with a quote that just resonated with me. I saw something in it that I had seen in many others.

Hope you guys enjoyed the post and tell me some of your favourites below! Always looking to try new things

The all year wardrobe piece

In the past two years or so, I think I have given away at least a shops worth of clothes and as much as that sickens me, nothing is better than having my seasonal purge of my wardrobe. But this little jumpsuit is something I have yet to let go of even if I have had to get my mum to stich it up a little.

Although jumpsuits are the worst when you need to pee, they are a great I don’t know what to wear piece. With so many different style options if find ones with a wider cropped leg and more cinching at the waist works best for me. I got mine for NewLook and even bought a similar backup style just in case!

I took this piece with me to china as the perfect day to night or work to night transitional piece to go with heels, trainers and even flats. I completed this look with and H&M check shirt for a little more coverage and my Forever21 heels. Add a top underneath for more warmth in the autumnal months or keep it plain with jewellery for more formal occasions. Black means you can have more fun with your pairing pieces.

Own any jumpsuits? How do you style them?

There's something on your arm

The fact that I am writing a post of this description makes my stomach drop a little but yes, I got a tattoo. And no, I don’t regret it ... yet haha

In my defence, I thought I was going in for a lovely consultation but turns out I was getting it done right then and there. I was shitting myself and I was very close to walking out on multiple occasions. but hey, I did it, I am proud I did it, I love then end result. Thinking about it now, I would for sure do it again.

It might seem cliché at first but I promise I know what it means and says and all the other possible things it could be. I had it checked multiple times and in fact, these characters were given to me. When I started my Chinese lessons out here, this was the name that I was given and I know this is a trip I will treasure forever so I wanted to get it. And I wasn’t hesitant about it in the slightest.

Pain

Now, I can’t lie, this really bloody hurt. I would give it a solid 8/10 on the pain scale (1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest). My friends said that it looked like it really hurt me but it really shouldn’t have but, I powered through.

Placement

As you can see I got it in a small to medium size on the outside of my arm but my friend got hers down the lower portion of her spine at about a similar size. My reasoning for it being here is because you would only know it was there if I had my arms a certain way or you noticed it out of the corner of your eye. Nothing too big or distasteful personally.

Now since writing this, I have had it recoloured and that really f*cking hurt (pardon my French) but that still hasn’t stopped me from planning the other ones I’ve wanted to get for years now and just getting there here whilst I have someone within close proximity that I can trust, is cheap, does a really good job and has the cutest cat – because that makes everything better.

There you have it, the first of many tattoos most likely haha!