Urban re-inventions #1: Hong Kong’s Tai Kwun hits its 1.5-year-old mark
We at Madeleine’s recently had the opportunity to do a “revisit” to a big urban renewal and revitalisation project: Tai Kwun, which celebrates its second Christmas (and hits the first-year-and-a-half anniversary of its opening). This is a complex sitting almost in the middle of Central, just 100 steps up the hill from Queens Road Central Read more
Summer thoughts: in search of your home-away-from-home wherever you are
It’s summer and it’s time for a holiday. But with crowds everywhere especially at airports, have you considered taking a “vacation” but staying home? Well, we at Madeleine’s have been seriously thinking about it! Are you surprised for never having seriously considered how much fun it is to not to have to drag bags around, Read more
Hong Kong – the in-between city in this in-between month of May, and the very present existential threat this June
When we decided to spend May in Hong Kong and China and shared our reflections about May being the month in between 2 very important historical anniversaries (“It’s the month of May … in a Year of Political Anniversaries”), we could never have imagined that a mass protest in Hong Kong would make the top Read more
Madeleine the travelista’s favourite travel quotes
Are you doing any travels for spring? Or, are you making travels plans for later in the year? Do you have restless feet or an incurable desire for adventures? We love travel because it exposes us to new ideas, new cultures, and new people …. We hope to inspire a sense of belonging to this place Read more
It is the month of May in Hong Kong in the Year of Political Anniversaries (plus some intrepid escape ideas)
It is the month of May and we at Madeleine’s can’t help noticing that we are here in the city of Hong Kong during a year with several sensitive anniversaries on the calendar. The first of these is coming up in a few days: it’s the 100th anniversary of the May 4th movement. What this movement Read more
Paris: BlaBla capital of the world
Happy Earth Day everyone! Yes, we mean Paris the capital of the world of BlaBla Car, the e-mobility tech company. As we at Madeleine’s want to be cool while doing good, we thought we’d write something in honour of Earth Day. And so we decided to share our piece on a very Parisian technology company, Read more
The call of spring: London, buns with meaning, with suggestions to the Parisian bakers
It’s spring, Easter is coming, and we here at Madeleine’s have a feeling for buns … What exactly do we mean? Well, it might be fun to spend the spring season eating our way through the a number of cakes or buns with meaning! As we are about to set off to spend an April Read more
Visiting Paris this spring as France goes from red, white, blue to yellow and green
Are you going to Paris this spring? Has Paris turned from its customary red, white, blue to yellow and green? Yellow of course is the yellow of the “gilets jaunes” (yellow vests or “GJs”) or what has been called “yellow chaos”. Thankfully, Paris survived the gilets jaunes final demonstration (“Act 18”) this past Saturday (16th Read more
A London theatre update, a poem about the Thames for the early morning, and some unpoetic thoughts for a Saturday afternoon
We at Madeleine’s spent a most enjoyable Saturday afternoon in London discovering the city’s first new theatre in 80 years, the Bridge Theatre. “The Bridge” of course refers to the Tower Bridge, and the theatre was by the river and had opened with fanfare in the autumn of 2017 (with none other than Dame Maggie Smith Read more
Hong Kong’s 9 new MTR stations and musings on a montage of shots of old “steel folding-door” store-fronts
(photo credit: Freda Chan) A friend of Madeleine’s who is a wonderful photographer living in Hong Kong shared a most fascinating montage of shots taken of “steel-folding-door” store-fronts of traditional old-style stalls in the city – if you look carefully you can see the names of cake shops, furniture shops, grocery stalls, fishing tool store, Read more