What happens when crossing the crazy streets of #Shanghai. In this 50sec video I attempt to illustrate how hectic and potentially dangerous it can be to cross the busy streets of Shanghai, even when the green light is on for Pedestrians. While crossing the street, I had 3 interruptions until I reached the other side, which is completely normal here - cars don’t tend to stop when lights are green for pedestrians. The 3rd interruption was a man on a motorbike, who almost ran me over as you can see in the video, he passed so close to me when I was already mid way through crossing the street.

On a similar note, I saw two people being run over by scooters today, while they were crossing the street on a green light for Pedestrians. Neither of the two scooters stopped to help them after the hit, it was quite a sad and shocking thing to observe. The pedestrians didn’t suffer any serious injuries, but they did remain on the floor for a little while until they managed to get up again. This seems to be a common occurrence in the streets of Shanghai, which unfortunately reminds me to take even more precaution when crossing any street in the world from now on. 

These huge culture differences from European countries like Sweden for example, where cars often let pedestrians cross the street when the lights are red for them, is very interesting, as differences are so vast between human attitudes. It reassures me to think we are fortunate to have the minimal respect for pedestrians in some European countries, where this is not an everyday scene. 

What a real breakfast should look like, when enjoyed under the sun!
And it tasted as good as it looked :)

Walking through the beautiful and serene Jing’an Park today. Surrounded by the shadows of the city’s towering sky scrappers. 

Rain Rain, Go away

Very rainy scenes from Shanghai’s buzzing streets over the last couple days. The rain doesn’t stop, neither does the traffic or people walking the chaotic streets. 

Ni hao.
Nice to see you again, Shanghai!

Beautiful view from the bottom of Avenida dos Aliados, an important landmark and a must-see in Porto! Taken this afternoon when I went for lunch with my Grandad.

Recently I came across this beautiful hairdresser shop-front here in Stockholm: UNIK.  I really loved how the old typography & style of the words Frisör (meaning hairdresser in Swedish) stand above the front entrance.

I don’t know if it was already there before UNIK, but either way I was really drawn to the contrast between the old and the new styles. In fact what I saw first was the word Frisör, staring at me as I was crossing the road. I had to stop and take a picture.

Ohhh.. beautiful Stockholm! 

City Silhouettes

A project by Jasper James, photographer based in Beijing. 

“His images showcase the wonder a city inspires in those who experience it.  James’ subjects are twofold, a cityscape below and the viewer above, superimposed by light and the reflection of glass.  The city is seen through the silhouette of the viewer, portraying a range of human emotions from love to peaceful reflection to playful wonder.  Jasper’s travels through China have inspired this series, a breathtaking look at life in the city from a new and refreshing perspective.” via The Coolist

When I saw these pictures they really felt like a fresh way to see travelling related pictures. To see them from above, and imagine what it’s like to be on those streets right at the bottom of those glass windows. Another simple yet touching piece of photography, with great power behind it, literally. Reminds me of the Shanghai skyline too. 

A little bit of Portugal is all over the world, in this case in a Café Nero in London. 

About the Pastel de Nata.

a bit of today. 

WEDDAR - The first people powered weather report service in the world.

Made by two Portuguese: Ricardo Fonseca with co-founder Gonçalo Catarino, Weddar launched last month, and has already seen it’s app downloaded in 86 countries by over 26,000 users. Found this today on Springwise website, which held an interview with Ricardo. 

In the words of Weddar: “And because it doesn’t make sense that we still depend on old, machine-based, general area location and innacurate Public Weather Report Services. Weddar is People Powered Weather Service.”

// Download the App only available for Iphone on the Apple Store. (They say they are working on the Android customers out there)

 // Become a fan on Facebook.

// Follow Weddar’s blog on Tumblr.

Being Portuguese, it’s great seeing innovative ideas and start-ups coming from Portugal. Makes me proud, and big congrats to Ricardo and Gonçalo! 

What are the hardest languages to learn? 

Well, the Foreign Institute for the U.S. Department of State compiled a learning document, based on the amount it takes a NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKER to achieve speaking and reading proficiency. And according to this, the most difficult languages to learn are, among others,  Japanese, Chinese and Arabic.

Interesting study, as between friends we always say how we think own language isn’t very hard to learn, this study puts some facts and visualises the difficulty in hours and weeks by Easy, Medium and Hard.

published by Column Five Media in collaboration with Voxy

Bet you haven’t waited for your flight, sitting listening to some live music at the airport? 

Well, the airport in my hometown of Porto gives you that pleasure, everyday. Here the two men play the traditional ‘Portuguese Guitar’ . Sometimes there is someone playing the piano too. I love this idea. So relaxing and gives the airport a charming atmosphere. 

Sorry about my shakey hands filming this.