Myself and Siqi at The Summer Palace ^^

Last week I was in China, to visit my amazing girlfriend Siqi Yan, and I can safely say that it was the best holiday I’ve ever had, and one of the best times of my life so far ^^

I set off from London Heathrow at about 5PM GMT and arrived 9hrs 45mins later at Beijing Terminal 3 10:20 China Time. Not having got the extra-legroom seat I wanted on the plane I didn’t get much sleep, but a few movies and TV shows helped ease the boredom. Didn’t solve the butt pain though..

Walking to the arrivals area was pretty crazy, nervous and excited about meeting Siqi and her parents for the first time. As I rounded the corner and walked along the long line of people also waiting, I heard a familiar voice from down the end of the line, “Honey I’m here!” along with frantic waving – there was Siqi, my gorgeous girlfriend, smiling back at me.

But this time there was no Skype between us, and the distance was only 10 feet and closing. I spotted her parents, went over, shook hands and immediately rushed over to Siqi, dumping my suitcase ..somewhere and.. well, insert your typical hollywood love-at-the-airport scene here but that’s how it was ^^ I knew from that moment everything was going to be fine, and I immediately felt so much better and relieved to finally be there with her.

There’s loving someone from a distance, and then there’s holding them in your arms, feeling.. and also kissing them.. a lot hahaha. This was as an appropriate time as any, to slip on her finger the ring that we had both chose and I had been guarding in my pocket since I left home ^^

We stayed in Beijing for 3 nights, visiting Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City, The Summer Palace (only the gardens) and the city itself including a food market. While it strangely felt like home-from-home it was also difficult to believe I was actually in China, some thousands of miles away from home – closer even to Tokyo than I’ve ever been in my life.

Being 6ft 7in (201cm) was a surprise to a few of the locals haha but in Beijing it wasn’t so bad as there was a healthy mix of fellow westerners dotted around the crowds. Once we arrived in Huludao however, two things hit me. One – COLD. COLD. COLD. COLD. And COLD. WIND. Secondly, the massive lack of foreigners – seriously I think I was the only one in the city, at least from what I saw ^^;

However none of that mattered, not the locals, not me bumping my head, as holding Siqi’s hand and being with her made everything else just melt away into nothing. It didn’t matter. I was visiting the girl I love so much; nothing at all could take that smile off my face.

On the beach at Huludao

D'awww! - at the summer palace gardens

Cuteness Overload!! <3 - I'll gladly take you back home honey :3

While in Huludao we spent our time visiting malls, eating, shopping and exploring the city and downtown. Didn’t take many photos around the city, what with holding hands (baww, and also nomming on delicious street food of course) and trying to prevent frostbite on the other ^^;

Siqi’s Mum was also amazing, she spent hours trying to find me a pair of thermal trousers to wear under my jeans – and with my leg size that was a challenge I wouldn’t dare put on anyone in non-western-familar chinese city haha. Against all odds she arrived back later that day, trousers in hand! Made for much warmer walking definitely ^^ She also provided Siqi and I with awesome noms for times that we went back to the hotel early, or for late-night (GMT Dinner for me) eating.

I honestly can't explain this picture, but it's awesome

Siqi and her parents also gave me awesome gifts to take back home for myself and family. A Chinese Doll from Siqi to myself, oriental fans for my mum and sister, an etched-dragon plate for my dad, and a Chinese Tea Set for all ^^ Her friend was also generous in giving me a chinese calligraphy wall scroll, wishing his english friend safe travel (direct translation inbound).

I had an amazing trip, and I miss being there, especially being able to spend time with Siqi. However, if all goes well she will hopefully be visiting the UK for a month in Summer 2012! I’ll also be regularly travelling back for weeks at a time, every several months I can also say with confidence that my chopstick skills have improved greatly! Haven’t mastered soup yet though. Next time..

We headed back to Beijing on the Saturday, stayed in a house-hotel for one night before taking the Airport Shuttle Bus back to Beijing Terminal 3, whereafter goodbye kisses, hugs and talks where had, with luckily minimal tears ^^; I headed through passport control, security and onto gate E10 for my flight back to London Heathrow. Thankfully this time with better leg-room.

To Siqi: I love you so much honey, thank you (and your parents) again and again and again for taking such good care of me, providing noms and warmth wherever and whenever we were together

If you’d like to take a gander at more photos, head on over to Siqi’s Photoset on my Flickr.

Thanks for reading! ^^

*pucker up*

Long awaited cute/sexy/casual/awesome-pose Azusa Nakano from Max Factory!

I’ve been awaiting her arrival for a while, and now she’s here I’m as happy as a cat! With a…. play thing.

You can view my Loot photoset on Flickr here.

I really love Azunyan in this pose. Casual and cute.

She lazily lounges on that lushes pillow for us to lust over look at her utter cuteness.

But towards the back she adds just that little bit of sexiness :3

Looks like we’ve caught her mid-play.

:o

Come play with me?

The attention to detail is great, including the creases, folds and shading on the pillow. It’s actually quite heavy too, though still hollow.

Ahhhh socks!

As with all Max Factory sculpts, the curves and sculpt itself is absolutely gorgeous. I love her short-leggins and long baggy shirt pairing ^^

So much yellow, so much awesome.

Another view of the clearly gorgeous sculpt. If you don’t quite see it, feel free to look closer… and closer.. and closer.

Omnomnomnom… err ^^;

I personally think she could do with a second pillow around here. I know I personally wouldn’t mind being that second pillow either.

Nya~!

The cat is so small yet has such great detail in it – especially the eyes. Props to Max Factory once again.

It's a hard life being a cat.

Simply <3

AZ! :3

Yep, definitely needs a second pillow. The arm badge is awesome XD

Puni~puni~puni pillow

Tiger stripes?

Location of said second pillow. Did I already mention I like the leggins?

Dangle-y thing-y, well the cat loves it clearly.

It dangles.

Come play naow!

Thanks for reading! I’m off to play find a place to squeeze her into my display. The full width of the stand is about two standard-ish size figures wide, so she’ll need some space. Of course you could always display her without the fluffy plinth, I just think it’d be a shame not to since it’s quite unique.

1/6 scale Misaka Mikoto by Kotobukiya

Here she is! A pre-order I actually forgot about ^^; But she’s so adorable, it was a nice surprise to have her waiting for me at home :3

A certain maid-shaped railgun!

her expression and pose is just perfect ^^

Her outfit is great too - simple but cute and sexy with just enough detail

love the frills and the way she holds up the front ^^

she's very tasty around the back too :3

moee~~!

her expression is just right for her pose and character ^^

and no misaka figure would be complete without her shorts

Hope you all enjoyed the photos! She’s much larger than I expected originally, and compared to the other girls on her shelf in the Detolf cabinet she towers over them all XD

She is, however, a very welcome addition ^^

Big green eyes and a :3 mouth!

My seventh daughter arrived not long ago on the 18th August 2011. Since then, she’s already been out to London for dinner too! (Of which you can see a great write-up of over at @pattyleung ‘s blog here ^^)

Akira is the third of Volks’ After School Akihabara Girls series of Dollfie Dreams, and much like her sisters Moe and Natsuki – she is super cute! :3

I want to take her somewhere more scenic-ly appropriate for her default outfit which, despite being described by Volks as ‘English’ is more Western-European. So I’m thinking maybe, german christmas market or something XD

Took some photos indoors however, and these are included below! ^^ Hope you enjoy, I love her in her cute white dress and red shoes too

Nya!

Her wig looks great, but the hat is only just sat on-top haha

Cute ^^

Also cute! But *ahem* Akira dear you're showing..... oh never-mind... ^^;

I think she saw us looking! D:

Posing again~

Does she have a secret to share? :O

More likely she's bribing me with cuteness to forget what I saw haha

Hope you all enjoyed the photos!

It might not be Christmas, but I don't mind getting my presents early!

The gorgeously cute and cutely sexy Santa Yui has arrived!

I’m in love with the figure, if her short and fluffy outfit wasn’t enough to tickle your fancy, wait until you see what’s underneath ^^;

Cute!

Power Stance

Swimsuit

I'm zooming in on the lovely detail

Look at that screensaver!

I wish I could further unwrap my present, unfortunately the wrapper is firmly sealed ^^;

new site, custom design

found some time not long ago and the urge to finally move my blog over to a domain and server I actually owned. Plus a nice new design of course

Let me know what you think! any bugs also ^^;

also included in this post is the most recent photoshoot of sakura – a black and white style with her wearing a cool punky type outfit.

really pleased with how the effect turned out ^^

loved going in close with the under-lighting I had setup

idol sakura? :3

Head on over to Sakura’s Flickr set here for some more photos!

Thanks for viewing ^^ Hope you enjoyed the photos, and hope you like the site!

New outfits for all, new group photo! ^^

I still have three additional outfits left to show too haha

The Maid outfits look great together, but I was disappointed with the quality – bad stitching, stains / dust / hair on the material and even some brown crud on the pink dress. Some elements were just hot-glued on too :/ But oh well they look cute ^^

A wig switch-around too. Lily has a new blonde wig, while Moe takes on Yuki’s default wig from Lily – both lookin’ great

Full photo below:

Full version of photo - I love how cute Yui and Nanoha look ^^

Yuki looking gorgeous ^^

After rain had ruined my original plans, I ventured back in doors still determined to take some photos – these are the results!

Figure.FM article is here.

Yuki’s Photoset is here.

The authentic Japanese umbrella, suggested by my sister, looked great!

lookin' cool

With the help of my friend Liu Xi, we put together another outfit ^^

Lily looks great

Update: I took more photos the day after ^^

Figure.FM post.

Lily’s Flickr set.

It's a whole wall!

Added an extra two, will be moving all the figures down and having the two closest to my desk as places for me to stash the girls away from dust for long periods (finally).

Though I quite like having them on my desk, they do take up all the available room XD