China

The Blind Leading the Blind

August 30, 2007

Reminiscent of time attempting to tick away on the novelty ‘Mao watch? Mao watch?‘ persistently being hawked in Tiananmen Square; time stood still this week. Any attempt to capture the period in a post, would be inaccurate and, akin to Mao’s arm weakly attempting to wave time away, I’d fail to do my subject justice. […]

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Why did the Chinaman cross the road?

August 23, 2007

I’ve been shocked many a time when using the internet, but the following session took me totally by surprise. I’d wrestled my way through a final round with the heavyweight Diaheorra Demon and was catching up on the latest football news, back in England. A soft whisper carried its way across the hostel, ‘Ant!’. My […]

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Mr Wang and The Curse of the Airag

August 18, 2007

Tired of walking, I decided to exercise my lifelong avidity to fly like a bird. I swiftly span upon a silver yuan , donned my colourful cape and followed my outreached fist over classical scenes of paddy fields and rice terraces. Moments later, I became caught in a ferocious crosswind which brought me tumbling back […]

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Beijing. Sunny side up.

August 13, 2007

Beijing is to China, what a fried egg is to an English breakfast. I simply couldn’t leave it unconsumed at the side of my plate so I’ve returned to burst it’s yolk, all over my chin. The chef needs a medal, it’s almost cooked to perfection. It’s said, you should never judge a book by […]

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Peachy in Xi’an

August 11, 2007

It’s maybe slightly ironic, but sometimes the joy of ‘travelling’ is actually staying in one place and not ‘travelling’ at all. For the last week I’ve been doing just that in the Chinese city of Xi’an. As soon as I stumbled off the night train from Pingyao, I knew I’d end up staying a while. […]

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Me and my Shadow(s)

August 4, 2007

As I stuffed boxer shorts and guidebooks into my spotted handkerchief, I became consumed by the romance of floating through countries chatting with locals about their culture and perhaps exchanging ideas over a pot of peculiar tasting tea. In reality however, my ignorant approach to learning their language and omitting to carry even the simplest […]

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The Man in Carriage 17

July 26, 2007

One of the closing lines in my last post was “I’m leaving Beijing in half an hour for Datong, just 5 hours away.”. As a reader you’re afforded the blissful benefits of being effortlessly transported from the comfort of your armchair, from Russia to Mongolia and onwards to China with just a few gentle clicks […]

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