One of the things that I love most about living in China, apart from watching the dancing grannies, of course, is being able to use the country’s high-speed rail network. With its sexy, sleek trains, unbelievably punctual departure record (in almost five years, I’ve experienced three delayed trains) and reasonably priced tickets, it’s the best […]
Asia
I love China’s dancing grannies!
Over 110 million Chinese people are over 65 and retired, and many have taken to public square dancing: complete with boom boxes, routines, and noise complaints from grumpy hard-working people. I wrote about them for the website White Noise. Hip to be square – China’s dancing grannies It is evening in the city of Suzhou. […]
Writing this made me hungry for Chinese street food!
I wrote the Hangzhou entry for the World Atlas of Street food, published in September 2017 by Thames and Hudson Ltd. Hefang Street Market, Hangzhou Hangzhou’s scenic West Lake in eastern China may boast elegant bridges, picture-perfect pagodas and delicate weeping willow trees, but it also has a distinct lack of eating options. So, after […]
Sleeping under yak hair: life with Gansu’s Tibetan nomads
I wrote about my experiences of living with Gansu’s nomads for Lonely Planet, remembering the sights, sounds and smells of the grasslands and the yaks the nomads rely upon. Even though I only spent a short amount of time with them, it was amazing getting to know how people in this area of Gansu live. […]
Great walls of China: the Middle Kingdom’s enduring city walls
I love me a Chinese wall! So much so, in fact, that I wrote about the greatest walls in the Middle Kingdom for Lonely Planet – there are more around the country than just the one near Beijing, you know! There’s something just so epic about an ancient wall, the idea of a city or […]
5 photos that will make you want to visit Yangshuo, China!
I’m not an expert photographer, but I do like to experiment with my camera and I’ve been to some places that are just so beautiful, you can’t help but take awesome photos. One such place is the area around Yangshuo in China’s Guanxi province. The town is nestled in the midst of China’s most spectacular […]
Hong Kong – a glamorous international wedding destination
We’re just back from a weekend in Hong Kong, celebrating the wedding of our friends, Franziska and Marco. We were honoured to be the witnesses at the ceremony, as well as the only guests. With a baby on the way, coupled with the need to be eligible for a spouse visa in China, Franziska and […]
Turns out Hong Kong’s Lantau Island is amazing!
A former colleague of mine in Ningbo, where I used to live, once told me that every time he transferred in Hong Kong, he would make sure to leave himself enough time to leave the airport and go running on Lantau island, where the airport is based. Now, I thought him slightly crazy because: a) who […]
Visiting Pingyao – China’s best-preserved walled town
On a recent trip to from Xi’an to Beijing, I took the opportunity to stop off at Pingyao 平遥, one of China’s best-preserved Ming and Qing dynasty-era walled towns. Although now a major tourist destination (and a UNESCO World Heritage site) Pingyao still retains a run-down charm in places, with grey brick courtyard buildings hiding comfy kang […]
A spring weekend in Danshan Chisui
This article originally appeared in the February 2015 edition of Ningbo Focus. Spring is just around the corner. Soon the weather will get warmer, the days longer, and trees all around Ningbo will erupt in displays of beautiful blossom. To truly appreciate this seasonal awakening you need to get out of the city and into […]