Camping in a Winter Wonderland
I watch in mounting horror as Martin heads off into the mountains, leaving our tent flaccid on the ground, and Z endeavours to start a...
Author: Theodora
The Friday Photo: Terracotta Underworld
Lined up as if for battle, on soil that still covers 8000 or so of their comrades, the Terracotta Warriors, like Angkor Wat, Uluru and...
In Search of Snow — on Horseback
One of Z’s signal complaints – his desire for a skyline safely sated by China – over almost two years in the tropics has been...
The Friday Photo: Reflections of New China
China’s cities are big, fast, buzzing, crowded. Wide, choked highways slice through the maze of malls and alleys with brutal efficiency, girdle the city’s heart...
It's Panda Time!
Chengdu is proud of its pandas. Extremely proud. Abstract pandas stand tall in the main square, opposite a gargantuan Chairman Mao and a stone’s throw...
Halloween in China
I wasn’t optimistic about celebrating Halloween in China. Not least because my Halloween track record has been pretty damn abysmal over most of my son’s...
Conquering (?) Vertigo in Tiger Leaping Gorge
Z jumps from stone to stone across the waterfall which tumbles in a rocky stream across the cliff-edge path and a mile or so down...
The Friday Photo: Autumn Wildflowers in Tiger Leaping Gorge
Trekking the world’s deepest gorge in mid-October, pushing two miles above sea level, you don’t expect to see wildflowers. But in Tiger Leaping Gorge, in...
Oh James! I'm Sorry About the Jade!
James is bookish, bespectacled, educated in Kunming and Chiang Mai, a walking encyclopedia of Chinese history and culture. He’s thirty, with a three-year-old son, yet...
Learning Mandarin: Week 4
“If you finish this book,” Sophie reiterates, “You’ll be able to get all around China with no problems.” I wouldn’t have thought it possible when...