Monthly Archives: February 2013
Ocean Park! Woot!
If there’s a better place to celebrate FINALLY scoring a Chinese visa than Ocean Park Hong Kong – at least when you’re a single mother and a twelve-year-old boy – I’d like to hear about it. OK, so I had my eye on the very reasonably priced lunch buffet at the Shangri-La, — with, fact [...]
And to Hong Kong We Go
By now, we should be in a flat in northern China, with Zac in a Chinese school, plotting a sneaky bit of skiing over the upcoming school holidays while I get on with some work. But we’re not. We need to head 2000k south from Beijing to Shenzhen, cross the border into Hong Kong, get [...]
Ah! Freelance writing. It’s a glamorous, wonderful career, right? As a freelance writer you can get paid to travel, eat, drink or go to spas (BUY MY EBOOK HERE!). You can work all the hours you want and no more. And industry standard rates are a dollar a word. Right? Uh, wrong. For most of [...]
A Cautionary Tale
You are either going to find this story hilarious or be utterly repelled. If you’re a sensitive soul, I recommend this story about the Lebanese man who built his own castle, stone by stone, or this story about land rights in Indonesia, or this one on things for kids to do in London. Out of [...]
After a week spent sorting out Chinese visas in Kathmandu, plus getting stuck in Lukla on the back of Everest Base Camp, my projects for Beijing are, pretty much: * see friends and do kiddie stuff with them * sort out Chinese visas * do some work * eat my bodyweight in Beijing duck * [...]
Ice Skating in Beijing
When it comes to ice skating, like everything else, the Chinese do it differently. Very differently. And ice skating in Beijing is really something else. Especially on Qianhai Lake. It’s not just the unavoidable presence of the PLA, whether riding ice dodgems, guarding ice bikes, administering the ice slide or guarding the ice skates. The [...]
Welcome to China
Despite the wonderful view of the Himalayas unfurling below us, I am not particularly optimistic about the next stages of our journey. I hate flying at the best of times, and today, so far, has not been the best of days. My spawn, mystifyingly, is genuinely looking forward to sleeping at Kunming Airport. So much [...]
Pictures of Nepal
I may have spent the last few posts bitching and whining about Kathmandu, but… We did, honestly, love Nepal. So here’s my favourite pictures of Nepal. The alpenglow catches Everest behind Nuptse, seen from Kala Patthar. A man selling coloured powders for ritual purposes in Kathmandu. And an offering to Lakshmi, goddess of wealth, made [...]
Over the months we’ve spent in China so far, I’ve had more experience than I’d like in finding different types of accommodation, from short term to long term. And I’m pleased to say that Wimdu, who provided our lovely flat in Istanbul, are helping me bring you this overview of how to find accommodation in [...]
Farewell to Kathmandu
Having neglected most other parenting duties over the last few days, I figure that today would be a good day to continue Zac’s ongoing masterclass in how to navigate airports. The internet seems to think our flight is two hours late, but I figure it’s a good idea to get to the airport on time [...]
