The Best Laid Plans…
There are still two important projects outstanding from our plan for winter in China. Project Visa and Project Apartment have been concluded. We have seen...
Tagged: Chinese
In Which Things Fail to Go to Plan in Beijing
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...
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...
Boxing Day at Nepali Immigration
“Do I HAVE to come, Mum?” says Zac, as I drag him out of bed and bodily towards a taxi, en route to Nepali Immigration,...
A Very Merry Christmas at the Chinese Embassy
If there’s ever a way to get your Christmas off to more of a flying start than a trip to the visa section of the...
Language Soup
So we’re back in Turkey, en route to Bali, by way of Malaysia, and my brain just turned to language soup. Like most Britons, I...
It’s All About The Cross-Hatching
“Bwahahaha,” I say. “Did you know the Chinese for ‘writer’ is, literally, ‘sit-at-home’?” “No,” says Zac. “NOOB! The ‘zuo’ in ‘zuo-jia’ is a different kind...
The Unspeakable Horror of Chinese Bathrooms
Before we came to China, I thought we had bathroom chops enough to cope with anything the world had to offer. And then… Well, then...
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...