As soon as I landed back in Shanghai my phone started beeping with incoming Wechat messages. Did I remember Dave Williams? Of course I remember him? I know him, not remember him. That’s the sort of language you use when someone has died. What was up with Dave? Oh didn’t you know, he’s a murderer.… Read More »
I was definitely the oldest one at the Bayer Start-up grind annual party this week. Naked Hub at Loushanguan seems a lot bigger than the other Naked offices but it still has the signature plant wall and high ceilings, sleeping spaces and comfy chairs around a main hall. It was an ideal place for the… Read More »
I want to get my teeth cleaned and this requires a visit to the Stomatological Hospital on my road (because I don’t want to pay large dental bills at a foreign hospital). The first thing they need to do even before I can make an appointment is to have a blood test. I can’t see… Read More »
The children in the lane have developed a habit of knocking on my door every day in the summer holidays asking if I want to come out to play. This week I decided to hunt around for the paints and brushes and papers I’d got somewhere in the cupboard. As I was rifling through the… Read More »
I needed some new clothes for a job in the UK for four weeks and I couldn’t put I off any longer. I put on my hat, sun block and sun glasses and took the metro to Nanpu Bridge and to the Sputh Bund fabric market. I walked in the searing heat for 10 minutes… Read More »
They say Yunnan is springtime all year round and certainly when I arrived for my second trip to Dali I was met, on leaving the plane, by a cool breeze and a huge sense of relief. Shanghai is hot and sticky throughout the summer and to be honest, even though it’s a magnificent city it’s… Read More »
I decided to spend my Sunday afternoon by taking a ride down to the river and take a ferry over to Pudong and cycle along the river on the far side. However, I got to The Cool Docks, where I planned to have a coffee and get the ferry, to find The Cool Docks closed… Read More »
I came out of my community to find Nanchang Lu full of lights, staging, cables, equipment trucks and a fair few young people hanging around. I noticed that several empty shops had been fitted out and their appeared to be an actor with a racing bike in th doorway of the hostoric Art Deco building.… Read More »
One of the things we, in the west, can learn from the Chinese is the willingness to make-do and mend our appliances. Once in a while several fixers come with their tables and tools and sit on the pavement outside my community. My neighours bring out their broken objects and for a small fee they… Read More »
I went for a wander today around Suzhou Creek in the vain hope of seeing some dragonboating. I think I was a day too late. Anyway I saw a fantastic Art Deco fire station with a tall look-out tower and then, at the top of Shan’an Xi Bei Lu a huge collection of boxes waiting… Read More »