Annamarie and I were in Shanghai on a course at the British Council and having a nice quiet meal in the evening near the hotel where we were staying. I felt sorry for a guy eating on his own so invited him over. He was nice, very funny and chatty. As I was leaving for… Read More »
Maurice came to stay for a few days in Nanjing. I couldn’t put him up as I have no spare rooom so a colleague of mine, Mr Jiang did the honours. Maurice left for Shanghai this morning and tried to check into the hotel I had booked for him only to realise he had withdrawn… Read More »
Yes of course you can stay at my house – I have a spare room. “Great”, I thought “I will save myself the cost of a hotel.” However, when I got there I realised that my friend’s house was little more than a squat and he admitted than even he moves out to a hostel… Read More »
I looked at my diary today and saw two weeks of now work. No IELTS, no teaching, no Extra-curricular support, no nothing. So, I decided that I should go travelling. When else am I going to find the opportunity? So, since I have always wanted to go to Kashgar, I spent the day planning my… Read More »
I heard about a park where there was a replica treasure ship. Zheng He was sailing as far as Africa and the Middle East in 1405 a long time before Christopher Columbus was even born. His ship was built in Nanjing and now, in the same place stands a replica of one of his supply… Read More »
I took this photo when I walked up Taiping Nan Lu on 8th March on the way to Daxinggong metro station. I was on my way back home from working at Nanjing Foreign Language School. I liked the way all the workers were sleeping. I thought it was a shame that they were cutting down… Read More »
The VPN is back! hooray. The Chinese govt succeeded in silencing us ex-pats for a week or so but we dodged back and forth and got through again thanks to the staff at Witopia.
I had been to Zhonghuamen before but today Lynn and I thought we would take new-comer Pam to have a look as there was a lantern festival in that area. We paid our £3.50 and made our way up the steps to the top of the wall. At Zhonghuamen the city wall is at its… Read More »
Since the unrest in the Middle East we have noticed considerably slower internet speed in Nnajing and a crack down on VPNs. The VPN I use is getting blocked all the time so that I cannot get here on Blogger. So I am typing fast and hoping the connection will last ling enough to post… Read More »
The Chinese are famous for being big picture thinkers. Where we westerner consider the detail the Chinese care very little for the details. This frustrates us foreigners especially when it comes to Chinglish. Even the major banks don’t check the English on their signs and documents. We say “Why on earth don’t they just ask… Read More »