The water bill is easy to fathom. Mr Xiu or another neighbour comes knocking on the door and then I have to take their torch, get on my knees and read the meter under the sink. When all the meters in the building have been read, someone divides the house bill up according to what… Read More »
I have written about Nixi and its charming houses and views. The village was peaceful when I was there, nobody in the fields and a few cows and chicken walking the lanes. Then I came across a group of women who were beating sheaves of something I didn’t recognise, with sticks to release the grain… Read More »
There wasn’t anything to keep me in Shangri-la but I had heard about a little village where they made black pottery and which had some nice old houses. Along the road there are retail outlets selling this pottery to passers-by and I saw at least one workshop on the road. I had gone to the… Read More »
In 2001 the Chinese changed the name of this town from Zhongdian to Shangri-la, a fictional paradise, in order to attract tourists to the old town and the surrounding area. Well it worked because it’s now on the Yunnan tourist trail for foreigners and Chinese alike. Not that there were many tourists there when I… Read More »
I have been in Dali for a couple of days but it’s hard to find quiet villages without young Chinese tourists racing around them on hired scooters. The people who live in these villages go about their daily work in the fields and markets and seem to tolerate the visitors. However I was keen to… Read More »
27km of steep winding road joins Yuanyang new town to the old town which clings perilously to the side of an impossibly high mountain. When I took the journey a few days ago I shared a crowded minibus with humans and animals and much the amusement of several children, as we climbed higher and higher,… Read More »
It rained all day today. By the time midday came I decided that I should go out anyway, no matter what the weather. The girl in the cafe attached to the hotel had suggested yesterday that I should go to an old village called azheke which is about an hour’s walk. Apparently taxis don’t go… Read More »
I was running out of ideas about where I could go for a holiday for a few weeks within China. I had heard a lot about Yunnan so I got myself a flight to Kunming and back and decided to make a plan once I got there. One of my main requirements from the holiday… Read More »
It has always been very easy to buy travel insurance online. The difficult bit is navigating the comparison websites. I spent hour upon hour looking at travel insurance for a two week holiday to Indonesia. I wouldn’t usually bother with travel insurance, especially when going to a cheap country, but this time it was a… Read More »
I’ve been dreading the return of the cockroaches after their winter hibernation – it’s the real sign that summer has arrived in Shanghai. Still, the sight of the first one in the bathroom still freaked me out. The second one I nearly sat on – freaked me out A LOT more. It was hiding under… Read More »