Asia

Kora blimey! Bless you, Lhasa

October 2, 2007

One thousand. Two thousand. Three thousand. Four thousand. FIVE thousand. I shrieked ‘weeeeeeeeeeee…’ with delight, as we descended leisurely toward ‘the Forbidden City’ of Lhasa from the oxygen-sapping Tanggula Pass- fellow passengers celebrated with a ‘5000m Party’, flicking exaggerated whoops and cheers around the cabin on torn strips of toilet roll. As we tumbled off […]

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To Songpan, and beyond!

September 24, 2007

Staring intimidatingly into two fresh black eyes, I barked menacingly, ‘reach for the sky!’. No response. I yelled, ‘this town aint big enough for the two of us’. Zip. ‘It’s not a laser. It’s a little light bulb that blinks’. Nothing. ‘Somebody’s poisoned the waterhole!’. Nada. ‘Who are you calling busted, Buster?’. Zippo. He just […]

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Answers on a Postcard

September 14, 2007

The red-faced King of the South paced nervously around his ageing palace, closely followed by a fidgeting guard. If either dared peer out through the ornate wooden shutters and across the blood-tainted river, they would of been overcome with terror. Advancing towards them at a frightful pace were a pair of canons in search of […]

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Bee for ‘Banna

September 3, 2007

My mother always insisted vegetables were good for me, so for 21 years I obediently munched my way through her gloomy carrots, sinewy runner beans, and even the odd heap of pungent spinach. Then I cut the apron strings, and for four years I phoned her weekly to ask her how to recreate the sloppy […]

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The Blind Leading the Blind

August 30, 2007

Reminiscent of time attempting to tick away on the novelty ‘Mao watch? Mao watch?‘ persistently being hawked in Tiananmen Square; time stood still this week. Any attempt to capture the period in a post, would be inaccurate and, akin to Mao’s arm weakly attempting to wave time away, I’d fail to do my subject justice. […]

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Why did the Chinaman cross the road?

August 23, 2007

I’ve been shocked many a time when using the internet, but the following session took me totally by surprise. I’d wrestled my way through a final round with the heavyweight Diaheorra Demon and was catching up on the latest football news, back in England. A soft whisper carried its way across the hostel, ‘Ant!’. My […]

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Mr Wang and The Curse of the Airag

August 18, 2007

Tired of walking, I decided to exercise my lifelong avidity to fly like a bird. I swiftly span upon a silver yuan , donned my colourful cape and followed my outreached fist over classical scenes of paddy fields and rice terraces. Moments later, I became caught in a ferocious crosswind which brought me tumbling back […]

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