MYANMAR | Monday, 10 Sep 2007 | Views [888]
Yangon, Mandalay, the Ayeyarwady river, the Shan states, how much magic and dreaming is associated with those names. They conjure up exotic and mysterious images, strange and faraway lands at the crossroads of the gulf of Bengal, the start of the Himalayas, ... Read more >
Tags: Culture
THAILAND | Thursday, 6 Sep 2007 | Views [544]
Our first contact with Burma/Myanmar is the Embassy in Bangkok. Burma/Myanmar, how confusing are these places that have more than one name. In fact, it seems that even though Myanmar is the current preferred appellation of the ruling dictatorship, they ... Read more >
Tags: Culture
GREECE | Friday, 24 Aug 2007 | Views [544]
Back home for a Big Fat Greek Wedding. It feels good being here. It’s familiar, easy and very beautiful. Athens in August is ideal. Quieter, more relaxed, it has a real summer vibe. The pedestrian street around the Acropolis feels like being on the islands.... Read more >
Tags: Family
CHINA | Tuesday, 21 Aug 2007 | Views [572] | Comments [2]
No doubt about it, China is a big country with loads of people in it. What’s more, they all need jobs. And by Jove they get them!
The ministry of transportation seems to be very creative on that account. In Beijing, all buses are not only staffed with ... Read more >
Tags: Work
CHINA | Saturday, 18 Aug 2007 | Photo Gallery
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CHINA | Saturday, 18 Aug 2007 | Views [582]
The Great Wall, which the Chinese, with their tendency to call “a spade, a spade” actually call the “Long” wall, is not particularly ornate, nor particularly beautiful, but it takes your breath away. It’s the result of sheer effort, more than anything ... Read more >
Tags: The Great Outdoors
CHINA | Sunday, 12 Aug 2007 | Views [830]
Healthy living, daily exercise and sleep, I figured I could do that for two days over the weekend. So, off to the Fragrant Hills, just on the outskirts of Beijing where the Yoga/Taichi retreat is situated. The Fragrant Hills are surprisingly close to ... Read more >
Tags: Relaxation
CHINA | Sunday, 12 Aug 2007 | Photo Gallery
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CHINA | Thursday, 9 Aug 2007 | Views [486]
There was a bit of a buzz in the classroom on Wednesday. Everyone was talking about whether they would or would not go to Tian An Men square for the one year to the Olympics festival. Till then I had heard nothing about it. I had not even bothered to ... Read more >
Tags: Culture
CHINA | Sunday, 5 Aug 2007 | Views [714] | Comments [1]
In the hutong alleys behind the Drum and Bell towers north of the Forbidden City, lives this tiny and bubbly Cantonese woman, a self styled “only woman chef” of Beijing. She has had the brilliant idea of giving Chinese cooking lessons literally from ... Read more >
Tags: Food & eating
CHINA | Sunday, 5 Aug 2007 | Photo Gallery
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CHINA | Saturday, 4 Aug 2007 | Views [512]
The world looks at the Chinese as a nation of workers. We imagine them sweating it out day in and day out like little busy and unstoppable ants. They do. But, more often then not, the ants also turn into some spectacular grasshoppers.
Along Beijing’s ... Read more >
Tags: Relaxation
CHINA | Saturday, 4 Aug 2007 | Photo Gallery
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CHINA | Wednesday, 1 Aug 2007 | Photo Gallery
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CHINA | Sunday, 29 Jul 2007 | Views [659] | Comments [2]
Factory 798 is a superb idea both mine for going there on Sunday and Beijing’s for having it. It’s a kind of artist’s ghetto in the North Eastern side of town. A creative community living in an old factory complex that has been remodelled to contain ... Read more >
Tags: Culture
CHINA | Friday, 27 Jul 2007 | Views [649]
In a vain attempt to penetrate the products of this culture I have now applied my energies to two seemingly opposing endeavours. It fascinates me to see how similar they really are.
The thing that drew me most to Kung Fu initially, other than the need ... Read more >
Tags: Culture
CHINA | Sunday, 22 Jul 2007 | Views [854] | Comments [1]
Having lived two years in this country and still only being able to speak to waitresses and taxi drivers should have given me a clue, still, I chose to pursue learning this infernal language.
I am sure that somewhere, somehow I must be making some sort ... Read more >
Tags: Culture
CHINA | Sunday, 15 Jul 2007 | Views [597]
I love Beijing. I really really really do. I feel like I am being given a daily dose of oxygen and mojo. So much to do and so much to see in this city that is full of confidence without the arrogance, full of people without the noise and full of little ... Read more >
Tags: Culture
CHINA | Thursday, 12 Jul 2007 | Photo Gallery
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CHINA | Thursday, 12 Jul 2007 | Views [583]
I am a student again, with the student card to prove it. I can’t believe it! And I love it! I love it! I love it. I look at the young people around me and I am envious. Envious that they get to do it so much earlier than me. Imagine going somewhere as ... Read more >
Tags: Culture
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