Category Archives: Beijing 2013

Mirinda’s work trip to China turned into an amazing holiday for us both though I did suffer a bit of culture shock along the way.

The end of Beijing

Well, I’m finally sitting on our lounge, Radio 3 playing some classic music I’ve never heard before and Mirinda fast asleep upstairs. It was a longish, uninteresting flight home (though appeared to be full of tour groups rather than individuals … Continue reading

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The drums! The drums!

Firstly, can I just say that one of the things I REALLY like about China is the fact that you can’t access Facebook or Twitter. It’s so nice to not have to keep logging on to see what people are … Continue reading

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Cucumber? Really?

Here’s the latest from the China Daily: I’m surprised about the banks. They seem to have enough people for all the other tiny little bits of bureaucracy. I’m sure they could spare a few thousand people to count some tiny … Continue reading

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Curried chicken and coconut

Every morning, hanging on the door handle of our hotel room, there’s a copy of the China Daily newspaper. It’s an English language paper that collects stories from all over China and prints them in a small, easy to read … Continue reading

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Bludge Day in Beijing

Today I found a little slice of heaven in the heart of Beijing. And it only cost me 3 yuan. Mirinda and Sarah set off early for the conference this morning, the one that started this whole trip. When we … Continue reading

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Heaven in a hotpot

The amazing hotpot was introduced to Beijing by the invading Mongols (after they managed to hop over the wall) in the 13th century and it’s been here ever since. And I can see why. It’s great fun, delicious and interactive. … Continue reading

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Now that was odd…

The photograph I took of the remains of my duck has somehow appeared on one of the hotel TV screens in the lobby. No text, just the image. It looks quite weird. I have no idea why or how they … Continue reading

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祝你生日快乐

The one thing that we all know about as undeniably Chinese is Peking Duck. Clearly, not everyone has tried it but the majority of people would have heard of it. And, by the way, the word ‘Peking’ is the Cantonese … Continue reading

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Trains and dinosaurs

Mirinda and Sarah left the hotel for a work thing and I set off for the Beijing Police Museum. Funny thing is, I never found it. Most things in Beijing that aren’t huge tourist things, are not signposted in English … Continue reading

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Re-writing history

And then, as if by magic, I could once more access my blog. I very quickly updated it… Each day, at the Emperor Hotel, we are handed a slip of paper with the weather report on it for the next … Continue reading

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