November Books

It’s been a quiet month for reading, “What I Do” and “Nanotales” were devoured within a matter of days while some of the others have been too rich to do anything but nibble from time to time…
Books Bought
What I Do – Jon Ronson
Books Read
Nanotales – Ziv Navoth
The Spirit Stone – Katherine Kerr
What I Do – [...]

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Greetings from …the Train Station

All else before this was just a trial run, this is the real thing, I’m truly a stranger in a strange land. I can’t speak the language and certainly can’t read it, there’s no-one to help me if I get lost and I’ve all I’ve got is this girl as my lifeline…
On the train journey [...]

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Greetings from …the side of the road

 
While there weren’t dramatic clouds of smoke or fire bursting from the bonnet, the car slowed to a stop and wouldn’t start. The driver disappeared underneath the raised hood. Each time his head popped out he only looked more worried.
Not knowing anything about cars we left him to it, we told stories, we joked and [...]

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Greetings from …Base Camp

We woke with the sun, in the air hung the stale smell of yak butter and the overnight aromas that sleeping people can conjure up. Dressing was a simple affair, we’d never taken anything off before sliding under the piles of heavy blankets.
She was up before us, wondrous in the early morning light, Chomolungma, the [...]

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Strike the Pose

Getting a photo taken is supposed to be easy, you just turn up, strike a pose and there you have it or at least that’s what I thought…
We’ve been planning this for weeks, months even. My mother has wanted us to get a formal family photograph done for a while now, it’s been about 11 [...]

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Greetings from …the lake

It’s early morning here at Nam-tso and though it’s the summer here I’m well wrapped up. One advantage of living on Beijing time is that you don’t have to get up too early to get the sunrise. It was hidden behind a hill but it didn’t spoil the show, the magnificence of the light creeping [...]

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Greetings from … the islands

I spent my days in Manila in a muted fear, well not quite fear exactly but there were so many reports of tourists being drugged and robbed, like worried parents the locals had told me not to get into cars with strange men – even taking taxies was considered a hairy endeavour.
Everywhere you looked there [...]

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Greetings from …the desert

It’s dry here, there’s not a drop to be found anywhere, it’s strange, I’ve never been to a place like this. You’d think that me being me I’d be perfectly comfortable here but it feels unnatural, alien.
The quiet streets, the civilised eateries, the safe, empty streets after midnight, it feels like there’s something missing…
There’s rumours [...]

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Greetings from …the open sea

It wasn’t easy to get here.
I had it all planned, jet-lagged as I was, I thought I’d take it easy, get up not too early late and take the 10.30am ferry, only there wasn’t a 10.30am ferry. The Plan lay there on the ferry office floor in shatters. I could stay another night in KK [...]

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Greetings from …the top

It’s 5.30am and it’s freezing. Somehow I managed to be the second person to arrive here. Despite the rain and the slippery surfaces I felt invigorated, racing ahead of the other two then stopping to let them catch up. The batteries in their headlamps died after the first hour and bobbing on their heads now [...]

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