Arrived in Dali today around 330pm. Minibus from Lijiang. Only three hour journey through miles and miles of rice paddy fields. I have never seen so many farmers toiling in the fields before. These small paddocks take huge amounts of preparations, even prior to the backbreaking planting of the little bright green shoots in perfectly spaced rows. I saw it all from the bus, from start to finish - there is an unbelievable amount of work for plain old rice. And t...

"all genuine knowledge originates in direct experience", one Mao quote that make sense for the traveler. I'm in Chengdu and it's not pronounced the way I've been saying since the travel planning stage back in August last year; more like Chung-do. Back in Beijing I had some real problems uploading my photos on to the website and now after a little understanding and much probing I suspect there might be a blocking of such activity. There is a real possibility that ...

Quote from Baudelaire, 'the real travelers are those who leave for the sake of leaving ' Did the Chinese invent toilet paper? In the fourteenth century they were making perfumed paper for the bathroom (it was three inches square) for the Imperial family China - my heart is singing - a land full of culture, a people full of intelligence, not affraid to work hard and fast (China had to slow down work on the Olympic village for fear of showing up Greece) ...

LEFT VIETNAM LATE ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT. AN EARLY MORNING STOPOVER IN SEOUL FOR FIVE HOURS TO ENJOY THE CLEANEST, MOST EFFICIENT AIRPORT IN THE WORLD AND THEN HOPPED ON THE SHORTEST 747 FLIGHT I'VE EVER BEEN ON TO BEIJING. A LITTLE LIKE FLYING GLASGOW TO LONDON IN A JUMBO - IT DIDN'T SEEM QUITE REALISTIC. I'M NOT COMPLANING AFTER THAT HORRENDOUS FLIGHT TO HO CHI MINH CITY ON THE FOKKAR 70 A MONTH PAST. OFF TO EXPLORE AND WALK THE GREAT WALL OFF CHINA TOMORROW - ...