Ancient Grace: the cathedral and town of Chartres
9 Feb 2019 I’m standing on the station platform. The train doors are closing and are more than half shut …
Tag Archives: #WPLongform
Paris is always a good idea. Stories of a brief winter sojourn
5-8 February 2019 In December 1973, when I was 23 years old, I left Australia for the first time. The …
Winter In The City of Light – ordinary and extraordinary Paris
5-8 February 2019. I’d returned from a solo seven-week journey to Japan and China in early June 2018. The summer …
Treasure Islands: Hong Kong’s Lamma Island and Cheung Chau
9 June 2018 I never forgot Cheung Chau. Back in 1978 it was one of the most exotic places I’d …
. . . . For All The Tea In China! A tea plantation, a town, and a village in Yangshuo
4-6 June 2018 Legend has it that a few thousand years ago, somewhere in China, a cocoon fell from a …
War of the Three Kingdoms – like an action movie only live!
1 June 2018 The empire, long divided, must unite; long united, it must divide. Thus it has ever been. These …
Yangtze River Cruise: don’t get your hopes up!
1-3 June 2018. We were warned that the Yangtze River is very industrialised and not to expect lush scenery or …
Quick Change Artists – the ravishing Sichuan Opera in Chengdu.
29 May 2018. She’s standing in the aisle of the theatre a few levels up from the stage. She’s facing …
Pandering to your love of PANDAS! Now that I have your attention . . . . .
By all accounts Chengdu, the fifth largest city in China with a population of 14 million, has a laid-back ambiance …
Monasteries and Mad Monks – China’s Baoguo Monastery and the Leshan Buddha
28-29 May 2018 I hear the music and follow it, the sound of the chanting drawing me like a magnet …
It’s Not The Mountain We Conquer But Ourselves.* China’s Emei Shan
27-28 May 2018. This is the day! This is the day I’ve been working towards for six months. Eight months …
Heads Up – China’s Amazing Emei Shan
27 May 2018. I walk into the temple’s meditation room, kneel down on the small cherry-coloured prayer stool facing a …
Riding High in Xi’an – China’s Ancient Capital
23-25 May 2018. No way am I being left behind on this adventure! I don’t know if I can do …
Eating My Way Across China
16 May-8 June 2018. You know all those articles in magazines and on the Internet that sing the praises of …
