Have been suffering the proverbial ‘writers’ block’ recently; can’t marshall my creativity into a firm direction. A bit depressing really. The SG50 celebrations did nothing to raise my spirits as it was mainly a wash out – the highlight of the weekend being England winning the Ashes in spectacular fashion. Continue reading
Category Archives: Travel
High noon in Tokyo
Classic view of the bridge to the Imperial Palace
How wise is it, I wonder, to come to Japan with temperatures soaring at 33 C and humidity at saturation point? Especially as I have two days to kill before the weekend when Ross and I plan an excursion. Continue reading
A European summer
Never tire of this view – the Dents Blanches
After the excitements of the book launch, it is time to get real. Continue reading
Stop-press: clear chest and MRI scans – 18 months #cancerfree
Shoes fit for Lame Lady
An update on my health for my loyal followers.
On the morning of the book launch, I went and had my quarterly chest x-ray and annual MRI on the remains of the leg. Then I promptly forgot about it – I feel so well – until yesterday. Continue reading
One journey ends: my book Love and War in the WRNS is published!
The busy author!
This journey began well before I started writing my blog, before Louise and my father died and before Ross and I got cancer…it is the book I have been working on as a tribute to my mother and her war experiences, which left her ‘bursting with pride’.
The Tea Horse Road 5: journey’s end in Shangri La
The Tenduling monastery
Finally we have a day to remember, one where we see no other tourists, western or otherwise. We are headed for the monastery of Tenduling (Dondrupling in Mandarin), founded the same year (1667) as Ganden Sumtseling in Shangri La. It’s a good 100km, and the spanking new road cuts swathes through the rugged landscape – criss-crossing bridges over the Yangtze gorge, suspended on monolithic pylons and viaducts, boring through impenetrable hillsides with 3 km long tunnels. Everywhere roadside kiosks are springing up to cater for the long-distance lorry drivers – and the Chinese tourist. This is the main road to Lhasa. It is breath-taking and impressive. Whatever you say about the Chinese, they are single-minded masters of road-building and engineering. Continue reading
The Tea Horse Road 4: Shangri La at last!
Shangri La ‘old town’ from our hotel window – grey old sky for grey old place
Shangri La! What romantic images that conjures up. In fact it’s all a cynical marketing ploy dreamed up in 1998 by the Chinese government to attract tourists to the Tibetan prefecture of Gyalthang, which was annexed by China following its ‘liberation’ of Tibet in 1959. James Hilton invented the concept of Shangri La in his famous fiction, Lost Horizon. Continue reading
The Tea Horse Road to Shangri La 3: languishing in Lijiang
Tea Horse caravan mural in Shuhe
Day 5 and so to Lijiang. Now thoroughly alarmed at the mass tourism we have seen so far in in Yunnan, I am relieved that we are staying in a nearby village, Shuhe. But we are proudly told it is, guess what, a mini version of Lijiang! Yes, you got it – more tourist shops and restaurants, nothing old, just on a smaller scale! Wah! Continue reading
The Tea-Horse Road to Shangri-La 2: Dali to Lijiang
With my new friends at the Three Pagodas
Day 3, Xizhou, and we meet Hom, our Bai guide for the next three days. He takes us to the market, where we get our first glimpse of Bai women in their national dress, selling all kinds of magnificent fruit – huge green mangoes with bright orange flesh, bayberries, redcurrants, mulberries, large crisp red apples, nectarines and peaches, as well as all the greens – pak choi, choi sum, kai lan, cabbages of all shapes and sizes, red and green spinach, spring onions and chives all shapes and sizes,the list is endless. Plus the more revolting sights of a woman beheading chickens, fly-blown meat, fish, eels and frogs in tanks – we are in China, after all. Continue reading
The Tea-Horse Road to Shangri-La – Kunming to Dali
Union Jack scooter in Dali: better than a horse these days!
So here we are on our long-anticipated jaunt to Yunnan in SW China. We will be following the ancient Tea Horse Road from the pu-er tea growing areas in the south-east of the state right up to Shangri-La on the Tibetan border; Yunnan’s other neighbours are Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnam. Continue reading
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