Unless there is a huge war, Beijing is gonna replace Washington DC as the new capital of the world, so learn your pinyin Boys. Oh, and if this is communism, then I am Chairman Mao. The people in China are very friendly and helpful and some even have a sense of humour. Walking down the street, a bunch of people are giggling and pointing at the westerner: "HelLoOo" (more giggles). The best way to give the Chinese a good laugh is to try to talk to them in Mandarin - they love it. Follow that up with a few badly pronounced words from the phrasebook and they piss themselves silly. All over Eastern Europe and Russia the food experience has been a succession of artery-furring dumpling-stuff and red-wurst sausage things. I don't think I have had ... read more

The Russians can be real miserable looking sods when they want to be (although not quite as much in the east and, lets face it, they have more to moan about). To 'fit-in' in Russia (and therefore not shine out too much as a foreigner who may as well be walking around naked with Euros sellotaped to himself) it seemed necessary to go native and adopt the 'stoic look'. It reminded me of my favourite scene in 'Shaun of the Dead' when they try to mingle with the zombies. After spending days at a time on trains whilst traversing time zones (it is murder on the Trans-Siberian), it becomes natural to look like this. A typical sight in Russia is a Lada parked in the middle of the road with the driver asleep in the back ... read more

There was a controversial experiment performed in the 70's where one person had to ask questions of a subject and give them electric shocks of increasing voltage (enough to kill) if they got them wrong. The point is that it was a trick: the person getting the shocks was faking it. The real subject of the study was the person giving the supposed potentially fatal punishment, to see if they would conform. This came to mind in Auschwitz, one hour from Kracow. The tour guide was excellent, but he really needed a change of job. He was really troubled with how people could do such evil deeds such as those done by the Nazi extermination camps and was worried about if he would do the same if he was wearing a German uniform at that time. ... read more

The Czechs are a funny lot. It is as if the person that they spoke to just before you really pissed them off and so they decide to bite off your head for asking simple questions like directions. What is really surprising is that they can be sweet as honey just afterwards. I find that piling on heavy sarcasm just adds to the culture clash, but it is great fun. (3rd Nov) I am staying at a hostel in the party end of Prague and it shows. Life couldnt get any different here to Iran . It has a great bar downstairs, I popped down for a quiet drink with my book last night as I hadn't yet met anyone. Didn't read a page. Everyone had a story of a very heavy sesh the night before. ... read more

Before coming to Iran, a lot of people told me this story about a traveller who, upon seeing an anti-western demonstration in Tehran (flag burning, etc.), goes up to the most angry looking demonstrator and introduces himself as English (or Inglistan as they say here). The angry man's face softens, and he gives the traveller a warm smile and handshake and says 'you are very welcome in Iran'. As it happens, this actually did happen to John Simpson of the BBC. If you want to get a visa for Pakistan in Iran, forget it. For many, Iran is the end of the road for the Istanbul to Kathmandu trailers. I have met many of the biker community in Esfahan with their sooper-dooper BMW beasts, many of whom have had to turn back. A British or French ... read more