Sign In
Karina Pearl Thorne
European language loving Brit heads to China for the ultimate challenge...karinapearl
Travel Blog Posts
April 8th 2013
NAOMI ARRIVES. First official visitor - Naomi - arrived safe and sound after a direct flight from London. She was completely shattered by the long journey, and so I had to shelve the 'walk and bike' orientation plans, in favour of tucking her in for an extended nap. ... read more
April 8th 2013
SPRING UPDATE. In a desperate attempt to get back on track with my blogs I am doing what I should have done ages ago: which is to stop worrying about sorting out the old monthly blogs, and just start writing my blog from now! So hence why I have suddenly appeared again out of nowhere! As usual, there are lots of things on my mind. But before I get cerebral on you, I will enlighten you my latest good news. SURPRISE PACKAGE. First up, is a surprise package from my sister. She posted it just after that well-known March/April religious festival, so I must admit to channeling good vibes through time and space to ensure that whatever was sent, was wrapped in Cadbury's chocolate! In order to find out what was in my surprise parcel, please ... read more
April 8th 2013
SPRING IN BEIJING. The weather in Beijing is very predictable. Dry, humid, uncomfortable, and cyclical. Like clockwork. Ish. Basically, the winter is pretty much set between the months of November and March, as this is when the heating is official turned on (and off) by the local authorities. It is almost always turned on too late in mid-November, when the temperatures have dramatically plummeted from a pleasant 15 degrees in the shade to zero. And again, in mid-March, it is almost always turned off too early, when we have safely made it out of the below zero temperatures, but when it is still cold enough to have to flip the air con to blow hot air. And so it is in this schizophrenic state that Beijing produces an astonishing yo-yo of mini-heatwave swiftly followed by a ... read more
April 8th 2013
SANYA, HAINAN ISLAND. So it happened. I finally went on a well-deserved holiday, with my Italian friend, Marina. She was hoping for Thailand. But the prices were extravagantly high. I think around £900 pp. But the south of China, which enjoys a tropical climate, was the winner, weighing in at about £350 pp. Very reasonable. And we didn't have to struggle with the language. Well, I didn't, because Marina speaks fluent Chinese. "Winning!". You probably don't know that just off the southern coast of China is a very small, but very round island, called Hainan. It's the go-to destination for the Chinese during winter. And after the Chinese, the biggest group represented on the island are the Russians. Our hotel was not on the beach front, as such, but located just a few hundred metres from ... read more
Tot: 0.132s; Tpl: 0.008s; cc: 3; qc: 45; dbt: 0.046s; 1; s:apollo w:www (50.28.60.10); sld: 1; ; mem: 6.3mb
© 2013 TravelBlog.org & Bloggers