The main reason for me coming back to England was to attend my best friend Tom's wedding. Well after months and months of preparation it finally happened on Saturday. The main reason for me coming back to England was to attend my best friend Tom's wedding. Well after months and months of preparation it finally happened on Saturday. The day started early for us and I went around to my friends house at 9:00 in the morning to first of all make sure he was awake and secondly that he was showered and dressed ready for the trip to the wedding [View Full Entry]

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Well I was lucky enough to spend my birthday at home for the first time in 6 years. I spent the perfect day playing golf with my friend Tom. We don't get to play much these days but we played on the golf course we used to play on when we first started at the age of 14. Neither of us had played for a while and therefore some of are shots weren't that good! I've included a little video of me playing..........don't laugh! In the evening I went to my sister house to have dinner with the whole family. One [View Full Entry]

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Well I have finally recovered from my friends Stag party but it did take until Monday afternoon to do so. And as you may have guessed, the sun is out! Which has meant that I've been able to get out on my bike once again. Forest Row (my home town) is perfect for for riding, the air is clean and some of the scenery is really quite beautiful. Whenever I'm home I realise how incredibly lucky I was to have been born in a place of such outstanding natural beauty. I went riding once again with my Mum and Dad but [View Full Entry]

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Well as I mentioned to you all in one of my English corners it is important that the groom has a 'Stag party' My friend Tom's party was last Friday and I spent a lot of the week organising it. In the old days a stag party was usually held the night before a wedding and the groom, best man and his friends would go to the local pub and drink lots of beer and simply walk home. However it has now become BIG business all over the world. We were pushed for time and therefore we had to hold it [View Full Entry]

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Well it has finally stopped raining in England and I have managed to see a little bit of sunshine believe it or not. It's all very relaxing though. Yesterday I went cycling with Mr and Mrs Smith Senior. We have an old railway line which runs along the back of our house and it has now been turned into a cycle path. It's a beautiful place to ride. It was nice last night to also be able to watch my football team Liverpool play at a normal time instead of staying up until 2:30 a.m! Thankfully they also won. My job [View Full Entry]

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(For any neutral readers this blog is intended for my Chinese students in Xiamen) I've now been back in England for 2 days and yes you've guessed it, it has rained everyday since I got back. The good news is that I don't seem to be suffering from any jet lag. It's been great to see everyone again and catch up. I spent Sunday with my friends Tom and Charlotte, the people who are getting married. They had a wedding get together where I was able to meet people from Charlotte's side of the family and also see many of Tom's [View Full Entry]

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(For any neutral readers this blog is intended for my Chinese students in Xiamen) Hello everyone at Web. Well I made it to Dubai after a couple of days in Shanghai. It's really nice to be here and see my old friend Grant and his wife Julie and their two lovely children Caelan and Isla. Grant and I have been great friends since the age of 3 but these days we only ever seem to see each other in different countries and not our own! The first thing to say about Dubai is it is hot, hot, hot. Far hotter than [View Full Entry]

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Well what better place to finish my trip than Beijing. Its some five years since I last came here and I arrived eager at the prospect of visiting some of the places I missed out on last time around. Over the past few years Beijing has undergone a major facelift in preparation for this years Olympic Games. Although I haven’t spent a lot of time in Beijing it’s a city I love visiting and a complete contrast to that of Shanghai. In recent years Shanghai has become a little too Westernised for my taste. Speaking to other foreigners in Shanghai and, [View Full Entry]

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My next stop hadn't made it on my initial plan but I'd heard through a couple of other people about an ancient town north of Xian named Pingyao which is covientantly placed therefore allowing me to to break up the trip onto Beijing. Having waxed lyrical about my experiences of travelling on trains in China in my previous blog. My opinion has altered slightly after my journey from Xian to Pingyao. I was forced to travel by hard seat for the first time and, hopefully last time. Hard seats are in effect the fourth class on Chinese trains and just one [View Full Entry]

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My first train journey for a while as I headed from Chengdu into Shaanxi province and the historical city of Xian. Xian was formerly known as Chang'an and originally marked the beginning and end of the silk road. A former great metropolis it came to an end in the 10th century by the rebellions of the Tang Dynasty. Today it's home to more than three million people and retains its metropolitan feel yet at the same time this is nicely blended with the vast array of history surrounding the city. Before I start to talk about Xian itself I have to [View Full Entry]

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