"You have your thoughts and I have mine. This is the fact and you can't change it even if you kill me." (Ba Jin, shouted out at the end of a televised public humiliation in the People's Stadium of Shanghai, during the "Cultural Revolution" on the 20th June 1968). Ba Jin who was one of the greatest of China's 20th century writers was born in Chengdu in 1904. Chengdu was the latest stop in my world trip(click here). The city is famous for its spicy food, the Giant Pandas, the Sichuan Opera and the nearby Leshan Giant Buddha (the world's largest Buddha). It was also the home of many literary figures including the Tang era poet Du Fu and the more recent Ba Jin (1904-2005). Ba Jin/u... read more

The province of Guangxi was my latest stop in my multi year world trip. (Check out my home page here for the over 90 entries of the places I've visited in the last 3 years). The Karst formations around Guilin and Yangshuo are stunningly beautiful. Its maybe "the most beautiful landscape under heaven". But along with with that comes the hustle. The area is a very popular tourist destination with both Chinese and foreign tourists. This means that I was sharing the experience with loads of tour groups and touts. I left the story in Guangzhou at the end of my last blog (The Immortals). On Tuesday the 8th I caught a comfortable bus to the city of Wuzhou. An easy 5 hour ride from Guangzhou (not 7-8 hours as stated in Lonely Planet). The bus ... read more

It's been 10 years since Britain handed back Hong Kong Island and the New Territories to China; to be exact the 10th anniversary of the hand over will be on July 1st. Tony Blair looked a lot younger back then in 1997. A few grey hairs is not enough punishment for his war crimes in Iraq. Tony, how do you sleep at night? Talking about Liberal Imperialism (Toxic Tony calls it something else) brings me back to Hong Kong and its filthy foreign mud. The sanctimonious excuses for foreign adventures haven't changed much over the years. In the 19th Century it was called 'Liberal Imperialism'. The noble crusade back in 1840 was the defence of 'free trade'. That's not how the Chinese interpreted events. The Great Wall The Opium War, also called the Anglo-Chinese War, was ... read more

"We advise you to exercise caution when travelling to Aceh, which is emerging from a long-running internal conflict. You should exercise particular caution when travelling to remote areas. You should also monitor all available information on the local situation." (The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office website. Still Current at: 6 April 2007 Updated: 4 April 2007). Don't take the Foreign Office's advise on Aceh too seriously. The Foreign Office are always very conservative in their advise...they are probably covering their backs should anything happen. That said you should always monitor all available information on the local situation wherever you travel. But to be honest, a Saturday night pub crawl in the centre of Leeds in England where I used to live is probably more dangerous than a visit to Banda Aceh now. But, things do change. ... read more

The highlights of a trip to Sabah include the diving at Pulau Sipadan, the Orang-Utangs at Sepiloc and climbing Mount Kinabalu. Mount Kinabalu is the highest mountain between the Himalayas and Papua Burat (New Guinea Island). It's a very steep climb from 1,800m to 4,100m through 3 different ecological zones. The park surrounding this massive granite rock is a world heritage site with one of the greatest ecological diversities on earth. You can tell the tourists who have just climbed the mountain. They're the ones that limp; that can't, or at least don't want to walk up steps. I was one of Mount Kinabalu's victims. It's not the climb up the mountain that's the problem. It's the walk back down. For days after my ascent of the mountain I was intimidated by the high kerbs on ... read more