.....lots of low doorways. Just doesn't have the same ring as Peking Duck, not that I've ever been a real fan of that dish, always seems to have too much peking and not enough duck. Crickey, it's the 9th of Nov and I'm just getting to finish this?........so, where were we? And forbidden to enter the Forbidden City, sounds counterintuitive but there you go. Thanks to the international athletics competition.... and the upcoming national day, (70th anniversary of the defeat of the Japanese), half the factories around Beijing have been closed down and the rest ordered to restrict their hours. Also, cars are restricted by rego numbers to 1 day on, 1 day off, half the traffic disappears! So.... It's clear and clean, bright sunny day, but it's also so less crowded than I'd expected, way ... read more

Actually I'm out of Russia, and in Ulaanbaator, Mongolia. Moron that later. I'd gotten back to Irkutsk about 11.30pm after a long day on the train around Lake Baikal. The hotel looked pretty flash, a number of business suits coming and going, some classic kgb suits with dark glasses (at 10pm) as hotel security. The check-in counter was overrun by a Chinese tour group. This is becoming a recurring theme but it seems like the Chinese are keeping the world tourism business afloat. Anyway, I postponed checking in and went to the bar where a couple of average, huge, fat, middle aged business types were getting ready to hit some local titty bar. They were friendly in a pushy sort of way, sporting the shaved skull haircut-de-jour, they asked where I was from and when I ... read more

Quick, write something.....I heard him say. 6 hours to kill at the beautifully archaic, baroque-ish, multi faceted Yaroslavsky railway station Luckily there's a bar across the street....although somewhat odd...in the way that everything in Russia is 'somewhat odd' gotta try and put my finger on it... And, I thought it odd, there's not a map to be bought within 1,500 metres of this major railway station, now here's a business idea...... The God of travelling companions is smiling on me again! Finally onboard and meet my rolling railway roommate, a 55 yo Russian doctor, he tells me his name is Vova , short for Vladimir! A neurologist, he works in Moscow and every 3 months makes this trip to somewhere east of Irkutsk to a regional hospital. He takes the train because he has a big ... read more

Time to get something up. I still don't get how to set the photos, they seem to bay all awry, use yr imaginaton. First flight, Hanoi to KL, uneventful to say the least. Second flight, KL to London, upstairs in cattle class is not bad, in the middle of the night I snuck forward into biz class and stretched out. Later I was watching a movie and instinctively ordered a drink.....they asked me to return to my seat! First train, Heathrow to Paddington, quick and efficient. Second train, P'ton to Bath, ok and all that green scenery. And Bath at last, about 5kms to tow the bag to the Airbnb, along the river, along the freeway, up the hill and home. Went and checked out the local pub, a classic, a bunch of local tradies took ... read more

Well, how long can you wait?...is there anyone still out there?.....time for an update! Another perfect morning....5am and 1,000 pre-tumescent roosters rise as one....blood pressure building, neck veins standing out like David Parkin at three quarter time, then exploding across the neighbourhood as dawn's rosy crack appears through the mist coming off the Big Red River...probably a lethal concentration of toxic particulates, but I'll call it mist....I wonder what would happen if all these cocks crowed simultaneously?...you could probably hear it from the moon....and then there are the dogs and the caged birds etc etc..... I get to the market by 6am, some strange looking fish, as usual, but I'll take a punt....there are some pix here of the market people.... Rough, rutted roads make body parts, ill-concealed by local fashions, jiggle and shake with alarming ... read more