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Back in the UK for Christmas last week and the weather was lovely. Went for a walk on Monday from Eastbourne to Seaford along the coast. This area is called the “Seven Sisters” which refers to the seven (?) huge chalk cliffs. You can see the famous lighthouse at Beachy Head below. The area is […]

Maybe you remember my shame of missing a station when I walked the length of metro line 12 a while back. Well I finally corrected that by going to the lonely stop of Fuxing Island. There’s only two roads onto the island, and there’s not a lot there except a park and a huge shipyard. […]

Some pictures from a walk last month along the Huangpu river. I’m really fond of the path along the riverbank. I’ve been here quite a few times before but never so far into the city centre. I’m not sure how far it goes in either direction. The light in the late afternoon was so good […]

I spent a few days recently at a company “offsite” meeting in Sanya, Hainan, a island in the very south of China. It’s a bit like a Chinese Hawaii. Not somewhere I’d usually visit but worth going once for the experience. The hotel we stayed in was a self-contained resort and there didn’t seem to […]

I sometimes feel a bit nostalgic for the time a few years ago when I would plan epic county-crossing adventures for the weekend. But there isn’t any reason why I can’t do that here in Shanghai, I just need … a goal. And what better goal than walking the entire length of metro line 12. […]

Shanghai seems almost totally flat but there’s actually two little hills out in the suburbs to the west at a place called Sheshan (佘山). Just take metro line 9 to the station with the same name and then bus number 92 from outside. The “forest park” is nice enough but the main attraction is a […]

I finally got to fly on an A380 for the first time when I went home last month. On the way out I got an economy seat upstairs at the front of the plane. More than a little bit excited. Would have liked to spend a day or two in Dubai. Maybe next time…

I went for a short walk on the South Downs near Willingdon with my parents last week. This isn’t far from where I grew up but I only got into walking long after I moved away from Hastings so I haven’t explored here at all. Hope I can come back one day and do a […]

I went back to Suzhou for a weekend recently and visited a few new places, mostly around Mudu (木渎) to the west of the city. I’ve been to Suzhou so many times but this was the first time I made it to Taihu, one of China’s largest inland lakes. And finally I visited Mudu old […]

I went to Zhouzhuang ancient town a few weeks for a day trip. It takes just an hour or so by bus from Shanghai, and because of that it’s extremely crowded on the weekend and also very commercialised. There’s also not many indoor attractions and museums to visit, just a lot of shops. The town […]