Category Archives: travel

Pictures of Taipei

21 Sep

Taiwan’s capital and largest city, in the island’s northern tip. I’m now halfway down the east coast, in Hualien, but am far from done with Taipei. Here’s a sampler.

Pirates of the Carabiner

18 Sep

Improvise and overcome – Clint Eastwood, Heartbreak Ridge I’m told the population of Taipei is 2.8 million, and I’m staying in its beating downtown heart. But yesterday a thirty second walk from the vibrantly buzzing A Dot Hostel, then a … Read More »

From Taiwan

16 Sep

My first encounter with the far east’s, and more particularly China’s, emphasis on the importance of face  came not in China but Bangkok in 2009. I was at the snake farm attached to one of the city’s several world class … Read More »

Walking the North Downs Way

27 Jul

The North Downs of Kent and Surrey, like the more beautiful South Downs of Hampshire and Sussex, are predominantly chalk. Highly porous, their streams are few and far between but here and there, where chalk lies above clay, a small … Read More »

Last thoughts from Udaipur

28 Mar

Seven am. The rhythmic thumping of dhobi women on the ghat below has been with me since before dawn. As Rajasthani summer gathers pace, nights as hot as day have me sleeping nude without covers on the bed; fan on … Read More »

Motorbiking with Guddu

25 Mar

Yesterday evening. I deem it a fine joint, given that it’s the first I’ve rolled in a quarter century, but Guddu’s tone has a dismissive note I don’t entirely care for at so milestone a moment. On what criterion does it … Read More »

A day in the countryside

22 Mar

It’s tricky, negotiating a way down this baked and rutted track to a lake spied from the road. I have to calibrate. Too little power and I come a cropper as front wheel fails to steer round or over the ruts, pitching the machine sideways. … Read More »