Category: China

Agile dancers
To my discredit, I opted for Inner Mongolia over Mongolia because I’m afraid of the cold. While pondering my next move in Beijing, I met a steady stream of travellers who had passed through Mongolia on the Trans-Siberian Railway. They spoke of a freakishly premature winter that had hit the nation long before electricity – and consequently heating - was scheduled to be switched on by the government.

I woke up on my last day in Beijing with a killer headache and a problem. My bloodshot eyes rolled at sight of two ginger kittens asleep on my bed.

Published in The Weekend Independent Magazine, May 2010 When I first allowed someone to test their psychic powers on me I was in the southern Chinese city of Guilin. It was 2006. The fortune teller was very old, completely blind and his left arm was severed at the elbow. Communicating the predictions was a team […]