“Chinese wine tastes like dead mouse” Peter Farrow, narrator Bonfire of the Vanities, by Thomas Wolfe It has been said that brevity is the soul of wit, so whoever observed that “a hang-over is the wrath of grapes” was very…
Category: asia
hot pot
Genghis Khan holds an impressively enduring place in modern Chinese life. He is remembered as a feared and ruthless conqueror who slaughtered anyone who stood in his way. He was particularly eager to kill the aristocrats and ruling classes whom…
scandal!!
“Gu Kilai, wife of China’s disgraced Communist Party leader Bo Xilai, was today handed a death sentence after the court found her guilty of murder in the death of a British businessman, a court official said. Gu's death penalty has…
zhuang zhuang
John is pretty convinced that if there is a difficult way to do something I will find it. Alas, I am beginning to think he is right. Most people return home from China with some beautiful porcelain teacups or a…
donghuamen night market
Since most readers of my blog know my husband, John, they understand that nearly 20 years of marriage means I am nothing if not adventurous. And, when it comes to food, I am, in my humble opinion, the most adventurous…
lama temple
I have discovered what Buddhists have apparently known for centuries… size does matter. On a freezing morning in my first February, with guidebook in hand, I visited the Lama Temple. I hoped to find respite from the biting Beijing winter…