Category: essay
-
Tibet is Here
It was the sort of flight which would crash, I reasoned: a random, once-a-week route to a remote area where Tibetan independence protests often took place. An old aircraft, difficult mountains. It probably wasn’t an economic route for anyone. A crash would be a good reason to cancel it altogether.
-
Chinese Whispers
When I leave the hotel early each morning, walking out into still air, there is the crack of a whip.
-
Exploring Dandong: A View into North Korea
I had come to Dandong in China’s northeast to see the Yalu River, the natural border separating China and North Korea, but had not reckoned on Dandong itself.
-
Shaoshan: The Birthplace of Chairman Mao
The strangeness of visiting Shaoshan had appealed to me. Since his death in 1976 the idea of Mao Zedong has been in flux. All over China he is visible: his face on every bank note, his portrait on the wall of Tiananmen Square near where his embalmed corpse lies, often with a line of weeping…
-
On My Birthday
My birthday started as I wanted: up early with coffee, reading something new.
-
The Race Delusion
I was part of a pack of five, hurtling past purple heather on the slick wet road, smoky cloud clinging to the hillsides, when the epiphany came.
-
A Royal Myth
Something strange drew me to the pavement of the city bypass one morning last September.
Bardo travel: Writings on experience and place 