April 2013
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Where is abroad?
When I originally started Little Adventures way back in 2007, it was supposed to be a photoblog documentation of adventures travelling ‘abroad’, but these days I’m not too sure where that constitutes as. These days I travel a lot: I study in England most of the year, visit my family in Northern Ireland when term ends, and when summer hits, I usually go further afield or head back...
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Arriving home to find your little brothers are both taller than you, and your grandparents are smaller than you remember.
Old things are shrinking, and young things growing.
February 2013
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WatchEven though they are undeniably silly animals, with little to no interest in continuing their own species, it is impossible to deny that pandas are incredibly, incredibly endearing. Munching on bamboo, sitting on their bottoms, deftly maneouvring massive paws, ambling across my shot…
Silly big bears.
N’awww.
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WatchThe Chengdu Noodle Man.
He’s got serious skills making noodles, and is extremely polite. Kindly let me video him making them, even though he clearly thought I was batty.
You don’t get noodles like this in your ramen-pack folks.
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"Foosball Queen"
That is me. It is official.
My travelling partner took back all table football related insults and conceded that I was the preferable female partner for inter-foreigner table football competition. Never have I been so sporty in my life.
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WatchThe Leshan Buddha.
Incredibly hot day. Sweated my socks off, much to the disgust of the locals. Ended up putting a towel over my head as we queued in the blistering afternoon sun to go down the pilgrims steps to the foot of the big man himself.
By that time, no one was particulaily savouring the sacred stairs experience. We just wanted the sticky, people-herded-down-small-stairs experience to...
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Lack of oxygen: Mount Emei
Peak of Emei Mountain, Chengdu: 3099m
One of those moments of shocking is-this-real breathlessness.
A terrifying rickety bus to the side of Emei mountain, then walked to a still-under-renovation cable car to half-way up the summit: a full running-jump into the tiny cable car; it leaked, it rocked, it was amazing. Proper Chinese mountains, sheer cliffs and the peak rises up out of an endless sea...
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Bean Flower
I had dòuhuā (豆花) from a poor Chinese lady in a car park today. It cost 20p and she scooped the soft tofu out of what looked like a large, olden day milk can and added sugar water from a used water bottle that sat, like a potion amongst other unidentifiable potions, in a cardboard box. Her actions were practised, efficient, and the dòuhuā was lovely and warm. No, I wasn’t sick.
Dòuhuā...
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WatchThe Old Man Dances (Vigorously).
In a large clearing of a park in Chengdu, the local geriatrics congregate for jazz dancing, couples dancing, line dancing and fashion catwalks in the afternoons. They’re mostly pensioners with not much else to do; their sons and daughters work and their grandchildren have school. So they meet in this small open square and enjoy each other’s company...
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“Dǎdì! Dǎdì! Dǎdì! Dǎdì! (打的! 打的! 打的! 打的!)”
– Repeatedly shouted at, around, and across me throughout my first twenty minutes in Chengdu. I have never heard this expression for calling or asking you to take, a taxi, and am suitable baffled to near tears at the awkwardness of not understanding.
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WatchThe Band that Won’t Stop.
The traditional band at the 5PM performance in the walled city of Pingyao get a little carried away with their own music. The lead man has just given a cool look of derision to the man on a PA system trying to get them to stop so the performance can go on. The band’s not having any of it.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a single instrument that...
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WatchTsinghua English Summer Camp.
IT’S COMPETITION TIME!!
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“Everyone goes to Qing Qing Burger.”
– I never went to Qing Qing Burger.
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WatchI love the efficiency of the Taiwan MRT: Mass Rapid Transport. Trains that arrive on the minute with mathematical precision; lines of peaceful silent passengers waiting with regulated, white-paint lines; aircon, slippy, sticky plastic, and insulated quiet. I’ve never been late because of the metro, never head a train arrive late, and heard an announcement of a late train. We just don’t...
