Erik von Daniken’s ‘Chariots of the Gods’ came to my town when I was a kid. Alexandra, New Zealand was perhaps a bit information-starved. There was one-channel TV, radio of course, and a couple of newspapers. And then there were the ‘Pictures’ (one a week movie screenings… Read more
All posts tagged “Travel”
Lebanon – Last Gasp of the Cedar Forests
Europe to Australasia is long-haul, and if you are not into heroics, it’s nice to break the journey somewhere. I wonder how many travellers consider Lebanon? The big draw-card for me were the famous ‘Cedars of Lebanon’. This is a highly relictual patch of trees… Read more
Cheap Eats Nanjing 12 – Sticky Rice Cake and other nibblies
I spotted this little take-away cake shop one evening after getting a cheese fix opposite. Pleasant woman in charge and bunch of nice looking things for sale. I settled on two muffins and a sort of cake. It was very dense, but I had no… Read more
Estonia – the Swamp and the language tree
Estonia was my first-ever experience of driving, by myself, on the right hand side of the road. I tried to keep it simple. All I needed to do was pull-out from the car hire place (small town, Viljandi linn), negotiate a round-about at the edge of town, then I… Read more
Cheap Eats Nanjing 11 – Fried Dumplings
I’ve been making eyes at this place for ages – the dumplings get cooked in an guaranteed eye-catching arrangement on a hot plate on the street by the front door (see Featured image) and inside it’s usually chocka-block with customers. Eventually I gave them a… Read more
Turkistan, Kazakhstan, not Tukmenistan
I’m not at all sure I remembered when all those ‘stans’ appeared on my radar. Did I know about them before the Soviet Union fell apart, or did they just appear in the news so gradually it seemed like they were always there? There’s Uzbekistan,… Read more
Mongolia – The Ghost of Moron
It was on the flight back to UIaan Baatar that I remembered the ghost. My field partner, Nyambayar, and I had been working in an area near the Mongolian town of Moron (pronounced ‘muh-roon’). Moron lies in the far north of Mongolia and is the gateway to… Read more
Cheap Eats Nanjing 8 – Boiled Dumplings
I’ve been going to this place since Day-One. Fortunately I had a local with me at that time to point things out. Now they know me, and what I’m after when I wave and point. The specialty is traditional boiled dumplings. There are various fillings and… Read more
Cheap Eats Nanjing 7 – Eggplant and noodles at ‘Have Never Met’
A trendy (the Andy-Warholesque portraits of Mao on the walls are a sort of hint, not to mention the name) up-market (eye-catching menus) sort of place. I spotted this weeks ago, then couldn’t find it again for ages. Just a few of their offerings have an… Read more
Cheap Eats Nanjing 6 – the ‘Chicken Curry’ place
If you are like me and get a craving for cheese now and again, there are limited options in Nanjing (I haven’t yet found any shops to simply buy the stuff). One option is a pizza-joint. They are around, but what you get tends to… Read more