This being China we hired bikes yesterday. I got a nice shiny new boys mountain bike with too many gears. Is it me or are most of those gears superfluous? I suppose they're designed for those irritating adrenaline junkies whose idea of a good time is peddling up the north face of the Eiger. Pat plumped for a classic ladies sit-up-and-beg model, replete with basket for your handbag. 'Is he a ladyboy?' enquired the man at the bike hire shop. […]
China is a sombre country. The clothes are like uniforms and nobody is allowed to show any sort of personal identity. Everything is a uniform utilitarian grey and people old and young wear the look of an oppressed society. We went out today as the rain sheeted down and thanked our lucky stars we are from the free and unrestricted west, where personal freedom is put first rather than the greater good. Strolling past endless identikit utilitarian housing we thanked […]