Arts
One Night in Dezhou
In spring 2013, I travelled by train across China from Guangzhou to Qingdao in the north via Wuhan. Here, the journey resumes with an unintended stopover in the crappy end of Dezhou, an obscure industrial [more…]
Joe Slater
Arts
All change at Shijiazhuang
In spring 2013, I travelled by train across China from Guangzhou to Qingdao in the north via Wuhan. This leg starts at Shijiazhuang, where I discovered the hard way why most Chinese plan their journeys [more…]
Arts
Across Hubei by HSR
In spring 2013, I travelled by train across China from Guangzhou to Qingdao in the north via Wuhan. This part starts in Wuhan, from where the high-speed rails led northward from Hubei Province and across [more…]
Arts
Where the river rages
This is NOT about the Wuhan virus, but it is about Wuhan. In spring 2013, I travelled by train across China from Guangzhou to Qingdao in the north. Wuhan was more or less the middle [more…]
Arts
Gastarbeiter
First a caveat. In the following, there are no commando raids, aristocratic murders, medieval siege engines or scenes of hot sex on a Makati pool table. If that’s you want, scroll straight down to the [more…]
Arts
Lausanne in the rain
Lausanne, 2014 Back in the 1980s, I had been in Switzerland mainly to make a bit of money and “have an experience.” I hadn’t really been too concerned with the politics or culture of what [more…]
Hobbies
On Killing Things
The Switzerland I knew in the 1980s was the other side of the country from Vaud, the remote canton of Graubünden (Grisons), home to German-, Italian- and Romansh-speaking farmers and villagers, where Alpine cattle were [more…]
Hobbies
A Night in the Land of the Lucky
Autumn 2014 So this was the plan. I was doing a Eurail circuit of France, and while in Dijon wanted to include a day or two in nearby French-speaking Switzerland. But because I was on [more…]
Arts
The Master-Builder of Brussels
Brussels. Is there any less loveable west European capital? The moment you step out of Bruxelles-Midi station — after all these years, I still forget that Midi means south, not central — your heart sinks. [more…]