Snippets of Qufu. Shandong Province, China. July 2009. Cover photo courtesy Vmenkov. You don’t have to be an expert on philosophy to have heard of Confucius. I think most of us know that he was a Chinese philosopher revered for his teachings on ethics and self education. To be honest with you, I had never […]
Read MoreSnippets of Tai’an. Shandong Province, China July 2009. Should one of the world’s most sacred Taoist and Buddhist mountains ever find itself onto your bucket list, look no further than the prefecture level city of Tai’an in China. Home to around 5.6 million people, it is an intriguing mix of traditional markets, towering shopping malls […]
Read MoreSnippets of Zhujiayu. Shandong Province, China. July 2009. I’ve seen a fair bit of China over the years. Across these travels, I can’t think of many spots that can compete with the authenticity of Zhujiayu. Located in Shandong province, some 45km to the east of the city of Jinan, this mountainous village felt like a community […]
Read MoreSnippets of Jinan. Shandong Province, China. July 2009. The concrete jungle of Jinan lies five hours south of Beijing. That’s a comparatively swift three hours if you treat yourself to the high-speed bullet train. As the capital of Shandong Province (slightly larger than Greece), the city is home to nine million people. I arrived by […]
Read MoreSnippets of Tianjin, China. July 2009. Around seventeen months ago I started publishing my short story series Challenged in China. Comprised of 18 tales from my first year in China (2009-2010), the collection documents my experiences living and teaching in Beijing in addition to the many travels I undertook across the country. Now, at long […]
Read MoreMediana: The Roman Ruins of Niš. December 2023. “What have the Romans ever done for us?” I’m not sure how popular Monty Python is in Serbia, but somehow I feel this is a question the average Nišian would be unlikely to ask. After all, it was the Romans, or rather one Roman in particular, who […]
Read MoreThe Grisly Skull Tower in Niš. December 2023. So how about that time Sladja and I went on a Christmas Eve walk to see an historic stone structure embedded with human skulls? Ho, ho, ho, etc. It was a crisp morning in the Serbian city of Niš as we set off on a walking route […]
Read MoreA Rainy Day at Niš Fortress in Serbia. December 2023. We had to wait for the beating rain to subside before leaving the apartment. It was an inflexibly grim, grey winter’s morning and yet nothing as trivial as the weather could spoil our mood. After all, this was the first of four days we’d awarded […]
Read MoreChristmas in the Serbian city of Niš. December 2023. Sladja and I find ourselves back in Serbia every couple of years. Usually to check in with her parents in the town of Obrenovac. And to take care of medical and admin matters in Belgrade. In the winter of 2023 we stayed for several months, admittedly […]
Read MoreThe 12000 Year-old Settlement of Lepenski Vir in Serbia. July 2021. I can’t imagine many people would look at some archaeological ruins and claim: “Now THIS is how you celebrate your birthday”. Now let me be clear, Sladja didn’t actually utter those words. But I know that’s how she was feeling. You see, my wife […]
Read MoreA Birthday Bonanza in Donji Milanovac. July 2021. It was a 46-minute drive from Golubac to Donji Milanovac. On this particular taxi ride we were more grateful than ever to be doing the journey privately in a cool vehicle as the summer temperatures had gone up an extra couple of notches. In short, it was […]
Read MoreOrthodox Disney Vibes at Tuman Monastery in Serbia. July 2021. It was our last day in Golubac and after all the excitement of our adventures in and around the fortress we found ourselves at a loose end with a spare afternoon to kill. Reading through the choice of sights near the village, a clear contender […]
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