Author archive
19 July 2026
Above: Bear catching bouquet, walking on hands, riding a horse. Unbelievable. Internet in Russia I woke at 0800 Vladivostok time, which was only 0600 Beijing time. With wifi problems I decided to head out into the main square briefly to try do a few things online. This is when I confirmed that as a visitor, […]
18 July 2026
Flying to Vladivostok Today, I’m bound for Vladivostok with D on different flights, separated by 1h50. We left by car for Beijing Capital Airport at 0830 and got there about 0900. The combined check-in queue for all international flights was quiet and we got our boarding passes easily even though my flight wasn’t for nearly […]
17 July 2026
Repeating Tianjin’s Italian concession I headed out about 0730 to revisit some of the Italian buildings that we drove past last night. From my windowless room, I didn’t realise it was drizzling until I stepped out from the hotel. But it didn’t deter me. After crossing the river, I saw a building which I thought […]
16 July 2026
Going to Tianjin Last night was my second night sleep after flying east and it’s usually my worst sleep. I think I would have made it through the night without half a tablet halfway through the night if I hadn’t been worried about the early wake-up at 0630. D arrived late last night and today […]
15 July 2026
Slow start I woke a couple of times through the night, thinking that I had slept the whole nights but each time it had only been an hour or two. Surprisingly, I fell asleep till 0530 when I thought it would be a good time to wake up. It is 2330 in Poland, so I […]
14 July 2026
Arriving in Beijing About 2h30 before landing, the crew commenced the second service. It appears to be the Air China way to serve drinks, then the meal and follow-up with a second drinks round before collecting in. That means one doesn’t have a drink handy with the meal as there is no preset water. So, […]
13 July 2026
Yesterday was an easy day, spent partially indoors. I had started the day with the hotel breakfast which was cheap for Poland at PLN35 (NZD18). And I made good use of the hotel room. With the grey day, I did my rehab exercises and made good use of the internet before I go behind the […]
11 July 2026
I took one brief final walk around the scenic areas of Gdansk before breakfast, then left for the railway station around 0930 to catch the train around 1000. It was an uneventful ride in a conventionally-configured train to Warsaw Central, taking about 3h10. Time went quickly as I tried to find alternative accommodation in Beijing, […]
10 July 2026
Going to Malbork On the way here yesterday, I had spotted from the train, huge awesome brick castle. I looked it up and decided that it would be feasible to visit, if I consider myself to have seen enough of Gdansk. After an awesome night sleep, I woke at 0645 and was out at 0715 […]
9 July 2026
More of Lodz After my quick nightstop in Lodz, I move on to Gdansk by train today. But I have some time in the morning to explore a bit more. I walked to the south of the old city to a development called OFF (as it was off Piotrkowska Street). It’s a drinking and eating […]