Assorted things I learned from a few days in Denmark. Despite what some people may claim, Martini Rosso is never a good thing to drink. Danish looks like mix of German and English (but not in the same way as Dutch). This should not fool (novice) German-speakers into thinking they can pronounce Danish words, they [...]
There were two photo-worthy spectacles from the drive up the M1/A1 yesterday – the first I couldn’t easily stop to capture, but consisted of very thin but dense layer of fog around Durham – not even as thick as the tree-tops, just sitting on the ground in the hollows. A really great, eerie sight. The second spectacle [...]
Tagged a1, strossThe rebuilt (mostly, work still on-going) Camden Market seems pretty good to me, post-fire. Fewer places selling ‘I love London’ tat, and more selling interesting clothes and stuff – as well as some trendy boutiques for those who wish to spend sixty pounds on a t-shirt. It still has the rabbit-warren feeling, but not in [...]
Tagged camden, cyberdog, londonFrom passing the Edinburgh airport Hilton, to walking out of security air-side, a grand total of eight minutes. Online check-in and revamped security to thank, mostly. Once on the flight, KLM had made a clerical error and positioned the divider between business and economy incorrectly – 4F became the last business row instead of the [...]
Tagged edinburgh, klmDithering in a (well-stocked) foreign-language bookshop in Moscow, I felt compelled to pick up something (for the trains) at least vaguely related to either Russia or China. Apparently 1421 is not that great, and I really didn’t want to lug around War & Peace, so settled on 1812, a factual review of Napoleon’s march on [...]
Tagged russiaApparently central Beijing was a place be avoided in summer, even before the smog. So the later emperors would escape to a pleasant country retreat a few miles to the north west. It’s a sprawling collection of buildings dotted around a lake and hill, now filled with locals and tourists. None of the structures are [...]
Tagged beijing, china, trans-siberianCulinary delights in Beijing There is, if possible, a higher density of restaurants than I’ve seen anywhere else, including downtown SF, the curry mile, and so on. The duck is really good – the same basic idea as in the UK, but executed to perfection. The hot-pot is the most fun ‘self-assembly’ meal I’ve ever had – [...]
Tagged beijing, china, eatingout, food, trans-siberianThe Zhongguancun tech-plazas are a cavern (well, several caverns) of unearthly delights. Assuming one is any kind of hardware geek whatsoever. Finding the place was something of an ordeal, mostly due to my pig-headed insistence on trying to walk from the nearest metro stop – that will be a fine idea once line ten is [...]
Tagged beijing, china, trans-siberianOn a Monday morning, after three hours on a bus escaping Beijing and climbing into the hills, spent a few hours at Simatai walking on the Great Wall. I was delighted that the wall really does live up to expectations, and was almost deserted, even with a cable-car providing access to the top. Walking [...]
Tagged china, trans-siberianYonghe Gong, aka the Lama Temple, is the largest Tibetan Buddhist temple in China – it’s an impressive, if predictable, site (tiled roofs, red columns, gates, halls) which somehow survived the Cultural Revolution without being bulldozed. The exact details of how this occurred seem to be slightly mysterious and not dwelt upon by the literature. [...]
Tagged architecture, beijing, china, religion, trans-siberian