This is Part One of my series Christmas in China. School term dragged on from August to December without a break. I was more than ready for a holiday and so decided to fly to Chengdu rather than take the train so that I could relax for a few days over Christmas before hefting my …
Author Archives: Will Holland
Advent & Adventure
The term is coming to an end. This term from August to December with no half-term or break of any sort has been exhausting and I’m ready for a rest over Christmas. Yet being as self destructive as I am I’m planning another adventure! My next adventure is back to China in search of the …
Mui Ne and the Holy King of the Sky
Mui Ne Straight after work on Saturday we caught the bunk-bed equipped bus from Saigon up the coast to the fishing town come resort of Mui Ne. I was with a motley crew of Hanh and Kel (both Vietnamese), a young Kiwi English tutor Alice and Jonas; the Ozzy surfer dude. Although not as developed …
Mr Saigon
I’ve been living here in Ho Chi Minh City (AKA Saigon) for a couple of months now. I have moved into a flat and have established a bit of a routine but it’s still a bit disorganised because I’ve not got used to working evenings. Saigon has a population very similar to London (9 million) …
Ho Ho Ho Chi Minh
I’ve reached the end of my travels and started work! The travelling ends and a new adventure begins. I arrived in Ho Chi Minh City at 2am on Monday morning and started work at 2pm the same day. I will be tutoring IGCSE and IB maths here for the next year.
Fresh off the boat
Vending machines on one street corner, shrine on the opposite. I’m definitely in japan! I’ve come from the harbor to Shinsekai, a street in Osaka full of food, arcades and market stalls. I bought some tea from the market. The lady brewed each tea in front of me to allow me to sample them and …
Land Ho!
I’ve been unable to update the blog while in China because the WordPress app didn’t work with chinese Internet. I’m sorting out my backlog of drafts and will publish them soon. * * * Being seasick on a ferry that you took for fun is a lot like having a hangover. As you crouch over …
Same continent, a world apart
Harbin didn’t feel like it was far from Chita but the cities could hardly be more different (2024: it’s more than 1000km….I was getting very blase about long distances!). The quiet streets of Chita are only interrupted by the sound of a dusty, soviet era van puffing up the hill. In Harbin by contrast, the …
Das vadanya and ni hao
Drafted on 1st August. It’s 6am and the view out of the window is very different from this time yesterday and we’ve not even gone far due to 10 hours sat at the border. The picturesque wooden cottages of siberia have given way to cream buildings with bright blue corrugated roofs. The steppe has been …
Buryats, buuz and booze
The guidebook didn’t have anything nice to say about Chita and everyone in Irkutsk told me there was no point stopping here too. But here I am eating buuz in a yurt, laughing and joking with a lively group of Buryats and having the time of my life. The transsiberian between Irkutsk and Chita skirts …
