As I turned over the next page on my lovely Tooting Bec Lido Calendar, it suddenly hit me that it's April. April!? Despite the past month and a half really dragging on at times, now it feels like time has flown by. I've managed to neglect my blog again recently, so this will be another manic summary post! After I returned from Chinese New Year, I had the whole month of February ahead with absolutely no plans. As most of my Western friends were off travelling...

After a brilliant but exhausting month in Thailand, I was glad to have a week to chill at home before Mum came out to visit. Thankfully, having a cold gave me the excuse to lie in bed all week, watching Breaking Bad and the whole season 4 of Downton Abbey haha. But on Friday 17th January it was finallllly time to move, so I dragged myself out the flat and got on the train to Beijing - Mum was coming, wheeey! I arrived in BJ, checked into the Crowne Plaza, had a...

Right - quick recount of past month and a half… · Dad came to visit! It may have been a short visit, but it was a lovely few days. Started off by making him take me out for Western food - such a treat seeing as I'd pretty much only been eating Chinese food for the past few months. The next day I took him to the rather brutal massage place I go to regularly - the masseuses and I had fun laughing at all the cries and groans of pain Dad was emitting...

As I mentioned ages ago, I joined a gym. In classic China style, the gym has not only become a place for exercise, but also a consistent source of entertainment and surprises. Here are a few highlights: 1) The first time I went to the gym was to a class called "Body Pump". The description on the timetable made it sound kind of like Zumba. I had visions of a high-intensity aerobic dance workout along to a playlist of recent hits. I couldn't have been more...

Hey all! As Kyle pointed out to me a few days ago, it's been over a month since my last post, whoops. Lots has happened in the past month so I'll attempt to give a quick update of some of the highlights: • One of the Chinese ladies I met at the food/wine tasting thing ages ago invited me round to her flat so she could teach me how to cook some simple Chinese dishes. It was a lovely day - her family were visiting from Harbin so that was a laugh, and she was an ...