Yesterday I had a "Yes, Minister" orgy (it wasn't actually an orgy)and now I'm all about Sir Humphrey. I love it when he smiles!


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These are works by my favourite artist, Zhao Bandi:


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Bah! This is so like early man's first tentative blog. I can't even manage a userpic! Yet thermaland has thousands!

I'm back and available for boozings.

And happy signal 3 typhoon warning! Here's a TOP SECRET: the only difference between a typhoon and a hurricane is that one is over the Pacific and the other over the Atlantic. A man called Brian told me ( Read more... )

I can't get enough of this Chinglish guide to Tibet! Try this recipe ( Read more... )

Back from Leshan, where I contemplated the world's largest buddha statue. But what really alarmed me was getting back to my hotel room to find a line of ants traipsing across the bed. Where did they come from? ME? Have I got ants ( Read more... )

Today I discovered a new species! I call it the Tibetan grey vole, but scientists can give it whatever Latin name they please. There are plenty of them in the park behind the Potala (voles, not scientists).

Of course you get 5 points for every buddhist monk you see (3 points for Christian monks), but how many points do I get for this haul ( Read more... )

This morning I flew from Chengdu to Lhasa over the Himalayas. The gods were kind - I had a window seat and visibility was excellent. It was incredible! I have seen parts of the world that humans were surely never meant to see! And I saw my first glaciers - dozens of them - and they are like big, wrinkly, dirty caterpillars ( Read more... )