“Do they really eat the fish that they catch there?” I ask Tina as we walked slowly past a bunch of fishermen with lines dangling limply into the muddy waters of the Shawan River.  Tina and I were on our way home, after a big afternoon of exploring many of the back block areas around her home town of Shawan. Read more…

“You have the right to kill me.  But you do not have the right to judge me”.  These were the classic lines as spoken by Marlon Brando in one of the greatest films of all time, “Apocalypse Now” (1979).  I couldn’t help but think about this as Tina and I sauntered back to our house in the late afternoon.  All around me were a myriad of sights, merchants spruiking their wares; cab drivers hurtling up the road; shoppers closely inspecting items on the footpath they were considering buying. Read more…

“Why did you wake me up?” Tina had cried out.  “I was eating MEAT!”  This was the last sentence of my previous article.  It had described how Tina as a youngster had been brought up in tough conditions, often with a minimum of food to eat.  Meat in particular was a special treat for the family to be enjoyed only occasionally. Read more…

On this slow moving day, Tina and I were taking a walk around various areas of Shawan, her home town. Soon we ended up at some sort of historical site, the birthplace and long term residence of Guo Moruo.  He was an acclaimed Chinese author, poet and historian, being born in 1892 and passing away in 1978.  Read more…

“Come on, Barry – let’s go to the shops and have some lunch!”  Tina suddenly blurted out to me.  “You look so serious.” Read more…

To recap the scenario from the preceding article, I was in a real pickle. I’d suffered a bad bout of diarrhoea in Tina’s apartment on the very day that her toilet had stopped working. I'd been forced to run to her bathroom and unfortunately filled it up with an overflowing mess of poop. Tina in the meantime had dashed out to the shops and her return was imminent.  Read more…

It was morning in Shawan.  Tina and I had just finished breakfast.  I had no idea what she gave me to eat each morning, it was some sort of noodle concoction that tasted somewhat bland yet was nice enough.  Back home, my breakfast typically consisted of a bowl full of almonds, cashews, brazil nuts and pecans.   Topped off with half a cup of mixed pumpkin and sunflower seeds. Read more…

Day 22 dawned.  I couldn’t believe how quickly time was passing.  It seemed like I’d arrived in China just a few days or so previously, but the facts were the facts.  I was entering my fourth week here, like it or not.  I felt a vague yet quite genuine sense of sadness that I'd have to be leaving China soon.  I’d felt immensely happy here and inwardly vowed that I would return, though I knew that due to work and other pressures back in Australia, this probably wouldn’t be as soon as I’d like. Read more…

It was late in the day.  Tina and I had struggled to do the three hour hike home in the dark, after visiting a half completed monastery in the far distant hills around her home town of Shawan. Read more…

It had proven to be an extremely tough yet fascinating day.  Tina and I had just returned from a three hour hike in the dark aroundthe myriad ridges, gullies and foothills surrounding her home town of Shawan.  We’d badly miscalculated though on how much daylight was left in the day, after being both entertained and intrigued by a visit to a half completed monastery in the distant hills.  Being somewhat remote, hardly anyone visited the place, so upon spotting us, the caretaker monk there had been only too pleased to show us around.  Read more…