My next destination was Jinghong city in Xishuangbanna region. This area borders Laos and Myanmar, and the cultural influence is obvious. In this region the main ethnic group are the Dai people. Their accents when speaking Mandarin were extremely difficult to understand! Jinghong had some strange huge elephant statues all over the city (rather…

  Although I have not been to every province in China, I honestly think Yunnan is one of the best provinces to visit in China. I started my journeyby flying into Kunming from Xiamen and then took a 7 hour sleeper bus to Yuanyang to see sunrise over the rice terraces. The sunrise was very…

Antoni Gaudí is quite possibly one of the most revolutionary modernist architects of his time. Throughout his long career, he designed and built some of the most striking and comfortable buildings to live in, using innovative solutions, always based on nature. Many of his works, which are more than buildings, you can find in Barcelona,…

  Celebrated annually in the week before Lent in the Spanish capital of Madrid, Carnaval brings the city to life with parades, processions and parties – all the things the Spanish do best. Centred around the Paseo de la Florida in the city centre, Carnaval is an explosion of colour and sound as Spanish citizens…

In the past month, I have been settling into my new life in Beijing and regular classes at Peking University. I have been enjoying life in Beijing but the one thing I have not yet adjusted to is the pollution. The pollution was so serious recently that many athletes participating in the Beijing Marathon had…

  I spent a week Taiwan and travelled to various places. Other than Taipei, I also went to Hualien, Gaoxiong, Yeliu and Kenting. I had a wonderful time there, and the weather and seafood were two constant highlights. I enjoyed strolling through the night markets, practicing my Chinese with locals (they speak a lot slower…

During my two months in France I have been immersed into the French culture and language, my language skills have vastly improved.  Each day, I have a little more confidence when I’m speaking to other French speakers and I feel that people are becoming friendlier, especially at work! ​

Nights were spent in Mongolian nomad’s huts called Gers. With little insulation and heated only by a stove, we quickly learnt to wrap up warm during the sub-zero nights. One morning at the hot springs, we woke up to a thick layer of snow and enjoyed a dip in the warm pools in the snow.…

This month has been really enjoyable, amongst other things I have been to a football match, played my first rugby match in France and even went to Disneyland!         This coming month we are going to see the next PSG match in the Champions league, I have a few rugby games, my…