The Ladykiller
When Wayne pulled up on his motorbike and asked me where I was going, I’m afraid I sighed inwardly, in anticipation of the conversation ahead. Like most independent travellers, I […]
Author Archives: Joanna James
In Yangon
I’ve been in Thailand for a week now, and it took several stern conversations with myself before I resolved to start this post. My first four weeks travelling through Burma […]
To Burma
In a few hours time I will be on a flight over the Andaman Sea from Singapore to Yangon. Doesn’t that sound romantic? If this were the 1930s —when Yangon […]
The Mysteries of Chinese New Year
In 2013 I spent Chinese New Year in Zhaoxing, a tiny village in Guizhou. The resultant food-and-firework-related trauma led me to put together a survival guide to the experience. Happily, […]
Five Great Tibetan Roads
Tibetan roads come in two flavours, plateau-straight and mountain-ripple. While plateau roads make for easy driving and quick progress, my heart belongs to the mountain roads that curve across the […]
One year on…
When I started the Little Yak blog in August 2012, I really didn’t know what I wanted to say – it took me until January 2013 to work up to […]
“Ladder Fields”: Where to see China’s rice terraces?
In southern China, where there are hills, there are rice terraces. These “ladder fields”, as they’re called in Chinese (梯田, tītián) snake across hillsides from Fujian to Yunnan, cut into thousands […]
Bodhisattva For Sale
“Come here”, the cook said, beckoning Chinese-style – her palm facing down and fingers moving together. I followed her behind the grimy sheet that hid the kitchen from the restaurant […]
Five things I’ve learned about travel photography
My camera and I travelled almost 30,000 kilometres (or 18,750 miles, but that doesn’t sound nearly as impressive) across China last year. We returned with over 10,000 photographs documenting all […]
Golden Worm: A Film
“Look! They only have to work for a few months each year – the rest of the time they just relax and get fat…” Dorjee grumbled as we were overtaken […]
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year, dear readers! I hope that 2014 is off to a good start for you all. Here in Hong Kong, we’re in limbo between the Western New Year […]
Merry Christmas Chilli Sauce
Merry Christmas one and all! I hope you’ve all managed to have fun despite the ice storms, floods and smog clouds that have afflicted various parts of the world in […]
The Last Town in Sichuan
The town of Manigango sits astride a crossroad in north-west Sichuan. Turn right here, and an ancient dirt road will lead you into Sichuan’s extreme northwest, the birthplace of Tibetan […]
The Little Yak 2014 Calendar
A drumroll, please: Just in time for Christmas and the end of the year, the Little Yak elves (i.e. my lovely printers) are putting the finishing touches to our 2014 […]
The Case of the Lost-and-Found Passport
{In which my guests and I leave Chengdu on the journey that will take us to Lhasa:} While driving through rush-hour Chengdu bears more than a passing resemblance to piloting a […]
Little Yak 