Paperwork Pains
The post-trip dust of mystery receipts and cryptic notes-to-self (‘It [what?!] starts at 4,650m’ and ‘Watch out for… [illegible scrawl]‘) has finally settled. When I’m leading a journey, the adventure is […]
Author Archives: Joanna James
Leaving Lhasa
We made it! Despite the worryingly high chance of getting snowed in en route, we got all the way from Chengdu to Lhasa – 3,000 kilometres – with only two […]
Radio Silence Imminent
All is well in cloudy Chengdu, my guests having thus far braved Chinese domestic flights, temporary driving license applications, and weapons-grade hotpot. Tomorrow the actual hijinks begin… Unlike my adventures […]
Rainclouds and Snowstorms
First for the rainclouds… It’s been a wet afternoon here in Hong Kong. Earlier, as I squeezed my way through the forest of head-height umbrellas that lined a crowded section […]
5 Photos: From the Archives
Last week, as I sat in a hotel in Burgundy overlooking acres of vineyards and writing about the Karakoram Highway, I realised the strangeness of writing about China regardless of my […]
Freewheeling with Nirwan Moktan
On April 1 this year, Nirwan Moktan set off to cycle from Hong Kong to his hometown in Nepal. On his 6,000-kilometre journey home, he passed through many of my […]
How to Order Chinese Food like a Pro
Ordering Chinese food can be a nerve-wracking experience, particularly if you don’t speak or read Chinese. Get it wrong, and your fears of being served platefuls of unmentionable animal parts […]
The Karakoram Highway
Earlier this year I went along the Karakoram Highway for the first time. Lacking both time and a Pakistani visa, I was unable to complete the whole route from Kashgar […]
Three handsome boys, please.
“You know, in Cantonese slang, you can ask for a bowl of rice by asking for a leng jai,” Mr Yak told me years ago, when I was still young and […]
5 Photos: Hong Kong and the Sea
Treasure for pirates, a bumper catch for fishermen, freedom for refugees and vitamin D for pasty tourists; Hong Kong’s coastline and the warm waters that surround it have long fulfilled […]
TCM and Tiger Food
Visiting a traditional Chinese doctor can go one of two ways. You will either have your tongue inspected, your pulse taken in six different ways and leave with a bundle […]
A Call to Doctor Ho
I recently found myself in the awkward position of having to call someone to ask whether they were still alive or not. The man in question, Doctor Ho, and I […]
Teatime in China
Like many British people, I come from a family of tea-drinkers – black tea with milk, please, served after meals or with biscuits and cake. In the past, I’ve tended […]
Pigs have nipples too
Earlier this year I bought a kilo of pork belly in order to make some zhajiang – a satisfyingly salty pork-based sauce that’s popular served with noodles in Beijing. As I unwrapped […]
Travel with care.
Why do we travel? I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently. Perhaps – as the writer Bruce Chatwin believed – we’re all nomads at heart. Perhaps we secretly yearn […]
Little Yak 