Latest
-
Read more: 144. Shanghai, you magnificent overachiever.144. Shanghai, you magnificent overachiever.
If cities were supermodels, Shanghai would be the impossibly tall, other-worldly beauty, all height, confidence and angles, with silky molasses-coloured hair, improbably bright blue eyes, flawless skin. The kind of presence you simply can’t look away from. I was struck by her scale and shine. There’s a palpable sense of pride in what’s been built.…
-
93. And the fog rolled in.
Read more: 93. And the fog rolled in.I’ve just had a little reminder that life sometimes doesn’t give a fuck about your best laid plans. The pilots are calling it fog in Shanghai, most probably a pea soup combination of nature and its toxic belching opposite slugging it out for supremacy. So with four hours to catch a plane to Paris, I…
-
89. Demon slayer.
Read more: 89. Demon slayer.Look. I might be imagining it. But when I walked back from the first 90 minute meditation of the retreat, I was PRETTY FUCKING CALM. Like, a lot calmer than I was when I nervously walked towards the place that’s for sure. I celebrated by dropping into a sake bar round the corner from the apartment.…
-
88. Is meaning the new money?
Read more: 88. Is meaning the new money?As this has become my travel blog, I am checking in from Sydney. There is a writer’s festival on. There is VIVID, the festival of art, music and ideas, and there is a refuge retreat at Mahasiddha Kadampa Meditation Centre. This is the same group I flirt with in Auckland. Add to this collision of…
-
87. Friends I made in Tahiti.
Read more: 87. Friends I made in Tahiti.I know it sounds a lot like an imaginary friend, but I met a French woman called Francy this week. I met her at my accidental aerobics class, once I could talk again properly. She’s an adventurer, a little blond fireball of energy and light, probably 60 I reckon. Lived here for 15 years now,…
-
86. Losing my Jet Ski virginity.
Read more: 86. Losing my Jet Ski virginity.The guide was a loose unit, only vaguely interested in us. You do this before? Four out of six of us said no. This is the throttle. No brakes. Okay, follow me! He took off like there were killer ants threatening to crawl into his jocks. He didn’t look back. We blasted around the island,…
-
85. Just the three of us.
Read more: 85. Just the three of us.I took an early morning walk today. My plan was to stride it out on the beach, get my heart rate up a little, then make a rare appearance at the pool – which would be empty but for me star fishing in the middle of it. This was a good plan. But I wasn’t…
Secret Royalty On Tour 