Reading Time: 7 minutes Hey guys! How’s it all going? Brrrr it’s so very, very wet and cold here in Old Sydney Town, you’d be forgiven to think that winter is coming with the freezing rain and icy winds. Man, I wish I was back in China! Unfortunately I am back, but not in China you see – back at work. Sigh, that’s what happens to us 9to5er’s ain’t it, we’re only allowed 4 weeks a year to venture outside and see the world. Those precious 4 weeks of annual leave is what generates our… William Wallace voice on FREEEEEEEDOM!!! William Wallace voice off Suffice to say I’ve had many…
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Chinese Golden Week
Reading time: 5 minutes Whew, we are back boys and girls! Back from where? Well, China of course! Been a pretty epic trip this time, as chronicled in the last two posts (here and here). Although we spent the majority of the time in Beijing, we were pretty lucky (or unlucky) to experience Golden Week. What’s Golden Week? Well, Wikipedia explains it as the “week from the 29th April to early May containing a number of Japanese holidays”. Nice, nice – the Japanese really deserve it you know? What with their car-making, raw fish and exemplary manners. Good for them. Eh? Why’d you tell a story about Japan, weren’t you…
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4 Things to Know in Beijing (and My Brush with the Authorities)
Reading time: 6 minutes “Halt!” Shouted the voice outside the barracks. I turned, to come face to face into the glaring eyes of a soldier on duty. “What’s wrong?” I enquired with a quizzical look. ”Show me your phone”. I looked around, there were now FOUR soldiers in a semi-circle facing me. Without further protest, I handed it over to the first soldier, who proceeded to scroll through my photo album. “Delete this”, he pointed at the last two pictures I took. Meekly I obeyed, what else could I do? Because this here is China – the country of my birth. In China, taking pictures of government buildings and military…
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CHINA!
Reading time: 3 minutes Yes, that’s right party people, The Frugal Samurai is reporting back behind the Great Firewall! Ahh Beijing, how I have missed you! It’s gonna be great to spend a couple of weeks with the extended family and friends, can’t wait to catch up with them all! MrsFrugalSamurai is joining me for the second week – should be great showing her around the old haunts. Been back in China a couple of days now and I have to say, the changes in the Motherland every time I get back is astounding. This time last year, I was amazed at the technological advances – the free public wi-fi,…
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China
Hola, cómo estás señoras y señores! My apologies for temporarily disappearing for 3 weeks as I’ve only returned yesterday from travelling overseas with an unreliable internet network and a screwy VPN. This meant my original intention of continually uploading witty and insightful posts wasn’t possible. I picked up a bit of Spanish as well. That’s what happens when you go travelling in China, you pick up the local lingo. The main purpose of the trip was to visit my relatives residing there but seeing as I went with MrsFrugalSamurai-to-be, we decided to take in a few of the sights as well. We walked everywhere because walking is generally slower than…
