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…
-
-
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…
-
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,…
-
What Path Would You Tell Your 15 Year Old Self To Go Down (Part 2)
Reading Time: 13 minutes OK guys, we are BACK! Who’s excited?!!! I know I am, let’s DO THIS. Do what you ask? Finish off the last post (read here), which was the first part of the response to my schoolmate DP ‘s question: Knowing everything you do now, what path would you tell your 15 year old self to go down? So let’s get to it, onto the next part! Wait, aren’t you forgetting something? Oh yeah, that’s right – before we jump in, I have to mention a big THANK YOU to everyone who commented and read through the previous post, it was one of the more commented on posts I’ve…
-
Father’s Day Special
Reading Time: 4 minutes Hai Guyz! How’d your weekend go? Did you spend it with Dad (or at least share a moment with him)? MrsFrugalSamurai and I certainly did, having dinner with our respective parents as they regaled us with stories from the old country. I’ve heard many of those stories before of course – yet I often reminisce and wonder what would have happened if we had stayed in the country of my birth. Certainly life would have been very different. However as a second generation migrant, myself – like so many others, are now blessed to call Australia home. It was very different growing up for I remember my…
