I'm not in Kansas anymore...

Tangkou, the gateway to Mount Huangshan A rather fabulous and drunken final evening was spent in Shanghai at a mini film festival watching documentaries about appropriately, food, at an artsy venue above the Dutch Design workshop. Sipping free beers on the roof and indulging in a gourmet barbecue amidst the hipster ex pat elite, I felt that, had it not been for the low hanging hazy air and the neon lights of the metropolis, I could have been in Shoreditch. Having been suitably oiled up with free booze we spent the night franticly packing before heading off on adventure - out of the city and into the Chinese countryside.  The day began with a schlep across town to the long distance bus station. The ride took approximately 6 hours. As a seasoned traveller, this was OK for me - I had my headphones firmly plugged in and could while away the hours with my tunes. Poor Will, however, was subject to the cacaphanous sounds of screechy music over the loudspeaker that screamed ...

Earlier this year, if you'd asked me about my favourite foods, I would have happily waxed lyrical on many Eastern cuisines: Vietnamese, Japanese, Thai.  But Chinese food wouldn't be on the list. In fact it would not have even come close. I mistakenly believed that the luminous, MSG-ridden stuff you get in foil containers with cardboard lids takeaways was the real deal. One day, a friend who had grown up in China chastised me for my dismissive attitude and told me I hadn't lived until I'd eaten on the  mainland. And, oh how right he was.  I am a self confessed foodie and having subsisted on lentils, vegetables, dahl and dahl baht for the previous 6 months, by the time I landed in China I was ready to eat. And eat I did. In fact, I couldn't stop eating. Each meal was just too good to be true - and in local Chinese restaurants the price was an absolute snip. I enclose below, some 'food porn' for your gustatory viewing pleasure. Enjoy!  *apologies to John B...

Me and Will: back to city life China. I embarked from a plane with probably the most lax attitude to airline safety ever in terms of people wandering around, belts off, as we were landing and queuing to get out before we had even taxied off the runway. In Shanghai I was confronted with total, Western first-world-madness beginning with the high speed Maglev which rocketed us from the airport to the city at 140km/h and culminating in the glittering 24th floor city apartment which would become my home for the next week. The flat belongs to my dear friend Will who had 'jumped off' 8 months earlier and taken a placement in Shanghai from his employer, Tesco. Will and I have had a deep and long standing  relationship and it was interesting coming face to face with him after a hiatus in which both of us had undergone such a profound life change. There he was, relaxed and comfortable in his ex pat life and here was me with matted hair, a tan, BO and a head full of Shiva! The...