This is your last chance to see anything swine flu related for a long time. That sickness is well and truly gone in a big cloud of tiny rocks from inside the Etna something jökull. →
The woman is outside her house (or maybe somebody else’s house, but let’s just presume.) Straight forward, right? You know woman 女人 (leui yan), outside 出邊 (cheut bin) and house 屋企 （uk kei). But as usual, →
It seems to be that one of the biggest problems in Canto, especially for native English speakers, is word order. But that’s what you should pay the most attention to in my opinion. Look at →
Ahh! Back from another trip to my ancestral home, Guangdong province, cradle of Cantonese language and civilisation. The government must have been working overtime the last month, or since I was there last, to drum →
Guangzhou has been my favourite big city in China for years, certainly after the government finished the destruction of Beijiing in the name of the sacred olympics. Two weeks ago I was there again, probably →
I’m going back to those scraggy crags today! Now you can come too. Just click on China Tours and you’re there!
Did you know that “Good Friday” is called “Jesus experiences difficulties festival” (耶穌受難節）（ye sou sao laan jit) in Chinese? I bet you didn’t. But now you know, and by going on an Easter trip with →
Come with! Come with!
Dear chaps. In our series “screams and muffled cries from the vault” we bring you another item from our archives. It explains why, when you speak to a HK person in Cantonese, he answers you →
Here’s a missive from 2008, just after the sacred Beijing Olympics when I finally could get a visa to China again: Not that I smoke joints anymore but I do get disillusioned sometimes about my →
I have some victims who have been at it (learning Cantonese) for a while, and have dozens if not hundreds of pages of course material. In loose sheets. When I suggest they try to put these papers in something resembling order for example in a ring-binder, they scoff: “I thrive on creative chaos!” (They are investment bankers.)
But while they are creatively looking through a million sheets of course material and notes, valuable minutes and years tick by. Their more organised study mates have to sit through the endless rustling for hours on end, patiently tapping their fingers. This is not fair.
People – get your papers in order! You could do worse than taking a leaf out of ah-On’s book (ha ha) -see photo above. Put the stuff in categories and have some kind of marker or flap indicating where everything is. Get rid of the clutter and I promise you that your Cantonese will improve no end. You wouldn’t live in a house that messy, would you?
I’m so afraid of the dentist, I go every four months. That sounds like a contradiction and a half, but it’s true. Going every four months gives me peace of mind and no cavities. (Also, →
Where are these people going? Could they be going to the headquarters of venerable bank HSBC, you know, The World’s Local Bank that you can only access if you live in China or Hong Kong →
Ahhrghhh! I normally love making and editing films but this one from Hainan Island is dragging. Is it because I made it a long time ago and it’s no longer fresh? Or is it because →
Sleepy backwater Pui O, a haven of backwaterishness and sleepiness. Who would think this village and especially its beach would become a hub for mainlanders on shopping sprees? They spend the days shopping in the →
Before Cantonese, a little sad and wistful Woo-hoo! It’s moving forward so fast. Got a great little group together for Radio Lantau’s Cantonese course CantoNews! Making podcasts from all over this wondrous island, we’re going →
Well, I haven’t not said it before but only to a handful of people: if you’re a student of mine studying at the hallowed halls of Honolulu or just want to go to legendary Honolulu →
This morning, as most mornings, I went to the beach with my trusty dogs Koldbrann and Lasi. It was raining vigorously, a phenomenon not uncommon in Hong Kong and southern China. Rain is water, water →
I love my house, my beach and my island (Lantau Island in Hong Kong) but sometimes I wish it was just a little bit closer to Shenzhen! Going there is, quite frankly, a bit of →
Wei wei wei, do you remember Naked Cantonese on RTHK? I do. Oh, happy times with ah-Sa! The laughter, the tears! We travelled to public toilets and other wonderful places; one one weird occasion we →
Last night I cooked for eight people, Sichuan food naturally. Now I’ve got the mother of all washings-up to grapple with. Cooking for eight people is three days’ work altogether and the dish-washing is pretty →
Rain, rain and I’m stuck in my office writing a book. I like books, I like writing, but I don’t like being stuck!
In times like these, my thoughts inevitably turn to travelling, especially thundering through the deserts and mountains of Xinjiang Province (新疆，San Geung, New Frontier)
I have been to Xinjiang five or six times, but never tire of the vast, open spaces and bus or train trips that can last up to 30 hours. I find them soothing, but train trips are of course best. The card playing, the beer, the excellent food in the restaurant car… it’s a moveable feast if there ever was one.
I want to be in something hurtling through something vast again! But I must finish the damned book before the end of July. I will finish it. Then I can get on that train and go into the hinterland. The only problem is that some of the trains（火車，fo che, Fire Car) in China nowadays are so up themselves, they think they are planes （飛機，Fei Gei, Flying Machines):
