China’s population is the largest in the world, estimated at 1.4 billion people, and the ramifications of this number constantly ripple through every part of daily life. There are always lines at every turn, transportation is crowded, and of course, there is limited personal space. Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival, falls on January 23rd this year, and is a time...

There is just something wonderful about staying in a hotel. All your needs are catered to with a smile. "Mr. Colin" rings in your ears like a sweet symphony when inquiring about coffee, pool, the best place to enjoy a Hendricks Gin (with a slice of cucumber obviously). Hotel stays are the perfect departure for a change of scenery and an inflated sense of importance. Cho...

The plane glided into the tiny airport at around 9am. I sauntered off the plane and down the road to my hotel, enjoying the luxury of waving off taxi drivers even if my accommodation was not to be one of the five star wonders that flank the waves. Having picked my way around a pungent wet market and a rickety wooden bridge, by 10am I was at the beach. Phu Quoc is...

Over the past twenty-five years, China’s economy has developed rapidly to the point where China is now one of the world’s leading importers and exporters, with a year-on-year growth of 25.8% as the total calculation for import and exportation for 2011. The profit on exports alone was calculated to have grown by 27.6% in the first half of 2011 and despite recen...

The Chinese annual calendar has two ‘golden weeks’ which, when combined with a weekend, give seven consecutive days of National holiday. The most famous ‘golden week’ holiday is during Chinese New Year, which occurs in late January or early February as determined by the Chinese lunar calendar. The second ‘golden week’ takes place from O...

When I first came to China in 2006, I went to live in Chongqing. In my preparations for leaving Australia, I remember getting a slew of vaccinations though my memory fails me as to precisely what these were… Typhoid? Hepatitis A? They sound about right but there may have been more because I do remember the sum of them having a mighty strong effect.