12 May 2005 I have just come back from a few days in China where my sister is teaching. We spent days in Beijing and in two other much smaller towns; this was the Chinese National holiday and seemingly 37million Chinese were travelling, with 36 million of them at whichever tourist attraction we were visiting!.
It was a fascinating experience of a regime pulling itself from one century to the next in time for the Olympic Games. The road networks in the centre of towns were fantastic with six lane highways in all directions, the newest buildings touched the sky in a fantasy of glass and Feng Shui shapes, the blossom trees bloomed and old men hung cages in the parks so that the birds would sing to each other while the men played cards.
I noticed the children. [more]

7 Apr 2005 Rhiannon came for the last time today. She is an attractive girl and even in her uniform manages to look a little different. Her hair is a mousy colour but she has put a pink tinge on it and there are holes in her face where she had to remove her jewellery in order to go to school. She wears a very little discreet make-up, less than many girls wear. [more]