http://sofasurfers.org Fri, 16 Jan 2009 14:06:37 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en So you don't have to live it yourself. I'm now Writing the Book, see. The tantrums, the toilet raids, the titty tours, the bedroom appointments, even the gothic bondage chatrooms - yup, it will all be there, and much, much more, in glorious, shameless explicitness. It's called On The Couch, it ... http://sofasurfers.org/2009/01/15/read-all-about-it/ "Welcome to London Heathrow. The outside temperature is 7 degrees and the sky is expected to remain overcast today." Reassuringly dreary. But then my travel-tuned eyes turned towards London: so used to they to looking out of foreign windows, gauging new cities, London was instinctively perceived through fresh eyes: all Victorian ... http://sofasurfers.org/2008/12/24/touchdown/ Ignorance alert: presuming that Knightsbridge doesn't count, my visit to Bahrain was my first to the Middle East. So when confronted with the full spectrum of female muslims all within this tiny country (pop. 723,000), I confess I got a little confused. "I class them in a sliding scale..." said my host ... http://sofasurfers.org/2008/12/24/shady-ladies/ See, my flight to London had a stopover there. 'Is that near Malaysia' everyone asked. Exactly. That is, no one seems to know anything about Bahrain, not least where it is (not near Malaysia, of course - it's a tiny country just east of Saudi Arabia), and not least, me. ... http://sofasurfers.org/2008/12/21/but-first-a-choice-of-six-couches-in-bahrain/ Walking to my host's house in Shanghai, I had my first warning of Shanghai's noise nightmare. It was just a humble fast food outlet – y'know, just one of those single-fronted, fluoro-lit only-go-in-drunken-desperation numbers. Outside was a young, suited man who was holding a MICROPHONE (for he was SHOUTING LOUDLY but I'll spare you the ... http://sofasurfers.org/2008/12/20/shut-up-shanghai/ Words you never thought I'd say (though probably never cared enough to wonder): "May I come to church with you?" This was no religious quest, but cultural - how is it to be a Chinese Christian, I'd pondered - since my host is one. Hard... "The head of our family church doesn't think it ... http://sofasurfers.org/2008/12/20/waiting-for-the-god-squad/ The Chinese couchsurfing scene in Shanghai is no different to the rest of the country in that the majority tribe is Western TEFL teachers. I have half resigned myself to the cause to stay with one such Italian boasting 150 references (also a typical characteristic: guests really have to impress these seen-it-all hosts). And ... http://sofasurfers.org/2008/12/18/mission-shanghai/ Knowledge of a couchsurfing school in the neighbouring town eventually lured me like a vampire to blood. (Sadly, a couchsurfing school is not where you get to learn couchsurfing etiquette for once and for all, but instead, here in Yangshuo, in Guangxi province, a private English school where couchsurfers are welcome to stay for ... http://sofasurfers.org/2008/12/18/post-script/ Since conversation was severely limited, I invited Axiang to play ping pong with me. "Uh?" Ping pong! You know, ping pong! Now I understood that ping pong is so called because it's onomatopoeic so I made a smal song and a dance, giving it all the "piiing!" and the "ponggg!", to no avail. So ... http://sofasurfers.org/2008/12/18/ping-pong-is-from-china-boris/ Somewhat against the traffic, as more and more of China's population takes a one-way ticket into its cities and out of rural life, I headed towards the village of Xing Ping in Guangxi province – yes! A village! I'd found a couchsurfer in a village... Or had I? Correct: exactly as feared when going ... http://sofasurfers.org/2008/12/18/country-life/