The Spoonster Spouts

The writings of a West Country Dapwearer

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Category - China

madoi hitchhiking
  • China
  • Travel

Hitchhiking in Madoi County

May 7
by Tom Spooner
3 min read

The leopard skin shirt was a sign. The aviators covering the eyes and the jaw that moved left to right, right to left were also signs. You didn’t get men like him in China, but then again this was not really China. We needed to...

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gulangyu gods of the island
  • China
  • Travel

Re-Inventing the Wheel Gulangyu, China

February 23
by Tom Spooner
9 min read

We have been lost on the island of Gulangyu for hours in the dark, humid night. … It did not occur to us that this island would actually be free from all transport. It was something nice to write in the guidebooks and...

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  • China
  • Travel

They Look at the Sea All Day

September 12
by Tom Spooner

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mountains in china
  • China
  • Travel

Amne Machen: A Moment Uncaptured

November 30
by Tom Spooner
2 min read

Some time ago, I was in a different place, far away from where I am now. I was in the far North East of the High Tibetan plateau in the back of a jeep with two of my best friends, a monk and a driver who sang when his heart...

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tsampa soup, Tibetan Breakfast
  • China
  • Food
  • Travel

Tsampa and the Dog (Xiahe, China)

February 16
by Tom Spooner
2 min read

I watched the market from the first floor of an empty restaurant. I watched traders unpack their wares on the roadside, laying brightly coloured objects in the dirt. I watched as the first customers shuffled in. I watched as the...

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  • China
  • Travel

Missing in China: Monks and Mojos

July 5
by Tom Spooner
3 min read

There was a time during my travels in China when I did not write. I did not put pen to paper, did not type into  these smart little machines, didn’t allow dialogue to bounce around in my mind or words that connected to...

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  • China
  • Travel

China Snapshots – Pollution Postcards

March 15
by Tom Spooner
5 min read

Christmas, Beijing It feels like Christmas. The low-lying hutongs of the Gulag are shrouded in Dickensian mist, red lanterns line the streets blossoming through the fug, and there is enough of a chill in the air to make you yearn...

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  • China
  • Travel

A Day in the Life: China Daily

March 13
by Tom Spooner
5 min read

  China Daily is a daily English-language newspaper in China. I know, the name gives it away. What the name doesn’t reveal though is that the paper is a mouthpiece for the Chinese government.As predictable as the...

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  • China
  • Travel

Caving In: The Retreat to Lijiashan

March 11
by Tom Spooner
8 min read

When the world seems like an increasing hopeless place, it is tempting to retreat into yourself, into a shell away from it all, maybe even into the cold contours of a cave in the western mountains of China. Ok, so admittedly the...

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  • China
  • Travel

We Are The Clowns – Beijing

March 3
by Tom Spooner
2 min read

I am a clown. We are the clowns. Not big-shoed clumsy clowns. Not slap-stick, dick-slap, trip-trick squirty-flower clowns. We are anarchist clowns, J.G Ballard clowns. Bad clowns. Clowns in Japanese nuclear suits and cheap latex...

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