long-haul zombie
...passport
......mp3
.........mandarin phrasebook
...yep, think I'm just about ready. This afternoon the orchestra are flying to Beijing to start the 2008 China Tour. I'm going to try and write another tour blog every few days, hopefully to give you an idea of what it's like to be on tour with the band, warts (jetlag) and all. Think less Sunday Times and more News of the World.
I'm not sure how useful that mandarin phrasebook is going to be. I had a 'learn mandarin the easy way' -style cd at which I lasted around 4 minutes...they lost me when describing how the same syllable can have several (totally different) meanings depending on the precise intonation (the fact that dialects vary hugely around the country did not exactly inspire me to persevere either). Apparently around 10% of websites are filtered out by the Chinese authorities and the ´óÏó´«Ã½ site is among those, so getting my blogs uploaded is going to be a bit of a round-the-houses affair. Anyway, this is just a quick pre-blog blog, so if there's anything you'd like to me to write about or have any questions, leave a comment.
Now, excuse me while I turn into a long-haul zombie....***mindlessly stares at mini TV screen***
David Chadwick
