have just been greatly tickled by the china travel stories of minyin's colleague, an australian-born singaporean who can hardly speak mandarin. apparently they went to the zoo and were being taken to see a mouse, and she objected most strenuously to having to see a mouse. no no, they cry, not mouse! come this way! and eventually (yes, you have guessed the punchline) she was led to the tiger.

(non-mandarin-speakers: lao2 hu3 = tiger; lao2 shu3 = mouse.)

later on in beijing (in her own words): "obese people, and people with hip replacements15 years her senior were enthusiastically bounding along the wall" while she, having been separated from her tour group, found herself "drinking tea and eating peanuts (after requesting "what the monkey eats" with much gesticulating as she couldn't remember the actual word for peanuts)."

though while in xi'an visiting the terracotta warriors she culled this phrase from an english tourist brochure:

"terracotta worriers are 8th wonder of world. so special once you see you forget to come back."