Advantages: A masterpiece Disadvantages: A very long masterpiece
Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina is an incredibly popular story. Well known and loved by many it has survived the passage of time and is as beguiling and popular now as it has ever been.
I say story rather than novel as this has been the subject of many film and TV adaptations, from Greta Garbo in 1935 to Sophie Marceau in 1997 the IMDb website lists no less than 24 different adaptations, from all over the world.
How popular the novel itself is is questionable, weighing in at over 800 pages it is quite daunting but if you've only seen the films you really have missed out. The novel is a masterpiece of literature and covers characters and themes far beyond the reach of film.
I'll be honest and say that I've never seen any of these adaptations but from the synopsis' and commentaries I've read it seems that they focus almost entirely ...
Advantages: Beautiful buildings and a look at life for many ordinary citizens of Beijing Disadvantages: Can be busy and cramped
A hutong is an ancient alleyway or lane found in Beijing which can date back as far as the Yuan dynasty of China in the 13th century. The crisscrossing alleys can now offer a glimpse of another part of this ancient city that is quite different to the major attractions such as the Summer Palace or the Forbidden City.
The tiny, twisted and interconnected lanes wind through whole areas of the city of Beijing. The lanes are lined with traditional stone houses all arranged in quadrangles, so four houses around a courtyard, which are beautiful old fashioned buildings. They often involve carved pillars, window frames and doors and the open spaces of the courtyard lets in air and light to otherwise quite cramped areas-some of the lanes really are tiny with less than a metre of breadth. Most of the hutongs are still used as housing and are ...
flyingllamas 07.08.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Hutongs, Beijing
Advantages: Cheap, with helpful staff Disadvantages: pricy food (compared to outside of hostel),
I am back again, writing from the East! I write this while still at the hostel, while I wait for a train to Shanghai this evening. We checked out before 12 so effectively my experience of the place is complete. They are storing our bags and allowing us to use the communal facilities as we wait.
We booked our holiday to China in November, planning to go to Chengdu to visit a school friend of mine. She told us she would scope out the local hostels for us and that there was a chance we could stay in her friends flat instead. Then the earthquake hit Sichuan, and our holiday looked like it was going to be cancelled. We decided to change our destination to Beijing instead, and my friend came to join us. She recommended the hostel that she had stayed in on her last visit and it looked nice enough online, so she booked it for us a couple ...
