It was a sunny day in Shanghai on Nanjing West road, apparently the longest shopping road in the world. We ex-pats were doing what ex-pats do on a day off, sitting in a favourite pub, The Long Bar, fronting the Ritz-Portman hotel. While we sipped our...
So I have to change her name. Well, at least to the name I have chosen to use in a semi-autobiographical novel I am writing, tentatively titled Shame. Well I remember being attracted to Alexis in what was then a rural part of Boksburg. She had a youn...
Truth be told, I am not married and have never been married, now at the sweet, tender, gullible age of 47. That's right, the Chook and I (the Chook being my missus Marion) have never stood under showers of confetti and their lovely, tasteful represen...
The current furore in New Zealand about the country being a rip-off for tourists (so look out rugby World Cup 2011 tourists) should be taken seriously when a former All Black who played in 81 test matches says NZ is “really expensive”and suggests...
A South African tourist, Tayla Storm, died in New Zealand after a lengthy battle with a rare infection. The tragedy for her and her family will be felt for many years to come. The clumsy cliché of the previous sentence reminds me of how words simply...
A South African visitor has so far cost New Zealand about one and a half million rands because of a rare infection she contracted whilst travelling here in New Zealand. After reading this spectacular sample of hospitality and humanity I needed to tak...
"So I got this cool plot nearly worked out for my new blockbuster novel," I grinned at Dylan, Marion's Kiwi grandson. "Blockbuster?" the eleven-year-old said. "You mean like it's selling lots?""Well, I haven’t got there yet," I said with a mock bru...
Yesterday Marion and I went to the local shopping mall here where we live in Auckland, New Zealand. Whilst having some coffee we got into conversation with a Kiwi couple. I had first noticed him when I went to order the coffee from a takeaway in the ...
Easily the longest queue of my life was getting that new driver's licence card in 2003 in Randburg (how may SA readers out there have stories about that long drama?). I was a mere nine hours in that queue, nothing compared to some. Yet all us South A...
William was one of the hardest workers I knew. He simply loved working with his hands and believed it kept him young. He was always looking for extra work, was a sharp negotiator for the highest wage and I remember him cutting back the privet hedges ...
CRACKING CHINA was previously the title of this blog. That title was used as the name for Rod MacKenzie's second book, Cracking China: a memoir of our first three years in China. A born and bred South African, he is currently in New Zealand.
Rod's links
Kalahari.net CRACKING CHINA, Rod's memoir about living for three years in China, is now available for orders on this website
Knowledgethirstmedia Knowledge Thirst Media: Ordering CRACKING CHINA, the memoir, available for ordering on this website
