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cecilie gamst berg

Cecilie Gamst Berg remembers the rock-star reception she got everywhere she went after arriving from Norway knowing no Chinese

The best place to stay in Guangzhou (or Gong Jau, as it's really called) is the Oi Kwan Hotel - especially if you don't mind mould, a smell and wall colouring courtesy of a million cigarettes and carpets that do not invite close inspection.

After an epiphany in Lhasa, Cecilie Gamst Berg went from studiously avoiding 'the only other white in the village' to accepting the nods of fellow 'laowai' and even nodding first

Hongkonger Cecilie Gamst Berg remembers when all you heard in China was 'mei you' - meaning 'sold out' or 'there isn't any' - and can't get used to today's customer service ethos

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Flu-ravaged Cecilie Gamst Berg, who can't even manage one day of trekking in the mountains of Zhangjiajie, thinks it a wonder even 10 per cent of the Long Marchers survived the province's chills

You can book online but you have to queue just as long as ever, or longer, to collect your tickets, and when you get somewhere the station is now two hours' drive from the place it serves, moans Cecilie Gamst Berg

People would gather around and gawp as if she was a rock star when Cecilie Gamst Berg first arrived in China. Today, in Hong Kong, they still gawp when they hear her speak Cantonese

Released in 1939, American civil war epic Gone with the Wind remains Hollywood's most profitable motion picture. Ahead of the 88th Academy Awards this weekend, Cecilie Gamst Berg - who prefers the book to the film - takes a road trip to Rhett and Scarlett's old stomping ground.

Cecilie Gamst Berg knew what to do when she was sweating in Hong Kong on Christmas Eve - head to China, where walls are flimsy, restaurants open-fronted, and the only heat is from the cup in your hand

Cecilie Gamst Berg finds the slang they use in China for foreigners more endearing than the Hong Kong version - but takes exception to being called 'laowai' in a restaurant near her home in the city

A road trip along the Bourbon Trail gives Cecilie Gamst Berg an education in Kentucky's movers and Shakers and a welcome taste of one of the American state's greatest exports.

Defenders of extracting bear bile say it is good for people, but, cruelty aside, the infections the animals suffer and the unhygienic extraction process means the bile is mixed with all sorts of bacteria that can make you ill, writes Cecilie Gamst Berg

Cecilie Gamst Berg remembers her first China travel companion, whose allergy to chillis and preference for Western food was often a source of culinary consternation.

Cecilie Gamst Berg remembers the thrill of thundering past the Forbidden City on two wheels, and then getting lost on the way back to her hotel.

Physician-phobe Cecilie Gamst Berg casts her fears aside and books in for a "super-intrusive" check-up at Bangkok's Bumrungrad International Hospital.

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Asia travel