SimonM, thanks for the article on your trip to Longquan, just the thing for people hwo would like to know how it is to tour in China but just can't make it for whatever reason.

i have a question.... how similar is Putonghua to Mandarin: are they close enough so that the different speakers can readily understand each other?
in my car i keep instructional CDs of Pimsleur's short course in Mandarin, and it's kind of confusing because the title of the cd's of course say "Mandarin" but in the actual lessons we talk a lot about putonghua.

anyway looking forward to more from you, in KFTC mag. good stuff....