The most beautiful place in China: Jiayuguan Fort, in Gansu province

In a couple of weeks I'm going to the 80th birthday party of the father of one of my students. In Mexico! At first this presented a problem - what the hell kind of gift do you get an octogenarian you don't know?

Then I came up with this idea, which I will now give to you for free, in case you are also going to a stranger's party in Latin America: a calendar with photos of his son's exploits in Hong Kong and the mainland! It features my favourite scenes in both places, as the birthday boy is, I'm told, interested in geography.

No printing firm was willing to make one for me - unless I ordered 4,000 units. So I decided to buy a 2016 calendar and jolly well glue the photos on it myself.

While looking for suitable shots, I came across photos from possibly my favourite place in the mainland: Jiayuguan Fort, in Gansu province, a destination for which I still yearn.

It is the most beautiful place in China, and one of the most interesting. I found it by accident while hitchhiking to the Overhanging Great Wall, a kind of mini-Great Wall a short drive from Jiayuguan town.

Driving up the bumpy road with the Gobi Desert on one side and snow-capped mountains on the other, I nudged my friend R: "Look! We're in a Chinese costume drama!"