The Old Man and the Sea review

“Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with that there is”

It’s such a simple story — a man trying to catch fish — written without much fanfare. Few adverbs and I doubt there is a single metaphor in this book. But how we do one thing is how we do everything. And this is a battle of stoic man versus a big fish. Old methods and motorboats, of aging and youth, of experience and luck, of the journey and the destination, of pride and humiliation, locals and tourists. About life when nobody is watching.

Like the other hunting-for-a-fish classic, Moby Dick (although Herman Melville takes it to 800 pages), it takes one subject and looks at so many sides of it. And when the tale is through, you’ve briefly lived another life.

Latest

Dutch Signs in Xixinan

Dutch Signs in Xixinan

It’s a foggy morning in Xixinan Village 西溪南村, a village near Huangshan. I’m tired of sleepless nights with a 5-month old baby, but I equally want to take this opportunity to take some photos, so I’m outside the door at 06:30. Watertowns like this are usually crowded during the day, but deserted this early. Xinanxi […]
February 16, 2026
A Dam in Yuliang

A Dam in Yuliang

After Zaotai Village, we’re driving around the Huangshan (黄山) area, which is surrounded by dozens of historical towns, and we’re trying to pick the least touristified ones. Today we’re in Yuliang (渔梁村), a village dating back to the Sui Dynasty (1500 years ago). What was a mere settlement started to become really wealthy around 600 […]
February 14, 2026
The Last Road To Zaotai

The Last Road To Zaotai

The road becomes too small for cars to drive on, so we park, pack our bags, and continue on foot. Two donkeys are waiting where the path starts, and they — like us, are going to the abandoned village of Zaotai (皂汰村). We departed in the morning from our hostel in Sanyang (三阳镇), a village […]
February 13, 2026
The Path and Meaning

The Path and Meaning

“We walk down the path in Xikeng.” Three years ago, I started a note with that sentence. We visited a row of villages in the south of Zhejiang, and Xikeng (西坑) was at the end of the day — the least touristified town of them all. The village had dozens of old buildings, sliced by […]
February 4, 2026