It’s that time of year again when the memory of former Riverdancer, Dr Eithne Walls, will be marked by her friends, family and former colleagues running the 2013 Flora Womens Mini Marathon to raise money for Dublin’s Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital’s Research Foundation.  Eithne, a former Riverdancer and a Doctor at the RVEEH, was a passenger along with her friends and colleagues Dr Aisling Butler and Dr Jane Deasy on the ill-fated Air France Flight 447 which disappeared over the Atlantic on June 1 2009.  Each June Bank Holiday since then her friends, family, and former colleagues in both Riverdance and the RVEEH have come together to run the Mini Marathon as a way of remembering Eithne.

After Zhengzhou, we were ready to brace the extreme cold of Inner Mongolia and arrived early afternoon to Hohhot. With temperatures as low as -21C, it was no surprise that the majority of the cast stayed indoors. Our talented physical therapist, Garrett Dockery fully embraced the weather however and went wandering. Not long later, he informed me he spotted a group of locals ice skating on the frozen pond and decided to join them..no bother to Garrett!

Browsing Panjiayuan Outdoor Antique market down in the South Chaoyang district and I was not prepared for the cold. Forced to duck in and out of jade and amber dealers’ booths to warm up, I braved the biting arctic winds. Although the weather was unwelcoming, the local dealers were not.

We have really been travelling far and wide since my last blog and I was extremely excited to experience Hohhot in Inner Mongolia. Preferably I would have ventured out more during my time there, but the cold air was intense,

Mr Whelan signalled the strong possibility that Riverdance will be performed in Limerick as part of one of the major events for the year, the draft programme for which is expected to be unveiled in June. “It would be absolutely my hope that that will happen and I have already approached my partners in Riverdance on this and I think we will make this happen,” he said.

James Greenan is one of the male leads with  Riverdance, currently performing in China as part of the Riverdance Grand Theatre Tour. James was born in London but moved with his family to Co Cavan at the age of 11. A keen footballer, he took some persuading to take up dancing, but has never looked back since.

Distracted by Inner Mongolian sub zero temperatures, flights galore and simply trying to stay warm in our hotels, I have been somewhat slacking on my blogging and forgive me, but I am slipping back a fortnight and going to tell some tales of our adventure in Beijing.

We were called in early for rehearsals and just a few hours later, we were on stage with no costumes, dancing shoes or proper sound system…just sheer, raw talent and a determination to provide entertainment to the best of our ability. We were also treated to the fantastic blind Chinese band who belted out tunes such as “Reel Around The Sun” from the show and it was a pleasure for all of us to witness this and songs from the talented Emma Warren and Ben Mapp. We even dragged audience members up for a ceili and taught “The Walls of Limerick”, a traditional Irish team dance.

This week I bring you pictures from Beijing and Zhengzhou, Henan. This was my second time to Beijing, and my first time entering the Forbidden City in Tiananmen Square. Under pressure for time I speedily tried to absorb my surroundings taking in the grand scale and ornately detailed buildings.