Beauty Valley
Danba County is a 12 hour, very bumpy bus ride from Chengdu. The roads are narrow and dusty, and many sections are either being upgraded or repaired from damage from the massive earthquake in the region a few years ago. There were several spots with delays of an hour or so while we waited for […]
Giant Pandas, Walking, and Eating Chengdu
Chengdu Chengdu is a comfortable, easy-to-navigate city and a good jumping off point for many of Sichuan’s sights. Within reach are beautiful national parks, mountains and valleys, and the Tibetan plateau to the far west of the region. Chengdu has a sparkling new (opened at the end of 2010) subway, and a laid-back population of […]
Yangshuo Dream
Enticed by the views in Guilin, but wanting to get far away from the city, we set our sights on Yangshuo. Since we hadn’t yet gotten onto the Li River, we signed up for bamboo raft transport from Yangdi, near Guilin, to Xingping, 45 minutes or so from Yangshuo. This stretch of the river is said […]
Back to School
Language is an occasional barrier to getting the best eats in China, but we refuse to be deterred. We’ve developed some good strategies, and have been greatly enjoying the results. Last month in Pingyao we met a couple who told us about a cooking class they’d taken when they visited Yangshou. A guaranteed meal, and […]
Guilin: Forest of Sweet Osmanthus
Guanxi Province is known for its stunning natural beauty: green rivers meandering by lofty, tree-covered hills and jagged, gray karst spires that reach into the sky. There’s a national forest, subtropical mangroves, and miles and miles of farmland. The province is also home to several minority ethnic groups, Yao, Miao,Dong and Zhuang. Its history as […]
No Spitting Allowed
Twenty-four years after visiting Hong Kong with my family, I wondered how things may have changed. I was a teenager then, and had been living in Japan as an exchange student. My family had come for a visit, and took the opportunity to see Hong Kong as well. It was the late 80s, and Hong […]
Suzhou: How Does Your Garden Grow
Suzhou (Sūzhōu) is a quick, half-hour high speed train ride north of Shanghai. Once home to over 100 gardens, now there are about a dozen. It’s still known as Garden City, and is a popular stop on the tourist trail. A number of the classical gardens are UNESCO World Heritage listed, combining man-made features with […]
Shanghai-ed
Shanghai: A Great Place to Refuel After a month or so of wandering China, Shanghai was a wonderful place to rest up. It’s very much a modern city, with all the bright lights, shopping, dining and entertainment venues one could ever want. It’s also got pockets of history, tradition and cheap eats if you wander […]
Nanjing
Provincial capital Nanjing was an enjoyable stop, greener than most, with a definite university feel. Unfortunately most-known for the 1937 massacre and violence (Rape of Nanking) following the Japanese capture of the city, Nanjing was also twice the former capital, once in the Ming Dynasty, and again briefly at the beginning of the 20th Century. […]
Beaucoup Buddhas in the Longmen Grottoes
The Longmen Grottoes Along the banks of the Yi River, about 15 kilometers south of the city Luoyang, China are the Longmen Grottoes, also known as the Dragon Gate Caves. Along with the Yungang Grotto carvings at Datong and the Dunhuang/Mogao Grotto in Gansu Province, they are the pinnacle of Chinese Buddhist cave sculpture, some […]