Pingyao, China: What’s my name? When’s my birthday?
Old Town Pingyao The old part of Pingyao, within the walls, is a very well-preserved ancient city. The population is nearly half a million but to Chinese standards it’s tiny . . . the smallest city we’ve visited here so far. Old Town is filled with streets and alleys to explore. Just strolling is activity […]
Xi’an
The city walls still stand around the heart of this city that was once the end of the Silk Road. It makes navigation that much easier: if you go too far in any direction you’ll eventually run into a wall. The city proper now extends far beyond, with new developments, housing and tourist centers popping […]
Seaside Qingdao
Challenges of the Chinese Train in Summer Summer is in full swing, and it seems like everyone is on vacation. Trains are jammed, with seats sold out weeks in advance. We tried in vain to buy a ticket to Harbin in the north and to Xi’an in the south. Then we started looking into buses. […]
Great Wall Less Traveled
What can be said about The Great Wall that hasn’t been covered a thousand times before? It’s one of those sights that everyone has at least heard of and thinks about with some sense of wonder. At different times, to different people, it has been protection from enemies, a means of trade, transportation and communication, […]
Rest for Royalty and a Place to Pray
Located northwest of the center of town, the Summer Palace was a retreat for royalty trying to get away from Beijing’s stifling summer heat. It began as imperial gardens, and was developed and expanded by Emporer Qianlong in the 18th century. Later, it was damaged in several wars, rebuilt, renovated and made into the huge […]
Forbidden City and Beyond
Seven hours and three sets of meal vouchers after our China Southern flight should have taken off from Seoul, it finally did. Maybe we should have paid more attention to the delay as an omen of things to come (for better or worse, we were about to be slowed to a crawl by China’s queues […]
Lost in Translation: Trying to Eat in Qingdao
As we ventured away from the metropolis of Beijing we were very limited on the choice of cities to visit. The reason for this was our neglect in purchasing a train ticket before nearly all destinations were sold out. We thought we might have to pony up for a plane ticket. As it turned […]