The May Day holiday has come and gone in China. Of course, here in America we like to celebrate our Labor Day in September…with barbecues and beer. Following my painfully long bus ride from Chengdu during my first May Day … Continue reading
In addition to my train travel adventures, I’ve taken a few long-distance bus trips. Some were tolerable, but others were absolutely miserable–so miserable that I no longer wish to take a bus unless it’s part of a tour. My first … Continue reading
Companies and schools in China seem to enjoy having outings for employees. They see it as a morale booster, even though plenty of employees see it as forced fun. I went out on a few with the schools for which … Continue reading
For those of us who move abroad, even for shorter periods of time than I spent in China, expat communities can be an important part of adapting to life in a foreign country. When I first arrived in China, I … Continue reading
My final trip in China was a short fall holiday journey through the Fujian countryside to see the tulou (土楼)–earth buildings of the Hakka people, some of which date back about 800 years. The tulou clusters are unique to the … Continue reading
The weather is finally starting to warm up around here. And by warm up, I mean that it’s no longer snowing and freezing. It makes me reminisce about spring trips in the past–not that I had too many. My first … Continue reading
While waiting in a long line to walk down the cliffside steps to Buddha’s feet, I was able to take a photo over the shoulder of the world’s largest Buddha. This photo best captures the size of the Giant Buddha … Continue reading
One of the most interesting places I visited in Beijing was the Ancient Observatory (北京古观象台). I wasn’t sure what to expect, but my mom really wanted to see it. It was much more interesting than I thought it would be. … Continue reading
[I wrote this review of Peter Hessler's River Town while I was still living in China between 2005 and 2009. The book and this review are still relevant. I had the privilege to interview Hessler for Terracotta Typewriter in 2010 … Continue reading
After reading Unbrave Girl’s list of why she loves taking trains in the US, I thought about my own experiences on trains. As much as I like taking trains, they’re not exactly convenient or reasonably priced in the US. I … Continue reading
The Chinese New Year is upon us! It’s the year of the snake, which probably means that a lot of people in China will eat some sort of snake dish to celebrate (couldn’t do that last year with the year … Continue reading
With the airpocalypse gripping Beijing and spreading eastward (even Japan is worried about its effects), I’m reminded about how bad the air pollution was when I lived in Shenzhen. After seeing photos posted on Twitter, I knew that even those … Continue reading
The summer of my first year in China my parents came to visit–we hit four cities in a little over two weeks. For our second stop, we spent a few days in and around Urumqi. We took a ride from … Continue reading
The apocalypse did not come. I still had to work (I wonder how many people called out sick for this). Since the world hasn’t ended, we should travel more. And we should definitely experience more of the wonders it has to … Continue reading
This week was a national holiday in China, which means that millions of people spent the week traveling through the country. National holidays are notoriously crowded in China–it’s never a good idea to travel on the first or last day … Continue reading