Many years ago I saw Samantha Brown on the Travel Channel visit this colossus and I told myself I would go there someday. That day has come and gone and it was pretty darn cool. It is the biggest Buddha … Continued
At nearby Songshan is another famous temple, the Shaolin Temple – home of kung fu. Before heading back to Hefei, we journeyed to this beautiful place hoping to see some awesome monks practicing the true arts of kung fu. We … Continued
Hundreds of thousands of hand-chiseled Buddha effigies and the first Buddhist temple in China also call Luoyang home. These were our destinations for day two. Longmen Grottoes A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Longmen Grottoes are an impressive monument to … Continued
After Hongcun we went to Tangkou, the small town just outside of Huangshan national park. The travel people we worked with (a professor Melissa taught last semester) had booked our hotel and everything should have been fine. However, when we … Continued
Surrounded by fields that this time of year are bright yellow from the canola flowers lies the ancient city of Hongcun, our first adventure for the Tomb Sweeping Day vacation. With Aaron, Melissa, Fernanda (Spanish teacher here at AHU), and … Continued
Macau is just as unique from Mainland China as it is from Hong Kong. Many of my students assume it would be just like HK since it was a colony of a European power; however, it is so different. First, … Continued
Whenever I told people that I was going to Xi’an their first response was “Xi’an is an ancient city,” or something to that effect. I always just imagined it was because the most famous site near Xi’an is the archeological … Continued
Last week I finished a lesson on the wonders of the world and China. I learned a lot getting ready for this lesson and found out fast that it would be hard to talk about wonders of the world since … Continued
Summer Palace Our next big group adventure, planned by China Horizons, was an adventure at the Summer Palace in Beijing. This massive complex was originally built hundreds of years ago but due to wars and fires, it was destroyed several … Continued
Great Wall of China One must-see for everyone who visits China is the Great Wall. Originally built many centuries ago by the joining of many city walls when China united under one emperor, the Great Wall is magnificent. Because of … Continued