For Christmas, my friend Aaron and I had an adventure in Chongqing, China. This municipality, once a part of Sichuan province, is littered with mountains, crisscrossed by major rivers, and dotted with priceless wonders of nature and humanity. And, as … Continued
Beijing has two summer palaces. The newer one with its giant pagoda on top of Longevity Hill with the massive manmade lake in front and world’s longest covered walkway is the more visited of the two. It is the UNESCO … Continued
Beijing, China, is a city with seasons. It has been a while since I truly experienced all four seasons, so I’m excited to be in a place that has them all. When I arrived in September it was still hot … Continued
I think I’ve said it before, I love Hong Kong! Oh, I have here and here and here. Anyway, I was in HK recently for a day and a half. I didn’t want to spend a lot of money and … Continued
A young woman sacrificing herself to save her father and his fellow artisans is just one of the things that makes a visit to Beijing’s Bell and Drum Towers an interesting cultural experience, while the drum performance is what turned … Continued
On my first visit to the Summer Palace four years ago, I declared that I wanted one. After recently visiting twice in the past month, I have to say that sentiment hasn’t changed. It is a magnificent complex of Chinese … Continued
Old cities like Beijing generally boast their fair share of disembodied spirits wandering around or in China’s case zombie-esque beings lumbering about. That’s right, in Chinese culture spirits are a lot more physical than in western philosophies. Chinese ghosts don’t … Continued
Four hundred and eighty five individually carved stone lions have watched Beijing’s southwest entrance for nearly 900 years. They inspired a legendary explorer to mention them in his writings and provided a backdrop to one of modern China’s most harrowing … Continued
As the sun crept lower and the shadows longer, I sat on a wooden bench under the magnificently decorated ceiling of a former emperor’s main boat dock at his manmade lake with bats flitting about after bugs. The auspiciousness of … Continued
I’m back in China! I mentioned my plan to return to the Orient a few months ago. Well, now I’m back in this fascinating place living in Beijing. I’m teaching English at a small language school called Amerilish. By the … Continued