Snippets of Guilin, Guangxi autonomous region, China. May 2010. Cover photo courtesy of Shujianyang. Looking back, I do wish I’d spent more time in Guangxi—China’s impossibly beautiful, storybook province. But by then, my trip was already beginning to wind down, and I had just a week left to take in a handful of highlights before […]
Read MoreWarriors and Walls: Exploring Xi’an. May 2010. I arrived in Xi’an by train from Pingyao, the journey gliding by in a smooth, slightly hypnotic two hours and forty-five minutes — another quiet triumph for China’s high-speed rail. One moment I was watching Shanxi’s muted landscapes flicker past; the next I was stepping out onto the […]
Read MoreA Visit to the Ancient Walled City of Pingyao. Shanxi Province, China. May 2010. After a year teaching English in a small language school on Beijing’s northeastern fringe, the simple act of leaving the capital felt like letting out a long, deep breath. China’s roads were calling again, thus I answered with an inventive route […]
Read MoreA Visit to the Overlooked Town of Bar in Montenegro. October 2021. Our three-month odyssey around Montenegro was beginning to draw to a close. As our final days in Budva slipped quietly away, we realised there was just enough time for one last field trip before we packed up our lives and moved on. After […]
Read MoreKing’s Beach, Queen’s Beach & Sveti Stefan: Montenegro’s Royal Shores. October 2021. “Montenegro’s most breathtaking and iconic stretch of coastline,” Sladja read, her face lit by the phone screen. “Well… guess we better squeeze that in before we leave.” I agreed at once, though the claim felt bold. Could Sveti Stefan really outshine everything we’d […]
Read MoreThe Royal Capital That Was: Exploring Cetinje in Montenegro. October 2021. As soon as Sladja and I heard about the town of Cetinje, we knew it had to be a priority of our final weeks in Montenegro. A mountain town thirty kilometres from the coast, a former royal seat once home to kings, queens, princes, […]
Read MoreFrom Mogren to Rajska Vala: A Budva Beach Adventure in Montenegro. September-October 2021. It’s been fun adding Budva to the archives these past weeks, but alas, today’s post brings the series to a close. After sharing an overview of a month spent living in and exploring Budva—plus a standalone report on its superb Old Town […]
Read MoreExploring the Old Town of Budva in Montenegro. September – October, 2021. In my last article, Living in the Montenegrin Town of Budva, I offered an overview of this charming coastal community and what makes it such an appealing travel destination. Today, I turn to Budva’s main attraction: its captivating Old Town, with a history […]
Read MoreLiving in the Montenegrin Town of Budva. September-October, 2021. After six weeks of China blogging I’m excited to return for the second half of my Montenegro series. I know there are some readers who’ll be particularly happy about this, here’s looking at you Travel Through My Lens and the theTravelSketcher. For those of you just […]
Read MoreThe Ice Sculptures & Siberian Tigers of Harbin. Last week I published my article Exploring the Chinese City of Harbin. While it wasn’t the city itself that had initially drawn me, I found myself enjoying the charms of Zhongyang Street, with its historic cobblestones and lively atmosphere. I also soaked up Harbin’s curious Russian influences, […]
Read MoreExploring the Chinese City of Harbin. February 2010. After six months of living and teaching in Beijing, I was more than ready for a break from work—and for an adventure. Life in the capital had been eventful, often chaotic and stressful, as I’ve detailed in my short story collection Challenged in China! Indeed, that grand, […]
Read MoreMemories from Lama Temple in Beijing. April 2010. I fell for Chinese temples in that first year in China — my first year in Asia — when everything about them felt fresh, fascinating, and almost magical. The riot of colours, the intricate art, the manicured gardens, the sudden hush of hidden courtyards, and that drifting […]
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