"Short stories and travel reports from my life adventures around the globe".
Once Upon a Time in Hong Kong. May 2010. I had high hopes for Hong Kong. Partly because—well, it’s Hong Kong. But also because I knew this would be the last hurrah of my 2009-2010 travels around China. Over the preceding year, I’d crisscrossed the country and battled my way through what can only be […]
Read MoreHuangluo Yao Village & the Longji Rice Terraces. Guangxi Autonomous Region, China. May 2010. Cover photo courtesy of xiquinhosilva. After my cycling and cooking adventures in Yangshuo, I returned to Guilin by bus, where—reluctantly—I boarded a large coach for my day trip into the mountains. I had hoped to avoid a group tour, but with […]
Read MoreExploring Misty Yangshuo, Guangxi Autonomous Province, China. May 2010. Cover photo courtesy of Chensiyuan. As I arrived in Yangshuo—so often described as the most beautiful place in China—I carried a quiet caveat with me. It was something I’d read in a travel guide months earlier: this might be the most spectacular thing you see in […]
Read MoreSnippets 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 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 […]
Read MoreIndustrial Dreams: Inside Beijing’s 798 Art District. March 2010 & July 2014. No matter where I am in the world, I always enjoy diving into a city’s street art. Indeed long-term readers may recall my guides to the street art of Malaga, the murals of Belgrade and the local artists of Siem Reap. Back in […]
Read MoreBeijing’s Forbidden City: Where Emperors Walked. April 2010. Sorry to tear you away from Montenegro folks, but as I reach the halfway point of that series I figure it might be a good time to hit the pause button and return to my China (2009-2010) files. Time flies, faster and faster as we get older, […]
Read MoreSnippets of Yantai. Shandong Province, China. August 2009. Cover photo courtesy of Hao Lin Photos. By mid August in the summer of 2009 my travels in China were approaching the one month mark. In truth it had been a dizzying full-on adventure packed with unforgettable experiences. From my first days exploring Beijing and the culinary […]
Read More
