Chengdu Travel Guide: Pandas, Food & a Laid-Back First Visit (2026)
At 7:40 on a Tuesday in March, I was pressed against the glass at the Chengdu Research Base, watching a cub the size of a Thanksgiving turkey roll off a…
At 7:40 on a Tuesday in March, I was pressed against the glass at the Chengdu Research Base, watching a cub the size of a Thanksgiving turkey roll off a…
The Temple of Heaven isn’t a temple and it isn’t one building — it’s a 273-hectare walled park in southeast Beijing where Ming and Qing emperors came to pray for…
The best time to visit Beijing is spring (April–May) or autumn (September–October), when daytime highs sit in the comfortable 19–26°C range and the skies turn that famous postcard blue. I’ve…
If you’re wondering where to eat Beijing duck on your trip, you’re asking the right question — because in a city with thousands of duck restaurants, the difference between a…
Summer Palace Beijing is the one imperial garden I tell every first-time visitor to put at the top of their list. Spread across 290 hectares in the city’s northwest (Haidian…
Looking for a complete Forbidden City guide tickets rundown for 2025? Here’s the short version: admission is online-only and sells out on busy days, entry costs ¥60 in peak season…
Written by Karl · Updated July 2026 Stand on the Bund at 6:15 p.m. and watch the Pudong skyline switch on. One second the towers across the Huangpu River are…
At 5:40 a.m., the hutong outside my window was still dark, and then a single bicycle bell cut the silence — an old man wheeling his cart of steamed buns…
At 7:10 a.m., a stainless cart rattles past your table at Guangzhou Restaurant on Wenchang Road, and a server lifts the lid off a bamboo steamer — har gow, shrimp…
At 6:12 p.m. on a wet Tuesday in April, I stood on the overpass at Liziba and watched a red light-rail train slide straight into the 6th floor of a…