Author: karl

The first time I climbed the weathered stone steps toward the Ruins of St. Paul in Macau, China, I honestly expected a postage-stamp monument buried in tour groups. What stopped…

The first time I stepped out of a taxi on Tongjiang Street and looked up at Saint Sophia Cathedral Harbin, I stopped talking mid-sentence. I had seen the photos, of…

The first time I stepped onto Zhanqiao Pier, I understood immediately why it appears on nearly every postcard of Qingdao. This long, narrow boardwalk stretches straight out into the yellow-green…

On my first evening in Guilin, I did what every visitor ends up doing: I walked down to the Li River and looked for the elephant. I had seen the…

When I first caught sight of Songzanlin Monastery rising above the golden plains outside Shangri-La town, I understood instantly why people call it “Yunnan’s Potala.” The cluster of white walls…

I’ll be honest: when I first planned my Xi’an trip, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda was the one on my list. Everybody goes there. Then a local friend dragged me…

The first time I visited Nanjing, I made the mistake of treating the Confucius Temple as just another old building on my list. I walked in around noon, took a…

The first time I walked through the gate of the Humble Administrator’s Garden, I stopped talking mid-sentence. A narrow doorway opened onto a wide pond, a pavilion floating on the…

I had seen the photos for years — a slim, twisting tower glowing like a piece of neon ribbon against a humid southern sky — but nothing prepared me for…

When I first stood in front of the Shanghai Museum, I honestly didn’t expect to lose an entire afternoon inside. From the outside it looks like a big bronze cooking…