Attractions

What Makes Napahai Yunnan Different From a Normal Lake On my first drive out of the Shangri-La town center I made the mistake of expecting open water and found a…

Why I Keep Sending Travelers to Ailao Mountain Yunnan I have spent three monsoon seasons guiding independent travelers through Yunnan, and the stretch of Ailao Mountain Yunnan between Xinping and…

Niubei Mountain (Niubei Shan) rises to 3,666 m in Yingjing County, in the Ya’an region of western Sichuan, and it is one of the few places in the province where…

Munigou sits in Songpan County, in the Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of northwestern Sichuan, about 15 km from the famous Huanglong scenic area. At 2,800–3,500 m it shares…

I went to Guangzhou in early April 2025 and spent my first full morning in Yuexiu Park, because I wanted the city’s founding myth and its best viewpoint in a…

I landed in Chongqing in late March 2025 and based myself within a ten-minute walk of Jiefangbei, because I wanted to feel the city’s center before I went hunting its…

I came to Tianjin Italian Style Town on a cold February afternoon in 2025, fresh off the high-speed line from Beijing, because I wanted to walk a piece of China’s…

I went to Dalian Xinghai Square (星海广场) in August 2025 because I wanted the single biggest public square by the sea I had read about, and because Dalian’s Russian- and…

I visited Sanya Nanshan Temple (南山寺) in December 2025 because I wanted a calm, cultural half-day away from the beach clubs, and because a 108-meter bronze Guanyin standing in the…

I went to Qingdao May Fourth Square (五四广场) in September 2025 because I wanted the city’s modern seaside face, not just its German breweries and old villas. The square fronts…