I almost skipped Zhenyuan. My original Guizhou plan was built around the headline sights — the vertical forests of Fanjingshan, the thunder of Huangguoshu, the karst pools of Libo. Zhenyuan…
I arrived in Chongqing expecting a city of brutalist concrete and endless staircases, and I found that — but I also found something older and quieter pressed right against the…
When I first arrived in Nanjing, I expected another pleasant Chinese city with a few temples and a busy riverfront. What I did not expect was to spend two full…
I had spent two blissful but busy days circling West Lake before I finally listened to a friend who lives in Hangzhou. “You’ve seen the postcard,” she said. “Now come…
I still remember the morning I first walked through the gate of Hanshan Temple. I had spent two days in Suzhou chasing gardens — the grand ones, the famous ones…
The first time I set foot on Central Street Harbin, I genuinely forgot which country I was in. One moment I was in northeastern China, the next I was staring…
I still remember the first time I stepped onto the coarse sand at Tianya Haijiao and looked up at two giant grey boulders rising out of the South China Sea….
I still remember the moment the clouds lifted near Nyingchi and I caught my first glimpse of the Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon. Standing at a roadside viewpoint, I watched the…
I first heard about Meili Snow Mountain from a truck driver in Shangri-La who told me, “If Kawagarbo shows his face, you are lucky for life.” I laughed at the…
The first time I stepped out of the car at Nalati Grassland, I simply stopped talking. A wall of green rolled up from the valley floor and kept going until…