Attractions

I still remember the moment the cable car broke through the cloud layer and the split peak of Mount Fanjing appeared like a mirage above the mist. Nothing had prepared…

I still remember the moment I stepped off the shuttle bus at Baodingshan and rounded the first bend in the path. There, carved straight into a gray limestone cliff face,…

When I tell fellow travelers that Nanjing has a free, 500-year-old imperial lake sitting right next to its main train station, most people look surprised. Xuanwu Lake (also spelled Xuanwuhu,…

If you ask me for the single best spot to watch the sun melt into West Lake, I’ll tell you without hesitation: climb Leifeng Pagoda. I’ve stood on that viewing…

The first time I climbed the narrow stone path up Tiger Hill (Huqiu), I expected a small hillock with a nice view. What I found instead was a 250-foot leaning…

The first time I walked through the whitewashed gate of Tashilhunpo Monastery, I had been on the road in Tibet, China for almost two weeks. I was tired, a little…

When I tell friends I spent a full day at Ocean Park Hong Kong and still didn’t see everything, they usually look surprised. Most visitors to Hong Kong, China assume…

I have lost count of how many times I have told friends that the most surreal building in Asia is not a temple or a skyscraper, but a full-scale replica…

When I first climbed the viewing platform above the Baishui River and looked down at Xijiang Miao Village, I stopped talking for a full minute. More than 1,000 wooden stilt…

The first time I stood on the shore of Sayram Lake (also called Sailimu Lake or Sayram Hu), I stopped talking. The water was a blue I did not know…