Attractions

I still remember the first morning I walked into Badaguan. I had come to Qingdao for the beer and the sea, but within ten minutes of turning off the coastal…

I still remember the moment I stepped out of the humid Guilin afternoon and into the cool, glowing dark of Reed Flute Cave. The temperature dropped, the air turned mineral…

I’ll be honest: before I visited the Du Fu Thatched Cottage, I thought it would be a quiet, slightly dusty shrine to a poet I only half-remembered from school. I…

I still remember the first time I walked through the red-pillared gate of the Nanjing Presidential Palace. One moment I was on a noisy city street, the next I was…

I still remember the first time I stepped into Lion Grove Garden and got completely turned around within five minutes. I had a map, a phone, and a clear idea…

I still remember the first time I stepped off the MTR and saw the pink-and-blue castle rising above Lantau Island. There is something quietly special about Hong Kong Disneyland in…

I still remember the first time I stepped off the bus at Yalong Bay. After two weeks of temples, train stations, and city smog, I suddenly stood on a stretch…

I have stood in a lot of famous temples across Asia, but nothing prepared me for the first time I stepped into the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, Tibet, China. The…

I first saw the Flaming Mountains in Turpan, Xinjiang, China from the window of a slowly crawling train, and I understood the name immediately. The ridgeline glowed like a coal…

The first time I heard the name, I assumed “Xiaoqikong” was some minor roadside stop. It isn’t. When I finally rode the shuttle bus deep into the hills of southern…