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Camping the Great Wall: Escape from Simatraz – China, Asia
The couple
Crouched in a corn field, we scanned the moonlit shadows for an escape
route. Only a hundred meter sprint to the bridge across the river and
we’d be free. Seconds before we made a mad dash for it, we spotted him.
Beneath a tree by the bridge, the movement of his lit cigar
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Shanghai Redux – China, Asia
I arrived in Shanghai on a dreary, wet morning last April. As my taxi crept from the airport through the heavy rain and traffic, I saw endless clusters of modern high-rise apartment buildings. Their bright hues – white, yellow, pink – looked stark against the leaden sky.
After se
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Cruising the Yangtze River – China, Asia
I lucked out, the long distance bus I was traveling on was air-conditioned, with plush seats and it was clean. As we traveled down the highway from Chengdu to Chongqing, the woman beside me kept offering little snacks. She was traveling with her husband, who was quite advanced in years,
they s
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Beguiling Guilin – China, Asia
Beautiful Bridges of Guilin
Boarding the express bus to Yangshuo for a day trip, it was painfully
obvious that all the seats were taken, yet the optimistic driver emphatically
waved us on. Along with a dozen other locals, we submissively followed him to
the rear of the bus, sliding our b
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Yangshuo: Faraway, So Close – China, Asia
I doubled back to the Chinese pharmacy, hopeful I might be able
to replace our broken thermometer. Wandering up and down the aisles, I scanned
the shelves that were stacked with mysterious jars of herbs, the air flavored
with a grassy aroma like a freshly harvested field. Soon shadowed by a cu
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Putuoshan – With Or Without You
Hilltop Temple in Putuoshan
As we boarded the crowded bus, I ended up next to a mother
who had a toddler on her lap in the typical Chinese fashion of slit open baby
pants. After a while, the kid started getting excited, bouncing up and down, and
squirming around, when all of a sudden the
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Shanghai – Some Days Are Better Than Others
On The Waterfront, Shanghai
We knew something was wrong when the conductor came on board the subway car blowing his whistle and motioning everyone to get off. Standing on the platform, we tried to decipher where we were, located our destination on the Metro diagram, and soberly realized w
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Guangzhou – Bullet The Yellow Sky
The Yellow Sky of Guangzhou
Is it possible that the residents of Guangzhou will never again see blue sky or
that the children might grow up and never view the horizon, or expect sunsets
to be anything but the fiery orb that now burns through the layers of the smog?
As I stared out the hot
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Nanjing – Stuck Inside of Nanjing With The Mobile Blues Again
Chinese Pedicab
paper extol
their new place in the world order, and sympathize with a decaying America.
There’s a certain smugness in the Chinese papers that irritates me, that
suddenly America is second
rate and China
is the new leader of the world. Why then, can I not access my blog in this
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Beijing – Even Better Than The Real Thing
Steep Ascent Along The Great Wall
shiny skyscrapers will not dominate China, and the government will maintain
and encourage the historic and cultural aspects of this wonderful civilization.
Perhaps China
will stop trying to be so much like Westerners and embrace their unique
heritage.
While
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Xian – Honor Thy Father
It was early Sunday morning when I heard my wife gasp in the
next room. She walked in, her hands to her mouth, obviously quite shaken, and then
I knew. She didn’t have to say anything.
Anyone Want A Candied Apple?
With 3 million people, Xian is a popular stopover on the Shanghai to Beijing
r
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Tunxi – My Aim Is True – China
Hauling Compressor Up Yellow Mountain
with Yellow Mountain were some of the most attractive areas we
visited in our three-month trip through China. Saturated with history, the ancient
towns provide an intriguing sampling of rural life with glimpses into a bygone
era. A timeless cultural oasis
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Hangzhou, More Than a Good Cup of Joe – Hangzhou, China
I heard it first in Kansas, quoted by folks who once taught in China, “There is heaven, then there is Hangzhou.” Then a California artist raved about dragon boats on West Lake. After three years of Asian crowds, pollution, and street smells, I expected Hangzhou to be yet another Chinese City wi
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Visiting the World’s Highest Stupa – Famen, China
At first glance, one might think this Buddhist shrine belongs in a science-fiction movie. Or somewhere in Las Vegas.
I approached it from almost a mile away, unsure if I should feel blessed or intimidated. It was, after all, the world’s highest stupa according to local media reports.
Built to r
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How to Do Hong Kong on a Budget: Where to Spend & What to Skip
Most world travelers love a good bargain. For some, this means getting the cheapest option for lodging, food, and entertainment in Europe. For others, it refers to subsisting on a handful of dollars a day while hanging out for months in Thailand.
While I do admit there’s a certain exhilar
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An Oriental Sojourn – A Fortnight in China
Walking ten thousand miles is better than reading ten thousand scrolls. –Chinese proverb
A lot of tourists visiting China follow the beaten track of Beijing, Shanghai, Xi’an with a Yangtze cruise tossed in. I decided to be a little more daring to add a few smaller historically signi
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Old Beijing & New Beijing: A Guide to Both Sides of China’s Capital
Beijing is a city with more than 3,000 years of recorded history and a glorious cultural heritage; yet it is also a bustling metropolis that has given birth to an artistic youth movement in recent years.
Today’s Beijing is a place where ancient historical sights stand side-by-side with a
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Great Getaways from Shanghai: China’s Hidden Charms
Most visitors to China land in Shanghai or Beijing, both exciting cities full of history, culture and nearly endless things to see and do.
But if your itinerary allows for some extra time to step off the beaten path, this amazing country holds a wealth of hidden charms that will show you a side
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Top Places to See in Beijing
Beijing, China’s capital, proudly boasts a large number of world-famous tourist attractions, including the dramatic Great Wall of China, the enigmatic Forbidden City, the vast Tiananmen Square, the graceful Temple of Heaven, the enchanting Summer Palace, and the mysterious Ming Tombs, etc. The
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Eight Lesser-Known Places to Visit in China
You can climb the Great Wall, wander through the chambers of Beijing’s Forbidden City, and marvel at the stately colonial buildings along Shanghai’s Bund. But, well, everyone does that, and you’ll likely be sharing those attractions with a few thousand other visitors. You̵
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