Very seldom do Simon and I indulge in beach bumming. Neither of us like to tan for fun and we aren’t very good swimmers. The thought of laying out on the sand doing absolutely nothing seems mind numbingly boring and uneventful. Despite all these reasons, we found ourselves headed to Phuket, Thailand’s beachy party destination […]Read Post ›
In our never ending quest to explore as much of Taiwan’s natural beauty from coast to coast, we found ourselves on the eastern edge of the Formosa in Hualien County, home to the famous Taroko National Park. With our home base in Taipei, getting to to the park was much like our experience in traveling […]Read Post ›
Rice: ubiquitous in all Chinese households and Chinese restaurants, no meal can do without this starchy staple. As such, our trip to China wouldn’t be complete without getting up close and personal with rice paddies. Just a short two hour bus ride from the city of Guilin, we arrived in the county of Longsheng, which […]Read Post ›
Tranquil blue waters and lush forests are juxtaposed with crowds of tourists and selfie sticks pointing every which way. That sums up our Jiuzhaigou experience in a nutshell. Jiuzhaigou – or Nine Village Valley – is a national park in China’s Sichuan province. Here, Mother Nature puts on a spectacular show in transparent hues of […]Read Post ›
Simon and I took our first spontaneous detour from our original travel itinerary to the city of Luoyang, home to the famous Longmen Caves. The sight of over a thousand caves on Mount Longmen is something otherworldly. You can’t help but feel transported back in time to one of China’s earliest dynasties, when the carvings […]Read Post ›
Victoria recounted our journey up Emei Shan with poetic precision in the previous post. Yeah it was beautiful and all, but she left out a very important, rabid filled detail. As Victoria mentioned, we had decided to tackle the crazy all day (and almost night) hike up Emei Shan. Sure, there was a gondola ride […]Read Post ›
When you can’t move mountains, go climb one. I don’t know why but I have a thing for mountains in China – I have been atop two before and am always hungry for more. I think it’s the fact that they are ancient, and sagacious for having lived through so much history. Great Chinese poets, painters, […]Read Post ›
On our last day in Beijing, we were met with clear sunny blue skies, something very rare for the normally hazy capital city. We surmised that it was the windstorm from the previous night that must’ve cleared the smog out. We had been at the Olympic Park when the unexpected gusts of wind whipped about […]Read Post ›
I remember the first time I visited Tiananmen Square, I thought the big open space combined with the coldness of the concrete was uninviting and uninteresting. But this time around, I think I’ve changed my mind. While it may not be the most aesthetically pleasing place you’ll ever see, the square holds much cultural significance […]Read Post ›
First order of business in China: see something grand, if not great. There’s only one place in the whole world that can meet this requirement, none other than the Great Wall of China. I daresay that I’ve seen many amazing things during my travels (with so much more to discover!), but no other sight tops […]Read Post ›
