Shanghai. The mere mention of that name evokes images a modern, cosmopolitan city…a far cry from the “traditional” China that so many travelers seek. A walk down Shanghai’s bustling shopping street, Nanjiang Rd or through its business district, Pudong simply reinforces that view. A sprawling example of China’s dramatic growth, Shanghai (pronounced SHAWNG-hai) serves as […]
Tag: backpacking
The World Expo. That mere phrase has a certain aura surrounding it. In fact it’s a concept that came to me at a young age when I worked on a production of Meet Me in St. Louis, a movie and Broadway based on the excitement surrounding the 1904 World Fair. Now the World Fair certainly has […]
Cities certainly have redeeming qualities, even after they’ve chewed you up and spit you back out again! Such was my first experience in Kunming, the capital of China’s Yunnan province, nearly 2 months ago, when I had an amazingly frustrating day trying to figure out how to get out of this place. Then, I did […]
What is it about fame that changes people…or towns for that matter? As if I hadn’t experienced enough of a town gone famous in Lijiang, I’m now getting a full dose of it in Dali (pronounced Daw-lee), another of Yunnan’s “must see” sights. Touristy barely begins to describe this town (and Lijiang, for that matter); […]
Picture, if you will, that vision of ancient China you’ve always had. Tiny stone streets that weave their way from one plaza to another, passing endless Chinese-style buildings with that oh-so-distinctive style of roof. Now what if I told you I was standing in the midst of a Chinese town that looked just like that […]
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My Night in a Chinese ER!
Hospitals are supposed to be impeccably clean and highly organized, right? Unfortunately, this was not what I found when, much to my surprise, I ended up at one last night! You see, I have asthma. I’ve always had asthma and it’s never a problem for me unless I’m sick with a respiratory infection, much like […]
Greetings from Shangri-La. No, really. I’m actually in a city called Shangri-La! That name seems to illicit the same response from people unfamiliar with this part of China, one that cannot believe that there’s actually a place called Shangri-La. “Shangri-La” is, of course, a fictional place from James Hilton’s fictional novel “Lost Horizon.” So how is […]
You know, last time I checked, intercity buses did not come with 4-Wheel Drive… Though after two days on (in the eloquent words of Lonely Planet), “ass killing roads” on the Sichuan-Tibet Highway, I suggest that the Chinese government may want to work on developing them! My journey began yesterday in Litang, where I had a free […]