You can’t go far in the tiny ancient city of Pingyao without hearing the street cry of a food vendor, and more often then not, Ryan and I would answer that call. Pingyao had some of the most unique street
The Ancient City of Pingyao, China
Tiny cobbled streets, ancient brick wall, UNESCO world heritage site, puppies and kittens roaming the streets: Pingyao had all the markers of a great place to visit. Often called ‘the best preserved city in China’ Pingyao, located about 700 km
Digging Your Toes into the Gobi Desert
The Gobi Desert. The fifth largest desert in the world is not a place I ever thought I would visit in my life. But when I found out it was a mere three hours away from our location in Inner
The Blue Skies of the Grasslands of Inner Mongolia
Where I live in China, the pollution isn’t so bad. I’m not in a major city and the campus is surrounded by green, tree-filled mountains which helps to clean the air. Sometimes, I can even see stars at night. But
Hotels in Datong, China: Solving the Mystery of Feitian Hotel
This is a purely practical blog post for those people who are actually traveling to Datong. I don’t often do these, but there was a lot of confusion, and unclear information on the web (And it took a long time
The Hanging Monastery in Datong
I mentioned one UNESCO World heritage site as a reason to go to Datong, China, but the fun doesn’t end there. That’s because there is another, equally amazing and slightly more intense site to see in the same area: the
The Amazing Carvings at the Yungang Grottoe
About 4 hours north-west of Beijing lies a small mining city called Datong. It’s a relatively unremarkable city, with most tourists not even going into the city, preferring hotels around the train station, but it is well worth a
Food Tour Around Beijing
In the winter of 2008 when moving to China was just a twinkle in our eye, we came to China as tourists for a 10-day, Shanghai/Beijing tour. Our first stop was Beijing, and I found the whole place wildly, fantastically
The Strangest Building in Beijing
While in Beijing, we had a few business meetings. We had to meet someone in the morning, and then he brought us around and introduced us to various people. On the first day, as we were running to meet him,
We're Back! Now Time to Get to Work
Our summer travels have come and gone, and we’re now back in our home in abysmally hot southern China where we are preparing for next semesters classes. I’ll be sharing some details about our trip shortly, but before I do