Last night and morning in Pudong I like to take it easy and treat myself the last night of travels. In this case it was a great way to end the cold, wet weather of the last week. My room was at the Pudong Crowne Plaza, what I thought was a straight-shot to the airport,Read more
Up the mountain The plan was to go camping outside of Guiyang – I have no idea where exactly and what amenities the campsite would afford, if any. Mandy picked me up at my hotel and we headed to a noodle joint for lunch. On the menu… well…. I’m not quite sure of the specifics,Read more
Guiyang’s Beijing Opera Upon returning to Guiyang City, Long and myself meet up with Mandy and her her sister and we head to the waterfront to see the opera. The wood sculptures in the opera are amazing. They handed us these classy clappers. We had the VIP treatment with an amazing spreadRead more
Morning view from the hotel balcony Out for breakfast Looking back up the alley leading to the hotel. Wearing traditional Miao clothing. A beef noodle soup. Nothing too heavy or spicy for a change. Then off to explore the streets and alleys A lot of theRead more
Night in Guiyang By the time I arrived in Guiyang, it was around midnight and I was exhausted. I arrived at a hotel I wish I had more time in. After walking in freezing rain for several days, Guiyang was relative warm and dry and this hotel along the riverfront tourism area was awesome. Read more
The hotel breakfast was not bad. A large assortment of items set up as a buffet. Just not as great as the previous hotel. The goal for today is to check out the local open-air market, then head up Tianamen Mountain (4,982 ft elevation), which is south of the city and accessible by cable carRead more
Zhangjiajie Glass Bridge 30 minutes to the east of Wulingyuan is Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon. Once a side attraction of natural space, it is now one of the premiere tourist destinations in the world, and construction is not yet complete. Covering over 23 square miles, the valley (much of it flooded by downstream dams) is a mixRead more
Another great breakfast at the hotel, this time with some pork noodles. It’s still raining, unfortuantely. A 15 minute walk to the east gate of the park… …and then a very long creepy ride up the cable line up to TianZi Mountain. Much longer and higher than the previous. More of these lacqueredRead more
Rain and fog is predicted for the next several days, so the prospects of getting some amazing photos are looking pretty slim. The hotel’s breakfast buffet is amazing. Pork Buns, eggs, sweets… too many things for me to sample them all. Some nice coffee too. This is a view of one of the walls inRead more
For a day or so I just hung out in Shanghai. It was pretty hot and humid, so I took it easy. Watched films, went out briefly to eat. I relaxed. Not every day of travel needs some grand journey. I’m not a huge fan of bubble tea, but when it’s hot out, it isRead more
Walk to Old Town I grab some of these fried street pancakes (filled with ground pork and spices) and head on a walk from the hotel to the Old Street and Yuyuan Gardens. I’ve been there before (in 2011) and it was too packed to be enjoyable, but that was at night and a differentRead more
A bit jet-lagged, I take it easy in Shanghai my second day. I meet up with Pete for lunch and we head to Nanjing Street. Pete Pete treats me to a nice meal at a place we find in a mall. Delicious fried mashed potato balls. Amazing stewed pork We also had dumplings,Read more
A new friend, Pete, picked me up at the airport and helped me locate my place. I had booked this on AirBnB, and while the location was great, and the photos made the place look amazing, in reality it was a pretty run-down building. A former hotel (the Salvo Hotel), it was now under aRead more