Headed to Xi'an

Just did a quick Twitter search for "Xi'an." Came up with a couple funny items.

First, is this insane traffic jam:



Second, is a rap called "We Livin' in Xi'an:"



Good stuff, these.

Qian is in Xi'an now and I'm leaving to join her tomorrow. Excited to be back in China for the first time in two years(!). Hopefully I'll have some photos and stories from the next two weeks.

1978 National Geographic - China's Incredible Find

Qian and I went to an estate sale in our neighborhood yesterday. Qian saw an old box full of National Geographic magazines on sale for $5.00 and began thumbing through them. Once she saw the third issue in the pile, she called me over.

This is what she saw:



Knowing how big of a China nerd I am, she guessed correctly that this vintage account of China's terra cotta warrior discovery is something I'd want.

The terra cotta warriors were discovered an hour east of Xi'an in 1974. This 1978 National Geographic account highlights the initial progress that the Chinese were making with the discovery and gives the basic history of the warriors. It's a very interesting read. It's definitely worth the $.50 we paid for it.

I spent a few minutes this morning scanning all twenty pages of the story. My scans aren't that great and I'm not sure the best way to display these images on the confined spaces of this blog. I put together a collage of the story below anyways. I think they're worth posting as is:

Europe

I’m writing this post from a train between Liege, Belgium and Köln, Germany. Qian and I are using her two-week spring break and almost all of my vacation time for the year at work on a European sojourn. A week in to the trip, it has been incredible.

So far we’ve been to Amsterdam and Maastricht, a small town in the south of the Netherlands. My brother is in the second year of his master’s degree program at the University of Amsterdam. We spent four days in Amsterdam doing the touristy stuff – the Van Gogh Museum, Rijks Museum, and Anne Frank House – and hanging out with my brother and his girlfriend. We then spent two days taking in Maastricht.

Maastricht is my European hometown (in a similar fashion to Xi'an being the place that I hold dear in China). I spent four months studying abroad in Maastricht during my junior year at Saint Louis University. Being in Maastricht was my first real time abroad (save for a spring break trip to the Caribbean my senior year of high school). Maastricht blew my mind. Studying abroad as a twenty year-old without a care in the world was a whirlwind, truly the time of my life. My positive experience there certainly primed me for wanting to go abroad after I graduated, which is when I went to Xi’an.

Qian and I had a wonderful time these past couple days in Maastricht. We couldn’t have asked for a more storybook romantic European experience. We strolled up and down the city’s cobble stone streets, took in the Roman-era architecture and city wall (a cool fact of my life is that I’ve lived in two cities with city walls built centuries ago), window shopped, bought chocolates, fruit, and bread at the city's Friday market, and rented bikes that we used to ride over the border to Belgium where we imbibed on delicious Belgian beer (when in Belgium…).

We’re going to spend the next two days in Köln and then will have five days in Paris. I’m confident that the second half of the trip will live up to the great time we've had the first half.

Calligrapher at Shuyuan Men

This is my favorite photo from my trip to China in June:



This photo is of a calligrapher at Xi'an's Shuyuan Men near the south gate of the city's walls. My good friend, Richard, and I were enjoying coffee and chatting as we watched him work. Drinking coffee and discussing China and the world with Richard in many of Xi'an's best coffee shops were highlights of my trip.

River at the Center of the World

River at the Center of the World: A Journey Up the Yangtze, and Back in Chinese Time by Simon Winchester is one of the two books I brought with me on my trip to China last month. I absolutely flew threw it. In fact, I read it too fast and ended up book-less for my long flight home. I knew I was reading the book too fast as I was reading it during the middle of my trip, but couldn't help myself. The book was just too much fun to read.



River at the Center of the World is based around the 1995 several month-long journey Winchester took from the sea east of Shanghai, up the Yangtze River, to its source in the Tibetan plateau. As Winchester narrates his trip, he delves deep into the history of the river he's tracking. The book is as much recounting the histories of previous adventurers and different areas' rises and falls as it is about Winchester's experiences.

Winchester hires Lily, a married woman from northeast China, to be his guide/translator up the 长江 (in Chinese, the "Yangtze" is literally "long river"). She is with Winchester throughout the book. Winchester speaks a bit of Chinese but isn't so fluent.

Going from the east to the west, the book begins in the East China Sea several miles outside of Shanghai. Winchester then slowly works his way up the river - through Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuhan, Yichang and the (at the time) freshly begun three gorges dam, Chongqing, northern Sichuan, northern Yunnan, and into Tibet.



I've traveled through a lot of China. Despite having seen a ton of the Middle Kingdom, I found myself envious, teetering on jealous, of Winchester's epic journey. He stayed in big cities, saw tiny villages, visited historic sites, took in the unparalleled natural beauty surrounding China's main artery, and had countless humorous run-ins with Chinese people along the way. The trek was executed so well.

In addition to the experiences Winchester took in himself, I really liked to hear the tales about the people in the past who attempted to conquer the river. The stories of the likes of Cornell Plant and Joseph Rock - foreigners who got to know the river and China intimately - are histories that I had never heard before.

Winchester is a really good writer. He seemlessly weaves his experiences with previous explorers' experiences with a more general history of the Yangtze.

I want to highlight a particular long passage of this book. I didn't know how to cut this wonderful chunk of writing down. The following is from p. 295-7, while in Sichuan Province searching for the famous bridge at Luding Qiao, the famous bridge where Mao escaped the nationalist army and crossed the Dadu River:

The River at the Center of the World is a great read. I have a few criticisms, though.

First, there were times where I really grew to dislike Winchester. There were several sections of the book that simply rubbed me the wrong way. In one instance he goes on and on for pages about how terrible contemporary Chinese architecture is and, specifically, how much he hates the Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai.


Image from gilygily.com

These sections where he rails against things in China he finds distasteful (don't get him started on Chinese green vs. English black tea) both haven't aged well and come across as arrogant and, frankly, annoying.

Second, eastern China is far more prominently featured than the western half of the country. Winchester doesn't get to Chongqing, which is about halfway up the river (give or take), until page 270. The book is 395 pages long. I didn't feel like the first half of the Yangtze (and the latter part of the book) was given enough space.

I found Winchester's experiences in the small villages of western China dotting the river to be just as interesting (if not more) than his time in the mega-cities of the east. I wish he'd written about the rugged more and the (relatively) refined less. I understand that the end of his trip was desolate and maybe didn't have quite as much "content" as the lower reaches of the river. But western China is where I've had my most exciting travel adventures and would've liked to hear more about it.

And third, the book was too foreigner-centric. Winchester, an Englishman (although he has a home in America), seemed particularly fond of other Englishmens' experiences in China.

On top of the stories of Plant and Rock, the foreign boatmen mentioned above (whose stories I did find enjoyable), Winchester also goes to visit another foreigner explorer's grave. The history of old-time Shanghai was nearly exclusively about foreigners. And Winchester seeks out other foreigners working on the three gorges dam and again in more remote sections of western China.

Winchester travels through areas occupied by millions upon millions of Chinese people throughout his trip but his book ended up being mostly about foreigners. That's not the case with a lot of newer travel books written in the past few years that I've reviewed on my blog (see Peter Hessler or Rob Gifford for examples of foreign travel writers who completely immerse themselves in the Chinese experience).

Despite my criticisms, overall The River at the Center of the World is a very fun book that's well-written. It's a great travel read. Bring it on a plane or train with you. You'll fly through it.

Random Observations from Xi'an

The following are some random observations I wrote down while in Xi'an:

- I could see nine construction cranes from the bedroom we stayed in at Qian's parents. NINE! Every morning at dawn, the sounds of hammers started echoing throughout the apartment blocks. Construction continues at an amazing clip in the Middle Kingdom.

- Related to the new construction, scores of old 城中村 (city villages or "primitive" neighborhoods) are being torn down at an amazing clip. Although there haven't been western journalists writing about the destruction of neighborhoods in Xi'an (like there have been on Beijing and Kashgar), Xi'an's old-time, low-income neighborhoods are disappearing quickly. New apartment blocks and luxury shopping centers are rising up from their rubble.

- Xi'an (and China in general) has gone nuts promoting the 2011 International Horticulture Expo that is in Xi'an this summer. I got annoyed with the hype of this event and I was only there for three weeks.

Qian and I went to the expo with her family. It was lame. Three hour waits to get into a greenhouse or climb a pagoda. We ended up just walking around the giant park that had minimal items of interest. There are free parks in Xi'an more interesting than this 100 to 150 RMB per ticket event. All of Qian's family agreed with this sentiment.

The greatest irony is that this green expo is in one of China's most polluted cities. The day we went to the expo, the pollution and smog in Xi'an were at an unfathomable scale.

- After mocking Xi'an and the expo, I do have to say that the pollution in Xi'an is getting better. It's still horrific and surely unhealthy, but it's light-years better than when I arrived in China the first time in 2006.

- Like Americans, the Chinese are drinking lots of vitamin water. "VC," or vitamin C, is something the Chinese have gotten into.

- Groceries are damn expensive. We've all heard about inflation in China. I can confirm from the ground that it is bad. Qian and I calculated that for many items, including a lot of varieties of fruit, that things are cheaper in the US (after translated into US dollars).

- Chinese people are incredibly scared of eating hot pot at restaurants these days. I had to beg Qian and her family to eat a proper Sichuan-style hot pot meal at a restaurant. I'd missed the news from the US, but beginning last year, there have been a score of reports on the unsanitary conditions at hot pot restaurants. The one accusation I kept hearing from people is that the restaurants re-use oil from one table's pot and then give it to the next people who come in. Don't get me wrong, that's absolutely disgusting. I find it hard to believe that it's impossible to find a clean hotpot restaurant, especially given the scrutiny the restaurants are under these days, though.

A Walkabout With Hopfrog

Anyone who's ever read the comments section of this blog knows who Hopfrog is. Hopfrog has been the most frequent commenter on here for some time.

It's funny, when I came back to the US from China in 2009, a long-time friend of mine who'd kept up with me in China through my blog asked me when I'd met/become friends with Hopfrog in Xi'an. I laughed. Hopfrog was never in Xi'an and I'd actually never met him in person. Hopfrog and I developed our friendship completely through our writings/back-and-forths on this blog.

Hopfrog and I still have never met in person. I consider him a good friend, though. He always adds thoughtful and high-level discussion to this blog. And, as I said when talking about another of my favorite commenters, Ramesh, he sports a refreshingly positive and constructive attitude, which is such a rarity here on the interwebs.

Hopfrog has started his own blog - Hopfrog's Walkabout. It is a chronicle of his hike on the Pacific Crest Trail from the US border of Mexico to the border of Canada. Hopfrog is several posts into his preparation for the hike. His writings definitely look like something readers here would enjoy.

Farwestchina.com Review and 100,000

Josh at the blog farwestchina.com just posted a really nice review of my book.

Here's a snippet of what he wrote:

...

A good portion of this book focuses on Mark’s trip to Xinjiang with his brother. During a planned trip to Tibet with his brother in 2007, certain events in the region caused a government clampdown on travel.

“Taking into account the increased costs and needing to have a guide to go anywhere outside of Lhasa, we decided to go to Xinjiang instead. We didn’t have to hire any guides in Xinjiang and, since I knew some Chinese, we were able to be much more independent. We felt that Xinjiang totally took care of the “crazy adventurous” part of the trip that we had originally planned on going to Tibet satisfying.”

“My brother and I were floored by what we saw in Xinjiang. I’m really glad everything worked out the way it did. I’m not sure I would’ve made it to Xinjiang if the circumstances had been different.”

I just did a quick count of my book and twenty of the eighty or so photos in the book are from Xinjiang. Seeing how many photos from China's far west ended up in my book compared with how long I was there (just a little over two weeks), it should be obvious that I was completely floored my experiences in Xinjiang.

I'd strongly recommend traveling in Xinjiang to any adventurous traveler in China. The scenery (the numerous mountain ranges, deserts, and oasis towns), the culture, and the history are some of the most exciting things one can see in China.

Josh's site, farwestchina.com, is a great resource for anyone planning a trip or wanting to learn more about Xinjiang. Josh, like I am, is living in the US now after a multi-year stay in China but is still continuing to write and read about the part of the world that has changed his life. Bookmark his site/add him to your RSS feed so you can see his updates. And explore his archives if you're new to the site.

On a separate note, I want to mark a (somewhat) historic event in the history of this blog. My Sitemeter counter hit 100,000 visitors this week (the page views are at about 140,000).



From what I gather, Sitemeter is not considered to be the most accurate counter for websites. Google Analytics seems to be the more popular method to tabulate traffic these days. Sitemeter counts search engine spiders and that kind of stuff as legitimate traffic. Those sorts of things pad Sitemeter's numbers.

On top of that, Sitemeter straight tells me that a huge percentage of my traffic comes from Google search queries. It's great having a high PageRank, but "organic" traffic (people who come to the site sans search) is always something bloggers strive for.

Saying all that, I'm really proud to have hit this 100,000th visitor milestone. It's been a great two and a half years on this blog. Writing my thoughts, discoveries, and rants about China here has been a special and important part of my life. I'm not writing as much right now as I have at other times, but I plan on posting as much on here as I can. I'm not going to let this blog die.

I'm so happy to have had a group of people who've kept up with me throughout the years. Thank you! Things have definitely progressed from my 15-Sitemeter-hit-a-day Xanga blog back in 2006-2007.

Chinatravel.net Interview

An interview I had with David Perry at Chinatravel.net is on the front page of their website right now. You can read the whole thing here. We discuss photography, putting my book together, travel, and life in China as a foreigner. A lot of the photos from my book are featured as well.



Expressing the Orient is a prize for Chinatravel.net's Ctrip China Travel Photo Contest. Check out what the contest is all about and sign up if you have a nice collection of pictures from China. You might just win a free copy of my book!

Remoteness

For our Memorial Day weekend, Qian and I went to central Missouri for a weekend of canoeing and camping with several of our friends. My friends from high school and I have been heading down to the Niangua River in Ozark country for about a decade now. It's always great times. This weekend was no different. There's really no downside to campfires, cabrewing (coolers full of beer on an eight mile, day-long canoe trip), and Missouri's unique topography.

This past weekend was the first time Qian and I had been outside of the Kansas City area since our honeymoon in St. Petersburg, Florida last September. Being unemployed and then freshly hired isn't conducive to travel. Regardless of the circumstances, it sucks that we haven't been able to travel more. Especially considering how much traveling I did while I was in China.

Although I've been stuck in Kansas City, my mind often floats to other parts of the world.

One of my favorite things to do when I'm bored and at a computer is go onto Google maps, find interesting places in the world, and then look those places up on Wikipedia to learn about their culture and history. For whatever reason, I often end up looking at islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and remote areas in the Northwest Territories of Canada.

A few days ago while looking up information on Alert, Nunavut in Canada (the northern most permanently-inhabited place on earth), I found the following random link - The Top 10 Most Remote Places on Planet Earth. I was really impressed by this list. It spanned the entire globe and introduced me to a number of places I've never heard of.

Number two on the list particularly caught my eye:

2. Motuo County, China

Considered the last county in China without a road leading to it, Motuo is a small community in the Tibetan Autonomous Region that remains one of the few places in Asia still untouched by the modern world. Just getting to Motuo is a Herculean task, as travelers must follow a grueling overland route through frozen parts of the Himalayas before crossing into the county by way of a 200-meter-long suspension bridge. The county is renowned for its beauty—Buddhist scripture regards it as Tibet’s holiest land—and it is said to be a virtual Eden of plant life, housing one-tenth of all flora in China. Despite its stunning geography and natural resources, Motuo still remains something of an island unto itself. Millions of dollars have been spent over the years in trying to build a serviceable road to it, but all attempts have eventually been abandoned because of mudslides, avalanches, and a generally volatile landscape. As the story goes, in the early 90s a makeshift highway was built that led from the outside world into the heart of Mutuo County. It lasted for only a few days before becoming un-passable, and was soon reclaimed by the dense forest. Photos: http://news.cultural-china.com

Read the Entire List

This place sounds really cool. Finding such remoteness in China, a country with the largest population and with a rapidly improving infrastructure, is surprising. Even in treacherous Tibet. I'd never heard of Motuo County and was happy to do some research on the place.

Here are some other interesting links on the Motuo, or Medog in Tibetan, County:

Image from Wikipedia

- An article on a guest house operator from China Daily
- A little bit of info on hiking Medog
- And, of course, articles from 2009 that to the county and that Medog now has 3G phone service!!

Argh! There is no remoteness anymore!!

I'm being somewhat facetious here. I'm sure that roads and 3G will be great for the people actually living there. But still, such modern advances have to take out a lot of the romance of visiting such a hard-to-get-to place.


I've been planning on writing something on Medog County for a couple weeks now. As it happens, my friend, Taylor, sent me an email today with some information about another incredible-looking, isolated place in southwest China.

The next remote place in southwest China that I'd never heard of before that I would love to now visit is Lexiaguo in Yunnan Province:











These images were sent to me in a chain email and I'm not real clear on who actually took these.

Here is the write-up that accompanied the chain email:

Lexiaguo - southwest of Kunming in Yunnan, China.

It is located in the southwestern part of Kunming, 2600 ft. above sea level, a remote area.
Because of its lack of infrastructure and inadequate transportation and lodging, most travel agencies would not think of going there.

But for those who have seen the pictures of the Red land, no one can resist being attracted to its beautiful scenery!

It looks like another blogger also received this chain email. ElaineR has a lot of good information on Lexiaguo (actually Laxiagou), or better known as Dongchuan Red Land (东川红土地). It turns out the chain email wasn't 100% correct. First, they got the name wrong. Second, Dongchuan is a place that travelers can get to.

I'm glad I received this email with these pictures. I learned something new today. But ElaineR's digging around on this email points out the factual inaccuracies that are common with chain email-types of information spreading.


Image from Wikipedia

I've been to Yunnan, specifically to Dali, Kunming, Tiger Leaping Gorge, and Kunming. I didn't even know about Dongchuan and, obviously, didn't go. It doesn't sound like Dong Chuan is nearly as remote as the chain email makes it sound to be though. I'm sure it's not an easy place to visit. But surely is no Medog County. And even Medog County doesn't sound that remote any more.

I'm not really sure what the point of this post has ended up being. Another one of my meandering posts. I guess it's just highlighting two places that I've never been to, just found out about, and hope to one day have the chance to visit.

Traveling makes life colorful. I'd somewhat forgotten that not having traveled at all recently. I hope that Qian and I have some more time to get out of KC and see more of America in the coming months.

My Top 10 Travel Destinations in China

I've traveled much more extensively in China than I have America. The people I've met, the things I've eaten, and the scenery I've witnessed in China are things that I'll never forget. China is a HUGE country that has MANY different opportunities for a traveler.

Seeing how many places I've been in China, it'd be prudent for me to publish a "Top 10 Travel Destinations in China" list. This is a subjective list of places that I enjoyed the most. So there is surely room for disagreement or discussion.



I'm going to make one qualifications before I present the list.

No metropolises are on my list. Places like Beijing, Shanghai, and, of course, Xi'an are all great cities. But this list is more focused on specific destinations and sites. I also prefer traveling to natural scenery as opposed to spending my vacation time walking down the skyscraper-laden streets of crowded cities. So while there are many worthwhile major cities in China worth visiting, I'm not including such places on my list.

To the list:

Mark's Top 10 Travel Destinations in China

10. Dali, Lijiang, and Tiger Leaping Gorge (Yunnan Province)


Scene at a lake in Lijiang

I was the sickest I've ever been in my life while visiting these three destinations. While in Lijiang, I made a major mistake; I ate a salad. The ensuing two weeks were hell. I eventually figured out I had giardiasis and fought the sickness with antibiotics.

The experience of being sick in Yunnan certainly tainted my experience there. I couldn't bike ride in Dali. I didn't hike the high trail of Tiger Leaping Gorge. I was able to walk around a lot in Lijiang, but I couldn't enjoy a lot of the fun things about the village.

Dali is a small village teeming with coffee shops, women in ethnic minority garb, and western hippies. It has an immensely laid back vibe.

Lijiang the perfect place to take a Chinese woman on a honeymoon.

Tiger Leaping Gorge is the deepest gorge in the world. From what I hear, the views from the high trail are more than worth the hike.

Although I was deathly ill in Yunnan, I could tell that it would've been a joy if I'd been healthy.



9. Pingyao (Shanxi Province)


An alleyway in Pingyao

I wrote a detailed article about my experience in Pingyao here. It's something of an enigma: an oasis of Chinese history and modern travel comfort all the while being dead in the middle of China's coal country. Just walking down the streets here is an experience. Be sure to eat the local specialty - 土豆烧牛肉 (beef and potatoes).

8. The German Concession and the Beaches of Qingdao (Shandong Province)


The German section of Qingdao

I spent ten days in Qingdao by myself in the summer of 2006. I'm pretty sure it was in Qingdao that I realized I don't really like traveling by myself. Saying that, Qingdao is worth a visit.

Qingdao has a lot more character than most big cities in China. To me, it seemed as though there was the German concession area built a hundred years ago, the new skyscraper section of the city, and practically nothing in between the two.

Walking through the winding hills of the German section and the summer beaches with hundreds of swimmers are things you'll remember.


A beach with modern Qingdao in the background

7. Heaven Lake and Turpan (Xinjiang Autonomous Region)

Heaven Lake and Turpan aren't that close to each other. I'm lumping them together because they are both a couple hours (in opposite directions) from Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang Autonomous Region.


Heaven Lake

Heaven Lake is what I have always pictured western Canada to look like. Heaven Lake is at an elevation of 6,500 feet and the mountains surrounding the lake tower over 20,000 feet. My brother and I camped out at the lake for one night in the summer of 2007. Although we were there in the summer during peak season, once we started walking along the paved trails, we had the place to ourselves. We hardly saw anyone. Setting up camp, eating, and lugging around heavy backpacks was a very serene day.


Me and my brother riding camels outside of Turpan

A couple days after going to Heaven Lake and taking a day to rest in Urumqi, my brother and I headed to Turpan. Turpan is an old desert oasis town along the Silk Road. It is littered with old sites and relics thousands of years old. It is HOT in Turpan. But eating in the night markets, seeing the old sites, and getting intimate with the small Muslim town is well worth being hot for a couple days.

6. The Great Wall from Jinshanling to Simatai (Beijing)


We were lucky enough to see a rainbow while at the wall

Jinshanling and Simatai are THE places to see the Great Wall. I've been to the Mutianyu section of the wall. It wasn't bad. But it paled in comparison to Simatai.

Jinshanling to Simatai is difficult. The beginning of the hike is about three hours by bus from Beijing (much further than any of the other sections) and it is steep. One must be prepared for a very grueling hike. In fact, I'd say only healthy people should attempt this section the wall. But the payoff for the hard work is sublime. Be sure to spend 35 kuai and ride the zip line at the end section.

5. Emei Shan (Sichuan Province)


Me, with a monkey on my back

My brother and I refer to Emei Shan as "Monkey Mountain." Talk about a mystical place.

At Emei Shan, one can run across wild monkeys, see some of the most pristine forests in China, see Daoist hermits making pilgrimage, stay in practicing Daoist monasteries, hike some of the most grueling paved trails I've ever seen, and see summits thousands and thousands of feet above ground (and the clouds).

Because we were only at Emei Shan for two days and one night, my brother and I didn't even make it to the (what I hear is) beautiful summit of Emei Shan. Even though we didn't see the entire mountain, climbing half the mountain is, by far, one of the most memorable things I've ever done.

4. Xiahe and the Labrang Monastery (Gansu Province)



My friend, Andy, two French tourists, and I were the first foreigners to visit Xiahe and the Labrang Monastery in months and months last October. The city had been closed since the riots that took place in the run up to the Olympics. Locals in the city told me they hadn't seen foreigners in months before us.

The story of how we got to the city is, indeed, unbelievable.

It involves being denied tickets on a public bus. Finally convincing the ticket sellers to let us get on the bus. Being stopped at a military check point at the outskirts of the city. Having armed guards (with massive guns) run on to the bus and bark Chinese at us (and particularly me since I was the only one of us who could speak Chinese). Being told by a slick, English-speaking government official that we were NOT supposed to be in Xiahe. And ultimately negotiating an agreement where we could see the Labrang monastery as long as we stayed where the government wanted us to, didn't leave our hotel once we got there, went straight to the monastery at 8AM the following morning, left the monastery at noon, and then left Xiahe before sundown the following day.

Yeah, it was intense. I saw a locked down and repressed community first hand.

Despite the drama of geting to Xiahe, we did end up getting to the Labrang Monastery, the most holy Tibetan monastery outside of the Tibetan Autonomous region. Thankfully, once we finally got lost in the maze of Xiahe's narrow streets, the Tibetan monks, Tibetan pilgrims, and Chinese tourists roaming the streets couldn't have been friendlier.

The highlight was being invited in by a monk into his personal residence. As Andy and the two French tourists we were with walked into the small hut, we heard monks chanting and could smell incense burning. Since I was the only person who spoke Chinese, I acted as translator for the four of us and him. We had tea and relaxed with him for about a half hour.

Getting to spend time with a monk given the situation in Xiahe and the monastery was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It's something I will never forget.

3. Yangshuo and Longji Rice Terraces (Guangxi Province)


Just outside of Yangshuo

I can't believe that there is a more beautiful place on Earth than Yangshuo. Its terrain is unworldly.

Yangshuo is all about the scenery. Get out and enjoy it any way you can. Go on bamboo rides on the Yulong River. Rent a bike. Rock climb (it's supposedly the best place in China to climb).


The Longji Rice Terraces

While taking a break from adventures in and around Yangshuo, take a day trip to the Longji rice terraces. Built over hundreds of years, they are just magnificent trophies of human achievement.

2. Kashgar and Karakul Lake (Xinjiang Autonomous Region)


A scene from the Sunday market

If you've been putting off a trip to Kashgar, go now. The old city is presently being razed. Once it is gone, a true relic of Uighur culture will be forever lost.

One of the big highlights of Kashgar is its weekly market. I was blown away by the event. Thousands upon thousands of Xinjiangese from Kashgar and the areas surrounding Kashgar descended up the outskirts of town to trade goods in one market and livestock in another. These markets and the old city of Kashgar do not feel like China at all.

Incredibly, a natural scene unlike any other I've ever seen is just a few hours by car from Kashgar: Karakul Lake.


Me at Karakul Lake

Karakul Lake is at 13,000 feet and is surrounded by 25,000 foot mountains in all directions. That pretty much says it all. Pictures don't do this place justice. Camping here with my brother in 2007 was just... I've run out of superlatives.

The exotic feel of Kashgar with Karakul Lake not too far away make for a truly one-of-a-kind travel destination.

1. Hua Shan (Shaanxi Province)


Above the clouds at Hua Shan

After just writing about Kashgar and Karakul Lake, I feel like objectively they are "cooler" places than Hua Shan, a mountain a couple of hours east of Xi'an. But Hua Shan has some kind of special pull for me. I've climbed atop Hua Shan three times. Each one more intense than the last.

I don't know what it is about climbing the thousands upon thousands of steps that take one to the top of Hua Shan, one of the five Daoist holy mountains in China. All I do know is that I've never been to a place more magical than the place.

Compiling this list was fun. I really enjoyed thinking about all of the great places I've traveled in China. I can't wait until I can get back out to China to do some more!