They say that getting there is half the battle, but that was not often the case in China. Don’t get me wrong, getting anywhere in China is rarely easy—take my two attempts to make my way west to Sichuan province while I was living in Shanghai; once foiled by a snowstorm and once by an […]
The Hassle of Finding a Hotel in Rural China
I enjoy traveling in China overall, but that enjoyment does not generally extend to the accommodation search outside of popular destinations. Only hotels with the proper license are allowed to accept foreign guests and the Chinese government does not seem to hand out many of those licenses in less visited destinations. In many small towns […]
Homestay in Jiaju Where A Film Crew Steals our Feast
Once we had gotten rid of our drunk, lunatic driver, we had no choice but to walk around Jiaju village with all our bags until we found a place offering homestays that actually had rooms available. It took us about an hour, but we eventually ended up staying with a really nice family who had [read more…]
Hiring a Tibetan Driver and Somehow Surviving the Experience
After exploring the villages of Zhonglu and Suopo, it was time for lunch. If you remember, our driver felt we should have stopped for lunch much sooner and was none too pleased when 10 am rolled around and we still hadn’t eaten, but he was in a much better mood now that we were finally [read more…]
Exploring the Tibetan Villages of Zhonglu and Suopo
Last week, I wrote about our first afternoon and evening in Danba, which were spent getting a hotel room, arranging a car and driver for the next morning, eating an average meal, and buying fresh fruit and a giant bag of peanuts to supplement that meal. I created quite a little mountain of [read more…]
Danba in Western Sichuan: A Tibetan City I was Actually Allowed to Visit
Traveling around the Tibetan areas of China is best done without much of a plan, as government policy on travel in those regions can change from day to day. It can be quite annoying, to be honest, and I certainly felt that annoyance on my most recent [read more…]
Keeping Up With the Changs at Jiuzhaigou
Jiuzhaigou is a World Heritage Site and nature reserve on the edge of the Tibetan plateau in Northern Sichuan province in China. It takes its name, which means “Valley of Nine Villages” in English, from the nine Tibetan villages that are dotted along its length. It is arguably one of the most beautiful and scenic […]