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In my new busy-student lifestyle, any trip downtown must be made the most of! So when we planned to go downtown for an event at a new bar two weeks ago, we knew we wanted to seize the opportunity to have a delicious meal, too. A bit of Internet research led me to Da Gui, [...]
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In honor of last night’s birthday dinner (Indian takeout, since it was also the night before our final), today’s snapshot is from my first trip to India in April 2009. I say first because it just might end up being chosen for my Spring Festival trip next January/February. Every meal of Indian food just increases [...]
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My recent trip to Chengde, like last month’s excursion to the Marco Polo Bridge, was organized by the intensive Mandarin program where I’m currently studying. They understandably turned to the services of a Chinese travel agency to coordinate the trip, so I finally had a chance to experience a Chinese tour group from the inside. If [...]
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As I explained in my previous post on Chengde, the town grew to prominence when the Qing emperors established their summer resort in the mountains here. Naturally, that resort — a World Heritage Site along with the surrounding temples — was a key stop on our two-day itinerary. We lucked out with autumn weather that [...]
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No, I didn’t take a surprise trip to Lhasa over the weekend! This replica of the world-famous Potala Palace sits in the hills of Chengde, about four hours northeast of Beijing. Chengde was home to the Qing emperors’ Summer Mountain Resort (which you’ll see in a few days), which meant that the town was also [...]
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After a rough week of homework and a 10-minute speech in Chinese, this photo depicts exactly what I would like to be doing right now. I got this snapshot as part of a batch of photos from my August 2009 trip to Gansu and Qinghai that showed up in my e-mail this week. It was [...]
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Whoops! I disappeared for awhile there. Despite the fact that I’ve just moved to one of the largest and most exciting cities in the world, I’ve barely stepped out of my neighborhood to explore it. Which doesn’t give me much to write a travel blog about. Or at least, that’s the excuse that first came [...]
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October 1st marks the founding of “New China” back in 1949, so it’s the Chinese equivalent of the 4th of July. Except instead of a 3-day weekend for a bit of grilling and fireworks, National Day is the pretext for the longest official vacation of the year, apart from Chinese New Year. Most white-collar workers [...]
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Getting used to being a student again has been a bit of a challenge, what with the reintroduction of homework, dictations and, this week, exams. But over the weekend, I got to enjoy one of the perks of my new status: a field trip! For our first outing, my program arranged for a group of [...]
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It’s hard to believe that it’s been only three months since Dan and I embarked on our Trans-Mongolian Railway trip. Since then, I’ve been home in the States for the first time in a year, moved to Beijing, found an apartment and started a grueling schedule of Chinese classes. Memories of riding horses in Mongolia, [...]
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Travel stories and advice from an independent traveler and expat in China. Full bio
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