Traveling to Tibet Through Central China

Roads in Tibet

Traveling to Tibet through central China is a transformative experience; the journey itself is almost as interesting as actually visiting Tibet, an autonomous region within China.

I worked in China for about 8 years. This trip to Tibet was a team-building exercise with our local representatives in China. My partner and I were the only non-Chinese speaking Westerners.

There are many different roads and transportation options for traveling to Tibet. We opted for traveling to Tibet by private vehicle from Xining to Lhasa, a popular but very arduous route offered by many companies (so evaluate them before you pick one). A train line also exists as well.

Here is a peek into our experiences across central China to Lhasa, the capital of Tibet.

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Osaka to Shanghai – Making the Trip on the Su Zhou Hao Ferry

I can’t say that I am much of one for slow travel. I get impatient and anxious if I am in a city for more than just few days. This is partly because I would rather pack more in my travel allotment, accounting for time and money, then spending more time at one particular spot.

In fact, I have not visited any international city for longer than 5 nights on any trip. Sometimes, however, the financial aspect catches up to you a bit and slow travel becomes one of your only options. I found myself in that very same situation while planning my recent trip from Osaka to Shanghai.

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Eating Scorpion and Other Weird Treats on Wangfujing Street

Scorpions to eat in ChinaA must do for the off-the-beaten track crowd in Beijing is to visit one of the food markets that line the various districts. 

At these markets, the appetite of the adventurous can be put to the test with many offbeat and near disgusting creatures on display for consumption.

Normal foods are also available from the dozens of street carts for those wanting to have a more traditional meal of dumplings or noodles.

But my trip to the Wangfujing night market, however, was purely for one purpose; to eat the weirdest food I could find.  Namely scorpion.

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You Better Not Miss Reed Flute Cave in Guilin, China

After arriving in Guilin, my very first order of business after settling into my hostel was to make a trip out to nearby Reed Flute Cave. 

Reading about it online and seeing pictures of the iconic scenes placed it as my top site in Guilin to see, apart from trips out to Yangshuo and Lonji. 

After returning from the cave, however, it seemed like every traveler I spoke to had not only missed seeing the amazing wonder but did not even know it existed.

To me, this was very reminiscent of the Monkey Park experience just outside of Kyoto Japan. Of which I’ve already had people tell me they enjoyed it based on my advice.

So, to put it bluntly: when visiting Guilin, do not miss Reed Flute Cave

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