This is the most wonderful city! We randomly discovered it in a guide book and kind of just decided to come here for sure when we couldn't get a ticket to our next destination and here we are. Xiahe is just one street long and ends in the Labrang Monastery, the largest Tibetan institution outside of Tibet (though according to the Tibetans who live here, this is still Tibet, even though the 'official' border of the country is quite a ways south of here...

Neither of us really knew what to expect from Tianshui. We arrived on our bus (which left an hour late) in the middle of the night and caught a cab to a hotel nearby. It was a purely Chinese hotel, which was nice, no westerners in site. In the morning, even though it was drizzly, mom and I set out for the Maijishan Grottos somewhere outside of town. Our trip consisted of catching one bus farther into town with mom sitting next to a man with two bags full of...

I sat down this morning with the intention of writing a quick blog about Xi'an, but didn't feel I had enough to say. Four hours later, however, I have plenty. Let me explain.... Two days ago mom and I caught a little green bus outside of town to see the Terracotta Warriors. I loved the site absolutely. My only complaint is that the displays were lacking their weaponry, but other than that they were all great. I bought myself a couple of the mini replicas to...

When last I wrote, I was on my way from Lijiang to Emeishan, one of the 4 Buddhist mountains in China. Well, mom and I made quite a job of that place. First, a lovely hotpot meal in Chengdu turned into 24 hours worth of stabbing stomach pains (not fun on a long bus ride). Mom and I had planned on taking the bus up to the top of the mountain immediately, exploring a bit, then hiking all the way down over three days, but instead stayed at the base for one night ...

This town drinks more tea than any other on the planet, I just know it. Mom ad I spent our entire first day in Chengu walking all over the city, hitting every one of the numerous parks in our area and in every one we would end up sitting at a little table drinking tea among all the Mah Jiang players and reading Bill Bryson out loud to each other. It is a really nice town. We also checked out a wonderful Toaist Temple that was just gorgeous and green. The bi...