China
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Our travel journal
Xizhou [喜洲] – our happy place
Xizhou [喜洲] – literally Happy [喜] Continent [洲] in Chinese – is a little town in Dali [大理] located on the west of Erhai [洱海] and 29km away from Dali Ancient Town [大理古镇]. In her heyday, it served as an important trading post along the Chama Gudao [茶马古道] – literally Tea [茶] Horse [马] Ancient
Dali Ancient Town [大理古镇]
The cafe owners in the ancient town work extremely hard over the various Chinese public holidays because that's when most Chinese people travel to Dali. With all the income made from these peak seasons, it is enough to cover costs for the entire year. And that's enough for them, anything extra is a bonus. It
Train Journey: Chuxiong [楚雄] to Dali [大理]
Duration: about 1 hour View from the train window: we probably went from 1,500m to 1,900m above sea-level without feeling much difference in the train. The sky was so blue and the fields were lined with crops.
Chuxiong [楚雄]
Chuxiong [楚雄] was an impromptu stop along the way before we made our way to Dali [大理] and we had the most unexpected experiences… It is the simplest of town with not many tourists and we spent the day doing what the locals do. We enjoyed watching the Yi people, dressed in their traditional costumes,
Langbapu Earth Forest [浪巴铺土林] – the beginning of everything
Back in November 2014, there were quite limited options to getting around, we took a long-distance coach from Kunming [昆明] to Yuanmou [元谋] and stayed the night at Xinhua Village [新华乡] that is closest to the earth forest. There is really nothing much to do around here except taking a walk around the nearby village,
Yunnan [云南]
Yunnan [云南] – literally Cloud [云] South [南] in Chinese – is a region in western China with the most spectacular terrains. At an average of 2,000m above sea level, locals believe that this is the closest anyone could get to the skies. It is good to know the elevation of these major places before planning a trip so
I went to Mainland China from Hong Kong and all I got was a photo of myself on a panda plate
I always imagined I first trip would be touching down in Beijing and checking out The Great Wall. Instead I found myself extremely bored in Hong Kong (a week there is far too long) and taking a day tour (I hate tours) to China to Guangzhou.It wasn't as glamorous as my travels with Linzy in
Surprising Shanghai – drinks in books and pigs in cafes
Jetlagged, I tell Linzy I need a coffee. She takes me to what used to be an abattoir – an interesting place called 1933 Old Millfun. Now it's a trendy mall. The only cafe appears to have dogs – some kind of puppy cafe. I notice one of the dogs is actually a pig and
The inseparable Cangshan Erhai [苍山洱海]
It is impossible to mention Erhai [洱海] without first emphasising that Cangshan [苍山] is a long stretch of snow-capped mountain parallel to it. With 19 peaks and elevation between 3,500m to 4,000m above sea-level, Cangshan [苍山] is quite impossible for an average human to conquer. Most often, travellers would resort to taking aerial tram rides
