Mark & Jen's 'Around the World' Travel & Photography Blog

It only took two days–one 30 minute hike out of Longsheng to the nearest road, five buses, one train, and one taxi—to get to this UNESCO recognized site. But the New York Times hailed that “at every twist and turn of the road there is a view to make one gasp,” so we HAD to [...]

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Idyllic, romantic, “the China you have always imagined”–just a few descriptors of our past week in southern China.

Bamboo raft (Guilin) / Silk (Xingping, outside Yangshuo)
In Yangshuo, we kicked back at a cultural house/home of Mr. Wie. We took a bamboo raft ride down the famous Li River, surrounded by limestone karst peaks. We [...]

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Well, after two months on the road, certain things are bound to disappear, others added.
Thus far, the following fall into the category of “missing”: Jen’s camera and sunglasses (pick pocketed in Xi’an), Jen’s breakfast/lunch/dinner when fierce Chinese parasites got to her during the 25-hour train ride between Xi’an and Guilin, one of Jen’s sandals during [...]

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Hiking in China is much different than hiking in Colorado. Not only is it a natural experience, it is a cultural one as well. As Westerners, we cannot just stop and rest and then press on up the endless stone steps, no matter how exhausted. If we do, one of many factors, if not all, [...]

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So Mark and Jen want to be “cool” and they decide to try a typical and popular Sichuan “hotpot” restaurant. The experience goes something like this:
–Point, point, point, nod, nod, yell across the restaurant, a hundred turning heads, and we get a table with a vat of oil.
–Mark goes into the kebab room and comes [...]

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