There is a song in Chinese about this place that goes "I want to go to Guilin, but when I have money I have no time and when I have time I have no money." This is the place you've seen in so many old Chinese paintings. It's extraordinary limestone landscapes form a backdrop to an old way of life, making a simple bike ride into the countryside an amazing experience. [View Full Entry]

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Bangkok. Then on to southwest Thailand for some saltwater. The Thai people are wonderfully warm and the culture is peaceful (despite what you've been reading in the news). They are always looking to have fun. I enjoyed every experience here down to getting ripped off by my taxi driver coming from the airport. i paid about 3 times the normal fare (it was 2am and i couldn't really see a difference between $20 and $7 in Thai Baht). I generously tipped the guy who was politely ripping me off, and he giggled and then shook my hand three times and gave [View Full Entry]

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These shots from a day trip to a water village near Suzhou (about 1.5 hours west of Shanghai). Though thoroughly Chinese, the town also had a European feel to it -- a bit like Venice with its canals and bridges, and the narrow alleys and simple architecture reminded me of medieval towns in Europe. No wonder this place gets used a lot for movie sets. I heard MI:3 has some scenes from here. [View Full Entry]

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Day trip to a tiny water town outside Shanghai. Ate new foods and deftly navigated throngs of tourists. [View Full Entry]

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Sichuan province is the land of spicy food and home of the Panda. Chengdu is the capital, geographically akin to St. Louis - the final post of the eastern part of the country before the vast and much less populated western frontier. We flew into the capital, Chengdu, and then flew north to JiuZhaiGou (Valley of Nine Villages) about 4,000 meters above sea level (13,000 feet) and at the southern end of the Minshan mountain range. JiuZhaiGou takes its name from the nine Tibetan villages that line the valley. The valley is famous for its lakes and waterfalls - crystal clear [View Full Entry]

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These photos are from walks I took in my first three months in Shanghai. They are all from three neighborhoods - Old Town (which maintains much the same character and life-style as it has had the last 60 years, Tian Zai Fang (a largely refurbished Lilong in the Former French Concession), and Jianguo Lu - a street lined with demolition and new construction, which is a fault-line between the Shanghai's new and old. Even by New York standards, it's a fast-paced city with a tremendous amount of life. [View Full Entry]

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had to go out of china to get my work visa issued, and tokyo is a 3 hour flight from shanghai. so, while beijing was booming with the olympics, i was sipping cappuccino in a megalopolis ghost town, as i was there during their national holiday, which is a week of everyone heading home-home, like our Thanksgiving, except...for a whole week. aside from that, tokyo is not as vertical as i expected, not nearly as crazy as I expected (that may be due to the holiday). but the food is rediculously delicious (even the 7-11 has great food) and the service [View Full Entry]

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A weekend retreat from the scorching city to the mountainous bamboo forests and rolling tea fields of Zhejiang province, about 3.5 hours from Shanghai. Hiking, eating and swimming....real summer. [View Full Entry]

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