Why You Shouldn’t Skip Bangkok
Everybody says to avoid Bangkok if you’re traveling to Thailand. This mega-city is portrayed as a dirty, crowded, perverted cesspool. Okay, so it’s true that Bangkok is crowded, and some …
Travel
Yangshuo China’s Awe-Inspiring Awkward Metaphors
Here’s the problem with visiting beautiful places: we’re limited by language to using cliché descriptive words and awkward metaphors. I can write about some scenery that is beautiful, dazzling, exquisite, …
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Beihai Park: My New Favorite Green Blob
Sometimes you find an amazing travel experience through extensive research and planning. Other times, you just sort of randomly stumble on them. The second case happened to me when I …
The Summer Palace in Beijing: the World’s Nicest Birthday Gift
Sometimes the most peaceful places have histories full of war, embezzlement, and imperial collapse. How could on Earth could a green forested hill covered in classical Chinese architecture, surrounded by …
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The Great Wall of China is Actually Pretty Great
Is there a location that says “iconic China” any more than the Great Wall? No other site is as wrapped up with Chinese national identity or foreigners’ expectations of the …
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How China’s COVID-19 Delta Variant Outbreak Ruined My Summer Vacation
Despite China’s best efforts, the dreaded Delta variant of COVID-19 recently slammed into the country with a vengeance. The total cases in the country are now sitting around 121,837. That …
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You Can Pet the Elephants at the Samui Elephant Haven
Okay, so even though it wasn’t quite as magical as seeing elephants in the wild, seeing elephants at the Samui Elephant Haven was still pretty magical. We were able to …
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The Longjing Tea Village in Hangzhou
The Longjing Tea Village in Hangzhou is a sort of holy land for tea drinkers. Longjing tea is smooth, mellow, and can be ridiculously expensive. If you’d asked me two …
The Weird, Colored Temples of Chiang Rai
Most temples in Thailand are beautiful but pretty standard. Sharply pitched roofs with carved decorations, often covered in gold leaf. Inside, you take off your shoes and sit under the …
Chasing Elephants in Khao Yai National Park
Khao Yai National Park is full of animals. Despite being only three hours or so from Bangkok (or almost a full day if you go the way we did), the …