Archive for Category: "china"
Getting Around Beijing
Getting around a Chinese city can seem daunting. What if you don’t understand any signs? What if you get lost and can’t find your way back to your hotel? For many travelers, it seems easier to just stay at home in their hotel room unless they are with a private guide or a tour group
Gardens of Perfect Brightness in Beijing
I’ve seen a lot of Beijing in the four months I’ve been in the city. I’ve been to the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, Wangfujing, the Summer Palace, 798 Art District, the Great Wall, various Hutongs, the Bird’s Nest… the list goes on. My favorite place, though? That would be the Gardens of Perfect Brightness, also known as the Old Summer Palace, or Yuánmíng Yuán
China Swooped: When Friends Get the Bill
The last time I was in China, fall 2008, I had a part-time internship with the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, a think tank in Shanghai. Towards the end of my internship, my boss invited me to lunch with him and someone he wanted me to meet.
Mixed Feelings in the Massage Parlor
“Foreigners just have the most wonderful smell. Did you know? All of us here have noticed it. Every time I get a foreign customer, I notice. I don’t know how to describe it, but it’s different than the smell of Chinese people. I really like it.”
Four Places the Tours Won’t Take You in Shanghai
I stood before the life-size subway map at Shanghai’s Lujiabang Road station. Pretending to be simply interested, I scrolled my eyes from nearby advertisements to the map, the map to nearby advertisements.
