Qingdao, China on my 21st Birthday

This is the first part of the next group of blog posts about my travels at the end of my year abroad. The first place I went was to Qingdao in Shandong province. I also happened to be there on my 21st birthday! We arrived at about 2am, because we got a cheap, late-night flight….

Monthly Recap: June 2017

Where I Went Shanghai, China Qingdao, Shandong, China Luoyang, Henan, China Huashan and Xi’an, Shaanxi, China Xiahe, Zhangye, Dunhuang, and Jiayuguan, Gansu, China Xining and Qinghai Lake, China For the last half of the month I was backpacking around China. Blog posts about everywhere I went to come! Best on InstagramThis one is from Qinghai…

A Weekend in Shanghai

On Thursday night, we booked a room at the Etour hostel near People’s Square subway station in Shanghai, then the next morning we headed to catch a train. We arrived around midday and after a quick rest, we set out.  an old theatre near where we were staying We spent the rest of the day…

Memories of a Long Weekend

The past couple of weeks have been pretty essay-heavy, so this weekend I got some university work done, but I also enjoyed spending the long holiday weekend here in Hangzhou.  This is my neighborhood fruit shop. I love the way it looks at night.   Take out delivery drivers line up to get their orders…

A Week in Xinjiang Province

I caught a flight from Lhasa to Urumqi and arrived in the evening. The next morning, I tried to go to the Xinjiang museum, but it was closed for May Day. I ended up going to the bazaar, meeting a really cool Chinese woman, and spending the whole afternoon eating Uyghur baked goods and hanging…

A Week in Xinjiang Province

I caught a flight from Lhasa to Urumqi and arrived in the evening. The next morning, I tried to go to the Xinjiang museum, but it was closed for May Day. I ended up going to the bazaar, meeting a really cool Chinese woman, and spending the whole afternoon eating Uyghur baked goods and hanging…

Everest Base Camp, Tibet

After spending three days in Lhasa, we spent the next four days on the road to visit the Everest Base Camp! We set out from Lhasa in the morning to drive to Shigatse. The drive took about six hours. Many animals crossed our path. When we arrived, we went straight to the monastery. It’s famous…

Lhasa, Tibet

I’ve just gotten back from a big trip to Tibet and Xinjiang Province. This will be the first of my four blog posts about my trip! If you’ve ever looked into going to Tibet as a foreigner, you’ll know that it’s logistically complicated and expensive. My trip was not really an exception, but the stars…

Monthly Recap: April 2017

Here’s what I got up to this month! Places I went  Beijing, China Huangshan, Anhui, China Lhasa, Shigatse, Everest Base Camp, Tibet, China Urumqi and Turpan, Xinjiang, China Best on the Blog Guilin & Yangshuo – this was the last the last blog post in my series from my travels during Spring Festival. Best on…

A Weekend in Huangshan

This past weekend I went to Huangshan with a couple of friends. We had an amazing time and really lucked out on the weather! On Friday evening, we took the last bus from Hangzhou to Huangshan park, which takes about 4 hours. We arrived about 9:30 and checked into the Kunlun hostel. We were very…