No matter where you travel to in the world, night markets always provide fascinating things to look at, interesting people to watch, and delicious food to sample. Late one evening, I was wandering the streets near Id Kah Mosque when I came across the “Ou Er Da Xi Ke” Road night (technically, “evening”) market. Entrance…
Category: Asia
The Century-old Teahouse
What does one do on a blazing hot summer’s day in Kashgar? Wandering is certainly an option. I started walking around Old Town when I came upon an interesting-looking structure that I learned was the Ostangboyi Tea House. It was apparently a century old and one of, if not the last, traditional teahouses in Kashgar. As…
The Oasis City
What was once an oasis city on the cusp of the Taklamakan Desert that dates back to 200 B.C., Kashgar (or Kashi, its modern Chinese name, which, in this rare case, doesn’t sound as “cool” as its predecessor) is a major stop on the old Silk Road. Reading the Wikipedia page, I can’t even begin to wrap…
Random flashback – Getting tea in Chengdu
A fun thing to do in Chengdu is to visit one of their many parks and after a nice stroll, get some tea at a tea house. The tea itself wasn’t anything special to my unsophisticated taste buds. It was just a hot, comforting beverage to be enjoyed while people-watching. Many years ago, I watched…
Turpan
I wanted to take a trip to Turpan to know what it’s like to be in the 2nd-lowest depression on Earth after the Dead Sea. However, this also meant being in one of the hottest places in all of China. I wasn’t particularly looking forward to that aspect of the trip but it is what it is….
People’s Park – “The park for sharing happiness.”
One thing I love about Chinese cities are the parks where the masses gather in the evenings to socialize and exercise collectively. In my last entry, I mentioned a place called People’s Park. I know parks exist in many other countries but I don’t think I have seen many which are filled with people on a…
Bestay Hotel
After a 3.5 hr flight from Xi’an, I arrived at Urumqi airport and had to find my way to my hotel. There were no hostels in Urumqi, only business hotels of which I found the cheapest one that accommodated foreigners (of which there weren’t many), a $15/night spot called “Bestay Hotel”, which I assume was…
The New Frontier – Xinjiang
Up until now, my 2018 trip has taken me to relatively “normal” places to travel for most people. But when I set out on my journey this year, I had my sights set on visiting one particular region in the world; the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. What fascinates me about Xinjiang? In short, the Uyghur people and…
The Great Mosque of Xi’an
In a country whose ruling party officially adopts atheism (and whose party members cannot practice religion) but whose constitution states that its citizens “enjoy freedom of religious belief”, religion is a complex and sensitive topic in China. Currently, the predominant religions in China are Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, and Christianity and before the Chinese Communist Party…
World’s Most Dangerous Hike?
I am not sure when I actually decided to do the Huashan Plank Walk. I had read about “The Most Dangerous Hike In The World” some time ago and the pictures in those articles always made it look scary. (There are even videos of people committing suicide by unlatching their safety harnesses and jumping to…