DiDi Maps in China: The Night Google Maps Broke in Chongqing
DiDi Maps in China: how the in-app navigation system inside the ride-hailing app became the only tool that worked when Google Maps broke in Chongqing at 11:15pm.
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The First Mid-Autumn I Spent in China (And the Mooncake I Almost Didn’t Buy)
I timed my entire China trip without knowing September 25 was Mid-Autumn Festival. The bakery queue in Suzhou, the mooncake by the canal, and the teahouse I almost missed.
I Tried to Visit the Forbidden City in August. I Lasted Two Hours.
I tried to do the Forbidden City on a Tuesday in August. I lasted two hours. Here's what August in Beijing actually looks like and how I rebuilt the rest of the trip around heat instead of attractions.
A Rainy Weekend in Hangzhou: West Lake at Dawn and the Noodles That Fixed Everything
The rain started before I did. I opened the curtains in my hotel room at 6:30am and West Lake was a grey sheet of water falling on water. The willows along the shore bent under it. A single umbrella moved…
Lijiang at 5am Before the Tour Groups Arrived
I set my alarm for 4:50am because a Chinese friend told me that Lijiang Old Town was worth seeing before the tourists arrived. “Before 6am,” she said, like it was obvious. I did not believe her. I set the alarm…
A Chinese Pharmacy, Sign Language, and the Cough That Would Not Quit
The cough started on the train from Chengdu to Kunming. A tickle at first, then a full rattle in my chest by the time I checked into my hotel. By the second morning in Kunming, I was coughing hard enough…
24 Hours in Xi’an: The Terracotta Warriors Were Impressive but the Noodles Changed Everything
I had 24 hours in Xi’an because the train from Chengdu got me in at 6:47pm and the one to Beijing left at 7:12pm the next evening. That was the plan, anyway. Twenty-four hours, the Terracotta Warriors, the city wall,…
The Park Mahjong Game I Wasn’t Supposed to Join
The Table Had Three Players and a Gap I wasn’t looking for a game. I was cutting through People’s Park in Chengdu — the same park where I’d spent an afternoon doing nothing a few days earlier, as described in…
My Friend’s Uncle Let Me Win at Mahjong and I Didn’t Realize Until Later
The Table Was Set Before Dinner Was Finished We were still eating when the uncle started clearing dishes from one end of the table. Not stacking them in the kitchen — pushing them to the side, making room, wiping the…
I Showed Up for Dragon Boat Festival With No Plan and the Zongzi Was the Best Part
6am and the River Was Already Loud I could hear the drums from the hotel room. Not a steady rhythm — more like someone testing a heartbeat, inconsistent, stopping, starting again. It was 6:10am and I hadn’t planned to be…
Zhangjiajie in the Rain: The Fog Ate My View and I’m Glad It Did
The Forecast Said 60% Chance of Rain I should have checked the 40%. That was the part without rain, and it lasted exactly until I got off the cable car at the top of Tianzi Mountain. Then the clouds came…
China in July: The Day Chongqing Hit 41C and I Fled to Yunnan
A narrative log of two weeks traveling in China during peak summer: the heat dome in Chongqing, the 6:43am escape train, and the highland air of Kunming.
A Great Wall China Experience: Why I Chose Mutianyu Over Badaling
The bus dropped us at a parking lot that smelled like exhaust and steamed corn. A woman at a folding table was selling gloves for ten yuan. I bought a pair even though it was April — my hands were…