Top 10 things to do in Guangzhou, China
5 min read • Aug 8, 2018
China’s third-biggest city, Guangzhou is the beating heart of the megalopolis that is the Pearl River Delta. This location along the South China Sea has…
Travel Stories
China
- Sizzling Sichuan: exploring China's quintessential province
5 min read • May 24, 2018
Sichuan (四川) – the ‘China of China’. This far west province is a microcosm of all that draws visitors to the Middle Kingdom. Fiery food, sleepy pandas, a…
- Garden to linger in: Suzhou's elegant classical Chinese gardens
6 min read • Mar 27, 2018
As well as being known as the ‘Venice of the East’, thanks to its network of picturesque canals, the elegant city of Suzhou on China's eastern seaboard is…
- Designer Shenzhen: exploring China's creative capital
4 min read • Feb 23, 2018
Just three decades ago, Shenzhen was a drowsy fishing village on the fringe of Hong Kong, across the water in mainland China. Today, it’s one of the…
- How to celebrate Chinese New Year in Hong Kong
5 min read • Feb 9, 2018
On 16 February 2018, China marks a new year in the lunar calendar: the Year of the Dog, the 11th animal in the Chinese zodiac. Otherwise known as the…
- Hong Kong’s top 10 speakeasies
4 min read • Dec 13, 2017
Big, brash and bombastic Hong Kong speaks another language when it comes to drinking establishments. Its burgeoning breed of speakeasies are sexy, chic –…
- Lovely Lantau: secrets of Hong Kong's biggest island
6 min read • Nov 2, 2017
Many visitors to Hong Kong only experience Lantau Island on the way elsewhere – touching down at Hong Kong International Airport, built on reclaimed land…
- Cool Xisi: Beijing's up-and-coming neighbourhood
5 min read • Oct 19, 2017
Xisi (literally ‘West Four’) is a neighbourhood in western Beijing, so called for its four richly carved paifang (sign gates) that once straddled the…
- A Trans-Mongolian adventure: riding the rails from Moscow to Beijing
6 min read • Oct 5, 2017
Click-clacking along the tracks for thousands of kilometres, getting a glimpse into some of the most intriguing places on earth – it’s easy to understand…
- Railway to heaven: a trip on the Qinghai-Tibet train
5 min read • Sep 28, 2017
The lofty snowcapped Kunlun Mountains are veiled in a wispy mist as the train climbs up a steep mountain pass, trudging toward Lhasa. Through the window,…
- Ice, ice city: a walk through historical Harbin
6 min read • Sep 22, 2017
Harbin, in China’s far north, has made a name for itself as a winter hotspot thanks to the Harbin Ice and Snow World, a neon-clad Narnia of frozen fairy…
- Alternative Yunnan: best towns and villages to beat the crowds
5 min read • Aug 31, 2017
A journey to China’s southwest province of Yunnan is a journey into the colourful cultures of the region’s Bai, Yi and Naxi people, labyrinthine and…
- China's most epic high-speed rail journeys
7 min read • Aug 24, 2017
It was once Japan that was famous for its high-speed train network, introducing the world to its Shinkansen, or bullet trains, way back in 1964. But while…
- Changsha for families: visiting Hunan's cool capital with kids
6 min read • Aug 3, 2017
Travelling families will have a ball in Changsha, capital city of China’s southern Hunan province, which delivers all the pleasures of a big city without…
- Sleeping under yak hair: life with Gansu's Tibetan nomads
6 min read • Jul 7, 2017
I awake in the dark of the night to the sounds of the camp dogs – big, fearsome, toothy creatures barking wildly at something unknown. As I lie in my…
- Great walls of China: the Middle Kingdom's enduring city walls
8 min read • Jun 14, 2017
China may have one Great Wall, but it also has many great walls. Military defenses were long an important architectural feature of cities throughout the…
- Escape from Xi'an: Hiking Hua Shan, China's sacred Taoist peak
4 min read • Jun 8, 2017
A city of historic drum towers and roasting lamb skewers, historic Xi'an is often more evocative of Central Asia and the Silk Road than the Middle Kingdom…
- Shangri-la on two wheels: cycling adventures in Yunnan
5 min read • May 25, 2017
Under an endlessly bright, blue sky, amidst clean, crisp air, an old woman herds a grunting, clucking menagerie of farm animals down the road towards you…
- West of the Yellow River: a faraway journey through Gansu
7 min read • May 11, 2017
No people. No sounds of any kind, really, except the unseen wind whipping against a lonesome rock formation some distance away. It’s hard to say how far…
- Splendid Xi’an: old and new in China’s ancient Tang capital
5 min read • May 8, 2017
It was once called the 'city of enduring peace' (Chang'an) and served as the capital of China during the empire's cultural golden age, the Tang dynasty …
- Must-see sights in China's wild northwest
5 min read • May 5, 2017
The unmoving landscapes of the Silk Road, which passes through the far northwest reaches of China, have enchanted travellers for millennia. Sights along…
- Celebrating street art: eight festivals for the urban art form
6 min read • Apr 27, 2017
Street art has taken over the world and spray-painted it red, blue and yellow. Across the globe, urban centres are becoming giant, colourful canvases for…