They say that getting there is half the battle, but that was not often the case in China. Don't get me wrong, getting anywhere in China is rarely easy—take my two attempts to make my way west to Sichuan province while I was living in Shanghai; once foiled by a snowstorm and once by an earthquake—but things don't generally get any easier once there. In fact, they often get much … [Read more...]
The Hassle of Finding a Hotel in Rural China
I enjoy traveling in China overall, but that enjoyment does not generally extend to the accommodation search outside of popular destinations. Only hotels with the proper license are allowed to accept foreign guests and the Chinese government does not seem to hand out many of those licenses in less visited destinations. In many small towns only one or two places will be allowed … [Read more...]
Homestay in Jiaju Where A Film Crew Steals our Feast
Once we had gotten rid of our drunk, lunatic driver, we had no choice but to walk around Jiaju village with all our bags until we found a place offering homestays that actually had rooms available. It took us about an hour, but we eventually ended up staying with a really nice family who had no other guests, leaving us with our choice of rooms. Of course that choice was between … [Read more...]
Hiring a Tibetan Driver and Somehow Surviving the Experience
After exploring the villages of Zhonglu and Suopo, it was time for lunch. If you remember, our driver felt we should have stopped for lunch much sooner and was none too pleased when 10 am rolled around and we still hadn't eaten, but he was in a much better mood now that we were finally asking him to take us back to Danba for some food. Once there, we chose a Tibetan … [Read more...]
Exploring the Tibetan Villages of Zhonglu and Suopo
Last week, I wrote about our first afternoon and evening in Danba, which we spent getting a hotel room, arranging a car and driver for the next morning, eating an average meal, and buying fresh fruit and a giant bag of peanuts to supplement that meal. I created quite a little mountain of empty peanut shells before going to bed that night, but barely managed to put a dent in my … [Read more...]