There is a new trend in Shanghai boutique hotels, one which only dawned on me in a flash during a recent conversation with Geneva Holden, communications officer for URBN Hotel. The gist is that boutiques hotels are no longer just interesting places for tourists and business travelers to lay their ... Read more »

Okay, so you weren’t on the ball enough to book that tropical getaway, but you may just be able to motivate and activate enough to get to Suzhou. You’ll be disappointed by the first impression—almost everyone is—but there are many beautiful, unique sites to see which ... Read more »

Shanghai’s boutique hotel trend has reached its apogee with the opening of Quintet, a bed & breakfast in the French Concession which boasts all of five rooms. Jia, Ivy, URBN and 88 look positively bloated with rooms by comparison. Located above Closed Door, Eduardo Vargas’ new reservation-only restaurant, in a ... Read more »

So I had the chance to do something I’ve always wanted to do: stay overnight in one of those classical Suzhou gardens. Sort of. Okay I really stayed at the newly refurbished Garden Hotel Suzhou (Nan Yuan Fandian), but it’s the closest any of us mortals is ever ... Read more »

Thailand tourism has been in the news and not in the good way. First there was the shut-down of the Phuket airport at the end of August as anti-government demonstrators formed a human blockade. A few days later the unrest spread across the country, including Bangkok, prompting the government to ... Read more »

Want to go from Shanghai to Tokyo without ever leaving the ground (or water as the case may be)? Here’s the route in 7 easy steps:

Shanghai to Dalian by soft sleeper

Dalian to Incheon on the D-In Ferry

Incheon to Seoul by metro

Pick up your Korea-Japan through ... Read more »

Since our Best of Travel issue is coming up (as is a week-long holiday on Oct. 1), I thought I’d write about the unsung heroes of the travel industry: travel agencies which focus on expats (as opposed to inbound tourists). The China Culture Center is totally geared toward expats ... Read more »

Tibet opened up to foreign tourists at the beginning of July, just a few days after the Olympic torch safely passed through. Since then pretty much everyone (CNAdventure, CCC and STA has been scrambling to put together packages for the remaining few weeks of summer. If you’re on the ... Read more »

Despite official news saying the world famous festival of drunkenness was going to start on Aug 12, it’s been delayed until Sept 19-Oct 5. We learned this breaking news from the owner of Mandarin Journeys who suspects that Qingdao officials “have enough safety concerns as it is without adding ... Read more »

Anybody got any suggestions for great weekend getaways that aren't too far from Shanghai? Let me know, tell me why it's cool and I'll feature you in the magazine. AND sort you out with a prize of some sort that I promise won't be lame. Read more »

Here are the airlines which are using the new T2 terminal at PVG. Thanks to the Shanghaiist for compiling:

* FM Shanghai Airlines

* BA British Airways

* VS Virgin (UK)

* NW Northwest (USA)

* 5J Cebu (Philippines)

* GA Garuda (Indonesia)

* QF Qantas (Australia)

* AI Air India

* AZ Alitalia (Italy)

* MH Malaysia Airlines

* PR ... Read more »

I end this journey where I started it: inside some imagination of Jiangnan, the culture of rivers and lakes, which first entranced me in Shanghai eight years ago.

Bridges

Having a powerful imaginative relationship with an adopted home is the key to happiness, strength and longevity. Most people never get ... Read more »

Qingming crowds have bought up all the seats from here to anywhere, but I did manage to get a ticket on an express train back to Shanghai leaving tomorrow morning. Regardless, I hit a wall today. I hatched a last minute plan to check out the 1,600 year old ... Read more »

I didn’t realize how much yesterday’s hike up 会稽山 took out of me. I hit a wall today, before noon! Anyway, your intrepid traveler pushed through and caught some decent stuff like 柯岩景区. I wrote about one part of the Keyan Scenic Area a while back when I ... Read more »

It was a day of those chance encounters that really make traveling rich. The first occurred at lunch where I polished off a plate of hongshao rou with nearly the entire restaurant staff around me. Talked for a long time to this local dude who promised to put me in ... Read more »

Shaoxing has favorably impressed me. Walking out of the train station I found not a refugee camp enclosed by unnavigable fencing and a taxi queue seven miles long, but a virtually empty square that gave effortlessly onto the street. A subtle but significant difference.

I started my investigation in the ... Read more »

Halfway through my eight day allotment. Highlights so far: sunset on Taihu Lake, the chocolate massage and dinner with Tony Wang. Lowlights: the Fuqi restaurant next to Guangfu Temple which let me sit in their establishment for 15 minutes before informing me that they had “no more food” (yeah, right ... Read more »

The spa manager at Le Meridien Sheshan left recently, but before she did she left behind a thing of true beauty: the chocolate body scrub. I was a little skeptical, but the nice fuwuyuan kept pushing it, so I took the bait. Moments later, stripped nudious, I was covered in ... Read more »

Sheshan is a weird place, villa kingdom (别墅王国). Sure you’re in a forest, but all around you are the distant clangs of houses being built inside gated communities. Whatever, I came here to pa some shan (爬山). The concierge at Le Meridien looked at me strangely when I told ... Read more »

Rumbled, bumbled and stumbled my way through snarled Suzhou traffic, a Hefei-Shanghai double decker train, that weird jump from Line 3 to Line 9 in Shanghai and a heiche through the woods before rolling up to the Le Meridien Sheshan Shanghai in true Armchair Traveler style. Staying in a spacious ... Read more »

Mudu isn't bad at all. It's a scaled-down, compacted version of Suzhou with the Mingyue Temple in place of Hanshan and Yanjia Garden replacing Master of Nets. My favorite, though was Gusong Garden (古松花园), named for the 500 year old pine in the back courtyard. Even more impressive ... Read more »

Winding through dark alleys, along canals, few lights, few people, it's not even late, maybe 9 p.m. I'm startled by the sound of something of a big splash in the water next to me, I look up and there's a lao taitai grinning at me god ... Read more »

Back at the hotel in Mudu after a fantastically great day. Fantastically great for all the right reasons: a little bit of planning, a little bit of improvisation and a whole lot of following your own nose, leading you to exactly what you were after all along. Traveling China is ... Read more »