The hotel industry in China is absolutely exploding right now. Starwood and IHG are both poised to nearly double their number of hotels in the next 18 months. That's a lot of hotels! But are any of them any good? Do they stack up to the best of the ... Read More
The hotel industry in China is absolutely exploding right now. Starwood and IHG are both poised to nearly double their number of hotels in the next 18 months. That's a lot of hotels! But are any of them any good? Do they stack up to the best of the ... Read More
Tea is wonderful stuff. It’s the second most widely consumed beverage on the planet and some of the best comes from China, wonderful corners of the country like Anxi in Fujian and the hills of Hangzhou. Trips to China’s tea growing regions make for fun spring adventures.
The ... Read More
It may be the roof of the world, but getting into Tibet (the Tibet Autonomous Region, or TAR) and traveling around isn’t easy. You’ll need a special permit just to get on the train—and if you step outside of Lhasa, yet another permit to get anywhere else ... Read More
Some say the Chinese invented golf via an ancient game called chuiwan. That’s rubbish, of course. The Scots invented the modern game of golf, and Asia’s first modern course opened in Kobe, Japan, only in 1905. But over the last two decades, there’s no denying Asia has ... Read More
The hotel industry in China is absolutely exploding right now. Starwood and IHG are both poised to nearly double their number of hotels in the next 18 months. That's a lot of hotels! But are any of them any good? Do they stack up to the best of the ... Read More
Nanjing is China's former seat of government and home to some of the nation's most important historical landmarks... We’re sure that that’s all very interesting, but all we really want to do sometimes is to find somewhere quiet and natural to escape from the hustle and ... Read More
Just a few blocks north of Nanjing Lu Pedestrian Street, there is a weirdly shaped old building—390 Ningbo Lu. As you approach it, you see a giant four-story paper-thin wall. Take a closer look and see windows, air conditioners and fresh laundry hanging on this seemingly two-dimensional wall. Then ... Read More
Thousands of islands make up the Zhoushan archipelago just off the coast of Ningbo—ranging from Zhoushan proper at 500 sq. kilometers to elbows of grey granite jutting up out of the slate green sea. Traditionally it played home to pirates, fishermen, Buddhist recluses and Daoist weirdos. And while Putuoshan ... Read More
The hotel industry in China is absolutely exploding right now. Starwood and IHG are both poised to nearly double their number of hotels in the next 18 months. That's a lot of hotels! But are any of them any good? Do they stack up to the best of the ... Read More
Getting to spend the night at a dinosaur museum sounds too cool to be true, but you can really do it at the Yizhou Fossil Museum in Liaoning Province. The area around Yizhou is a treasure trove of dinosaur bones and other fossils. It was around here where Sinosauropteryx, the ... Read More
The hotel industry in China is absolutely exploding right now. Starwood and IHG are both poised to nearly double their number of hotels in the next 18 months. That's a lot of hotels! But are any of them any good? Do they stack up to the best of the ... Read More
The hotel industry in China is absolutely exploding right now. Starwood and IHG are both poised to nearly double their number of hotels in the next 18 months. That's a lot of hotels! But are any of them any good? Do they stack up to the best of the ... Read More
There are plenty of quaint water towns not far from Shanghai, ranging from the ramshackle (Xinchang) to the kitschy (Zhujiajiao). None are better than Wuzhen, though. A hundred kilometers southwest of Shanghai, Wuzhen has done an admirable job balancing preservation with commercialism. Few expats leave there disappointed.
Wuzhen is neither ... Read More
This wonderful seaside city in southern California just made the New York Times’ list of the top 45 places in the world to visit in 2012. Their reason was San Diego’s booming microbrew scene, but as far as we’re concerned, Balboa Park, Coronado Island and 70 miles of ... Read More
The hotel industry in China is absolutely exploding right now. Starwood and IHG are both poised to nearly double their number of hotels in the next 18 months. That's a lot of hotels! But are any of them any good? Do they stack up to the best of the ... Read More
The hotel industry in China is absolutely exploding right now. Starwood and IHG are both poised to nearly double their number of hotels in the next 18 months. That's a lot of hotels! But are any of them any good? Do they stack up to the best of the ... Read More
On a hill overlooking Hangzhou’s West Lake, on the site of an ancient temple dedicated to the Chinese god of medicine, is China’s first genuine Ayurvedic spa, the Avaida Therapy Lounge. Check in for three days, put yourself in the care of the resident doctors and emerge restored ... Read More
When it comes to winter sports in China, Yabuli has long been considered the best. But with the recent opening of a third ski resort, Zhangjiakou has emerged as a serious competitor. There are no good places around Shanghai, so skiers and snowboarders, check it out next time you’re ... Read More
The hotel industry in China is absolutely exploding right now. Starwood and IHG are both poised to nearly double their number of hotels in the next 18 months. That's a lot of hotels! But are any of them any good? Do they stack up to the best of the ... Read More
The hotel industry in China is absolutely exploding right now. Starwood and IHG are both poised to nearly double their number of hotels in the next 18 months. That's a lot of hotels! But are any of them any good? Do they stack up to the best of the ... Read More
Volunteer holidays are a tough sell. Holidays are supposed to be about fun and relaxation—a break from reality if you will. Volunteer holidays, on the other hand, serve up reality in spades and often at greater cost. A holiday spent making the world a better place, however, is a ... Read More
The hotel industry in China is absolutely exploding right now. Starwood and IHG are both poised to nearly double their number of hotels in the next 18 months. That's a lot of hotels! But are any of them any good? Do they stack up to the best of the ... Read More
The year is 2012—time to get working on that end-of-the-world bucket list. Dog sledding in Mongolia is a good place to start.
Mongolia in winter is a massive deep freeze―probably the closest you will ever get to Antarctica. Nighttime temps dip down to -40 degrees Celsius. It’s ... Read More
Train travel is one of the defining Asia experiences, and often not in a good way. Toilets of horror, bunkmates who snore, the incredible mafan of organizing the next leg—all are part of the fun. But on these luxury trains, the journey is a destination you’ll remember forever ... Read More