Hohhot was, in my experience, a dreadful city. Not much to do, nowhere decent to stay on the cheap, and really difficult to understand public transit system. My one really positive memory from Hohhot was the 5 Tower Temple, which looks so stunningly NOT Chinese-Buddhist that I had to hang […]
Recent Posts
Neon in the Night (R)
My first day back in China, I spent mainly sleeping away the afternoon trying to catch up on the sleep I’d missed during a massive stretch of air -planes and -ports. I did, however, manage to wander on the way to dinner a bit, just long enough to find this […]
Lost in the Desert (R)
On the drive from Ashgabat to the Darvaza Gas Crater and onwards to Konye-Urgench and the border with Uzbekistan, we stopped at a little village in the desert just off the main highway. I think it was called Yerbent, but even that I’m not entirely sure of. It seemed like […]
Checking out Chengde (R)
Chengde, as the seat of the Summer Retreat of the Manchu emperors, has a lot of history going for it. There are Buddhist temples around town in each of the styles that was prevalent at the time the Emperors there ruled, to show their unity with and understanding of their […]
Road Trip: Tajikistan and the Tunnel of Death (R)
I’ve been on any number of dodgy jeep/van/bus rides in my life, but nowhere in the world have these trips made me fear for my life twice in as many weeks. Tajikistan, then, deserves some sort of medal for the accomplishment. The mountain road from Istaravshan to Penjikent starts out […]
Concert of Heaven (R)
A concert in the park at Beijing’s Temple of Heaven.
Hey there! I'm Stephen, this is my travel blog, and that's me in the poofy hat.
I'm a photographer / writer traveling since 2008, and I've been doing my best to visit amazing places.
My current focus is Central Asia, because for a hiking and camping enthusiast it's as good as it gets.