My Writings. My Thoughts.
2010 China Travels: Part II – Huangshan
// November 17th, 2010 // No Comments » // China, Travel
There is an old Chinese saying that says, “No need to see 100 mountains after Huangshan.” After my experience on the mountain, I couldn’t agree more. Truly one of the most astonishing places I have ever traveled to, Huangshan will forever be in my memory.
After arriving in Tunxi on the night of October 24, I scrambled a plan together and decided to get up at 5:30 am to catch a bus to the mountain. The weather was supposed to still be bad, but I decided to risk it and get on up the mountain. On the morning bus I met an English girl, Charlotte, and a Taiwanese girl, Mayling (高美齡), and we decided to hike up the mountain together since we were all staying at the same hotel that night, the “White Cloud Hotel,” a fitting name considering we were basically in a giant cloud for [...] Continue Reading…
2010 China Travels: Part I – Hangzhou
// November 11th, 2010 // No Comments » // Uncategorized
After a 9-day dancing streak in Shanghai, I began yet another travel adventure through China. This time I spent 20 days visiting many places I have wanted to see for a long time, mostly in south/southeast China. The map below shows the path I took:
View China Travels 2010 in a larger map
Clearly I didn’t plan the most logistically logical route, but in retrospect I wouldn’t have done it any other way. The trip took on a path of it’s own, and I was just along for the ride. In addition, while I encountered countless once in a lifetime experiences over the past 20 days, I also had to use a lot of Chinese to do it – much needed practice before starting this winter semester at National Taiwan University. For Part I, I will write about my experiences from the first leg of the trip: Hangzhou.
On [...] Continue Reading…
Swing Out Shanghai & The Shanghai World Expo
// November 9th, 2010 // No Comments » // China, Chinese, Dancing, Shanghai, Shanghai, Travel, Uncategorized
Currently writing from Yangshuo, one of the most unique and beautiful little towns in all of southern China. This is the first time I’ve had a chance to write since leaving Shanghai two and a half weeks ago. I’ve now been back in China for 3 weeks, so I thought I would sit down and reflect a little my first week back since leaving in August of 2009.
I landed in Shanghai on October 13, 2010, around 1:30 pm Beijing time and proceeded to have the absolute smoothest travel experience of my life. I honestly couldn’t believe how well things went – my bad even came up just as I walked up to the baggage pick up. I got through customs with almost no wait, picked up a SIM card in the airport, called my friends Bruce and Julia who were hosting me in Shanghai, and hopped on the metro [...] Continue Reading…
Fast Summer, Warrior Dash, Song Writing, & China
// October 7th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // China, Chinese, Shanghai, Travel
Tomorrow is my last day in Montana, and it is insane to sit here and realize just how much time has past since I first started working out here. I came here the last week of May for training, and now it’s the first week of October. So much has happened in between – road trip to Montreal, Hot Mess in Philly, family road trip to Tennessee, Southern Belle Swing Bash in Atlanta, trip to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, and two-week trip to DC to hang out with friends one last time before leaving for Asia. It’s been one amazing summer – one full of incredible landscapes (Niagara Falls, Montana, and Yellowstone), incredible dancing, crazy amounts of traveling, and a great time off-loading in Hummers. Now there’s just one more thing to do before flying to Asia…
WARRIOR DASH! That’s right – getting ready [...] Continue Reading…
Montana Summer & China Plans
// August 21st, 2010 // No Comments » // China, Chinese, Dancing, Travel, Uncategorized
Wow the summer is going by fast! I cannot believe that I took my big road trip to Montreal 2 months ago! I guess I’ve just been having such a good summer I never realized that it is almost over. Since returning from my road trip to Montreal, I have spent the majority of my time working near Livingston, Montana, as an off-road driving instructor driving and working on H1 Hummers. It is not the job I would have ever guessed I would be working after graduation, but it has been the most fun and well-paying job I have had. The job itself is already pretty great – I’m outside all day, I work with people, and I drive Hummers on the side of a mountain. But the best part by far is that I have been living in the northern Rockies all summer!On [...] Continue Reading…
