Life in Yangshuo
Every single thing in Yangshuo weeps. Water drips steadily from every ornate lamppost, each rooftop, each windowsill and tree branch,...
Disorientation
"For the person courageous enough to see it out, disorientation always leads to love." —Tom Robbins
Journey to Yangshuo
Landing in Guilin was like descending through an aeronautic obstacle course of karst mountain and cloud, storm-filtered sunlight painting...
Farewell to Shanghai
Sometime between the fourth and fifth day, I finally fell in love with Shanghai — the ruckus and the uproar; the staring, spitting...
Sunday morning in Shanghai
Until today, Nanjing Road has been my least favorite district in the city. It's a broad pedestrian shopping avenue teeming with hustlers...
Culinary oddities unattempted
I have thus far managed to locate only one cafe on my street with an English menu. There, one might order the following dishes, among...
Lessons in navigating Shanghai
I. A pedestrian never has the right of way. Nevermind the crosswalks and do not trust the little green man on the traffic light. The...
Impressions of China
Shanghai sprawls like a sleepy lounge singer under silky robes of motionless fog, making the city look like an antique Chinese watercolor...
Seven hours until liftoff
I am surfing through the strangeness of that piquant, fleeting moment when you realize you will never be the same.
The unspeakable loveliness of leaving
I grew up in a suburb of Dallas, Texas called Grand Prairie, the only child of two teachers, and I was a solitary but exuberant creature...
