It is hard to believe that it has been a whole 2 years since our toes first touched down on the Korean peninsula. In that strange and mysterious way that time has of expanding and contracting it has felt simultaneously much longer, yet somehow contained in the blink of an eye. I love those beginning days in a new place when Continue reading
Thirty six strange peaks,
Immortals with black top knots.
Morning sun strikes the tree tops,
Here in this sky mountain world.
Chinese people, raise your faces!
For a thousand years cranes come and go.
Far off I spy a firewood gatherer,
Plucking sticks from stone crevices.-Li Bai “Dawn Vista On Huangshan”
There are some places in the world that just seem to inspire gushing wellsprings of poetry. Metaphors woven together to create tapestries that reveal glimpses of those inner workings that lie just below the surface. Meaning layered upon meaning until everything is saturated and more than the sum of its parts. Huangshan in China’s Anhui region is one of those places. Continue reading
A wall of gold has been mounted on Shu brocade.
Craftsmen from Wu collect spare change
To pay tribute to the abundance of a myriad of families.
The watchtowers of the city rise to great heights.
The bustling scene is truly impressive.
It is a chance to explore vestiges of bygone days.-excerpt from a poem on the Qing Dynasty remake of Qīngmíng Shànghé Tú
Located in the foothills of the Yellow Mountains, Tunxi is Continue reading
It all started with a wooden table in an alley: square, unadorned, pressed up against a cement wall. It wobbled a bit on the uneven cobbles.
Somewhere nearby, a game of mahjong- the soft clinking of tiles echoed faintly on the evening air. Wisps of a forgotten dream, sounds from another time. I imagined the room where they played. Dark, smoky. Fingers twisted with age shuffling, shuffling, shuffling. The worn bone and bamboo whispers as it slides between mysterious symbolism and a poetry of deeper meaning. Through all that is lost and everything that is gained, what will be revealed? Plum blossom, peacock, white tiger, sword. Continue reading
Tunxi, China
It turns out that I am a back alley kind of girl. This was something that I didn’t know about myself until we moved to Korea and began to travel through Southeast Asia.
Give me food stalls, stacks of dumplings steaming on street corners, wobbly stools, plastic chairs pressed up against cement walls, narrow passages crammed with tables. Let me sit elbow to elbow on a wooden bench in a bustling market noisy with sizzling, slurping, hissing, lip-smacking goodness. Paper sacks and plastic bags. Crunchy, greasy, savoury, sweet, bean paste, sesame, skewers, buns, pancakes and pockets. I am happiest at Continue reading
D House Boutique Resort is a unique little place tucked away on a quiet pedestrian only street in an old section of Hangzhou. It is a hidden gem of a spot: perfectly located just steps away from Qinghefang Ancient Street, old neighbourhood alleys, picturesque walks along the canal, a drum tower, and Zhongshan Road- which shuts down to traffic in the evenings to make way for an assortment of food stalls and stands selling baubles. If that weren’t enough, it is a pleasant 30 minute walk to the West Lake area and Leifang Pagoda. All of the best parts of Hangzhou at your fingertips. Continue reading
Since the new high speed train line opened up in July 2015, it is now easier- and faster- than ever to get from Shanghai to Tunxi, and the foothills of the Yellow Mountains. You can also choose to break up the trip with a stop in Hangzhou (like we did). It is a nice city for a day or two of strolling and eating, and breaks the transit time into two manageable legs (approximately 3 hours from Shanghai to Hangzhou, and just under 4 hours from Hangzhou to Huangshan.)
With a new train line comes new stations and new bits of information. Currently, there isn’t much out there in the way of travel tips regarding this route, and since we learned a couple of things the hard way, I wanted to pass on some useful information. Continue reading
just before the crowds…
We emerged from the narrow street where our little guest house sat nestled into a row of white washed buildings. It was quiet, and the essence of another era lingered between the walls and the cobbles. Then, as we rounded the corner and stood at the opening of Qinghefang Ancient Street we saw it: a throng of humans stretching as far as the eye could see. I am not going to lie- Continue reading
We woke on our first morning in Hangzhou to the sound of birds chirping in the courtyard. I kept my eyes squeezed shut and listened intently to their song, not yet wanting to break the spell, and tried to imagine what words the ancient Chinese poets would use to describe the moment. Is it possible that there was a proverb somewhere in their early morning music?
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