Long term solo travel on a budget.
I was skeptical to visit these after such a wonderful day exploring the Yungang Grottoes, but I had nothing to worry about. In fact, if I had to recommend just one, it would be the Longmen Grottoes! Although the caves themselves don't have the colour or detail of Yungang, the scale of the complex will blow your mind.
So, in case you haven't realised by my sarcastic ranting throughout the blog, China is expensive and it's almost impossible to have a free adventure anywhere. You can't even go for a hike without paying an entry fee. Until now. I found a free one! FREE! It's not for the faint hearted... but if you …
Continue reading "Finding Shangri-La and climbing Shika Snow Mountain"
After two weeks of seeing various Chinese cities I was desperate to get into the mountains of Sichuan. I wanted to visit the rainbow lakes and forests of Jiuzhai Valley National Park but it was closed due to landslides, so I chose the next best option, Huanglong National Park. And boy, was it worth it, …
Continue reading "I took a bus to Huanglong National Park and ended up in Narnia…"
After riding the Trans Mongolian from Russia to China and only doing one actual day hike I was pretty desperate to climb a mountain... never thought I'd say that. But I made up my mind to head south from Beijing to the small city of Tai'An, to climb the holiest of the five great mountains. …
