Travel
Five Observations from a Week in China
Even though I have been keenly aware of the immense changes that have taken place in China over the past few years, what I saw and experienced was more was more familiar to me than different.
Xiamen!
Xiamen (厦门), meaning “door to the house,” is on the western side of the Taiwan Strait and was a treaty port ceded to the British. Today it’s the eighth largest port city in China with a thriving economy.
Can I Travel to China Now?
Like so many others who have wondered the past few years if returning to China might ever be possible again, the news that travel restrictions were being lifted gave me a glimmer of hope that it might actually be doable.
No Need to Pack for a Dream Trip to China
Travel to China may be difficult, but we can still dream. If you could pick six Chinese cities to visit, where would you go?
Is the Door Slowly Opening?
In recent weeks there have been encouraging (even exciting to some) signs that the door to China is beginning to open, just a crack.
Yinchuan!
You can find Hui people in many provinces in China but most live in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous region in northwestern China. Yinchuan is the capital city of Ningxia.
Lanzhou!
It would be a stretch to say that I have been to the city of Lanzhou, capital of Gansu Province. I can, however, claim to have been through it.
Counting by Sevens—Re-entry into China
Clearing the quarantine and monitoring requirements from arrival to residence.
The COVID-Era Preflight Checklist
We left China to make a quick trip back to the States. A “quick trip” used to be two weeks. Now it cannot be shorter than a month. The flight used to take us 24 hours door to door; this time it was 48 hours. However, what made this trip different was not the longer flight time or the total length but the ongoing uncertainty and inability to plan much beyond the next step.
Zhengzhou!
For tragic reasons, the world has become familiar with the Chinese city of Zhengzhou this week. Torrential rain dropped a year’s worth of rain in four days, causing devastating floods that have killed dozens and left millions homeless.