Bootstrappin’

Crossing the Nepali border from Tibet was a really interesting experience. The Friendship “Highway” is a windy, usually one-lane gravel road on the edge of a sheer cliff, precariously inching its way down a narrow river valley on the edge of the Himalayas. The road is full of sheep and yaks, is often flooded or […]

I’ve just spent two months in China, and despite Beijing’s best efforts to improve translations nation-wide, I’m happy to report that Chinglish is still everywhere. There’s nothing better than awesomely hilarious mistranslations! The opposite of Recycling Bathroom notice

Yaks are pretty much the coolest animal of all time. Sure, they may just be big woolly cows with sweet horns, but they’re a way of life for everyone in rural Tibet. The nomadic yak herders live in tent encampments in the windy Tibetan planes, surrounded by their herd, and yaks are the source of […]

Today my friend Tee and I were walking along the shore of Namtso Lake here in Tibet, and we were approached by these two young “monks.” They were boys, around 12 or 13 years old, adorned in red Tibetan Buddhist robes, but there was something off and un-monklike about them. Maybe it was the fact […]

There are few places in the world that I’ve had a more romantic view of than the “rooftop of the world,” Tibet. Tibet! It’s the home of the Dalai Lama, rainbows of prayer flags, yak’s milk tea, and the devoutest Buddhist monks. It’s one of those magical, lost-in-time places where tradition trumps all, a place […]

I thought I knew Chinese food. Then I came to China. “Chinese” restaurants in America are a pretty poor representation of the real thing. Panda Express and all those Chinese buffets are about as American as Burger King. Some of our favorite “Chinese” foods are western inventions as well. But really, what did you expect? […]

…it pours. I love the ponchos that everyone in China has, especially these special bike ponchos. The moment it starts raining, the streets become a sea of plastic reds, blues, pinks and purples. The pedestrians, of course, whip out their umbrellas (which appear instantaneously, out of nowhere). There are even bicyclists that ride bikes with […]

I just got back from the Giant Panda Research Center in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China…and holy crap, pandas are cute! The video above shows a few of them munching on bamboo early this morning. But having spent the morning learning about the panda bear, I’ve come to the conclusion that pandas are an anomaly of […]

The Chinese sure love order and discipline. I was walking down the street in Xi’an this afternoon, when I heard the distinct call-and-reply of a drill sergeant and his troops, only it was all in Chinese, and the voices were a whole lot daintier than anything you’d hear coming out of the Army. A few […]

This afternoon, I was wandering around Xi’an when I came across a lovely little art market, wedged into the alleys just inside the South City Wall. It’s one of those things I really should have discovered sooner, having spent the last three days walking all over the blocks just surrounding the market, but somehow I […]