China offers the beautiful, the delicious, the weird, the perfect. China is awesome. It’s easy to plan a trip around visiting the big sites or famous spots, or even seeking out off-the-beaten-path places, but what about just the lesser-known or totally out of the way spots? Well, I’ve got tips to share with you for exploring Yan'an and Northern Shaanxi Province
Seriously, I could write about China all day every day. Thinking about what areas of China to visit, people will probably research what spots are going to have the best tourist sites or most famous Chinese landmarks. If that’s the approach you’re taking, then no doubt you’re going to be pointed towards the Terracotta Warriors of Emperor Qin. Or maybe
Hahaha. Baoji. Oh my, this place is hilarious. Don't get me wrong, I loved walking around Baoji at night and I loved getting to experience the nature surrounding this cute little town but I do have countless chuckles. Baoji is definitely off the beaten path China. From the Hot Springs Resort to Taibai Mountain National Park to awesome food and
Visiting European churches and cathedrals is very different from visiting Buddhist temples and sights in Asia. In Europe you can expect to see a certain number of recognizable saints and themes throughout depending on the age of the site. In China… it’s the same thing, but much more colorful. On my recent visit to the Shaanxi province of China, I
The very first thing that popped up when I started researching Xi’an, China was the terracotta warriors. I had just found out that I was heading to China to explore Shaanxi province and just had to see what was in store. I knew that it was the heart of ancient Imperial China, but I got just a bit overjoyed at
Since we’ve determined Indonesia as our #1 priority on our Asian destination bucket list, we’ve started digging into the country a whole lot more and are getting pretty excited about what we’re finding. From nature to food, hiking to getting under the water, we’re going to have an amazing time doing family travel in Indonesia. So, how are we planning this
Now that we’re starting to explore Asia more, we’ve decided to make a list of the countries or sights to see all around Asia. Chris travels to China for work from time to time and he always gets to add a little stop-over or weekend trip to a neighboring country, but as a family we haven’t all been. Time to
China was such a mystery before I started to actually explore it. I had a bunch or perceptions of what I’d find and it wasn’t like that at all… until we went to the imperial garden in Xi’an. The Tang Lotus Garden, aka Tang Paradise, is near the amazing Giant Wild Goose Pagoda and was everything I’d hoped for as
You know we love our hiking, right? We do it almost everywhere we go, and in all types of weather and environment. This year has seen some really fun hikes from lighthouse hunting to trekking through the snow in the spring, and now I can add hiking Huashan in the Shaanxi province of China. Huashan is the home of the
Growing up in America you don’t really learn about China. You hear that it’s a Communist country far away, that the people live in desolate poverty and that the pollution is so bad that you must wear a smog mask at all times. While aspects of these things are true, it’s totally not the case everywhere and was not the