China

Arriving in the ancient town of Tunxi was a breath of fresh air, literally! Backpacking in China can trying at times. Beijing and Shanghai are massive, polluted cities with populations of around 20 million people.  Tunxi is much smaller and has less than 100,000 people living there…it really felt like there was no one around. ...

We were so excited to arrive in one of the biggest cities in the world, Shanghai. Meaning “by the sea” this massive city was a popular trading port for years in the late 1800’s to early 1900’s. Shanghai is not exactly a budget backpacker’s ideal destination but it is doable on a budget. We took the ultra-modern, ...

“He who has not climbed the Great Wall is not a true man.” Mao Zedong The next stop on our trip through China was the ancient, capital city of Beijing. It’s not exactly a budget backpacking ideal destination but this heavily populated city of 15.6 million people was somewhere we had been looking forward to ...

We arrived in Xi’an after a long train ride from Chengdu. We opted for the only budget backpacker option, “hard sleeper” class, which means that there are 6 bunks per berth, 3 stacked vertically on each wall. We ended up with the middle bunk this time, which is far better than the top bunk we ...

After two nights in a great hostel, it was time to say goodbye to Guilin.  We hoisted our backpacks over our shoulders, found the local bus to take us to the train station and began our epic 25 hour train journey to Chengdu in the Sichuan Province.  Most people fly this leg of the journey, ...

We arrived in Guilin and checked in to our nice, big, clean room at The Backstreet Youth Hostel. Right away we started talking with the staff about organizing a ride out to the Dragon’s Backbone Rice Terraces, a sight outside of Guilin that has made this area famous. Thus far no other tourists had signed ...