Michael's Asia Travel Blog

At a point in time when Hong Kong was still an unnoticed piece of rock, ships came to a port not far away on China's Pearl River to trade. The ... Read More

If Shanghai has been overlooked in recent years as a tourist destination, that is now changing. Visitors to China are flocking into Shanghai on business or just for pure pleasure. ... Read More

Like Guilin and Suzhou, Hangzhou is known for its scenic beauty as much as for its other features. Hangzhou is the capital of Zhejiang Province. The city is a little ... Read More

If you won a free trip to China but could only go to ONE PLACE on that trip, where would it be? Beijing, to see the Forbidden City and the Great ... Read More

You are closer to either Moscow or New Delhi than to Beijing. And many of the people look like they could be Turkish. But Kashgar is in China. Kashgar is ... Read More

The Associated Press is reporting that an earthquake on the island of Java has killed at least 3,500 people. The quake was centered about 50 miles from the Mount Merapi ... Read More

Lhasa is the gate way to one of the most fascinating places on earth. At least, most Westerners imagine it to be fascinating. When you say "Tibet" most people think ... Read More

This month we're focusing on China at Asia for Visitors. Kunming is an air conditioned city. During the days between min-June and mid-August it is rarely warmer than 80F degrees ... Read More

Macau's history as a Portuguese colony means that there are a handful of military sites worth a visit if you have more than a day or so to spend in ... Read More

The Associated Press is reporting on a fire that has "engulfed the cargo section of Istanbul's Ataturk International Airport." At least three people are dead and Turkey's busiest airport is ... Read More

The Mutianyu section of the Great Wall ajoins the Wall at Badaling. The history of the Wall at Mutianyu is much longer; the section was originally built during the Northern ... Read More

Dali in China's Yunnan Province is among the most enchanting and scenic spots Asia has to offer. Dali has a population of about three million people. The city sits in ... Read More

This month we're focusing on China at Asia for Visitors. Beijing is the most visited of China's cities and attractions. It offers enough in itself to fill up most vacations ... Read More

A short 8 miles from the ancient capital of Louyang in China's Henan Province, the Longmen Grottoes are a series of manmade caves and alcoves. The Grottoes are listed by ... Read More

China is a world in and of itself. It is a single nation the size of Europe with more climatic and cultural extremes than any other nation on the planet. ... Read More

I spend a lot of time online, looking at pages on Asia. It occurred to me recently that I should begin simply sharing the photos and images I find of ... Read More

This month we're focusing on China at Asia for Visitors. Henan is the birth place of Chinese civilization. It was here in the fertile valley of the Yellow River in ... Read More

Xi'an is another of China's most ancient site. It has been inhabited for about 6000 years. In the early 6th century Xi'an had two million inhabitants and was enclosed ... Read More

Suzhou is perhaps the most beautiful place in China. And it is rich in history. Suzhou (pronounced "Sue-joe") is the seat of China's Wu culture; Wu is a dialect spoken ... Read More

The chances are good that if you spend much time in Asia you will eventually end up in Hong Kong for a least a night. If you leave your hotel ... Read More

Meizhou Island is a small, crescent-shaped island in Meizhou Bay, near the city of Putian. The island is only about 10 square miles, but it draws thousands of visitors each ... Read More

The Associated Press is reporting that thousands of people have now been evacuated from the area around Mount Merapi in Central Java, about 20 miles north of the city of ... Read More

This month we're focusing on China at Asia for Visitors. In Gansu Province, Western China, Dunhuang was once an important stop on the Silk Road between China and Europe. Today ... Read More

Guilin competes with Suzhou for the title of "Most Beautiful Place on Earth." In the northeast section of Guangxi Zhuaug Autonomous Region, Guilin is a semi-tropic, lush city of ... Read More

Pingyao represents the struggle in China between history and modernity, according to Asiaweek Magazine's Liu Yuan. In 1997 it was declared a world heritage city by UNESCO.

The city of Lijiang, in China's Yunnan Province, is in rare company. It is one of the few cities in the world with a population of over one million people ... Read More

Dengfeng township in Henan Province is smaller than either Luoyang or Kaifeng, but it is well worth a visit if you have the time. The township is located in the ... Read More

This month we're focusing on China at Asia for Visitors. China has more to offer a tourist these days than most people are aware of. And while the content on ... Read More

Just east of Helan Mountain near Yinchuan in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region are the Western Xia Tombs -- the "Pyramids of China." The "Pyramids" are the tombs of royalty ... Read More

About's Honeymoons and Romantic Getaways site has a feature at the moment on Dubai. There's plenty of reasons to consider the Persian Gulf sheikdom for a romantic getaway. It has ... Read More

The Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty both left royal tombs which are close enough to Beijing to be visited while there. Thirteen of the 16 Ming emperors were laid to ... Read More

David Carradine made it famous. And Jet Li (Lethal Weapon 4, Shaolin Temple) helped Deng Xiaopeng make it a tourist attraction for today's world. But the Shaolin Temple in the ... Read More

Beijing is the capital of the People's Republic of China -- and a city being renewed. Construction abounds. Energy is everywhere. Youth is the theme of the day. The old ... Read More

The city of Luoyang sits not far from the Yellow River on the west end of Henan Province. Luoyang is one of China's ancient capital cities. It was the capital ... Read More

The Orient. You can hear the bamboo flutes and taste the green tea. When you close your eyes you can picture the coolies pulling carts down ancient streets and see ... Read More

This month we're focusing on China at Asia for Visitors. In China's Shandong Province, Qufu is a small, rural Chinese town with an ancestral temple, a family cemetery, and the ... Read More

We're focusing on China this month at Asia for Visitors. The country has a huge number and variety of offerings. From the Silk Road cities of the west like Xi'an ... Read More