The main street where I live in Changsha is ordinarily bustling with restaurants of every (Chinese) description. For lunch every day, we choose between Lanzhou noodles, Sichuan dishes, Dongbei dumplings and countless other variations of Chinese food. I’ve never had to worry about where to find my next meal — until this week!
When I first [...]
The Huogongdian (火宫殿) restaurant is one of Changsha’s most famous eateries, but it took me more than a year to find a reason to go there. But on Saturday night, we braved the cold and headed over to the east side of the river to check it out.
We were surprised to find that it is [...]
Unfortunately, the title of this post is neither a joke nor a temporary situation. By government fiat, homes and offices In China that happen to be located south of the Yangtze River do not have any central heating in the winter. This despite the fact that the temperature in many places (including Changsha, where I [...]
Until you’ve lived in China, it’s hard to understand the speed with which everything changes: restaurants, neighborhoods, government regulations, you name it. This is an occupational hazard of travel writing here, since the expiration date on your recommendations can pass in the blink of an eye. You might recommend a neighborhood for shaokao, only to [...]
Changsha, the city where I live and the capital of Hunan, sits on the flat plains of the northwest of the province. But head west, and the plains are eventually replaced by spectacular mountains. Last spring, I visited the karsts of Dehang; this year, I saw their even more beautiful cousins in Zhangjiajie, also known [...]
