17 min read
A northwest Chengdu trip through missed tickets, scenic buses, Anlan Bridge, Feishayan, Baopingkou, Guanxian Ancient City, and sleepless Mount Qingcheng.
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2026
Summer
01Spring
0313 min read
Notes from an afternoon at the Chengdu Botanical Garden, right after my mid-term defense on April 1st.
11 min read
An excellent natural history museum with rich dinosaur fossils and mammal specimens, thoughtful exhibit design and animal mounts — well worth a visit.
12 min read
Standing alone and prominent above all other hills, with a circumference of over twenty li at its base, overlooking the great sea
Winter
0111 min read
Dazhu Mountain lies 120 li south of the county seat. The *Qi Cheng* records: a famous mountain by the sea. Sheer and craggy, ten thousand fathoms high, its presence overwhelms the surrounding peaks. At its foot, rocks split open to form a gate; there is Stone Gate Temple, and beside it a spring gushing forth like pearls and jade, called Jade Spring, hence the mountain is also known as Jade Spring Mountain. Beside the spring lies a Reclining Elephant Rock; to the east are Lion Peak and Bell Peak, both strikingly lifelike. About two li south, there is Flying Rock; ascending tier by tier leads to the South Heaven Gate. Past Iron Plate Bridge, there is a stone chamber also called Hemp Garment Hermitage, and further Zhu Zhao Hermitage, Black Dragon Pool, Imperial Altar, Ksitigarbha Shrine, and Jade Palace immortal traces too numerous to mention — truly a wonder of the region.
2025
Summer
023 min read
Notes from an evening stroll at Jinji Lake on July 1st
4 min read
After picking up lychees, an afternoon photo walk through the Lingering Garden
Spring
033 min read
May 18th
5 min read
Thus I observe the measure of contentment, forsaking ambitions like drifting clouds, building a house and planting trees, free and self-possessed. The ponds suffice for fishing, the harvested grain for farming. Watering the garden and selling vegetables provides for daily meals; tending sheep and brewing cheese awaits the seasons' needs. Filial in devotion, brotherly in bonds — this too is the governance of the unskilled.
6 min read
Visiting Tiger Hill on May 2nd