After hiking the trails in the tea plantations (read part one here), the next day I decided to visit the old village of Xiamei (下梅). Xiamei was an important hub during the Qing Dynasty where tea producers would bring their tea from the mountains to
As an avid drinker of Wulong tea, Wuyi Mountain is a place I have wanted to visit for a long time. A dramatic range of limestone peaks and cliffs nestled in the northwest of Fujian province, straddling the Jiangxi and Zhejiang borders, Wuyi Mountain really
Being both an avid traveler and obsessive martial artist, I often feel I'm living two contradictory lifestyles. Martial arts requires dedication and routine, making sure you train every day no matter what. Travel is unpredictable and exhausting, and the last thing you want to do
Mercenary Mandarin is the account of an eccentric Victorian adventurer, William Mesny. During his time in China, he worked as a smuggler and gun runner, got imprisoned by the Taiping Rebels, and eventually landed himself a job as a general for the Qing Emperor, charged
For my last day in the Philippines, my new friends drove me out to Tagatay, to see the large lake with a volcano in the middle. It was about a two hour drive outside of Manila, most of which was spent just getting through the
