A village in the clouds – sounds romantic, no? Cloudcroft, an old English word meaning covered or shrouded in clouds, is a sleepy little town nestled in the high alpine region of the Sacramento Mountains. It played an important role in expanding the rail line during the early 1900s, and still remains a popular summer and winter getaway today.
In this post, I take a short look into Cloudcroft’s history and how the nearby Mexican Canyon Trestle Trail came to be.
Many people are familiar with Hatch Green Chiles, but did you know that the area around the Southern New Mexico town of Alamogordo is prime farmland for pistachios?
Of course, what would be a small town crop in the USA without a modest feud to go with it?
Hi friends! I’m here share a bit about a place not many people know about. It’s a small American town in the desert that played an important part in world history!
A port city metropolis situated along the Bohai Sea in Northern China, Tianjin is China’s largest coastal city and currently ranks fourth largest in urban population following Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou. Meaning “heavenly ford” or “the place where the emperor crossed the river,” Tianjin has historically been the maritime gateway to the nation’s capital of Beijing. Because of its location, controlling Tianjin has been of crucial strategic importance in terms of the geopolitics of the area.
Solo travel can be an eye-opening, enriching experience. You can have some truly amazing conversations with locals or deep moments of self-reflection without distractions. On the other hand, solo travel can open the door to some extremely frustrating incidents, such as this one time I was forced to buy a carpet I didn’t want.
In this post, I look back at my trip to Istanbul and address some lingering fear and anxiety from the harassment I experienced.
The Leshan Buddha, fondly called, “Da Fo” or Big Buddha (大佛), is an amazing feat of ancient architecture and manpower. Carved into the side of Mt. Lingyun, the colossal statue at 71 meters tall (233 feet) stands over 1,300 years old and is considered to be the largest stone Buddha in the world – by far the tallest pre-modern statue. This sacred, ancient wonder of the world was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996 and attracts millions of people every year, including Buddhist pilgrims AND ME!
Sichuan spice is no joke. Sichuan peppercorns are known for their mouth-numbing properties, while a plethora of other spicy ingredients can have sweat and tears running down your face. Thankfully, not all Sichuan-style dishes are so volatile, though! For those with lighter palates, Sichuan food can also be sweet, savory and refreshing.
As the saying goes, those who enter the Sichuan area of China are susceptible to the persuasive charms of the lifestyle there: the slow-paced rhythm of work, the pleasant climate, the mouth-watering cuisine, the sounds of mahjong being played into the night…
The animal is puzzling. It does little to merit its popularity. In the wild, it spends all of its waking time wandering aimlessly to find food. Though it is a carnivore, there is little game where it lives, and the panda is not quick enough to catch it anyway. So it eats bamboo, and since…
While walking around the city, one cannot travel more than a few steps without coming across one of the many cats and dogs freely roaming around. Over the course of my time in Istanbul, I learned that the city has a history of treating its strays well, but it wasn’t always so. During the early 20th century, many cleansing campaigns were implemented to rid the city of unwanted animals (mostly dogs) that represented noisy disturbances, dirt and danger from diseases, such as rabies.
Stephwaxpoetic 