So, there I was, riding on the back of a moped with a middle-aged Chinese man, looking for the only ATM in town that would take my debit card. I was running very low on cash, my preferred method of payment while traveling, but all the ATMs in town were rejecting my card. The man was the owner of the hotel I was staying at and he had offered to bring me to the ATM. The night before I had arrived in Pingyao at 1am and the taxi took me to this hotel. I wasn't s...

Riding the rails in China is an experience that I am not quite used too. It is a little different from trains in Europe, where everyone gets a seat or bed and one can usually obtain tickets the day of travel. In China, if you want a sleeping berth, you usually have to get your tickets several days or more in advance, which makes keeping an open itinerary a little difficult at times. There have been a few times where I wasn't able to obtain a ticket on the tra...