DLD 130: Out and about in China with Rapid Travel Chai

The Dots, Lines and Destinations were arguably muddled this week as we were joined by Stefan from RapidTravelChai to talk about China and some of his adventures there and in visiting every country in the world. We’re definitely going to have him back on the show at some point to talk Africa (that was, in theory, what started our discussions about having him as a guest; oopsie) since this show ran long and we had to cut it off well before we finished talking through everything.

Among other things Stefan explains why SkyMiles are great for travel redemption in Asia (yes, really!) and gets in to some fun China visit ideas that are not the typical Shanghai/Beijing circuit many Americans seem to end up on.

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Plus, he was awesome enough to put together show notes for us:

• Fujian Province: coastal province known for seafaring, many ethnic Chinese in Taiwan and around Southeast Asia trace their roots to Fujian and maintain close ties
• Fuzhou: mainly a transport hub for travelers
• Wuyishan (Mt Wuyi): UNESCO-listed scenic area 5-6 hours by bus from Fuzhou or daily flights to Wuyishan Airport (WUS) from major cities including Xiamen but not Fuzhou
• Longyan: see the UNESCO-listed tulou (earth towers) of the Hakka people, a more rugged overland trip
• Quanzhou: see the Quanzhou Maritime Museum
• Chongwu: one of China’s best preserved walled cities and base of folk hero Zheng Chenggong (Koxinga)
• Xiamen: the other Xiamen Airlines hub, visit Gulangyu Island

• Hunan Province: traditionally the last culturally Han Chinese region before the lands of ethnic groups that populate modern China’s southwest, lots of history of those borders and famous officials and scholars exiled here; in modern times the birthplace of Mao Zedong
• Changsha:
  • Visit Mawangdui Han Tombs and Hunan Provincial Museum, massively important for world histroy and literature for manuscripts that pushed back the earliest versions of texts such as Tao Te Ching, the 1,000-year old Yuelu Academy, and for those interested in the Chinese Communist Party, the Lei Feng Memorial Hall
  • Day trip to Shaoshan, Chairman Mao’s birthplace
• Nanyue Hengshan: the southern of the 5 Daoist holy mountains, each correspondents to an element in Daoism, this being fire
• Zhangjiajie/Wulingyuan: UNESCO-listed landscape said to be the inspiration for the scenery in James Cameron’s Avatar, quite remote, best to fly in to Zhangjiajie Airport (DYG)