(Excerpted from Chapter 14: Chinese Hard Seat Class: The Grateful Unrich…)
When they think they know the answers, people are difficult to guide. When they know they don’t know, people can find their own way - Tao Te Ching
Shanghai to Guilin, China
In all of my travels I have never experienced anything as excruciating as this. The aisles are impassable, packed tight with anxious-looking Chinese peasants. The horde collectively grabs onto the overhead luggage rack then, realizing that the car is so crowded they need not hang on to anything, they let go in unison, swaying into one another like puppets as the train winds its way across badly scarred landscape west of Shanghai. This is “hard-seat class”. Read the rest of this entry »















(excerpted from Chapter 7: Trekking with God: 
















(Excerpted from Chapter 6: Mercenary Shopping: 
