Having been a resident of China for the past two decades, Mark has witnessed and documented the country’s emergence from grinding poverty to an economic superpower. Along the way he’s encountered a few anomalies caused by the rather frenetic pace of this transition. A recent assignment for Wine Spectator had him visit a lavish, $6 million château-style vineyard located in an obscure part of the Yellow River region. “That kind of extravagnce is mild compared to the behavior of the nouveau riche who glug back Champagne and fine wine for face rather than to appreciate its finer points.” Not to mention the Ferraris and Porschess parading about these days on the streets of Shanghai and Beijing—“given the traffic jams, they clearly aren’t going anywhere,” he says. Mark has contributed to such publications as Town & Country Travel, Travel + Leisure, Departures, Discovery, the San Francisco Chronicle and the London Sunday Times. Based in Hong Kong, Mark frequently travels to Beijing and Shanghai, with numerous trips along the Chinese section of the Silk Road, the writer’s favorite part of the vast nation. “China is an amazing place with a rich history and a roller-coaster present,” Mark says. “But Hong Kong remains the most thrilling city on Chinese soil, possibly in the world at large.”

Most Memorable Trip: “Possibly the trip I took to South America—covering Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Brazil, much of it overland, that sparked an urge to quit work and travel for six months to Asia. That was more than two decades ago, and the bug never really went out of the system, although the flea-pit, backpacking trips are rather few and far between these days! It does mean, though, that I can play the (Asian) one-upmanship game with some dexterity, recalling when a rather comfy beach hut on the Thai island of Koh Samui cost just $5 a night, and cut-off time in Beijing for dinner was 5.30 p.m. prompt.”

Interesting Characters Met While Traveling: “The custodian of the rat temple in India has got to be up there. This is a place where rats are actually encouraged to breed, and fed from huge vats of always-cooking food. The idea is to walk around the (Hindu) temple and gain merit by having rats scurry across your feet. The main priest-custodian sat with his head buried in religious works as rats scurried up and down his garments. There are some things – many things – about India that a western mindset will never, ever comprehend.”

Most Harrowing Travel Experience: “Easily the scariest was in Papua New Guinea, a flight I took in the Highlands region. At the best of times it is hairy, as the ten-seater Cessnas dodge the peaks in a region known for its sudden storms and incoming clouds. On the storm-tossed flight I was on, run by a missionary airline, I picked up the airline newsletter, which told how a pastor and his family, other passengers and the crew had perished only the last month on this very route, when their plane ran into a mountain. For the next half-hour I was totally petrified and have never been quite so glad to see a landing strip, albeit a pretty rough one.”

Favorite Restaurant: “I think some of the best meals have been at a restaurant in the Thai town of Hua Hin known for its marvelous seafood. There is one particular pierside spot called the Chao Lay, which serves the freshest and most delicious seafood on Earth. The place is very simple, with a basic wooden planking floors and plastic tables, but at the same time fabulously romantic. Grab a table looking out over the ocean where you can watch the twinkling fishing boat lights, grab a cold bottle of pinot grigot and order away from the menu, knowing the bill is unlikely to go much above $50.

It is hard—really hard—to have a bad meal in Thailand, just as it is in Tuscany, or Provence. But Thailand has the edge in that the staff is guaranteed to be gracious, smiling and never ever snooty, whether it is a simple family restaurant or a five-star hotel. There are so many innovative chefs in this part of the world and most of them come and go, so it is hard to pick a favorite.”

Least Favorite Restaurant: “Any restaurant that leans towards fusion food. I think pretty much all the awful meals I have had have been where the chef starts matching and mixing cuisines. Unless you are Nobu or Ducasse it doesn’t generally work. Call me old-fashioned but I prefer my Sichuan food to be Sichaun-style and my peasant Italian food to be rustic Italian. I have seen some very odd combinations of foods, mostly by chefs who have been in Asia for ten minutes and discovered lemon grass or coriander or other ingredients that, for them, are unusual, and proceeded to introduce them to classic western dishes. I think there are very few fusion foods that have lasted the distance; even the maestros such as Ducasse are sparing with the east-meets-west stuff.”

Most Questionable Meals: “The most questionable meals have been in China—and some of the best. The worst are the ten-course official banquets where, as a foreigner, all eyes are on you to see if you slip up with chopstick skills or try to hide the less appealing dishes under the ashtray (there is always an ashtray, as this is a nation of fervent smokers). The oddest dish I ever had was the river fish served in inland Xinjiang province; it was sprinkled with spicy minced lamb…truly, memorably disgusting.”

Favorite Hotel: “For consistency it has to be the Peninsula hotel in Hong Kong, where the service is as seamless as it gets. Most of the staff has been there for decades, and the atmosphere really does feel like that of a family business. The hotel has also been in the game for around eighty years and it is a supremely slick and well-serviced operation that is not afraid of innovation.

One of my most memorable stays was at the Samode Palace in Rajasthan, India, a maharaja’s home. It really does feel like being royalty for a day or two, as you stroll the battlements and run the risk of agrophobia when wandering around the cavernous rooms.”

Favorite Travel Film: “I loved the film The English Patient_—the dreamy deserts scenes in particular mesmerized me. I was lucky enough to interview the director, Anthony Minghella, recently and he said his personal favorite is _The Talented Mr. Ripley, shot in Italy, which is another movie-as-travelogue. Well, until the violent bits, anyway.”

Favorite Travel Book: “I really enjoyed Younghusband, the biography of the British colonial soldier/adventurer Francis Younghusband who had some amazing adventures in India and China and ended up in old age as what we would now refer to as a new-ager, or even hippy! Patrick French a contemporary writer retrod his steps, which I generally think is a very unimaginative genre of travel writing, but in this instance it worked well. I like to read books after I have been to a place, or when there, such as Freedom at Midnight about the partition of India, and Foreign Devils on the Silk Road about the early adventurers along the China-India borders.”

Favorite Travel Quote: Get your motor runnin’/ Head out on the highway/ Lookin’ for adventure/ And whatever comes our way - Born to Be Wild, Steppenwolf