In October 2008 I discovered that the best way to avoid the Chinese travel-season crunch is to throw your bike on a bus, get off somewhere in the countryside, and ride away. In 2009 I added two new trips to my resume. In late January, I cycled from Jianshui to Hekou, a city on the Yunnan/Vietnam border. On day two of the ride, we left Gejiu in the morning and descended a spectacular 1,800 meters over the next four hours, eventually reaching sea level in the Red River Valley.  I've never before been able to experience such a drastic change in vegetation and climate within one single bike ride.

For the October holiday this year I headed off in the opposite direction- toward the Burmese border at Ruili. Beginning in Baoshan, we cycled up the towering Gaoligong mountain range and settled into Tengchong, a volcanic hot-spot that experienced heavy fighting during the Second World War. After researching an article that would eventually be published in the most recent edition of Yunnan Magazine, we then cycled into the border town. Though Ruili is now far tamer than its reputation suggests, I found the city lively and interesting, full of great indoor food markets and even avocados, a sight for sore eyes for this Californian.

Aside from my two-wheeled adventures I was fortunate enough in 2009 to travel back to the US twice, the second time to attend the wedding of a close friend. The wedding provided a wonderful study in contrasts with that of another friend, which I attended in May down in a small village in the far south of Yunnan.

As for travels in other parts of China, 2009 was a bit lacking. I went to Shenzhen for a business conference in March and spent a luxurious day in Hong Kong, but otherwise my China travel during the year remained firmly south of the clouds. Not that I mind, of course- I consider myself very blessed to have spent nearly three years in one of the world's most beautiful places.

My inveterate nature compels me to be on the move, so I'm certain 2010 will have its fair share of excursions, which I hope to faithfully document on this blog.

Thank you for reading!

In our first installment I've presented my choices for the best books and websites of the year. Caveat lector: if I didn't read it or surf it, it isn't on this list. What's more, not all of these items were new in 2009- just new to me.

Books

1. The Great War for Civilization: The Conquest of the Middle East by Robert Fisk.

Earlier in the decade, when neoconservative self-congratulation reached its apex and critics of Bush's foreign policy were routinely labeled traitors, the surname of this great journalist was transformed into a pejorative verb; to fisk someone meant to lambaste a piece of writing, line by line, usually in blog-form.

Here Fisk shows why the neo-conservatives, as they were about everything else, were deadly wrong. In a monumental tome exceeding 1,300 pages, Fisk recounts a history of the world's most volatile region beginning in the mid 1970s- the date of his appointment as a reporter there for The Times of London- to the present day.

Fisk tells of each event in mind-searing, moving detail: the Iranian revolution of 1979, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the Iran-Iraq War, the enduring Israeli occupation of Palestine, the two Iraq War, the Algerian civil war, and the 2001 US invasion of Afghanistan.

The Middle East, once the cradle of civilization, has endured violence, tragedy, and tyranny on an almost unimaginable scale. Fisk imbues this history with a bravery and honesty so often absent in current reportage in our newspapers, magazines, and television programs.

2. The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano

Meet the visceral realists Arturo Belano and Ulises Lima- one Chilean and the other Mexican, together they form the heart of a poetry movement that will redefine Latin American literature- or will it? The Savage Detectives tells the story of the two poets through the people that have known them, in both diary and oral history format. Belano and Lima eventually leave Mexico and travel the world, working as night watchmen in Spanish camping grounds or squatting in Tel Aviv apartments, living a literary life without the attendant glory.

Belano (the author) writes with passion and skill about a literary movement, real or imagined, as it evolves through the last three decades of the 20th century. I confess that prior to reading The Savage Detectives I thought discussions of Latin literature concerned only Marquez and Borges. How wrong was I.

3. The Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria

Less than twenty years ago, as the Soviet Union collapsed and the United States claimed victory in the Cold War, many scholars predicted that an era of pax America was upon us. The events of September 11th a decade later threw a bucket of cold water on that idea, and the War of Terror has illustrated just how limited America's ability to meet its goals in global affairs.

What will be the big idea of our current century? Fareed Zakaria posits that American global hegemony will be challenged by what he terms 'the rise of the rest'. Countries such as China, India, and Brazil will see their influence and power grow alongside their economies, and will provide a counterbalance to American ideas of global leadership.

Zakaria, whose foreign affairs columns in Newsweek magazine have been favorites of mine for years, writes persuasively that these changes are not only inevitable but also, most likely, positive- not to mention of far more international significance than our current battle against terrorism appears to be.

4. Out of Mao's Shadow by Philip Pan

The subjects Pan covers in his book- the Hundred Flowers Movement, the Cultural Revolution, official corruption, land speculation, and the news media- are well-trodden ground to anyone with an interest in modern Chinese history. Yet Pan's approach to his subjects are what set Out of Mao's Shadow apart from the dozens of other books published by Western journalists based in China.

Pan profiles Chinese determined to preserve the memory of people, places and events scrubbed clean by party-sanctioned history books. His subjects are mainly ordinary people driven by extreme circumstance to secure a measure of justice, often in the face of great personal danger.

Pan doesn't have an editorial opinion in his pages. He hasn't staked a claim as a Sinoskeptic or a Sinophile, merely as a very good reporter able to see the human face of the world's most remarkable economic growth story.

Web

1. Twitter

I initially failed to see the point of Twitter, a service several of my friends had confidently told me was more useful than Facebook.  Then in September came the bombing of a Muslim restaurant in Beijing. The event itself wasn't terribly noteworthy or significant, but through Twitter I immediately gained access to several articles, eyewitness accounts, photographs, and other stories from the dozen or so people on my 'follow' list that took interest in the story.

Through that event I suddenly grew aware of Twitter's potential as a decentralized, up-to-the-minute news source. When Twitter later allowed its users to set up different feeds, I grew hooked. Nobody perhaps wants to hear what their friends are doing every minute of every day, but that common slur against Twitter seems quite silly in light of the site's use during 2009's protests in Iran.

2. Passive Aggressive Notes, Failblog, Lamebook, People of WalMart

Each of these sites made me break out in sudden, uncontrollable laughter during 2009. PA Notes collects the little ways we express outrage at one another without having to, you know, actually confront each other face to face. Failblog is low in concept but rich in opportunity- the capacity of humanity to fail in any number of situations is boundless.

Lamebook tracks unfortuante photographs, status updates, comments, likes, and other actions on the world's most popular social networking site.  And People of WalMart tells you a lot of what you need to know about the world's largest retail outfit.

3. Foreign Policy

I've long asked family to include a copy of Foreign Policy into my holiday care packages, but during 2009 the website transformed itself into the most comprehensive, interesting collection of articles from all over the world.

FP is an essential complement to the international news by bringing in expertise from a wide range of thinkers, ranging from the ur-realist Steven Walt to the great military journalist Thomas Ricks.

In addition the Passport blog is FP's great round-up of the day's key stories, including items even astute news follows are likely to miss.