Be more present

Yang was surprised by the many rewards of leaving his phone and computer behind. With no access to travel bloggers, books and museums became his guide.

In Hunan province, a book by Shen Congwen (1902-88) served as his guide. Following Xiangxi Sanji (Random Notes on a Trip to the Western Hunan Area), Yang tried to retrace Shen's trip by boat along the Yuanjiang River about 90 years ago.

But upon reaching Changde, the starting point of the book, Yang found that the passenger boats he'd read about were gone, as dams and reservoirs had been built along the river, so he took buses to the places Shen mentioned, instead.

Besides the changes to the landscape, the names of many places in the book had changed, which made Yang's visit full of surprises. One local taxi driver in his 40s was confused by the names of the places in the book, and told Yang that he knew every corner of the city, but had no idea where these places were.

In Gansu province, Yang began buying books about archaeology in the Xiyu, or Western Regions, a Chinese term used to describe today's Xinjiang and Central Asia in the past. French Sinologist Paul Pelliot (1878-1945) and Russian explorer Nikolay Przhevalsky (1839-88) were among the Western researchers, geographers and archaeologists that visited the region.

Following in their footsteps, Yang visited heritage sites in the Taklimakan Desert in southern Xinjiang. In the years between 1906 and 1913, German archaeologist Albert von Le Coq (1860-1930) visited today's Kizil Cave-Temple Complex and looted several caves. Yang discovered empty caves with photos of the murals that had been removed pasted onto boards. Some of the fragments are now at the Museum of Asian Art in Berlin and Yang says that he regretted their loss.

He also rediscovered the nostalgia of writing letters, and the pleasure of calligraphy, which he had studied at school as a child.

Yang wrote his first letter to his parents on the third day. Holding the brush, he struggled to find the right words to start.

"Through the traditional way of writing letters to convey my feelings and longing for my family, the distance and the waiting helped me reflect on my relationship with the world," Yang says.

He mailed 40 letters during his trip, and received five replies, which have become treasured memories.