My Story

Hello everyone, I'm Gerry. I'm the guy who crashed three drones, got scammed 19 times, drove 100,000 kilometers, and visited 26 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions in China... so you won't have to go through all that!

I am a native-born Chinese person. After graduating from university, I worked for two years, and then started working as a freelancer, traveling while working. It has been 15 years since my first trip in university. I've been to so many places and taken many photos. I still keep photos from over a decade ago, back when I was still using a Nokia phone. I really love traveling, and I also love China's culture, history, and geography.

Understanding the geography allows for a deeper comprehension of the culture, and understanding the culture allows for a more profound and memorable impression of a place, resulting in a better travel experience. Therefore, I will continue to update related articles on the website/blog.

Below are some of my most representative photos from over the years. Since I rarely take photos of myself and focus more on scenery, landscape photos make up the majority overall.

This picture was taken in 2010 when I was still in university. I went with friends to climb Wudang Mountain, which was my first trip in the true sense of the word.

This one was taken in 2011 during my graduation trip. It's the Terracotta Army in Xi'an, Shaanxi.

This one is also very special. It's a photo from the Shandong Couchsurfing meetup I attended. Since I was in charge of taking the pictures, I'm not in the photo.

This one was taken in 2012 at West Lake in Hangzhou.

This one was taken in 2013 at a Suzhou Garden in Suzhou.

This one was taken in 2014 at the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in Nanjing.

This one was taken in 2015 at Furong Town, Yongshun County, Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Hunan.

This one was taken in 2016 during my first trip to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.

This one was taken in 2017 at Longhu Mountain (Dragon and Tiger Mountain) in Yingtan, Jiangxi. (A Hanging Coffin Performance was taking place at this time. This is where ancient people were buried after death, inside caves on vertical mountain faces. The performance shows people the methods the ancients used to move the coffins into the caves on the sheer cliffs. Look closely at the rope a third of the way in from the right side of the picture.)

This one was taken in 2018 at Lugu Lake in Yanyuan County, Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province. I should also note that two-thirds of Lugu Lake is in Liangshan Prefecture, Sichuan, and one-third is in Ninglang County, Lijiang City, Yunnan Province.

This one was taken in 2019; the location is Shapotou (desert) in Zhongwei, Ningxia. The Shapotou Scenic Area is located on the southeastern edge of the Tengger Desert. The river in the picture is the Yellow River, one of the mother rivers of the Chinese nation. I should explain here that not all sections of the Yellow River are yellow.

This is me in 2019, photographed at the Zhenbeibao West Film Studio in Yinchuan, Ningxia.

This one was taken in 2020 at the Huaxi Scenic Area in Jinhua, Zhejiang. Look closely, the entire riverbed here is made of stones! This is extremely rare.

This one was taken in 2021 at the Leye Giant Sinkhole (Tiankeng) in Baise, Guangxi (possibly the world's largest sinkhole, a typical karst landform).

This picture was taken in 2022 at the Dawagengzha Scenic Area in Ya'an. I got up at 3 AM to photograph the 'Sun-kissed Golden Mountain' (Rizhao Jinshan) on the snow-capped peaks in the early morning.

This one was taken in 2023 at Lijiang Ancient Town.

This one was also taken in Lijiang in 2023. It is the former residence of Joseph Rock. Joseph Rock (1884–1962) was an Austrian-American explorer, botanist, geographer, linguist, ethnographer, and photographer. He lived in Lijiang for 27 years.

Lost Horizon

The travelogues and photographs that Rock published in National Geographic about the Muli Kingdom and Gonggalin (Gongga Ling) in Yunnan inspired the British author James Hilton, which ultimately led to the creation of the famous novel, Lost Horizon.

The Prototype for "Shangri-La"

The customs, natural environment, and geographical materials of the idyllic paradise "Shangri-La" depicted in the novel are widely believed to be derived from Rock's descriptions of the Lijiang, Muli, and Gonggalin (Gongga Ling) regions.

This one was taken in 2024 at Dianchi Lake. The birds in the picture are Black-headed Gulls. Every winter, a large number of Black-headed Gulls migrate from Siberia to Kunming.

This one was taken in 2025 at Enshi Grand Canyon in Hubei!

The above documents the places I've been to over the last 15 years. There are many, many more photos and places I've visited.

I am not a photographer, so the pictures aren't that beautiful, and I haven't processed them, but they are authentic. Often, the actual scenery is much more beautiful than the photos, and it is absolutely worth seeing.

Below, I will share some photos from my trip last year: an 18-day solo drive, one person, one car, along G318 and G317 National Highways, a high-altitude journey covering a total of 5,100 kilometers.

This is Yajiang County, Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province. This is a typical county town located deep within the mountains of the Western Sichuan region.

This is the Sister Lakes (Jiemei Hu) in Garzê Prefecture, Sichuan. This one can be used as a wallpaper and is included in the 200 4K drone photos for our Lifetime Members, and is available for commercial use.

This one was taken on a mountain peak within Tibet. The objects in the picture are called prayer flags (Jingfan). In Tibetan Buddhism, every time the wind makes them flutter, it represents one recitation of the sutra and is a way of praying for blessings.

This is the Banda Grassland.

This is Ranwu Lake.

This is Laigu Glacier.

This is a small village nestled in the mountains; the clouds are layered.

This is the Yarlung Tsangpo River.

A rainbow in the sky over the Tibet region.

This is Yamdrok Tso, one of the sacred lakes of Tibet.

That's all for the scenic photos for now; there are still many more. I will select 200 4K drone photos for everyone to use commercially free of charge, provided that you become our Lifetime Member. I have visited nearly 200 prefecture-level cities, and I will continue to be on the road in the future, because I truly love traveling.

Now that I have a drone, I can take much better photos for everyone and grant commercial licenses for their use. 200 photos is just the beginning; there will be many more in the future. I hope for everyone's support so that I can upgrade my equipment and take even better and higher-definition photos. At that point, they will be 8K photos.

I started using drones in 2022. The first time I lost one, it crashed into a nearby high-rise building and I couldn't find it. The second time was at Mingyue Gorge in Guangyuan, Sichuan. The wind was too strong, and it flew out of control into the woods on the mountains on both sides, so I gave up trying to retrieve it.

The third time, I lost it at Moshi Park in Garzê Prefecture, Sichuan Province, but the local Tibetans helped me find it and bring it back—I am truly grateful to them. The fourth time was inside an abandoned steel mill in Kunming; the brakes didn't react in time, and it hit the gantry crane. Since the building was unsafe, I couldn't go up to get it, so I gave up again.

The fifth time was in a residential complex next to Fuxian Lake. My friend and I searched for two hours before finding it. When I returned, I was determined to study how to retrieve a drone, and I finally learned how after this incident.

The sixth time was this year in Badong, Enshi, Hubei Province. I hit a tree on the mountain and it dropped right into the woods. I used my method to analyze the location and found it was about 5 meters from a mountain resident's house. I went to the villagers, and they helped me search. We found it quickly, which was very efficient.

I have also logged over 50 hours of flight time and 494 flights, so I have quite good experience flying drones. Drone flight skills and recovery techniques are also included in my Lifetime Membership benefits. I will share the methods for finding a drone, helping you recover your loss.

Furthermore, the natural scenery in Western China is truly beautiful, and this large range of scenic beauty is unique on a global scale. However, the plateau means a lack of oxygen. I have been to the plateau many times.

I'm in good shape; the first time I stayed at an altitude of 3,800 meters, I needed oxygen, but now I'm fine at that height. The last time, I stayed at 4,500 meters and had to use oxygen again. This place at 4,500 meters is the highest administrative region in the world, called Nagqu.

According to rumors, planting and sustaining a single tree here is rewarded with 300,000 yuan. The altitude is too high, and there is a severe lack of water, making it impossible to rely on natural water sources, so you won't see any trees in Nagqu.

Also, if you come to the plateau, I will teach you how to cope with altitude sickness and how to drive on road conditions like the ones below. Driving in the high-altitude mountains requires extreme caution, otherwise, it's very easy to have a major accident.

These experiences are also part of our Lifetime Member benefits. Once the website officially starts operating and after surpassing 200 Lifetime Memberships, I will enable voting rights, allowing you all to decide where I go next.

I will then go explore that location and provide you with a huge amount of actual drone footage and other benefits.

"I'm still on the road, continuing to crash drones, continuing to get scammed, and continuing to experience altitude sickness... while you, for just $399, can relax and own the results of my life's work.

Join the Lifetime Membership (First 500 members only $349)