HI Joella Polaroid

Welcome to Paper Crane Stories – thanks for stopping by! I’m a Brit living in California, married to an American and always planning our next adventure. I’m a serial expat (I’ve lived in 5 countries) who loves to travel, eat, create and write. Read more on my about page.


Check Out Our Latest Blog Posts!

Seven Reasons Why I Still Love Seoul

As many of you know, I used to live in South Korea. I worked there…

Living In Beijing’s Hutong

Hi Guys- want to know where we live now? Well- some of you guessed it!…

The Best and Worst Things About Living In Beijing

I meant to do a “Yippee we’ve lived in Beijing for a year post”, but…

We Got Thrown Out Of Our Beijing Apartment!

  Followers on my Instagram or Twitter accounts might have seen my recent news: after…

My Favourite Expat Travel Blogs

  I first started a blog to document my life abroad in 2006. I’d just…

Horse Trekking in the Grasslands: Yaks, Yurts and Killer Dogs!

Horse riding in the grasslands was high, high, high up there on the list of…

My Favourite Tibetan Foods

If you didn’t read it already- check out my recent guest post on Waegook Tom‘s…

Sky High in Shanghai

Shanghai was one of the first trips we took outside of Beijing when we moved…

That Time We Went Back to South Korea After 5 Years!

As many people know, Justin and I originally met in South Korea. I talked about…

Xiàhé (Labrang): A place I’ll Never Forget

I could feel something special was ahead as we rode the (extremely old and cramped) 7…

Life Update: My Endless Summer is Over and I’m Back in Beijing

I’m back! Back from what I have now starting calling (to myself…) My Endless Summer.…

We’re going to Amdo and Kham: Traditional Tibet

I always had big plans for this Summer. Even before I knew what they were,…