(CNN) -- For a year, journalist and author David Eimer traveled the edges of China exploring a side of the country that obliterates expectations. "Most people are unaware of the sheer diversity of China in terms of ethnic minorities," says the former Beijing resident and China correspondent for the Sunday Telegraph newspaper. "I met people who have blond hair and blue eyes and look completely European but are 100% Chinese in terms of upbringing and language." The Chinese government officially classifies 55 ethnic minorities. During his travels through Yunnan, Tibet, Xinjiang and the Dongbei region, Eimer met many of them.
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Journalist David Eimer's new book chronicles many of China's 55 official ethnic groups
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Xishuangbanna is China's Thailand, with food and climate similar to Southeast Asian countries
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Eimer also visited the "third Korea," located inside of China
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He says Tibetans are the hardest to interview
The Chinese like to think of @placeholder [an autonomous prefecture within Yunnan Province] as their own Thailand.