Hong Kong

Hong Kong Summary

We are already at the airport again after 5 nights in Hong Kong. We have to admit that the city, with it’s relatively big size and heat somehow hit us hard.

The first day we wanted to go to the Victoria peak. We took one of those beautiful little trams to the peak station, but unfortunately the weather was so bad (rain and misty on the peak) that we skipped that plan and instead took the famous star ferry to Kowloon.

There we continued toward the ladies market and were caught by a real bad rain, so again we skipped that and went back to the hotel. So much for the first day.

The second day was spend in the beautiful Hong Kong Park, Botanical Gardens (watching the monkeys) and was ended with tour through the mid level escalators. This showed us Soho, the bar district which was looking very nice but not really an option with Charlotte 😉 So we headed back and had a good diner with local take away snacks. We found out that Charlotte really likes the local sushi and the 7-eleven sandwitches.

The third day was a big day, we got up on time and went for Disneyland Hong Kong, time to meet our childhood heroes (and for Charlotte her still are heroes). We had a great day there, although it was burning hot and we were totally exhausted afterwards, but not until after we shopped for some souvenirs. We missed the night parade, but saw the big afternoon parade and it was just perfect. Also the shows in the park gave quite something.

The last day in Hong Kong was spend in the morning in the pool as well with packing a big package for sending home, so we could unload some of the thick cloths and gathered souvenirs from our backpacks. In the late afternoon, after again a pool session in the hotel, we went to the Temple market and had diner there in a local food stall. On our return we took the star ferry one last time and had some great views on the Hong Kong Island skyline. A perfect end of our stay.

So now we are at the airport waiting for our flight to Kuala Lumpur, where we will also stay 5 nights until on the 6th we finally end our China&Big City tour after 8 weeks and spend the last 6 weeks on beaches 😉 (Yeah, and partial under water for Martijn of course).

 

Hong Kong

Day 49 – Arrival in Hong Kong

Yesterday we took the bullet train from Guilin to Shenzhen, where after a short subway ride we arrived at Futian Port – the border crossing between mainland China and Hong Kong. The whole procedure of being looked by non-smiling border control staff on two sides took about 1,5 hour, but then we were out of China after spending 49 days there.

Within Hong Kong we took subway again and part with a taxi and arrived at our new hotel, the City Garden Hotel. A bit of a shock, this was the first real big chain hotel during our trip (before mostly guesthouses, hostels and the occasional small hotel) and it started immediately with some discussions as they wanted to charge us extra for Charlotte’s breakfast (total a bit over 600 HK$, so quite a sum).

After Martijn had his 1:1 with the manager on duty it was all arranged, we got the breakfast complimentary and their misunderstanding with booking.com was something the hotel would clear out (to their support, booking.com seems to be misleading towards the hotels here, we got a different confirmation than the hotel). The next thing we encountered was that the pool already closed at 7pm, so we had to run to get the promised dip for Charlotte.

The next day, after our first night in Hong Kong and a bit of getting used to different prices in stores and restaurants we enjoyed one good thing about the big hotel, a great breakfast buffet.

The day was spend with morning pool visit, then on the tram to go to the Victoria peak (we skipped it as it was completely in the mist) and then we took the Star Ferry to Kowloon.

The plan was to visit the ladies market and the temple market, but unfortunately it was raining so much that this plan went literally down the drain. So much for nice weather in Hong Kong, although it is hot here.

Guilin, Uncategorized

Day 45/46 – Long Ji Rice Terraces

After a 4 hour long taxi ride from our great week in the Giggling Tree Guesthouse we arrived at a misty and rainy Ping’an, a mountain village in the LongJi (Dragonbone) Rice Terrace scenic area. To get to our hotel we had to go on a long step road, luckily we found some old ladies who carried our luggage.. they are really fit!

 

The weather was not the best, but fortunately at the end of the first day the mist cleared here and there a bit, enough to make some great photos.

After our stay here, where we had quite some rain, we went back to Guilin for two more nights before we will leave the ‘normal’ China on the 27th of May and cross the border to Hong Kong.

 

Yangshuo

Day 40 – Yangshuo rainy bike tour

Today the weather is a bit cloudy and we decided to go for a nice bike tour to one of the famous nature view points here, the moon hill. So we rented two bikes, one tandem for Martijn and Charlotte and a normal one for Manu and went on our way.

The Giggling Tree provided nice tour guides in the form of a photo book, so you basically just follow the pictures and hope you arrive at some point :o) Due to the recent flooding some of the smaller roads were a bit muddy, but all together the tour until the moon hill was really nice.

After we arrived at the moon hill we bought the entrance ticket, parked our bikes and went for lunch in the nearby restaurant. And that was a lucky call, as soon as we were seated it started raining. First a bit, then really hard.

Due to the rain and a bit of a bad tempered daughter we decided not to go up the mountain and instead bought 3 overpriced ponchos and biked back to the hotel. After a few minutes the rain got worse again and we were soaked up to the bones, but you know how it is, you get a kind of laughing atmosphere.

All together the tour was quite nice, wenn you just ignore the rain 😉

Guilin

Day 39 – Giggling Tree treasure hunt and pool day

This day was our first real day in Yangshuo and still great weather (which was about to change later on) so we decided to go for the Giggling Tree (GT) kids treasure hunt. You get a photo booklet and have to find the treasure.

It was a great activity and in the end we found the treasure, although it was a bit flooded with mud from the floods two weeks ago. During the tour this flood was evident, as we saw some locals cleaning their restaurant stuff (fridge, fans, tables, everything) from the mud with a big hose. Poor guys.

The afternoon was then spend in the pool and the evening with western food and a nice beer on the terrace – patatje oorlog, what a treat!

Guilin

Day 38 – Li River Cruise

Today we went in search for the 20 Rmb Note. If you look closely at the note you’ll see that there is the background of some karst hills with a cormorant fischer in the front. This is taken not far from XingPing on the Li river and as we’re taking a boat across this river, exactly the touristy spot for us to find 😉

1532619-The-scene-on-the-back-of-the-20-Yuan-note-0

We’re picked up early in the morning by a bus and again a strict Chinese tour guide (“Are we clear!”). After about one hour driver we arrive at the pier and are dumped on the boat. Here it was clear that there are a lot of boats going down the river.

The trip was really nice, the scenery is absolutely stunning and you get a very relaxed view on the whole from the boat. The service and food was, as anticipated, on the level of a Chinese tour, but we could live with that. For Charlotte the whole trip was a bit too long but she soon was drawing and happy with her quiet moment. One thing mention worth that occurred was that we got in a little argument with our Sgt. tour guide, as she did not want to give Charlotte a plate for the lunch, because kids under 1.20m don’t pay and thus do not get a plate. She could eat from our plate. Clear moment of do not touch our kid, she soon realized that this was not something we’re willing to even discuss and let it be 😉

After we arrived in Yangshuo we squeezed ourselves and our back packs through hordes of Chinese tourist and sales people and quickly took a taxi to the Giggling Tree. There it was time to relax, jump in the pool (Yes Ronald, they have a nice pool now) and enjoy a “Patatje Oorlog” in China.

 

Guilin, Uncategorized

Day 36/37 – Guilin

Just a quick photo overview of our two days in Guilin, where we had both very warm and moist weather as well a pouring rain (our first in China so far, so we cannot complain).

Now we’re off to Yangshuo!

Kunming

Day 34 – Visiting the YuanTong Temple in Kunming

Again a visit to a local temple, this time the Yuan Tong Temple in Kunming. This is one of the most important Buddhist temples in China, with a history going back over 1200 years. Finding it was easy with the map provided by our guesthouse Lost Garden and we walked there in about 15 minutes. The entrance is squeezed in between the normal shops and buildings, but somehow temples always show itself by the big group of people begging, selling stuff or just hanging around in front of the entrance.

The grounds were beautiful, we walked around a bit and suddenly we saw a lot of people walking around with bowls of food. After a bit asking we identified the kitchen and there they were giving veggie food for 7 rmb a bowl, as Charlotte was hungry we decided to try it.

And we got the last bowl, the veggie was all out so it was basically some rice with potatoes and curd, but that was exactly the right thing for our daughter and thus we had a improvised lunch with some old Chinese ladies, who shared table and some pickles with us. Very nice experience.

After lunch we just wandered around the compound, enjoying the many beautiful photo spots (Martijn), the quietness (Manu) and the option to play horseland on the stair (Charlotte).

On return we even did some exercise – Charlotte always asking “Daddy, am I a sporty girl” :o)

 

Kunming, Uncategorized

Day 33 – Trip to Kunming

Travelling day again, so we got up early and walked to the bus for the train station. After asking several of the many busses who stopped we got one that went to the train station and hopped on.

At the train station we changed our tickets, as the last experience with the hard seat made it clear that this mode of train travel was ok for under 3 hours, but for a 6 hour trip to Kunming it would be really hard. Luckily there were still soft sleepers available, so we had a very pleasant journey. Due to the fact that we were still not all 100% healthy this was a very good decision.

As we arrived in Kunming the station as chaotic. So far all the train stations in China we’ve arrived were well organized, when you come out it is clear where a taxi line is etc. Here we had to look hard for a taxi and had one of the nice ignorant taxi driver experiences, as we asked one driver if he could bring us to our guesthouse he just kept staring forwards, ignoring us and then just driving away. Normally not an issue, but with a 40lbs backpack, hot, sweaty and tired those are the moments you do not like the Chinese at all. Especially if a group of touts behind you is making fun off you.

As it was clear we were not getting a taxi here we walked a bit towards the center and found a nice lady with her taxi who drove us to our guesthouse. And then everything was good again, the room was great, the roof top terrace just in front of it and nice and quiet. So we used the time to have our laundry done, look around a bit near the green lake of Kunming and went for dinner in a restaurant that was recommended nearby.

Well, that restaurant visit was not the best. The dishes were all so spicey that none of us could really eat it, the service was (even for China) very unfriendly and lousy and the prices very high. After we paid the bill there was a 78 rmb for the tea on it, later we found out that this was a rip off method more had experienced in this place. Annoying, but again, that is part of travelling.

 

Dali

Dali

A short update from Dali in Yunnan. After we arrived here by train from Lijiang, 2,5 hours on the hard seat, we unfortunately had to cope with a small food poisoning which ensured the first three days in Dali we were more or less bound to the Hotel.

One thing that was good was that Charlotte met Mila, the daughter of a German owner of a guesthouse here in Dali. So she was very happy to meet somebody who spoke German and new how to play “Bibi und Tina”, something the Chinese kids not really got.

We even went with them to the local university grounds, very beautiful up the mountain overlooking Dali to do a round of inline skating.

So not much to report from Dali, on Wednesday we will take another train ongoing to Kunming, if we’ve had the change we probably would have stayed longer in Dali. It is clear why people hang here.