Tag Archives: Travel

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).

 

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.

Lijiang

Day 26 – Tiger Leaping Gorge

This was our ‘outdoor’ day, where we had a driver for the day and went to look at the famous Tiger Leaping Gorge. In the morning we met Steven, a very nice guy who spoke splendid Englisch and drove us in about 1,5 hours to the gorge. The site was just amazing, it is a place where the river is driven between two mountain ranges and on its narrowest side is only 20 meter wide with a  big rock in the middle, the famous place where a tiger escaped its hunters by jumping over the river. The mountains range 3000 meters high here, an incredible site and one really feels small and humble here.

The viewpoint itself is of course in Chinese style set up with stairs and well maintained view platforms. But still, amazing…

After we got back up again we drove on over very interesting mountain streets and were even more happy with Steven, as he drove very slow and safe. If you have 500 meters of cliff next to you that is really something to appreciate 🙂

We then had lunch in Sean’s Guesthouse, which has a great garden with views on the gorge and good food. This was the spot where we were really thinking, why can’t we just stay here and take a nap in a hammuck in the shade 🙂 So our next trip to this region is already planned as we definitely want to do the two day hike when Charlotte is up to it.

After the ride back we said our farewell to our driver Steven and in the guesthouse we were asked by the owner if we wanted to have a typical local diner, she then walked us across town to a very interesting local hotpot restaurant with a special kind of dried ribs in it. Unfortunately not really Charlotte’s taste, so she was more into the rice eating.

After we returned to the guesthouse we were even provided with a  real tea ceremony, where a stone frog is given the first tea as a blessing and Martijn had to have some local booze – burning in the throat.

 

 

Lijiang

Day 25 – Lijiang Baisha Village

After our first night in Lijiang we had a small breakfast in our room and headed for a small village north of Lijiang called BaiSha. It was mentioned in our guidebooks as still rural and original, and we would be able to see the real Naxi lifestyle there.

After about 1 hour bus ride with the local bus we arrived and walked through the small main street. Then suddenly we heard music, a group of old man playing self made instruments with a sign saying they were keeping the old traditions alive. We were quickly invited to join them and suddenly we were “playing” music in BaiSha, very nice.

Playing music together with a local BaiSha music group, Manu can do the "ting"
Playing music together with a local BaiSha music group, Manu can do the “ting”
Doesn't it look professional
Doesn’t it look professional
Self made music instruments, with a beautiful dragon head
Self made music instruments, with a beautiful dragon head

After walking a bite further we soon found out that the guidebooks were definitely dated, this town was also filled with coffee shops and souvenir booths, all having the same stuff. So we had lunch in a not so traditional coffee shop and had the best dumplings we have had so far in China a well as a great noodle soup for Charlotte.

After lunch we came to the house of Dr. Hu, a 95 year old Chinese medicine doctor who is still practicing. He was very sweet, and when he discovered Martijn was from the Netherlands he showed a whole range of business cards from Dutch guests, and even Maxima had been there.

Dr. Hu
Dr. Hu

I had to promise to give Maxima the best from him and inform her that he was still alive 🙂 So next time we have tea I will do exactly that.

On leaving the village we decided to take a d-tour with the bus to the local Walmart to get some food for breakfast etc (Marmalade is difficult to get in normal shops) and witnessed something quite interesting there. On the square in front there was a hiphop and break dance contest and the team were really good!

On our way back we got hit by the rain and were very happy we had a bath tub this time, something very rare in the guesthouses we normally stay 🙂