Blogs from China, Asia - page 3

5th Aug: Didn't do much today as it was a travel day. Lazy morning before heading to the train station to get the train to Shantou. I found out what the problem with my bag was. I had an aerosol can of dry shampoo in there and it is over the aerosol limit of 150 ml. Well you learn something new everyday. I never knew that there a limit for these kind of things on trains in China. The train journey was fine. It took about an hour and fifteen minutes to reach Shantou. Stepping out of the train station and back into the heat was hard and I was sweating by the time I got to the bus stop, which was not far. I had to wait about 10-15 minutes for the bus, but it ... read more

After the best night's sleep I have had in a long time, I ordered some breakfast. Since it would be my last meal in Shenzhen, I ordered from a chain that I knew was good. I loved the hotel's delivery robot. It's so convenient bringing your take away to your room and also means the delivery drivers aren't wasting time either. I had ordered Cheung Fun, which are steamed Cantonese rice noodle rolls. They come stuffed with a variety of different fillings and I got some stuffed with egg, beef, shrimp and vegetables. After having some in Sanya and not enjoying them too much due to the sauce, it took me a while to order them in Shenzhen, but the chain I order from has a really good sauce, so I'm a little sad I missed ... read more

I had grand plans of getting up super early and heading out to beat the heat, but of course that didn't happen. Once I was eventually sorted I headed out for a wander around the lake. First stop was to take some photos of the alley I was staying in. It's really cute with all the lights, lanterns and murals on the walls. Then down to the lake. I liked the figurines that are there to get your photo taken with. I totally missed them the night before. It was nice to see the lake in the day time. It looked pretty, large and peaceful. Since it was so hot, there weren't too many people about and those that were by the lake were sheltering under the shade of the trees. The security guard sitting napping ... read more

The part I was most looking forward to was our planned hike on the Great Wall that we booked through a local tour operator. I think before Covid, actual camping ON the wall was allowed, but this one only offered to camp next to it - still pretty cool. L set it up. We left our main baggage at the hotel and were picked up right on time at 10am. It would just be us - not a group tour. Yay! And they had a nice fancy volvo car to drive us the 90 minutes near the park entrance, where there is a little cultural center area here and seems to be a stopping point for lunch for many tourists. We had lunch here and there was so much food. Our guide, B, was pretty insistent ... read more

For the Eid al Adha break, I was joining our Trekkup trip to Mongolia, connecting through Beijing. Since it did not start until late Tuesday, my friend and I decided to take advantage of the 144-hour visa for many foreigners at various entry cities across the country. The first section goes into the process since I know China has only just started to open up again and people are unfamiliar with some of the requirements. Arrival procedures Our flight left super early Friday morning and we arrived at the airport at 9:15 pm on Thursday; it took us 2 hours to check-in - it was busy but it was also apparently difficult to get confirmation that we could land and stay in Beijing. The first of many times this question was asked. The flight itself was ... read more