Sign In
Travel Blog Posts
January 15th 2012
So i haven't updated the blog in a while... Here is a quick briefing on what we've been doing and where we are. After Xiamen we went to a place called Guangzhou. Guangzhou didn't have lots of tourist things to do.. but there were a lot of markets. We couchsurfed at someones home, played board games, and waited for our VIetnam visas to process. We took 2 days and went to Shenzhen which borders with Hong Kong. We couchsurfed there as well with a lovely lady named Ivy. We spent the first night with her realitives eating and drinking. After, Tris went for a traditional Chinese massage with Ivys husband. He even got acupuncture done. I spent the evening talking with Ivy about everything and anything. The 2nd day in Shenzhen we walked around, checked out ... read more
Happy New Year!!! What we've been up to the past couple weeks
Published: January 4th 2012Asia » China
January 4th 2012
We were really lucky to meet Brenna in Xiamen. We had a lot of fun with her. We ate good food, took her skating for her first time, and had many laughs. Guangzhou- we couchsurfed in Guangzhou. Our main reason of coming here was to apply for our Vietnam visas. We didn't find the city itself to exciting. Guangzhou is the main hub for all import and export... so everything you buy in china comes through here... we checked out the markets which were INSANE and not our style. Very Chinese with teaddy bears and bling bling on everything. We spent Newyears in Guangzhou but unfortunately Tris was sick so we spent the evening in at our hosts house watching movies. Shenzhen - We decided to go to Shenzhen to kill some time while waiting for ... read more
December 25th 2011
We are on an island called Xiamen. Its been really great as we've met a lot of people here. We've spent time visiting temples, hanging out, eating food etc. For Christmas eve we went to a get together, and for Christmas day we went for a pot luck at another apartment. The food was great, the people were really friendly, it was lots of fun. Merry Christmas!... read more
December 22nd 2011
Today we headed to the French Concession area. Tris and I never found its charm that so many other people experience. Whether this was because we aren't into architecture, or we just went to the wrong area I'm not sure. We did find fabulous won ton soup though so that was a plus. Hotels and hostels in Hong Kong are really expensive. We cant find a private room for under $60, or a hostel for under $40. So we spent quite a few hours sending out couch requests in hopes someone will accept us. We HAVE to go to Hong Kong so we can apply for our Vietnam visas. And we HAVE to go to Vietnam as this is where we fly out of to get home... so we have no choice. Fingers crossed that a ... read more
December 21st 2011
Its been raining the past couple days so the evenings were more exciting than during the day. I had posted on couchsurfing that I wanted to go for dinner with other members. So at 6:30 we waited at the meeting spot at one of the train stations and 11 people showed up! We had people from all over the place. Mexico, Hong Kong/Australia, Canada, China, England, and Taiwan. It was a lot of fun. Yesterday we met Rebecca (a girl we met the night before at dinner) for brunch and she greeted us with milk teas. She then took us for delicious dumplings (which we later went back for more) at 2 different places. After, she brought us to a famous Shanghai cake shop. We spent most of the afternoon on skype. For Christmas, Tris and ... read more
December 19th 2011
We originally were going to couchsurf in Shanghai but because I'm hacking and coughing, and Tris felt shitty we decided to cancel and stay in a hotel. The last thing we wanted was to get our host sick or be a nuisance. So i chose a hotel and its actually in a really key spot. It is close to Nanjing Rd which is a huge pedestrian tourist street with shops and food galore. THe subway is super close which gets us to anywhere else in the city really quick. Today we went to Shanghai Museum which was FREE! We paid extra for a hand held guide which explained different artifacts through out the museum. It made the visit much more interesting, otherwise we probably would've burned through each exhibit pretty fast because a lot of the ... read more
December 17th 2011
We went to the train station and bought our tickets to Shanghai and then stood in line to catch a cab to Tiger Hill. We translated the word tiger and hill but the taxi driver still didn't understand... so then another guy took our map and showed someone else and someone else, who finally said "tiger hill?" and then translated to the driver. Its always chaotic to go anywhere! Tiger Hill, also known as Huqiu Mountain (Tiger Mountain). According to historic records, Fuchai, Emperor of Wu State during the Spring and Autumn Period buried his father Helu here. It was said that three days after the burial, a white tiger was seen crouching over the grave, hence the name Tiger hill. Later during the Song Dynasty the name was changed to Yunyan Buddhist Temple, and during ... read more
December 16th 2011
We posted a post on couchsurfing last night mentioning all the things we want to see in Suzhou and asked if anyone could recommend a route for us. We woke up to an email suggesting a walking tour! Just what Tris and I love. We caught a taxi to Shi Quan Ji Street: a street known for its nightlift and went to the recommended steamed bun place for breakfast. After trying one, Tris went back for more. I had trouble keeping the juice off my hands, and dribbling down my sleeves. I must've looked like an idiot trying to eat them. We finally sat down and I ate them leaning forward between my legs so the juice would drip on the ground, rather than on me. We walked to the Master of Nets Garden. It is ... read more
December 14th 2011
Nanjing hasn't been that exciting for us. On our first night we searched to get some laundry done. When we found a place she wanted to charge us $40 USD... thats RIDICULOUS, so of course we said no, packed up our clothes and went back to our hotel. We searched online for a hostel that had laundry facilities and booked 2 nights there. We went out for a walk and found a cool little walking streeet with lots of shops and stalls. It was all tourist prices... and we didn't bring the camera so we have no photos. Guess what Tris spotted... WALMART!!!! We haven't been into a walmart in 10 months! So we went to check it out. Their Walmarts SUCK compared to ours. For an ugly hoodie they charge $20! Thats the cheapest we ... read more
December 10th 2011
Though we were up late we still managed to get up at 7am to go catch the bus to the Panda Research Centre. We missed the first bus by 5 minutes and ended up having to wait an hour and a half for the next one. The bus stop was a stop for bus 902 (the bus we needed) and bus 904. While standing there probably 10 904 buses went by before the 902 that we needed came. You can imagine how frustrated Tris got! When 902 finally did pull up the driver jumped off so we jumped on and never paid muahaha. The Panda Research Centre in Chengdu is the largest in the world and has approximately 60 pandas right now. It was so exciting to see them up close and moving around. The majority ... read more
Tot: 0.15s; Tpl: 0.007s; cc: 13; qc: 77; dbt: 0.0536s; 1; s:apollo w:www (50.28.60.10); sld: 1; ; mem: 6.5mb
© 2013 TravelBlog.org & Bloggers