Hongfa Temple is located within Fairy Lake Botanical Garden. I had been to the garden before but didn't visit the temple at that time as the place is just too big to be covered in one trip. Today, I finally made it back there to visit the temple. I had booked my ticket online in advance. There seemed to be no limit on the number of tickets sold unlike last time I was there. The walk from the subway station to the main gate didn't take too long, 5-10 minutes and then it was probably about another 20-30 stroll to the temple. There is also a shuttle bus to take you to the temple, but it had quite the queue. The walk through the botanical gardens was nice. There wasn't a lot to see, just greenery, ... read more

It was a fairly early start as we wanted to take the 8:35 am ferry from Central to Sok Kwu Wan. Also since it was a public holiday I wanted to get there with plenty of time to spare in case the ferry was busy. The subway and walk from the station to the pier were painless, we had been on the lookout for somewhere to grab some breakfast from, but there was nothing about. I ended up with a can of coffee and a ham and egg sandwich from some shops in the ferry terminal building. Not amazing, but they filled the hole. I shouldn't have worried about the ferry as although there were quite a few people queuing there were still plenty of seats left. I love how the boards tell you how many ... read more

Up early and out the doors of the hotel to do our photo shoot. It sounds a bit wanky, but it is nice to have some decent (I’m saying that but haven’t seen them yet) pictures to remember the trip by. We have tried to book the same photographer as last time, but he never responded so we ended up with a different one. We spent an hour and a bit wandering around Central getting some shots. We went to some of the same places as last time, I think the photographers must follow the same route and to be fair I can understand why if you get good shots there. It was nice to wander around Central after so long and while it was still the same some bits had changed a little. Then we ... read more

The Red Bridge Path is in Guangming and it took me about thirty minutes to walk there from the subway station (Fenghuang Town). The walk was fine. The area was quiet and new. I walked past another park to get there, I wish I’d had more time to have a look around there too. I could see the red bridge from the main road. I headed into the park. The first part was all concrete with a few trees evenly planted about. Since it was the weekend there were plenty of kids and families about. Just beyond that there was a service centre under the bridge and some steps leading up. From where I was standing, it looked like you couldn’t access the bridge from here (I later saw this was wrong), so I headed over ... read more

Luohu is one of the oldest districts in Shenzhen and close to the border with Hong Kong. Originally, there was only one or two checkpoints to enter Hong Kong from Shenzhen and one is located here in Luohu. The neighbourhoods here are quite old and the apartment buildings definitely looked past their prime. We wandered down a shopping street and most businesses were open and while not exactly busy were ticking over. Since the border has only fully re-opened recently, I wonder how quiet this area was before and how many businesses folded in that time. Our walk took us past a few places that hadn't survived the pandemic. One place looked like a spa and there was a bus terminal that was closed. I would have liked to have had a walk around the inside ... read more