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

A quick day trip to Hong Kong. This time I took the train from Shenzhen North Station to West Kowloon Station. The train journey was really quick, only 20 minutes and I like the ticketless travel. However, the journey was really boring as it was mainly through tunnels so nothing to see and Hong Kong immigration took forever as it was so busy. Also West Kowloon Station isn't directly connected to the MTR so we had to walk through a mall for about 5-10 minutes to reach it. Subway to Hong Kong station was nice and quick and from there we walked up to Central. Although I have been to Hong Kong a few times and visited quite a bit of it, there are always new places to discover, even in areas and districts that I ... read more

A three day weekend albeit it Thursday to Saturday for Dragon Boat Festival. I took the same bus combo as last time to get there, but instead of taking the subway first, I took a bus as I was getting on at a different (earlier) stop. The bus stop was pretty busy when I got there and it took a few buses before I was able to get a seat on the E11, the bus that does the longest section of the route. Luckily, these buses are very frequent. The last bus dropped me just outside of the Ancient City and I made my way inside. It was nice to back. I love the quaintness of the place. I was staying in a different guesthouse this time. I was staying at Liang's Bookstore, which was just ... read more