Nenene

Zephyr

Nenene

Little old me and my travels.




Asia » China » Hunan » ChangSha October 28th 2023

After my expensive Starbucks the previous morning, I headed to McDonald's for my caffeine fix. Much cheaper, but a lot scruffier. I took the subway to Yingwanzhen station, which is near the start of the trail up Yuelushan mountain. There were a lot of people heading to the mountain. There were entry gates and it was the same mini program as the one I was unable to use for Orange Island so I just snuck through when the gates opened for the person in front of me. The mountain isn't much of a mountain, more like a big hill. The first part of the trail was along the road and just a gradual climb. I passed the entrance to the cable car that can take you to the top, but it was closed for maintenance. The ... read more
Yuelushan
Yuelushan
Ice Cream

Asia » China » Hunan » ChangSha October 27th 2023

I woke up having not had the best night's sleep. Changsha is a pretty noisy city, that never stops, and the windows in my room seemed to lack adequate soundproofing. First stop of the day was coffee. I had spotted a Starbucks on the main street the previous day so headed there. As I was walking along the street, I passed a few live streamers and wondered what they were streaming about as they were in front of the now shut bars and clubs. I made my way to Starbucks and saw that it was a fancy Starbucks Reserve type of store, I had never seen or been to one of these before. It had a fancy coffee bar in the middle to order your coffee at. I ordered my usual a basic americano and nearly ... read more
Hunan Provincial Museum
Hunan Provincial Museum
Hunan Provincial Museum

Asia » China » Hunan » ChangSha October 26th 2023

An unexpected few days off work meant I was able to visit Changsha. I had wanted to visit in the National Day holiday but train tickets were impossible to get. Changsha seems like a popular city for Chinese people to visit, but not really known so much outside of China. The train journey itself was nondescript and after a couple of hours or so, I arrived in Changsha. I was mildly irritated that I had had been unable to set up the subway app on my phone as it only worked with Chinese ID numbers. Luckily, ticket machines in all the subway stations were plentiful so it was easy enough to get a ticket, it just meant I had to know where I was going at all times. Exiting the subway station, I was in one ... read more
Genki Sushi
Genki Sushi
Genki Sushi

Asia » China » Jiangxi » Nanchang October 3rd 2023

After a strong coffee and a pastry, it was time to venture out. Since the weather was fairly nice, I decided to spend some more time outdoors. Gotta make the most of it not being too hot or too cold. I had found a lake park, Qingshan Lake Park, online that looked quite nice so decided to head there for a walk to stretch the old legs. Even though I had taken the subway several times from near where i was staying during my stay in Nanchang, I got lost on the way there this morning. So I wandered the backstreets for a bit. I enjoyed my little unplanned detour and came across some very popular looking restaurants hidden in the back of some apartment buildings. They are probably well known to locals and visitors who ... read more
Qingshan Lake Park
Qingshan Lake Park
Qingshan Lake Park

Asia » China » Jiangxi » Nanchang October 2nd 2023

First things first breakfast. I was in the mood for some dumplings so ordered some Xiaolongbao (小笼包) and Shengjianbao (生煎包). I was a bit disappointed when they arrived and they were basically the same thing. The shengjianbao were just basic dumpling that had been pan fried in the bottom instead of the proper style, which are bready in texture instead of pastry like. The dumpling skin was also a bit too tough and chewy, so it took a while to eat them. At least dousing them with vinegar and chili oil made them more palatable. Once breakfast was done and my coffee was drunk, it was time to head out. I made my way to the subway station. I really like the neighbourhood I was staying in, it was a mishmash of newer and older buildings ... read more
Breakfast
Aixi Lake Wetland Park
Aixi Lake Wetland Park

Asia » China » Jiangxi » Nanchang October 1st 2023

When I awoke and pulled the curtains back, I was greeted by a grey, rainy sky. Since I was quite a walk from the subway station, I decided not to rush getting ready in the hopes that the weather would clear up. I ordered some breakfast; a coffee and filled croissant. It was a good job I had decided to take my time as my breakfast took forever to arrive. The delivery driver was very apologetic. By the time I was ready to leave the rain had lessen a bit. I headed to the subway station and made my way to the Jiangxi Provincial Museum. It was about further ten minute walk from the station to the museum. Since it was the holiday, there was a rather large line of people waiting to get in. I ... read more
Jiangxi Provincial Museum
Jiangxi Provincial Museum
Jiangxi Provincial Museum

Asia » China » Jiangxi » Nanchang September 30th 2023

A short, standing train ride took me to Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi province. It's a new province for me to explore and I was looking forward to spending a few days in the city. The subway to my hotel was quick and not too crowded despite it being the holiday. It did take me a couple of attempts to orientate myself when leaving the station in the direction of my hotel. I liked the neighbourhood as it just felt like a normal neighbourhood with people going about their daily lives, especially when stepping off the main road and into the smaller side streets. I walked past quite a few small mahjong parlours hearing the tiles clicking and clacking as people relaxed and enjoyed themselves on their day off. My hotel was fine, a bit worn ... read more
Bayi Square
Bayi Square
Bayi Square

Asia » China » Guangdong » Jiangmen August 14th 2023

My final day in Kaiping, so I had decided to visit Chikan Ancient Town. It would take me about the same time to gat a bus there as to walk, so I decided to walk. The route my map app showed was along a path I had never walked on and I hadn't even noticed existed, that should have been a sign. I set off and the first couple of hundred metres were fine, I walked and I left the village proper and walked along a path that was flanked by a couple of large ponds. I would think they were used for fishing but there was no one around. I came to the end of there and followed the path over a bridge across a small river and I could see field with people working ... read more
Chikan Ancient Town
Chikan Ancient Town
Chikan Ancient Town

Asia » China » Guangdong » Jiangmen August 13th 2023

After a couple of cups of coffee, I was off to Li Garden. It was a bout a fifty minute walk from where I was staying, but using public transport would have taken almost as long as I would have to walk about half the route and then wait around for the bus as it isn't too frequent. I enjoyed the walk although it was raining lightly. I headed along the road out of the village in a different direction passing more traditional style houses. I loved how old they looked and with the modern touches of people's laundry hanging out to show that they were lived in. The village road was pretty quiet and so was the main road I walked along. I'm glad there wasn't too much traffic as there were no real footpaths ... read more
Li Garden
Li Garden
Li Garden

Asia » China » Guangdong » Jiangmen August 12th 2023

11th Aug: Today was a travel day. After getting a good amount of coffee down my neck, I headed to the train station using the bus. The journey was straight forward and the bus was fairly busy. I had quite a bit of time to kill before my train and Meizhou Station is pretty dead. I bought some snacks at the store there for the train. I also watched quite a few people getting their aerosols confiscated at the security check so it looks like I wasn't the only one ignorant of this rule. The train journey to Guangzhou was about 4 hours long. It wasn't the best journey. The woman sitting on my row expected me to give up my window seat for her son. I think not. She was like you can have the ... read more
Tangkou Village
Tangkou Village
Beef Claypot Rice




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