Articles from this Category
22 March 2024
Morning wander Having decided not to go the volcanic geopark outside of town, we spent the day largely exploring the old town. We started breakfast at a cheap eatery that sold steamed and baked dimsum items. They sold coffee, possibly Vietnamese style, very strong and sweet. Once we had slightly over-eaten, we repeated the walk […]
21 March 2024
Flying to Haikou Today we return to Haikou to begin our stay in Hainan Island. There’s a gap in the airline’s schedule with either somewhat early morning flights or one mid-afternoon. We had chosen an 0840 departure and had to wake at 0500. The Didi driver ordered by the hotel for 0600 was super-friendly. He […]
20 March 2024
Guangzhou Metro Today, we explored the sights of Guangzhou that were further afield, requiring some form of transport. I had set up my WeChat to include Guangzhou metro and to my great surprise, it worked perfectly! I only had to scan the metro sub-app barcode at the turnstile and I was let in (and out). […]
19 March 2024
Yongqingfang area I woke around 0700 and I met the others around 0800 to go around the corner to a “hole in the wall” place to get some dimsum items for breakfast. We ate them in the hotel lobby, accompanied by complimentary coffee. We set off around 0900 to explore the Yongqingfang old area near […]
18 March 2024
Arriving and transit in Haikou We arrived 15 mins ahead of the scheduled time of 0500 into Haikou. Immigration didn’t take too long and we were in the quiet landside area around 0530. I had a note in Google Translate explaining to the immigration officer that I needed the 15 day “All China” visa exemption […]
25 January 2024
Above: Flight path after being struck by lightning. I had trouble getting to sleep last night and had to wake around 0600 to prepare for the 1030 flight. The included breakfast at 0615 looked amazing. However, quite a few things didn’t pass the taste test. The chicken was hacked Asian style with lots of bones […]
24 January 2024
Above: Tune Hotel lobby at KL International Airport. Today, I only have to make my way to Kuala Lumpur International Airport for a nightstop for my journey back to Auckland via Singapore tomorrow. I started my search for the way to the cable car more or less immediately. Some 20 mins later, I had found […]
23 January 2024
Killing some time Just for a change, instead of staying in Kuala Lumpur any longer, I had booked to go to Genting Highlands instead for a one-night stay. I had been perhaps 27 years ago in May 1997, that being my first and only visit. There’s no point getting there too early due to the […]
22 January 2024
Flying to KL I had trouble falling asleep last night with a sense of bloatedness. And I had to get up in the middle of night, emptying my belly completely but it wasn’t liquid and was a one-off. I don’t think it was diarrhoea but perhaps the oily pad see ew I had for lunch […]
21 January 2024
I had three full days in Bangkok including today. After such an amazing but busy time in Saudi, I had run out of steam and interest. I was wary that my time here would be wasted unless I tweaked my attitude. I had limited success shifting my attitude. I got out and about in my […]