Lunch at the top of the former Peter Johns – now John Lewis & partners

Before passing by the Royal Society of Sculptures:

In South Kensington, visiting the NHM is a must:

Dippy, the Diplodocus, is on tour and has been replaced by Hope, the blue whale.

I had arrived in London just on time for the end of the proms:

Which I enjoyed with some Osmanthus tea from Guilin:

Jerusalem song:

And the national Anthem:

A celebration of British tradition and classical music.

And on that note:

 

Thank you for following Trouspinet’s summer 2018 adventures 😁

I made a lucky escape

And landed in France.

Along the waterfront is the Sun Yet Sen memorial park.

The high speed ferry to Macau :

Tennis at dynasty club, among the skyscrapers:

The game was interrupted by another outburst of rain.

Lunch was also in dynasty club:

Yuanyang is a mixture of 50% latte, 50% milk tea.

Deep fried crab salad:

Pork chop rice:

On the way to Wan Chai market, I grabbed a shake shake fries from McDonald’s (kimchi flavoured).

At Wan Chai market, I bought some clothes to blend in with the locals:

(At the time, I didn’t realise this was meant for a wine bottle)

I took the tram back

Passing by some herbal Chinese medicine and dried fish shops.

$$$ Ginseng $$$

In the afternoon, I visited a overpriced Sailor Moon-themed cafe.

Roses = buns, drink = shaved ice Rosie peach

Finished the day with takeaway.

And a drink in a hotel bar:

With a very fancy bathroom.

I woke up early at 4:30am to climb up to Victoria peak for a sunrise view.

The alternative is just to take a taxi up (Not a bad idea).

Instead of staying at the viewing platform, I climbed up to the actual peak (next to a water supply station):

It was very foggy so there wasn’t much of a view.

I then walked down to Victoria peak garden.

It was here that I came across a female Nephila pilipes’ web.

One of the largest spiders in the world

The garden has paths surrounding the peak but there wasn’t much that was visible.

I then went down to the Lion viewing platform.

And took the cable car down.

It’s looks a bit Harry Potter-themed.

The cable car’s terminus is in Hong Kong park, which is quite peaceful in the morning.

You can climb up this tower to see a view of the concrete forest.

Next to it is the Fighting SARS memorial:

Tired, I walked to the closest Starbucks, which happened to be Bing sutt-themed, a Hong Kong cafe in the 50s.

I had a red grape jelly frappuccino and lemon & lavender scone.

At the central pier, I visited Hong Kong’s maritime museum.

Hong Kong eye:

Man Mo temple:

Man Mo temple is located on Hollywood road, which has lots of antique shops.

There’s a road from here that leads to Western market.

(Picture from tram last night)

The first floor is dedicated to cloth sellers, who mainly sell silk.

I stayed on the ground floor, enjoying an iced toddy palm juice.

After a nap, I made my way to Chungqing mansions and ate dinner at a Indian restaurant.

Found some sweet friends on the way to Star ferry pier!

Tried some egg puffs:

Before taking the star ferry to the island.

Very appropriately dressed for the occasion

My feelings about the flat being on the top floor with no lift:

😡😭😫

After a filling breakfast I headed towards Stanley street for shopping.

Nothing to see in the early morning.

I then took the bus to Repulse bay – at this point, it started to pour with rain.

At Repulse bay, I had lunch, whilst waiting for the thunderstorm warning to go so that I could go sailing.

It didn’t so I went kayaking instead (no pictures as I didn’t take my phone with me). We docked near Middle Bay beach and swam to the beach.

In the evening, I visited the McDonald’s in Admiralty,

Which has a long list of different food options

Overall I had for 52.5 HK $, so it felt cheaper than China.

(I also chose the table serving option at no extra cost)

Bank of China skyscraper:

Between the skyscrapers is a small garden, displaying different types of trees.

Protestors stand in front of the Court of Final Appeal:

HSBC building:

St John’s cathedral:

(Ticking the starred items on LP off the list)

I then wandered into Hong Kong park,

Before heading back to my new home by tramway.

Catch a tram, catch a smile

At my new home I watched a movie before falling asleep.

Today I planned a day trip to Lantau, the largest island in Hong Kong (also where Hong Kong Disneyland is).

First, I took the cable car to Ngong Ping village.

(The weather forecast for this entire week is rain)

The crystal cabin has a glass floor:

The other option is a long hike up the mountain.

At the top is Tian tan Buddha, the largest bronze Buddha in the world.

Before climbing up to the Buddha, I visited Po Lin monastery.

Hope I didn’t offend any gods.

Tian tan buddha:

After seeing the Buddha, I walked towards wisdom path.

Wisdom path:

The wisdom path wooden planks form a ♾

It was a long and tiring walk up to Lantau peak, Hong Kong’s second highest peak.

After reaching bird’s rock at the top of mountain, the path was lost in the clouds.

At the top was a stunning view of a white cloud.

(If not for the weather, I’m sure the view would be quite impressive)

After a quick walk back down, I passed through the 12 guards.

They each represent a time of day and a Chinese calendar animal, each with their own weapon. This one is ox.

At Ngong Ping, I took the bus to Tai O, Hong Kong’s oldest fishing village.

Most shops sell dried flatfish here.

Some websites call Tai O the “Venice of Hong Kong”. It felt like a pretty ordinary fishing village, not worth the visit if that’s all you’re seeing in Lantau.

Locals live mostly in huts and stilted homes.

Tai O has a long history of smuggling and acted as a point of entry for illegal immigrants from mainland China during British occupation of Hong Kong.

After a bus and MTR trip back to my new home, it was time for a homemade Chinese dinner:

Sesame seed pudding:
It tastes better than it looks.

This morning I was greeted by a very excited little fellow.

I head off early with my new travel companions to Clearwater bay

There I had lunch

(Western food) and played tennis

Before jumping into the pool.

They have a very nice golf course here.

I then went to Temple street to go souvenir shopping.

And dined in central Hong Kong at the Peking duck.

Tasters:

A chef displayed his noodle making skills:

Pekin duck:

Worth waiting all this time for – it’s a lot for 1 person

Desserts:

Date pancake and rice balls flavoured with osmanthus in liquor soup.

In the morning I searched for a nice place to have breakfast but as most places are closed, I ended up in McDonald’s.

Asian sourdough and soybean milk (you can order the normal McMuffin)

McDonald’s is surprisingly quite expensive (16 yuan).

As I walked to the bus stop, the clouds finally decided to let the sun through – shame it had to be the day I left.

I arrived early for my bus to Shenzhen (a long 8.5 hour busride). Unfortunately the bus didn’t do the same, arriving 20 minutes late (causing me to go round the bus station multiple times, asking each member of staff about my bus).

Anyways… on the bus I had lunch:

(Despite its name, its really just underbaked dough with beans in it).

When you think you’ve gone through every toilet experience imaginable…

This toilet break spot also had some food drowning in a soup

The bus eventually arrived at 21:40 and then I took the bus towards Huanggang border

before switching for a taxi.

After crossing Huangang border control, I took the shuttle bus to Lok Ma Chau border control.

And then a taxi to Yuen Long, where I met my friend and her family.

Looking back, this seemed simple but involved hours on the bus figuring out which border to cross and hoping that everything went as I hoped as I had no HK dollars. (Lots of stress)

Early in the morning, I went for a stroll in Yangshuo.

A lot of weird art here:

For those who don’t like flowers, florists now sell teddy bear bouquets.

Foreigners waiting for starbucks to open.

Breakfast today was egg custard tarts…

And a yakult-like drink that made its way down the drain.

On the way to the bus for Xingping..

I need a dog as well trained as this one.

Xingping Ancient town:

Moscow nights was playing as I strolled down the path.

After a long and painful queue…

I made it on the boat to Xingping fishing village ⛵

(I was the only teddy bear here, which was a little disconcerting)

The li river was a little underwhelming compared to other places I’ve been to in China.

This is meant to be the nicest part of the river.

It could also be that it wasn’t as nice because of the weather. The scenery is nicely portrayed on the 20 yuan banknote:

After taking a break at the hotel, I went to West street in search of food:

First stop was Roujiamo:

I bought a jar of chilli paste on the way.

Next was spicy roasted potatoes:

Delicious !

If you cross the bridge, you see a show being played right by West street, hidden by water sprinklers and bright lights.

I then discovered another food market with some more adventurous flavours:

Unfortunately, I was full at that point.

Making a present for Chinese lover’s day 💝

Chinese lover’s day, also known as Qixi festival, is celebrated on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month of the Chinese calendar.

Due to indecisiveness, I didn’t take the river cruise to Yangshao. Instead I took a bus to Guilin South bus station before taking another bus to Yangshao.

At Yangshao, I optimistically expected to come up with some great ideas as to how to enjoy the Li river but as half the day was already gone, a lot of those options were no longer viable.

I settled on visiting Fuli, a small town known for its Chinese painted fans.

I failed to find the bus that went there and so ended up on a small red vehicle truck/car thing.

It was a very bumpy ride.

Essentially there is only 1 street that lives up to its nickname as the hometown of painted fans, which is the town’s Ancient street.

As I wandered around, I stumbled upon an art studio, which provides “make your own fan” sessions – mainly for Western tourists. (Chinese tourists hover around the Western tourists painting with their phone camera in action)

So I had a go. This may not be an “authentic” experience but it was a nice way to spend the afternoon.

The teachers help you practice and give advice before actually painting on the fan.

Once it’s done, they prepare the fan for you:

Finished result !! (Almost)

(They also wrote my name and some other stuff, which I didn’t understand)

I took the bus back to Yangshuo, preciously keeping my fan close to me (They put it in a box, you have to wait for the glue to stick)

Also bought myself some food on the way:

(The brioche with bacon thing tasted good)

Back at the hotel, I took a break with an iced coffee. 😎

I also found a clue as to how it got the reviews it did.

(The hotel isn’t that bad, just not that good either)

I then took a shuttle bus to the San LiuJei light show.

(Sorry, my phone camera isn’t great in night mode)

The show is 1 hour long. Reviews are fairly mixed on it, there’s no story but it was pretty. My favourite review was one where the person said that no matter how much they shushed the audience, people kept talking. This gives quite a funny mental picture of 1 foreigner trying to shush 3000 Chinese tourists. 😂

I liked the show but it is probably best enjoyed by families with relatively young kids.

On the way out, I tried to go souvenir shopping again and bought myself some street food tofu. These are sold everywhere and taste good but are a little spicy.

Found a shop selling live painted turtles…

It started to pour with rain so I went back to the hotel, grabbing a dragon egg-looking pastry on the way.
I have no idea what it was, bought it at a bakery nearby.