Category: Asia

6 Feb, 2014

More honking in Hanoi

It was certainly not the cheapest way to go to Hanoi, but both Tuya and me wanted to try out the train in Vietnam. So we paid 32€ for a softsleeper in the Hue-Hanoi train, leaving at 19.30, arriving around 9.30 in the morning. Knowing the sleeperbusses in Vietnam, I expected something simular, but no a sleepertrain is much better. It’s almost like sleeping in a real bed! A taxi, which we think overpayed, brought us to the Hoi An Backpacker Hostel, one of the best ones I’ve stayed in in Vietnam. It’s such a wellknown hostel that we saw...

Asia / Hong Kong

28 Oct, 2013

Small selection of foods in Hong Kong

It’s not the first time I’m in Hong Kong, in fact I come to Hong Kong quite often and last time I already went out and did a bunch of adventure stuff. This time around, I didn’t do anything new really, but I did go out to eat a lot more often, albeit not the most adventurous foods but it’s still food! I had a personal food photographer this time so it wouldn’t look as pathetic if I was eating and taking pictures myself. 🙁 Some of the pictures were taken with a smartphone so it might not be the...

Charming hotel/tea house in outskirts of Yangshuo

Asia / China

26 Oct, 2013

Biking around the outskirts of Yangshuo and boatride to Yangdi

When you come to Yangshuo, they often recommend you to take the bike and bike around the outskirts and visit the villages and fields around the mountain areas. Since our hotel was already in the outskirts, we were kinda “halfway” already. We rented a pair of bikes and headed off towards one of the more popular sights, Yulong Bridge to get a nice view of the Yulong River Valley. We didn’t manage to get there since we left kinda late so if we did go to the Yulong bridge it would have been dark already on our way back. Since...

Asia / China

25 Oct, 2013

Strolling around in the city of Yangshuo

In the morning we took the express bus from Guilin to Yangshuo, it took us roughly an hour and half, no stops in between. You could already see a lot of limestone rocks and karst peaks along the way to Yangshuo. It’s also possible to go from Guilin to Yangshuo by boat but that would take you a whole day. We opted to take a boat cruise instead once we were in Yangshuo. Yangshuo itself is a huge tourist city for both domestic and international tourists, that’s why I’ve booked us a room outside of the city, which was more...

Asia / China

25 Oct, 2013

Food in Yangshuo

The most famous dish to try out in Yangshuo is without a doubt the beer fish. Tons of restaurants on the main street advertise it and prices are pretty much the same in all those places. We just randomly picked the cleanest one from outside and went on with our adventure to order Beer Fish. We looked at the menu and ordered a fish with no bones in with the help of our waiter (who didn’t speak English). On the side we ordered some Chinese cabbage since we wanted to be healthy as well. I’m not a big fine dining...

Night time night markets and restaurants

Asia / China

24 Oct, 2013

Quick transit through Guilin: Street food goodies!

We arrived in Guilin a little past midnight so we had to take a taxi out to our hotel in the city center. It took us roughly 30-40 minutes and cost about 100RMB, not too bad to be honest. I did notice that at night it is fairly dangerous to drive fast on the highways. There are still people driving around on their electric scooters without their lights on and turning at big crossroads. People don’t exactly use their common sense here in traffic it seems…. Anyway, I picked a hotel right in the center close to where the action...

Asia / China

23 Oct, 2013

Shenzhen – Visiting a Chinese spa complex

The main reason why we stopped by Shenzhen for our last day was to get a spa treatment at one of the many places around the city. A lot of Hong Kong people come over the border and get pampered here. We looked up some on the internet and eventually picked Water Cube, which was about 5 minute walk from one of the border crossings. The place was FREAKING HUGE! About 4 floors all with massage rooms, big and small and private, there were lounge chairs in a big area for you to chill at and get other services. Services...

Asia / China

23 Oct, 2013

A day of wandering around Shenzhen and Mid autumn festival

Soooooooo, as I said before, eventhough my 1 year gap trip is over, it doesn’t mean that I’m gonna stop traveling! This time I went back to Hong Kong for some administrative stuff and to visit my girlfriend. I took the opportunity to check out the South of China, more specifically: Yangshuo-Guilin-Shenzhen. To get to Guilin-Yangshuo I originally planned to go by overnight train from Shenzhen, but “luckily” there weren’t any tickets available anymore so we booked a plane ticket from Shenzhen to Guilin instead. My traveling partner was quite pleased to hear the change of plans… But in the...

Asia / Hong Kong

31 Dec, 2012

Outlying islands in Hong Kong: Lantau Island and Lamma Island

Next up on the list was Lantau Island, the largest of the Outlying Islands, twice the size of Hong Kong Island and famous for its high peaks, wild landscapes, great beaches and the airport. Over the years the area has been heavy development in the shape of Disneyland and a cable car to Ngong Ping monastery. I joined a hiking group of who were going to hike the Dragon’s back in Shek-O. It was voted the Best Urban Hiking Trail in Asia by Time (Asia edition) in 2004. Just a short hop from the bustle of Hong Kong East, it...

Asia / Macau

31 Dec, 2012

Checking out the historical Macau and trying my luck at the casino

Macau was the first and last European colony in Asia, it has more visible colonial history than Hong Kong. Walking through the old city you could convince yourself you were in Europe rather than in Asia. One of the world’s most densely populated spots, Macau is best known as Asia’s largest destination for gambling taking in even more revenue than Las Vegas. Although best known for gambling, Macau is extremely rich in attractions and oozing with atmosphere, thanks to hundreds of years of fusion between European and Chinese cultures. Macau is a fascinating place to just walk around as the...

Category: Asia

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