JD and I flew back to Kunming today after a brilliant two weeks of holiday. Jiajia is staying in Shanghai for a few more days of business. The trip felt like a practice run for moving to the UK - packing, flying, settling into new accommodation, experiencing new things. Not long now...
0 Comments
We flew to Shanghai yesterday. Jiajia has some business there and so while she worked, JD and I visited Disneyworld there for the day. This is the sixth Disney I've been to (USAx2, Euro, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai), completing the set. It was JD's second, though he has no recollection of the first Hong Kong visit. And he was desperate to ride his first rollercoaster! We packed in a full day; 4D Pirate ride, Pirate stunt show, Pirate ship exploration, Seven Dwarfs Mine ride, Water Splash canyon, Rock Climbing experience, Winnie's Hunny Pot ride, meet the Pirates [see above right], Peter Pan flying ride, Disney Parade & Tron rollercoaster!
We visited the Terracotta Army today, having booked our tickets a week ago. It's changed a lot since the last two times I've been there. Queues to get security checked, more queues to check tickets, a bus to take you to the site, more queues to enter and then thousands (literally) of Chinese tourists pushing and shoving to get a view of the statues. JD and Jiajia were very impressive with the attraction though, it being their first time, and the attached museum was a little quieter and showed off the craftsmanship and detail of some of the best-preserved soldiers.
We flew from Beijing to Xi'An yesterday and settled into the Sheraton - another 5* hotel. Today we walked to the walls which surround the old city. At the top you can hire bikes and cycle around the whole 13km walls. JD was keen, despite his still healing leg, so off we went! After completing the trip, and a welcome ice-cream we headed for the Big Goose Pagoda which Jiajia had always wanted to visit. It took half an hour by taxi to reach it. JD was flagging a bit by then after all the cycling, and I'd seen the Pagoda before, so Jiajia explored it by herself and enjoyed the Buddhist museum displays. Then we headed back to our hotel for a rest followed by a relaxing swim in the hotel pool. I've visited the Great Wall 4-5 times in the past, in various places, so I suggested we head for the less crowded MuTianYu section today and we were delighted to find peace and space after recent crowded days. We took an hour's taxi there and a cable car to get up the mountain. JD was still limping, so we only walked an hour or so along the wall before returning. But we saw a lot and were mightily impressed.
Jiajia, JD and I are heading for the sights. We've planned a 2 week trip to let JD see the most famous places in his country of birth before we leave for good. Today we flew to Beijing via the small town of ZhongWei for some reason. We were the only aeroplane in the airport!
Mid-Autumn Festival and Chinese National Day fall in the same week this year (the former being linked to moon phases). This means everyone gets an 8-day holiday (minus all the catch-up days before and after). JD is very excited at being off school for so long, especially as it coincides with his half-birthday! The main tradition for Mid-Autumn Festival is eating little round pies, with various sweet or savoury fillings, and gazing at the full moon. We'll spend our holiday in and around Kunming with plans for a fishing trip with friends, spending vouchers at a huge all-you-can-eat buffet, R/C boat racing and a yard sale of JD's unwanted toys.
We left Redang Island today by ferry. The two hour journey took us to Terengganu City, passing the gorgeous Crystal Mosque. We'll stay in Terengganu for a night in a hotel near the airport, to catch our homeward flights tomorrow morning.
JD was keen to learn how to scuba dive this holiday - something JiaJia and I enjoy doing when we can. So we arranged for a Dive Shop to give him an hour of training. Scuba trainer Aaron gave JD an onshore briefing before practicing "Mask clearing" and "Regulator/BCD management" in the shallows. Then they headed 6m/20ft down to the coral beds to explore while I looked down on them, floating up on the surface. JD loved it and Aaron said JD was "fearless" and a "natural"!
We took a boat to Long Beach today, around the other side of Redang Island. We'll be staying in Paradise Resort for our last few days here. The hotel is only a little better quality than our last one but the beach is literally outside our room and there's no Mosque to wake us up! There are also new areas to explore, including a beach full of shells.
We took a boat-based snorkelling trip today to explore some other areas. On the way back, we stopped at this pretty sand bar for photos!
Well, "Turtle Beach" is just amazing! We swam out from shore to interact with huge (1m/3ft) sea turtles. Or there are closer coral reefs just begging to be snorkelled, with hundreds of fish such as clownfish ("Nemo"), zebrafish, neons, sea cucumbers, parrotfish, angelfish, sea snakes etc. The water is crystal clear and the sand is white. The beach is public, but somewhat out of the way and therefore nearly deserted at times. We had a blast!
We flew to Terengganu today. We had planned to jump on a ferry there to our island destination but, on doing more in-country research, we realised that the "3 ferries a day" in our guidebook had now been cut down to one a day - and our flight arrived after it left.
We visited Kuala Lumpur's aquarium today. It gave us a taster for our diving later in the holiday, especially the glass tunnel underneath a huge tank of sharks, skates, stingrays and sea turtles. In the evening, we found the city's night market for some local food. Jiajia was on the lookout for exotic fruit to buy, while JD tracked down some model aircraft as souvenirs of his travel. Once back at our apartment we had a cooling evening swim in our rooftop pool.
We have rented a great apartment in Kuala Lumpur - two bedrooms, kitchen, living room, shared gym and swimming pool etc. And it is just ten minutes walk from the imposing Petronas Towers.
JiaJia, JD and I flew off to Malaysia today for a fortnight's holiday in Kuala Lumpur and Redang Island. The only direct flight from Kunming to KL is with AirAsia - a budget airline. So a cheap and cheerful four hour flight. JD is something of a plane buff and seemed more excited about the thought of air travel than the holiday itself. We spent most of the journey listening to him regale us with various facts about the Airbus A320! Yesterday, we took a trip out to CongMao Reservoir with two of JD's old schoolfriends and their parents. We hiked up a mountain collecting edible mushrooms and checking out the wildlife! After an evening meal together Jiajia, JD and I drove on to a 5 star hotel for the night. Jiajia had secured some vouchers for three nights, at 10% of the usual price. So we slept well on the 20th floor (great views) and pigged out on the buffet breakfast this morning. We'll use our two additional nights later in the year.
We grabbed our last chance for a swim in the outdoor neighbourhood pool yesterday before heading back to Kunming today. The pool was pretty cold, but JD managed 500m of fast-improving breaststroke before calling it a day.
|
AuthorPaul Hider started this blog to share his rather odd life living in China for over 20 years. Since returning to the UK in 2024, the blog now records his more "normal" lifestyle! Past blog entries
September 2024
Tags
All
|