Articles from this Category
18 October 2015
Above: Lots of hairpin turns. We were pleased that we had been able to change our travel to Jiuzhaigou from 0815 to 0900 yesterday when re-ticketing it as a roundtrip. It allowed us to grab a hotel breakfast before hailing a taxi to the Xinnanmen station. We managed to get a taxi easily. Perhaps it […]
17 October 2015
We repeated the greasy Chinese breakfast at the Ibis before taking a taxi to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. We hadn’t planned on going there as we had been 13 years ago. However, since we had the time (because we went to Leshan yesterday), we thought we would. The taxi ride was […]
16 October 2015
Today, we went to Leshan (which literally means Happy Mountain). I had planned to go tomorrow but that means we’d be visiting on a Saturday and bigger crowds and queues. We thought we could pop into the bus station to get the tickets to Jiuzhaigou (departing in a couple of days time) and then head […]
15 October 2015
Above: Chengdu’s pedestrian mall by night as we arrive. Hedonistic morning We had a lazy start to the day. I made muesli and yoghurt for breakfast before packing out and checking out at 1000. We could have kept the room for a couple more hours but we wanted to fit in a massage and lunch […]
14 October 2015
New territory for me I thought we’d explore the French Concession around Huaihai Road today as it would be new to me. We took the metro there. On board, Kim noticed a lady with red expensive-looking shoes but wondered how they could stay on. It was only the toes that were slipped into the shoe. […]
13 October 2015
On board We took off late as a last-minute illness stopped one passenger from travelling and his/her luggage had to be offloaded. Seated near the front, the 787 wasn’t as quiet as my Scoot flight last month where I had been seated overwing. This felt on the quiet side of normal. After the supper service, […]
19 April 2015
Daisuke and I spent a couple of hours together at Aeon mall where we grabbed lunch from the supermarket and some groceries to take back to New Zealand. After lunch, it was time for him to rest before the night flight home. I wandered around Narita a little, taking shelter away from the rain in […]
18 April 2015
Above: Narita village with the fair in full swing. I had breakfast in town. I had done most of what I wanted in Narita so spent the morning in bed checking commercial flights back to Auckland and also attending to emails, admin and bills. There weren’t any real viable flight alternatives. I checked out just […]
17 April 2015
After a breakfast of pastries, I checked-out and left my bag at the hotel reception. I began my exploration of the Narita area by walking to Narita-san, the temple nearby. It was actually a very nice temple for something that was so accessible and un-promoted. I remember the alleyway from about 15 years ago where […]
16 April 2015
I woke early this morning without an alarm. The sun was out way before 0600 I reckon. It’s nice to wake naturally, with assistance from sunlight from the outside. This wasn’t the case in wet gloomy Tokyo with natural light further obscured by neighbouring buildings. I made the most of the onsen once more before […]