Articles from this Category
6 April 2025
Bullet train to Changsha Today we move on to Changsha by bullet train at 1126. With the station far away, we started around 0800 with breakfast at last night’s wonton shop. We had specially made an arrangement for them to open somewhat earlier for us. We took two separate cars to Wuhan station where everything […]
5 April 2025
Yellow Crane Pagoda E & BW had arrived late last night and despite the late night arrival, they were ready at 0830 to begin the day with breakfast at Hubu Alley before heading to Yellow Crane Pagoda. BW is fluent in Mandarin and can read. Until now, I was the best Mandarin speaker amongst us […]
4 April 2025
Qingchuan Pavilion With my bodyclock on New Zealand time, I woke at 0540, lazed around before having breakfast of muesli and coffee (from the machine in the lobby). I arranged to meet KL & M at 0900 downstairs before going out to explore Wuhan. First up, we took a car to Qingchuan Pavilion. There we […]
3 April 2025
Continuing to Wuhan On the flight from Auckland to Haikou, I had about 4h30 sleep then sat with my eyes closed for a further 1h30. We landed about an hour earlier than the scheduled time of 0500. Immigration at Haikou was super-fast. KL & M had missed the arrival cards on the plane as they […]
9 January 2025
Continuing on the road After lunch in the Whanganui, we continued our drive to New Plymouth, getting to the Devon Hotel around 1730. Driving through town in search of dinner, we came across the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery / Len Lye Centre with its impressive mirror-finished exterior. We took dinner at a Korean fried chicken and […]
9 January 2025
It was about 1000 when we started our drive leaving Wellington. The car performed well, with Kim doing most of the driving to Whanganui where we stopped to visit friends Michelle and Colin. They live on Durie Hill overlooking the city, by the War Memorial tower. The suburb is served by a 66m elevator since […]
9 January 2025
Above: Mt Taranaki on the flight from Auckland to Wellington. Landing at 0910, we were met by David, the seller of the Lexus ES300H. I was surprised that he had parked and came into the terminal for us, holding a rose. At his age, maybe 80, I expected him to pick us up at the […]
10 December 2024
Arriving in Hong Kong My flight landed in Hong Kong at 0600. One set of immigration queues were closed, leaving the remaining one backed up. Despite that, I was outside in about 45 mins waiting at the pick-up area. Alice picked me up and took me to her nearby apartment about 10 mins away […]
8 December 2024
Today’s my last day in Nashik. I’ve done everything I wanted to do here apart from visiting Sula winery outside of town. Roshan and Andrew had planned on going there for dinner, so I spent most of the day indoors catching up on online chores. I had been very far behind! Unfortunately, it was dark […]
7 December 2024
With the wedding over, I was finally free to explore the old area of Nashik city. Jen was flying in the evening and had the day to kill, so he joined me by meeting at the Panchavati Ghat area around 0900. There were many people praying and bathing in the waters of the Godavari River. […]