Shanghai – the Pearl of the East

After being surrounded for more than a week by wide green landscapes during our time spent in Guilin and Zhangjiajie, we thought that the upcoming trip to Shanghai will bring less joy, as the mountains and trees were about to be replaced by grey buildings and noisy crowded streets. But we happened to be wrong.

Shanghai proved to be a beautiful experience. The streets were busy like in any other big city that we visited before, but more animated by the crowds of tourists, the street food vendors, the shops and the big advertisement billboards that gave the city a much more international feeling than our previous destinations in China. And there was still a balance between the modern and the traditional, while many temples still found their place in the modern neighborhoods and traditional food was served next to western restaurants. This mix feels exciting and the walks in the city are beautiful and inspiring for the travelers on the look for urban adventures.

SHANGHAI CHINA

 

Being one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of more than 24 million, Shanghai is a global financial center and transport hub. It is also hosting the world’s busiest container port. Such a big city definitely requires time to be discovered.

We, instead, dedicated only 3 days of our trip to exploring the Pearl of the East. We stayed in a hostel that proved to be different from others, as it occupied the space of one apartment only, whose rooms were converted into dorms and a large living room was used as a common area, where the owners installed also a few tents. We liked the idea of indoor camping and took a tent for ourselves and enjoyed the beautiful cityscape from the large window next to it. Being in the hostel gave us also the chance to meet a few of the other travelers and be able to speak more English than we previously had a chance to.

We met old friends during our stay in Shanghai and we made new ones. We spent a good time with Florian, a traveler from Switzerland, that happened to be not just a nice company but also an inspiration for the rest of our travels through China. And we had a chance to meet with old friends from the time spent on board, as one of the vessels that we used to work on docked in the port during our time there.

SHANGHAI CHINA

 

Costa Serena was the first ship that we worked on when we started our adventures at sea. Later the ship was sent to Asia to provide cruise experiences for the Chinese market. It felt good to be on board the ship again, have a cup of good Italian coffee, that we miss so much sometimes, and walk on corridors that once were part of our daily life as people of the sea.

SHANGHAI CHINA

 

On the second day in the city, after our visit to the port, we decided to return to the center area and witness the cityscape lightning up in the Pudong New District, while spectacular cloud formations on the sky were giving us signs that we should expect rain to poor soon.

SHANGHAI CHINA

Getting around Shanghai

Despite the fact that Shanghai is a big city (and a “big city” in China is bigger than most big cities in the world), it is easy to move around. We used the application Metroman in order to keep an offline map of the subway always with us and we used convenient ferry transfers over the Huangpu River, which divides the city into two parts: the Pudong and the Puxi (we paid 2 RMB per person for one transfer). That gave us also a short feeling of what a cruise on the river might feel like.

Since we didn’t have time to see all of what the city has to offer, we decided to see a few things only but beautiful ones to remember. We walked mostly on the Bund, the waterfront promenade area facing the skyline of the Pudong (the skyscraper-filled center of recent development), and in downtown Shanghai, called Puxi Area (the historic heart of the city), where the most popular scenic spots are located: Yuyuan Garden, People’s Square, Nanjing Road Pedestrian and Jade Buddhist Temple.

SHANGHAI CHINA

 

While leaving Shanghai behind, we were excited about our next stop in the capital of the People’s Republic of China, where we would be introduced to the ancient secrets of the country.

Find out more about our experience in Shanghai by clicking here.

/by

A visit to Pandora – Zhangjiajie National Park

After another train adventure in China, we finally arrived in Zhangjiajie, a town located in northwestern Hunan Province, home to Wulingyuan Natural Park (Zhangjiajie National Park).

While telling people about our trip to Zhangjiajie, we realized many question marks appearing, but words like “Avatar” and “Floating Mountains of Pandora” helped them understand better what our destination was about. And indeed, I felt the same way when Alex told me about it for the first time.

How to reach Zhangjiajie

The best way to reach the city is by train or plane. The airport has connections to 35 domestic airports, as well as flights to Seoul, Taiwan and Bangkok. By train, Zhangjiajie can be reached via 29 cities. Both the airport and the train station are not far from the city center.

The best time to travel to this region in China is April or October-November. We would not recommend traveling during Chinese holidays or in the hot summer months. Apart from the amazing natural stone formations, there is much more to see, from the longest and highest glass bridge to the longest cable car in the world.

Wulingyuan Natural Park – The core scenic area of ​​Zhangjiajie

Our focus was the National Park of Zhangjiajie (Wulingyuan), which belongs to the list of UNESCO World Heritage since 1992. The most beautiful parts of the park are Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, Suoxiyu Viewpoint, Tianzi Mountain Viewpoint and Yangjiajie Viewpoint. But with so much choice, how should you plan the visit there? We faced exactly the same question when we planned our trip to the park.

ZHANGJIANJIE NATIONAL PARK CHINA

 

Here is a possible suggestion

Unfortunately, we have not planned much time in the city because our visa in China only forced us to follow a tight schedule. We stayed a total of 3 nights, one of them in the park itself. The hotel in Zhangjiajie cost us 10 Euro for a private room per night and for the meals we mainly paid less than 2 Euro each. In China, we enjoyed going to local food stalls, as we often could choose what goes into the WOK and, above all, the prices were really cheap.

On the day of our arrival, we did not do much, apart from walking around the area where we stayed. On the second day, we went by bus from the stop next to the central train station to the Zhangjiajie National Park. At the bus station, you only need to go to the tourist buses, which leave at regular intervals (about every 10 – 15 minutes) towards the park, which takes about 50 minutes and costs about 2.60 Euro (20 RMB). It is best if you look up the Chinese name on the internet before you go, so you can ask for the bus, in case you don’t find it easily.

Once in Wulingyuan, you can either catch another bus to one of the other park entrances (which are very good indicated) or walk to Wujiayu Ticket Station. We recommend using the offline map of maps.me, because Google Apps do not work in China.

The tickets are quite expensive, with a cost of 32 Euro (245 RMB) per adult, but valid for 4 days. In the park itself you pay extra for cable cars, lifts and some other attractions. At the information desk is a map with all the prices, which is very helpful to guide you. The ticket is a magnetic card, which is matched with the fingerprint at the entrance and allows access for the next few days.

Free buses in the park

Just right behind the entrance, you will find the purple buses, which are available for free in the park. We took the bus to our first highlight, the Tianzi Mountain Cable Car. The ride by cable car had a cost of 9.50 Euro (72 RMB) per person, which we found a bit expensive, but later the view of the sandstone rocks felt very compensating for the price.

 

From there we took the bus that brought us to Tianzishan Scenic Office, where we started our walk towards the station of the Ten-Mille Gallery Tram Bahn. The beautiful path leads from here mainly downhill and is therefore easy. Once we arrived at the station we preferred to go for the 30 minutes walk instead of using the tram.

ZHANGJIANJIE NATIONAL PARK CHINA

 

We continued by bus to the “Four Streams Crossroad”. Beware, there are two bus stations, do not take the wrong one that leads you towards the exit. We stopped by the river for a moment, then headed for the elevator.

The Bailong Elevator is the largest and fastest outdoor lift in the world. As for the cable car, we paid 9.50 Euro (72 RMB) and shortly after we were catapulted 3 m per second towards the sky. Once at the top, we were rewarded with a spectacular view and so we came closer to our highlight of the day.

ZHANGJIANJIE NATIONAL PARK CHINA

The world of Pandora

Only a short bus ride separated us from the “Floating Avatar Mountains”.  Here we realized that it was a bit more crowded than in the other areas. Still, we were incredibly lucky, there were only a few people all day long and so we did not have to queue at all. It is said that about 30,000 visitors visit the attractions around Zhangjiajie every day, but that wasn’t noticeable.

The Avatar Mountains are especially beautiful and it is not surprising why this place inspired the movie of James Cameron. It is almost impossible to capture in a photo the feeling inspired by these gigantic sandstone rock formations. It was really impressive.

ZHANGJIANJIE NATIONAL PARK CHINA

 

Here we stayed for a while and watched the monkeys, before taking the bus to the hostel… Well, at least that’s what we thought we were doing. When we arrived at the bus stop at 6 pm, we were told that the buses were only going in one direction, which surprised us because in the brochure it was clearly indicated that the buses would run until 7 pm.  Nobody could answer us why buses wouldn’t go also in the other direction. Of course, we could have gone the other way and looked for a place to stay in Wulingyuan, but that would mean to pay again for the elevator in order to leave the park.

Lost in the national park

For a short moment, we did not know what to do, when a nice old lady appeared and asked if we need accommodation. Probably it happens quite often that visitors stayed behind in the park.

The woman gave us a fair price and took us to her house, which was in the middle of the park and everyone there was very friendly. Alex and I got a nice room with super-fast wifi (one of the best we had in China) and something to eat. We enjoyed the silence that took over the park and were very happy that we could cancel our originally booked hostel.

Day two in Pandora

The next morning we took advantage of the good location and left the accommodation already at 8.00 am. We enjoyed the emptiness of the park and returned to the “Floating Avatar Mountains”, which looked different in the morning light.

We took the bus to another area of ​​the park, with the plan to enjoy the view at Yangjiajie Station and from there the path led us to the lower cable car station, from where the bus took us to the exit of the park (Yangjiajie Ticket Station).

After a 15 minute walk, we found the bus that took us back to Zhangjiajie. Despite the shorter distance, the trip took a bit longer than from Wujiayu Ticket Station due to the bad road conditions.

Our conclusion of the park: Not very budget-friendly, but definitely very impressive and worth seeing. We would recommend at least 1 night in the park or nearby.

More pictures of China you will find in our gallery.

/by

Trains in China – from Guilin to Zhangjiajie

One of our highlights in China was the visit at the National Park in Zhangjiajie. The 264 km2 park is located in the south of China, in the region of Hunan and holds several world records.

But before we arrived in Zhangjiajie, along with the excitement we also had to show a bit of patience, as we left Guilin by train (# D2945) and continued our journey to Liuzhou.

How to book train tickets in China?

As a foreign traveler, there are various ways to purchase tickets:

  • The easiest way: you go to the station and buy your ticket at the ticket office. Tourists can not buy tickets at the vending machine, only at the ticket office by presenting a valid passport.
    Disadvantage: As many people buy their tickets ahead of time, trains or preferred seats/classes can be already booked and who likes to spend several hours on a train standing?
  • The other option is to reserve tickets on the Internet. For this purpose, we used the website: ctrip.com. Also here we had to provide a valid document. Once you have specified your departure station and destination, you get a list of trains from which you can choose.
    Disadvantage: reservation fees are 3 euro per train and the original tickets must be picked up at any train station at the ticket office.

TRAIN SYSTEM CHINA

 

When booking trains you will come across the following terms:

Hard Seat: These are normal seats and not very comfortable on older trains, especially when many people travel with a lot of luggage. We would only recommend them on short distances or high-speed trains.

Hard Sleeper: Great for long journeys. Hard sleepers are bunk beds, mostly 3 on top of each other and 6 per compartment. “Compartment” is not the right term because the wagons have no doors. On the ticket, you can see which compartment you have and for the exact bed you need to check the online reservation (lower, middle or upper). Also, the crew will offer help if needed.

TRAIN SYSTEM CHINA

 

Soft Sleeper: (we did not use them in China) Same system as the Hard Sleepers but compartments have doors for a little more privacy and there are only 4 beds per compartment.

All trains have toilets (some trains are equipped also with Western toilets) and hot water. We usually took coffee or tea with us, as well as fruits or pastries before we got on the train. However, there is also the possibility to buy snacks or drinks on the train.

TRAIN SYSTEM CHINA

 

Are we at the airport?

Riding a train in China is almost like taking a plane. The stations are similar to airports. The controls are not as strict, but tickets and luggage are checked several times. Basically, these checks are all the same. Upon entering the station, tickets and ID are checked. Sometimes there is an extra counter for foreign documents. Then the baggage will be examined. Sometimes the ticket is checked twice before entering the tracks. The ticket must be well kept, as there is another control on arrival at the final station.

 

Information about tracks and entrances to the trains is partially printed on the ticket, otherwise you can see it on the information board.

TRAIN SYSTEM CHINA

 

From Guilin to Liuzhou

Upon our arrival in Liuzhou, we had to show improvisational skills, since the station from which our connecting train was leaving was situated in another district. Liuzhou is home to more than 3.5 million inhabitants and tourists are rarely seen here, therefore no words with familiar alphabet will be found.

 

Why didn’t we take the train from the same station?

Simple answer: There was none! The station in Liuzhou was being rebuilt so all long-distance trains were going from Liujiiang.
On the internet, we read that we could take buses 16, 27, 59, 68 and 90 to Liuzhou Railway Middle School and then change to bus no.10, which was going to Liujiiang. We have tried this version and have finally arrived at the destination, but it took quite a while to find the way. Nobody could speak English here and our offline translator also let us down.

Since our train left late in the evening, we decided to spend some time in the city center of Liuzhou, and later came across the easier way to get to Liujiiang.

 

The best way from Liuzhou station to Liujiiang with bus 99

If you leave Liuzhou Station, cross the road and wait for Bus 99, which will take you directly to Liujiiang. A ticket costs a few cents and the journey takes about 40 minutes.

Travel tip: In China, we always used the offline maps of Maps.me before we visited a city. (Google Apps are blocked here). We always use the maps to see if we are really going in the right direction.

The train from Liujiiang took us to Zhangjiajie, where we had a wonderful stay.

If you want to see photos of our time in China then click here?

/by

The Longji Rice Terraces – a land of beautiful nature and long preserved traditions

The second morning in Guilin our daypack was fully loaded for the next day trip that we planned, the Longji Rice Terraces, situated north from Guilin. A local bus brought us to the Hong Kong hotel, from where a direct bus was leaving for the Longji (Dragon’s Back) rice terraces in Longsheng County, some of the biggest and most spectacular in the world.

THE LONGJI RICE TERRACES GUILIN CHINA

The Longji Rice Terraces refers to several village areas, the most popular being the ones around Ping’an Village, where the Zhuang minority people live, and the ones in the Jinkeng area, home to the Red Yao. Their construction started in 1271 under the Yuan Dynasty and was completed under the early Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). There is no best season to visit the terraces, but more a matter of choice. You can visit in spring when the water is irrigated into the fields, making the terraces look like great chains hanging on the hillsides. Summer offers beautiful waves of green on the mountainside, while autumn, the harvest time, brings more diversity of colors. Winter is cold, but the landscape is still spectacular and can be a better option for those who want to enjoy the terraces in the absence of the crowds of tourists.

The Ping’an Terraced Fields are larger and offer more alternatives to hike to different viewpoints, including a cable car to the Golden Buddha peak, from where visitors can get the best view over the region. We hiked for more than one hour to reach the peak and after climbed down slowly on different paths through small villages. We suggest spending at least 3 hours for discovering the surroundings.

 

The people living here, The Zhuang and the Yao nationalities, are part of a particular community that follows ancient traditions. The Zhuang people form the majority and are well known for their hospitality. They wear unique and colorful costumes and frequently celebrate life with songs and dances during different traditional festivals. Tourists in the area can join their celebration if they want to experience the original Zhuang life and culture and even stay with local families while tasting the local food and drinking Longji tea or the Longji wine.

THE LONGJI RICE TERRACES GUILIN CHINA

 

Four hours later after the arrival at the rice terraces, we took the bus back to Guilin and used the remaining time to explore the city. Guilin itself offers entertainment to tourists with its many colorful lights, the beautiful pagodas and the Elephant Trunk, the city’s most important and most symbolic attraction.

 

After dinner and a cold beer back at the hostel, it was time again to pack our luggage for our long trip to Zhangjiajie.

Click here for more pictures of our time in Guilin.

/by

Guilin, the Li River and the spectacular Yangshuo region

As our time was again short, due to the limited time granted by our visa, we had to cross some of the places from the list we had in mind when we started planning our journey in China. The list got even shorter when we decided last minute to make the best out of the Tibet experience that was planned for the end of the trip, and extend it a bit longer by traveling overland to Kathmandu. So we choose Guilin as our first stop in this big country.

China offers endless possibilities to lose yourself in unexpected places, dominated by beautiful nature and strong traditions. We hoped that Guilin would offer us just that and we were not disappointed.

With a stop in Guangzhou East, from where we boarded the connection train, it took us more than six hours from Shenzhen, our entrance point into China, to Guilin. The first two hours have been a bit of an adventure as the first train had a delay which led to missing the connecting train. Luckily in China missing a train is not a big deal. You only need to go to the ticket counter and ask for a new ticket for the next departing train. You can change your ticket only one time and seats will be granted to you only if available. We didn’t find any available ones and had to seat on out backpacks till the end of the journey. We considered ourselves happy for meeting Helen, a friendly Chinese girl whose friendliness and good English skills helped us understand what was going on and how to solve our little problem. China had rules that we needed to learn and understand and we spent our first day learning some of them already.

Welcome to Guilin

We finally arrived in Guilin, a busy city with countless shops and restaurants, with crowds that were driving their tuk-tuks and scooters in an insane way, ignoring traffic lights and abusing their horns that were contributing to the symphony of lights and sounds which were making the city feel extraordinarily alive.  We arrived late in the evening at Cyan Box, a lovely hostel with lovely people, where we spent three nights. The reception personnel helped us organize our first day trip along the Li River.

A bus picked us up on the following day to bring us to Yangdi, a small river port where we were welcomed to board one of the bamboo rafts that offer daily cruises to Nine Horses Hill. There are also big touristic boats that will take you on a four-hour cruise directly from Guilin to Xingping, but we considered that the bamboo raft is a better option.

 

Our cruise lasted only 1 hour and the little boat offered places to just four people, so we didn’t need to fight with anybody for the best view. Later a bus transferred us to Xingping, where we left the group and went to discover the surroundings by ourselves.

GUILIN LI RIVER AND THE YANGSHUO REGION

 

After lunch in a small local restaurant, we went to find the path towards Lao Zhai Shia, a 220 meters high peak. Climbing it was about to become one of the most extraordinary hikes we ever did and that we highly recommend. The hike is difficult but possible for everybody. We even saw a family of 4, including two small children reaching the top. The path is easy to find, just let yourself guided by the signs or by the locals who will show you the way… while trying also to sell you something. If you take the long cruise, at the arrival in Xingping, before passing the big gate at the waterfront, turn right and you will see it.

 

It was a hot day, but we found pleasure in hiking through steep rocks, protected by the shadow of a dense forest that surrounds the mountain. In less than one hour we reached the peak and the landscape we got to see from up there let us only a few words to describe it. It was simply beautiful and the scenery quite rewarding.

GUILIN LI RIVER AND THE YANGSHUO REGION

 

As the sun went down we contemplated the river valley that felt more and quieter by the time tourists were leaving the valley. We used the last hour of daylight to climb down the mountain and find the bus station from where we would take the bus to Yangshuo and after back to Guilin. The bus to Yangshuo wasn’t easy to find, but luckily we found again friendly people that showed us the way. Not speaking Chinese didn’t seem to be an obstacle. We just had to tell them the name of our destination and after successfully communicated through signs.

 

Find out more about our time in Guilin and our trip to the famous rice terraces. For more pictures of our three days stay in Guilin click here.

/by

Hong Kong – love on a second look

What should I say about Hong Kong? It is a city that I wanted to visit for a long time. Actually, it is the first big city I ever dreamed of. When I was 13, I read a book about the adventures of a girl in Hong Kong and since then I always wanted to visit the so-called Pearl of the Orient.

Now the time had finally come, but the magical feeling that I had expected and the enthusiasm that I usually feel when I’m in a new place did not arrive. Why? I can not tell exactly! I know what it means to explore big metropolises as I have lived in Dubai for 2 years and in Sydney for some time, I visited New York, Tokyo, Berlin, Lima and Moscow, but Hong Kong couldn’t fascinate me at first.

Probably the contrast to Japan was bigger than expected or did I expect too much? I’m sure that some of the important factors were my own well-being, because I had a cold, and the value for money in our hostel was not the best either.

HONG KONG CHINA

A second chance for Hong Kong

But there was something that convinced me to give Hong Kong another chance. It was the day we planned to visit a major tourist attraction in Hong Kong, Victoria Peak. We arrived at Central Station and walked between the cold looking skyscrapers towards Peak Tram Station. We knew, like any other area in the city, we had to expect many visitors.  Therefore we had previously informed ourselves about the walking distance to the lookout point.

HONG KONG CHINA

 

Once we arrived at the station, our guess came true. I can not say how many meters the queue was, but it seemed with no end. It took not long for Alex and me to make a decision. After a last look at Google Maps to find the right path to the peak we set off. We agreed that even with the flu, the heat and the steep path, we were still faster than waiting in line for the tram. Besides, we both prefer walking.

And then came the wow effect.

On the way to Victoria Peak

Our walk led us through the Botanical Gardens and between the skyscrapers. From here you can already imagine what view will be offered to you. It’s easy to find your way. After the garden you can see the pink signs leading towards the peak. In the end, you just need to walk up.

HONG KONG CHINA

At some point, you will reach a pedestrian zone. From here the road is steep, but it is a very nice path in the shade of the trees. Suddenly you will find yourself far away from the city bustle in the middle of nature and only the skyscrapers that occasionally dart through the trees, allow you to understand that you are still in the city. During our little hike we even saw a boar.

Finally, we arrived at the top… We were sweating and were exhausted, but it was worth doing it for the view from the almost 400 m altitude. The moment we found ourselves in the big crowds again, we knew it was the right decision to do the walk. A quick glance at the watch told us that the walk took only 40 minutes, so we can definitely recommend it to everyone.

HONG KONG CHINA

 

However, we do not want to question the Peak Tram. The almost 130-year-old train ride is definitely worth a try. There is a reason why the Peak Tram is called “The Pride of Hong Kong”. While driving, it is said that you feel like the houses are falling over. Of course, that’s just an illusion. A study in 2013 showed that this illusion arises from the oblique position of the body (from 4 ° to 27 ° downhill).

History of the peak

The Victoria Peak or Tai Ping Shan (Chinese) means “mountain of great peace”. At 552 meters above sea level, Victoria Peak is the highest point on Hong Kong Island and served as a signal position for incoming cargo ships in the 19th century.

The cooler air that prevailed at this altitude attracted privileged locals, who gradually settled on the mountain. At that time they were still carried up on sedan chairs. The exclusive residential area became increasingly popular and in May 1881, the Scottish man Alexander Findlay Smith made a plan to reach the mountain faster and easier.

The tram line was opened in 1888 by Governor Sir William Des Voeux and offered space to 52 passengers. This has been expanded to 120 passengers per trip until today. These and many more information can be found at the visitor center located on the top, in an old train.

Victoria Peak is more than just a lookout

If the train journey and the view are not sufficient as highlights, you can visit for example the Madam Tussauds wax museum or the Sky Terrace. At the Peak Post Office, you can send souvenir cards with a special peak stamp. Of course, there is a whole lot more to discover. Here is something to enjoy for everyone: shopping lovers, gourmets or connoisseurs.

HONG KONG CHINA

 

If we get the chance to come back, we will try to arrive in the late afternoon to enjoy the skyline with evening lights and we’ll spend more time wandering on the peak itself. Various hiking routes are listed on the website of the peak.

By the way, there is also a bus that goes directly to the peak. Line number 15 runs daily from Pier 5 Central to the Peak (cost about 10HK $). More information about the buses here.

The day itself was very successful and even during our descent I could not restrain my enthusiasm for this magnificent view and walk. That day helped me change my mind about Hong Kong and I’m sure that someday I will come back and have a better start.

Here you will find more pictures of Hong Kong.

/by

Hong Kong – between skyscrapers and lights

After a whole month in Japan, arriving in Hong Kong felt like a big change. Suddenly we knew that we will miss the Nippon lifestyle, the beautiful and quiet places and the extraordinary people.

We prefer being closer to nature but we also enjoy getting lost on the streets of the big cities sometimes. Hong Kong just happens to be more than a big city. It is the fourth-most densely populated region in the world, with skyscrapers popping out from everywhere and large masses of tourists that move continuously, making this place feel more alive and also more crowded than any of the other ones we’ve already visited.

HONG KONG CHINA

 

We landed on the Hong Kong International Airport late in the afternoon with a well-organized plan to make the best out of our 6 days stay in the city. Our priority was to finish with the formalities necessary for obtaining the Chinese Visa so that we could cross the border at the beginning of the following month. The best practice is to apply for the visa at the embassy in your home country, but since our plan has been to visit the Russian Federation and Japan in the first months of our travels, it just felt like a good idea to apply for the Chinese visa in Hong Kong. There are several agencies that will get the job done for you, two of them having an office at the airport, which makes the process easy right after your arrival. It just happened to be less easy for us.

Visa for China in Hong Kong

We did our homework before the arrival and read all the available information on how to obtain the visa. We were sure that everything was ok, so we headed confidently to the Chinese Travel Service’s office in Terminal 1. After a very short inspection of our passports, we were told that the visa cannot be obtained, due to one of the passports being “too new” (released on October 2016, so less than two years earlier). The Chinese authorities require a complete list of all the countries that applicants for the visa have visited prior to their arrival in China. For this reason, passports released after the year 2015 will not be accepted if not presented together with old passports, containing data about previous travel destinations.

Our enthusiasm turned into despair during the one minute of silence that followed after this shocking news. The straight and unfriendly face of the person in front of us made us feel hopeless as we asked if anything else could be done. Without saying any other word he just pointed at another desk 3 meters away from us, marked with the name “Aloha Travels”. We went there with the same request and were happy to get a different answer. It was obviously a special situation… that required a special price (of course). We found out that a group visa could be arranged, that would get us across the border into China. Another good thing about it is that it could be obtained in less than 24 hours, which for us it was not needed as we were planning to stay longer in Hong Kong anyway.

Unhappy for seeing our budget suffering so much but pleased that we could find a solution to our unexpected problem, we took the express train to the city. A tiny room has been our accommodation for the five nights that we spent in the city. It was less than what we got in other places for the same price, but property in one of the most expensive city on the planet isn’t cheap, and budget travelers get budget rooms. We weren’t planning to spend too much time inside anyway and the location of the hostel offered us easy access to all the places that we wanted to see.

Hong Kong – a unique world

The Special Administrative Region of China, Hong Kong, is made up of four parts: Hong Kong Island, Kowloon Peninsula, the New Territories and the Outlying Islands, all being home to approximately seven million people, mostly Cantonese speaking Chinese. Most of them speak also English, which leaves little space to language barriers and making the former British colony one of the hottest travel destinations in Asia. As communicating didn’t feel like a difficult task, we had a hard time understanding why the people here, with a few exceptions, don’t smile or don’t respond to a “good morning” or a “thank you”. Probably in such a big city, the busyness of everyday life doesn’t leave much space for politeness.

We experienced good weather during our stay, which gave us the chance to forget about our bulky clothes and to finally enjoy wearing shorts. We spent our first morning exploring the Avenue of Stars. At the entrance several statues greeted us, representing movie setups with lights, chairs and video cameras, where tourists can take pictures, and a replica of the statuette given to winners at the Hong Kong Film Awards. Along the promenade we got acquainted with the cinematic history of the city, told by many plaques containing the names, and (some of them) handprints and autographs of honored celebrities. Special attention is given to the well-known star Bruce Lee, who has his own statue.

HONG KONG CHINA

 

Later in the afternoon, we continued our walk towards the Victoria Harbour, one of the most visited touristic spots, offering a beautiful panoramic view of the city’s skyline.

Lantau Island

Lantau Island is one of the special places in Hong Kong open to tourists, which we decided to visit during our third day. Its main attraction is the giant Buddha, located near the Po Lin monastery. If you are planning to stay for a longer time in Hong Kong, we recommend waking up early and hiking all the way to the monastery. We instead had to fight with flu symptoms that day, so we chose the lazy way and went there with the cable car. The view is truly spectacular as the cable car crosses the waters and the green hills revealing behind them the shape of a 34 meters tall Buddha statue.

HONG KONG CHINA

 

The arrival place felt noisy and crowded with shops, tourists and sacred cows that openly roam the grounds of the Po Lin Monastery. At the end of the shopping area we climbed 268 steps up to the impressive Buddha statue that is watching over the region, surrounded by other six smaller statues known as “The Offering of the Six Devas” that symbolize generosity, morality, patience, zeal, meditation, and wisdom, all of which is believed that are necessary for enlightenment. You can spend an entire day in the area, enjoying walks, taking pictures and having short breaks at the many coffee places in the area.

 

We came back in the evening, just in time to buy a “to go” meal and enjoy our dinner under the lights of the colorful skyline at the Victoria Harbour, where tourists can enjoy the light show every evening at 8:30PM.

HONG KONG CHINA

Hiking to Victoria Peak

Our fourth day in Hong Kong started with the decision to discover more of the green parts of the city, which brought us on the path to Victoria Peak. The initial plan was to take the touristic tram towards the peak, but the long queue at the ticket counter made the idea of hiking the path more appealing. It took us around 40 minutes to reach the end of it and the view on top made it feel like an incredible hike that we highly recommend. Restaurants and bars are waiting for visitors with refreshments and a viewing platform is available for a cost, which we didn’t think was worth paying for as most of the views worth seeing are available for free during a relaxing tour around the area.

 

The fifth day has been quieter. We only went for short walks around and spent some time at a coffee place nearby, in order to prepare the necessary things for the departure on the following day.

We crossed the border

On the morning of our sixth day in Hong Kong, we took the A21 bus to the airport, where we could pick up our passports with the Chinese visa. Later we headed to the bus terminal, from where the bus A43 took us on a 50 minutes ride to the Sheung Shui MTR station, which is the connection point to Lo Wu Station. We chose this transportation option as we needed to return to the airport anyway for the passports and the visa and it has been recommended as the fastest and cheapest from that point. Getting through Hong Kong Immigration building and after walking to the China Immigrations building took us another hour. The Lo Wu checkpoint to enter China can be extremely crowded as it is being chosen by many travelers. On less crowded days the whole process can last less than 20 minutes.

And so we arrived in Shenzhen, where we spent our first night in China and where we found again friendly and helpful people that offered their guidance to the two lost people whose digital map didn’t prove very helpful in the new country.

Shenzhen is one of the best-rated destinations in China, but our visa guaranteed us a stay of only 30 days, so we had to plan carefully our itinerary and give up some of the destinations that were left for another time.

For more pictures from Hong Kong, check out our gallery here.

/by