Yichang Our 3night/4 day Yangtze River Cruise ended in Yichang. The cruise arranged for all its passengers to be transferred to Three Gorges Visitor Center (三峡游客中心) in the heart of Yichang. Most visitors would proceed to the airport of the…
Day 12,13,14,15: Yangtze River Cruise
First Day: Boarding the Victoria Sabrina After our visit to QiKou Ancient Village and “ChongQing 1984 Performance” in the morning we went back to our hotel (River Four Seasons Hotel) to pick up our luggage and from there we e-hailed…
Day 11 & 12: ChongQing
Anshun to ChongQing After our breakfast at Mercure Anshun we DiDi a taxis to fetch us and our luggage to Anshun Xi Station (West) and the taxis fare was ¥7. Though the walking distance was only 700m we still hailed…
Day 9 & 10: HuangGuoShu Waterfall
Morning in XingPing We woke up early at about 6.30am in the morning and went up to “Mercure” roof top to view the Karst Landscape of XingPing. The mist was still heavy in the air and the peaks were partly…
Day 8: XingPing – Li River
YangShuo to XingPing XingPing had an ancient town that served as a good starting point to explore Li River. There were several ways to experience Li River. Some would take a cruise from Guilin to XingPing then to YangShuo. Others…
Day 6 & 7: Yangshuo
From LongJi Rice Terrace to Yangshuo After LongJi Rice Terrace (located North of GuiLin City) our next destination was Yangshuo which was located to thesouth of GuiLin City. We were sure that a cab ride would cost double the amount…
Day 3, 4, 5: LongJi Terrace field
Getting to LongJi Rice terrace LongJi Rice Terrace 龙脊梯田风景 was also known as LongSheng Rice Terraces. It was located in the “town of LongJi” in “LongSheng Various Nationalities Autonomous County”. On the internet whenever we search on LongJi Rice Terrace,…
Day 2: Gulin City
Xiamen to Guilin City Our flight was 7.10am and we reached the airport at 5.30pm. Our hotel receptionist actually advised us to be at the airport by 6.10am but we decided to be on the “safe side” and arrived at…
Day 1: Start of a 29 days diy trip to china
An ambitious 29 days plan Five months ago we were in China for a 26 days half guided half DIY (do-it-yourself) trip. The DIY parts to Bejing (4 days) and Xi’an (4 days) were so easy that we were totally…
Summed Up Beijing and Xi’An on our own
China has evolved dramatically since 2017 2017 was the year Yat Thong and I did our own DIY trip to Sichuan. We wanted to tour China like the way we did in many other countries where we drove and/or took…
Day 4: Ancient XiAn City
Xi’an City Wall From our stay we took a taxis to the South Gate of Xi’an City Wall. There we bought our tickets to get up to the wall. The cost of the ticket was ¥54 for an adult, free senior…
Day 3: Hua Mountain
Xi’an to HuaShan From our stay in Xi’an city cental to Huashan (Mount Hua) was a long way, 128km and about 1.5 hour by taxis. We “DiDi” (e-hail) a taxis just at the base of our stay to bring us…
Day 2: XiAn – Terracotta Army
Getting from xi’an to Terracotta army museum On our first full day in Xi’An we went to two attractions. They were the Terracotta Army and HuaQing Palace. Both attractions were near to each other and about 1 hour northeast of…
Day 1: XiAn – Tang Everbright City
Flying into Xi’An Xi’an was the last of our 4 parts trip to China. The 1st was a 4-day self-guided trip to Beijing, 2nd was a 8-day agency-guided trip to ZhangYe-Badain Jaran Desert-Xining, the 3rd a 10-day agency-guided trip to…
Tibet summed up
Guided Tibet Trip In 2024, foreigners were still not allowed to do independent travelling in Tibet. Tour/trip had to be done with an licensed local tour agency. In our case the tour was organised by “China Discovery” a tour agency…
Day 9 & 10: Namtso Lake & Bye Bye Tibet
Namtso Lake After breakfast we were off to Namtso Lake. It was a short drive from our hotel in Damxung town. The drive was 45 minutes for about 40km. We arrived at the entrance of the Lake Scenic Area at…
Day 7 & 8: Shitagse to Damxung
Getting Back to Shigatse After we left Everest Base Camp (ECB) we took the Eco Tourist Bus to Zhaxizhong village where we picked up our luggage and did a “reverse journey” back to Shitagse. The “return” journey took as many…
Day 6 & 7: Mount Everest Basecamp
Breakfast at shigatse Hilton We woke up early to have a lovely breakfast at our hotel Shigatse Hilton. We were spoilt for choice and everything was great. After breakfast we checked out and was on our way to Mount Everest…
Day 5: Lhasa to Shigatse
Lhasa to Shigatse After four days in Lhasa were were so ready to move on. Our final destination for the day was Shigatse city. Lhasa to Shigatse city was about 357km and the driving time was 6 hr 40min. It…
Day 4: Lhasa
Three Attractions in one day We visited three attractions for the day. Two monasteries and one Park. The attractions were not very far from Lhasa Central all within a 6 km radius. The entrance tickets to Drepung Monastery was ¥60,…
Day 3: Lhasa
Breakfast at our Hotel We had breakfast in our hotel, Lhasa Snow Paradise International Hotel (Potala Palace), it had a lovely spread and we enjoyed our breakfast leisurely a large dining hall of the hotel. Potala Palace We arrived at…
Day 2: Arrived in Lhasa
Overnight Train to Lhasa The train journey started at 12.50pm in Xining the day before and we would reached Lhasa by 10.25am in the morning. The purpose of a train journey was to enjoy the wonderful scenery that we had…
Day 1: On an overnight train to Tibet
Xining to Tibet by Train We went by train from Xining to Tibet. It was a 21.5 hours train journey over a distance 1971km. “10 Day Tibet” guided tour was the continuation of our “8 Day ZhangYe, Badain Jaran Desert,…
Zhangye, Badain Jaran, Xining Summed up
Guided Tour “Zhangye, Badain Jaran and Xining” was a “8 days guided tour by “China Discovery” a Chengdu based tour agency. This 8 days guided tour was coupled with another “10 days Tibet tour” by the same Agency. The total…
Day 8: Taer Monastery
Leaving Chaka Town We had a good breakfast at our hotel, Jintian Century Hotel (茶卡锦天世纪大酒店). We checked out of our hotel at about 8.45am, and were “backtracking” to Xining. The weather was gloomy and the sky was downcast. We were…
Day 7: Qinghai & Chaka Lake
Great Breakfast at Sofitel Xining Breakfast was absolutely great at Sofitel Xining (西宁新华联索菲特大酒店), it had a huge spread of both western and local favours. This breakast was the best we had taken so far on this trip. We were not…
Day 6: Badain Jaran Desert to Xining
Temple Lake Our camp was just by the lake, Miaohaizi (庙海子) . We woke up early to take a walk to the lake. At the opposite end we saw a temple. Miaohaizi (庙海子) meant temple lake in Chinese. This lake…
Day 5: Badain Jaran Desert
On our way to the desert In the morning we had breakfast at our hotel, Alashan Right Banner Shangshiyuan Hotel. The breakfast was part of the package for our one night stay at the hotel. The spread was not a…
Day 4: Pingshan Lake Grand Canyon
Route for the day We visited Pingshan Lake Grand Canyon which was about an hour drive from Zhangye city. We had a great time exploring the canyon spending unexpectedly about 6 hours trekking through the canyon, gorge and valley, it…
Day 3: Mati Grottoes & Dafo Temple
Scenic sites for the day For the day we visited two very special and interesting temples. One was practically carved into t rock cliffs and the other was integrated into a hill. Both the temples were near to each other…
Day 2: Zhangye Danxia Scenic Areas
Zhangye Danxia There were two very large Danxia Scenic Areas(丹霞 景区) near Zhangye City. One was Bingou Danxia Scenic Area (冰沟 丹霞 景区) and the other was Rainbow Danxia Scenic Area (七彩丹霞景区. Danxia (丹霞 ) basically meant “red glow” so…
Day 1: Flying into ZhangYe
Four parts – 26 Days China Trip We were on the first day of our 8-day trip covering Zhangye, Badain Jaran Desert and Xining This was Part 2 (of four parts) of our 26-day China Trip. Part 1(Beijing) and Part…
Day 4: Summer Palace
Dumpling for Breakfast The night before we were already planning “what to eat” for breakfast the next day. We decided to have Beijing dumpling. Based on google search popular three dumpling stores were listed, they were Xian Lao Man, Mr. Shi’s Dumplings, and Baoyuan Dumplings. All have outlets…
Day 3: Great Wall of China
Joined a 1-day(8hr) group tour to the Great Wall In Beijing, beside visiting “Forbidden City” which was done the day before, another “must visit” place was the Great Wall. We had considered various options to visit the Great Wall. We…
Day 2: Forbidden City and Around
On way to forbidden city Our stay, base Beijing Wanfujing Serviced Apartment, was about 2.8km to the Forbidden City. It was a pretty straight forward route so we decided to get to the Forbidden City on foot. On the way…
Day 1: Arriving in Beijing
Visiting China Again We had been visiting China many times over the years. The visits were mainly guided tours with Singapore agencies. In 2017 we did a 20-day DIY trip to Sichuan on our own, relying on local bus transportation…
Harbin (12 days) Summed up
One off our bucket list Harbin was an item on our bucket list, well not exactly our but at least mine. Yat Thong and I disliked cold places and in all our travelling we avoided visiting places that went into…
Day 9-12: Harbin on our own
Taxis to Zhong Yang Street Our tour bus let us down along a convenient spot to hail a taxis to Zhong Yang street. We had been advised to check if the taxis accepted cash payment before boarding as some would…
Day 9: Harbin
Day 9 was the last day of the guided tour, in the evening the other nine members of the tour-group and Dynasty Travel guide would be leaving Harbin for Singapore. As for Yat Thong and I we would be staying…
Day 8: Harbin – Snow Festival
Viewing the sunrise from our room Yat Thong woke up early to photographed sunrise from the window of our room at Harbin SongBei Shangrila. The sunrise was magnificent and could be seen from the comfort of our room. It was…