31 May 2019. <CN> Xi'an, China —

A delightful day. We were met in the hotel lobby by Daniel, our ambassador for the day. We think he was rather pleased to have a tour group of two, as the previous day he had had 55!

We were in control, but he made suggestions along the way. Our first port of call was the Xi'an City Wall. Because our hotel is just off East Road, we walked and chatted all the way down to the East (Changle, "Eternal Joy") Gate, not that far, and then Daniel took us up on top of the wall. It is HUGE, with a full circuit being 13.7km — way too much to walk around!

We settled for walking from the East Gate to the southeast corner and back. Xi'an City Wall was erected during the 14th century Ming Dynasty period, under the regime of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang. It successfully repelled all comers until the Mongols developed the strategy of attacking the wall armed with sandbags, dropping them at the foot of the wall and retiring. After a number of sallies, they had built up a ramp at the front of the wall, and the horsemen simply rode up and over the wall!

Different animals adorn the flagpoles on each wall of Xi'an. Here we have the dragon and the phoenix.

Anyway, after some time atop the wall, we came down and walked along to a bus stop on the East Road, where the route would take us in to the Bell Tower in the centre of the city. There is a Bell Tower and a Drum Tower. The bell was rung in the morning to tell the workers the city gates were open, and to go out of the city to work. The drum was sounded in the evenings to call them back before the gates were locked against all comers. We didn't go up the towers — there's apparently little to see up there. The best view is of the towers themselves, from below. The Bell Tower, built in 1384, is at the exact centre of the walled city. Its roofs are covered with dark green glazed tiles, and the apex is wrapped in genuine gold. When development in the city meant the city's centre moved about 1000 metres, the entire tower was moved to its current location in 1582 — quite an achievement!

Just behind the Drum Tower is Moslem Street, one of the most iconic parts of Xi'an. The Muslim quarter dates back to the Tang Dynasty (7th to 10th centuries), when the Muslim traders followed the Silk Road to Xi'an. They stayed, built their Great Mosque, and became an integral part of Xi'an. They are still here, a colourful part of the whole tapestry. Moslem Street is a busy market, mainly selling foods. The surrounding streets sell anything that can be sold! Suzie bought a couple of small souvenirs for the kids.

We went to the Great Mosque, which is an oasis of calm in the midst of a teeming city!

From here, we went across to the Post Office opposite. We wanted to post something back for Jonno that we hadn't intended to bring with us in the first place, and which he might need. This was an experience in itself. If you think there's a rigmarole involved in shipping something out of Australia, that's nothing compared with shipping out of China! But the staff were very helpful, and we got the whole job done in about 45 minutes. Ashwyn's gift went with the parcel, but Lilly's apparently contains some metal, so she will have to wait for it till we get home!

Now it was time for lunch. Daniel wanted to take us to a little restaurant that served a Xi'an staple — biáng biáng miàn, a wide hand-pulled noodle served with various combinations of other ingredients. I tell you, it's not that easy getting these bulky, slippery noodles to your mouth with a set of chopsticks. But we managed, and the meal was fully worth it. By the way, the traditional character for 'biáng' is apparently the most complicated character in the Chinese language!

biáng biáng miàn — the Traditional character for biáng is combined with the Simplified character for miàn

Then we went walking southward, towards the South Wall, going to Calligraphy Street (Shu Yuang Meen Street). On the way, we passed an old Taoist temple, the Wolong Temple, on Baishulin Street. According to the stele in the temple, it was built during Lingdi's reign (AD 168-189), Han Dynasty, more than 1,800 years ago.

From here, we continued to Calligraphy Street, where brushes, paper, calligraphic scrolls, and anything related to the venerable art of calligraphy can be found.

As it was after 3pm, we called it a day and returned to our hotel for a rest and a meal, a recharging of batteries, before we went out to the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda (Dàyàn ta) to wander the square for its amazing ambience and show of lights. We were also going to watch the Music Fountain show but our timing was bad, and we just caught the end of it. For an idea of what we missed, have a look at this YouTube clip!

So, off back home to bed, after a really delightful day.

30 May 2019. <HK> Hong Kong to <CN> Xi'an, China —

Today, an early start, checking out of the hotel and then a taxi at 5:30am to the Hong Kong West Kowloon Station to catch the 7am fast bullet train to Shenzhenbei, in mainland China. This was a full border crossing with everything this entails — passport checks (twice), immigration, baggage checks. This was made a little frenetic because the entry gates didn't open till 6:30am, and we had to get through all this rigmarole and onto the train before its entry gates closed at 6:55 — we just made it!

The train hop to Shenzhenbei took only 17 minutes. We had the whole carriage on the fast train to ourselves! When we got out, we were met by a delightful representative of the Sundowners Tour Company, who presented us with our tickets for the next leg to Xi'an as she took us across to the appropriate part of the station to catch that train. We had a couple of hours to kill, and we did a lot of exploring of the station — and found a Starbucks for a cup of coffee.

Inside Shenzhenbei Station

The fast bullet train from Shenzhenbei to Xi'an Bei set off at exactly 10:00am, due in at 7:30pm. One thing about Chinese trains — they keep ABSOLUTELY to schedule, so much so that after every train leaves there is an announcement for any who have missed that train to go to the ticket office to exchange their tickets.

Because of space considerations, our luggage went first class while we, with our second class tickets, had to slum it. This is a totally unfair description — the train is comfortable, smooth and fast (it got up to over 300kph, but is capable of 500kph, limited only by regulations imposed after a fairly serious accident due to brake failure some years ago).

The stations on our route were:

• Shenzhenbei 10:00am
• Guangzhou Nan 10:35am
• Chenzhou Xi 12:00
• Hengyang Dong 12:40pm
• Changshah Nan 1:15pm
• Yueyang Dong 1:55pm
• Wuhan 2:45pm
• Xinyang Dong 3:30pm
• Zhumadian Xi 3:55pm
• Xuchang Dong 4:25pm
• Zhengzhou 5:10pm
• Louyang 6:10pm
• Xi'an Bei 7:30pm

For virtually the whole trip, which is in a strictly non-smoking train, at least four gentlemen dropped out of the train at every stop for a quick cigarette, coming back in trailing tobacco fumes behind them!

We were met by a young man who communicated with us via a phone app. A long drive into Xi'an and the Forest City Hotel where we have a comfortable room. After this long train trip, we were ready for a good night's sleep.

29 May 2019. <HK> Hong Kong —

Today was another Big Bus jaunt, but in another direction, on Kowloon Peninsula. But first we wandered down near the Star Ferry Terminal and, in Maccas, had a very passable angus beef burger for breakfast. A lot cheaper than the hotel yesterday!!

We then walked along the Avenue of Stars, reopened only in January this year. It honours more than a hundred prominent contributors to the Hong Kong film industry, not the least being Bruce Lee. The weather was against us, so we didn't make it all the way round to the Bruce Lee statue, but at least we found his handprints in bronze set into the boardwalk railing.

We then walked around to the Peninsula Hotel to pick up the Big Bus, on the way passing the Silver Spitfire, a silver statue of an iconic Spitfire brought to Hong Hong this year by the watchmaker IWC Schaffhausen to publicise a new watch line, a series of Spitfire Pilots' watches — and to go with a round the world flight this year by a restored Spitfire. Some publicity stunt!

The nearby building is the old Hong Hong Fire Station, which has been turned into a fire brigade museum. Outside is a lovely old fire engine, called Dennis.

Anyway, we caught the Big Bus and let it take us up Nathan Road, where we caught glimpses of how the Hong Kong workers live, in tall apartment blocks, many in serious need of some tender loving care! It took us up to Langham Place, a busy shopping precinct (as is much of Nathan Road!), where we and a couple of ladies from Melbourne got off to try to find the Ladies' Market, a primarily clothing street market in Tung Choi St. Unfortunately, still in the early stages of setting up for the day, and we decided it not worth the waiting for.

Onto the Big Bus again and round to the International Commerce Centre and Sky 100, unfortunately with its head in the clouds. Total white-out, but we caught a few glimpses down through the clouds. The lift is incredible — 100 floors in 60 seconds! We had a cuppa up there, and a light meal of sliced Japanese beef with rice, meeting up again with the two very cheerful Melbournites.

Came down from the clouds, re-caught the Big Bus, returned to the Peninsula Hotel, got off and walked down to the Star Ferry Terminal. Crossed the harbour again and took the Big Bus round to Stop 5, Wan Chai Station on Hennessy Road, on the famous Hong Kong tram line that runs east-west across the island. The quaint double-decker trams are a tourist icon, and we really wanted to ride one — which we did, from that point to Hennesy Road at Pottinger Street, at the foot of the escalators.

We went up the escalators as far as Hollywood Road, and then walked down to the Man Mo Temple again so Warren could finally get some pictures.

On the way, we made a point of capturing the street art on the walls of the side streets. We caught the bus again outside the Temple, and let it take us back to the Ferry terminal, for another harbour crossing back to Tsim Tsa Tsui. We looked back towards Sky100, and were not surprised to see its head still in the clouds!

We called in to the Cafe de Coral, heavily frequented by the locals, for another meal of local fare before walking back up to our hotel for the night.

28 May 2019. <HK> Hong Kong —

Woke up. Got ourselves moving. Went down to the Cafe on the Park (part of the hotel) for an American Breakfast — not the full buffet most people seemed to be ladling into their bodies. It was nice but, when we got the bill, we vowed 'Never again!' For people who always have a very light breakfast, 360 HKD ($66 Australian) seems a little exorbitant. Tomorrow, for breakfast — McDonalds!

Our day today was to be mainly spent with the Big Bus, the hop-on, hop-off tourist buses that take you round the city with a guided commentary. We were exploring the island of Hong Hong (leaving the Kowloon peninsula for tomorrow).

It was an experience and a half. First of all, we had to make the Star Ferry crossing from Kowloon to Hong Kong. This is a tourist treat in itself. The trip takes only 10 minutes, across this magnificent harbour. The walk from the hotel down Canton Road is only about 800 metres, past stores to die for — Armani, Louis Vuitton, Yves St Laurent, Prada ... the list goes on and on! And Gucci is just around the corner. Warren was amused yesterday when he went out to reconnoitre, and observed a few girls coming out of the Gucci store in obviously newly-bought dresses, going straight out to the taxi stand outside and posing for 'fashion' shots to share with their friends. They had gone all the way, and were properly made up like fashion models!

First up, we were hit with a massive thunderstorm just as we reached the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. The square outside it, Golden Bauhina Square, is usually populated with numerous little stalls selling souvenirs, paintings and other touristy paraphernlia. But today much rain, much thunder and lightning, no tourists, no stalls! And to cap it off, Warren's camera battery suddenly gave up the ghost and, as he had left the spare back at the hotel, no photographs. (Spoiler alert: on Wednesday afternoon we went back over parts of this day's jaunt and filled in some of the gaps — but the Convention and Exhibition Centre wasn't considered worthy of a revisit.) Oh, and to cap it off, Warren's umbrella decided there and then to succumb to the elements. We had to laugh — and anyway, there was a shop inside the Centre that had a supply of umbrellas!

Next stop was Sogo, a big department store in a a shopping precinct. We jumped the bus here, and did a bit of shopping (not finding anything we wanted), but mainly taking in the atmosphere. The people of Hong Kong seem to have a shopping mania. And the footpaths — nothing like the 'keep to the left' policy we have at home — here, it seems to be just a mad scramble! And the traffic on the roads is no better! But the whole place is so alive — and more alive the later it gets in the day! The night time is simply frenetic!

Got back on the bus and continued round to 100 Queens Road Central, at the foot of the Central to Mid-Levels Escalator system up to the dormitory areas around the peak. These escalators are the world's largest system of outdoor undercover escalators, running over 800 metres, and rising 135 metres up a steep hillside. It is not one single escalator, but a system of 20, plus 3 inclined moving walkways. Riding the whole system one way takes about 25 minutes, which we did.

But we only came part way down, to Hollywood Road, where we walked about 800 metres eastward to the Buddhist Man Mo Temple, one of Hong Kong's oldest temples (dating from 1847), dedicated to gods of literature ('Man'), holding a writing brush, and of war ('Mo'). Fascinating, quiet, in spite of a continual visitations by tourists, for whom the temple simply commands quiet respect. Worshippers throughout the day ensure that the whole place is filled with incense.

Outside the temple we caught the Big Bus and used it to get back to the Star Ferry Terminal, and back to the hotel.

In the evening we were going to use the ferry to cross the harbour after dark — it's apparently quite spectacular. But before we did that, we went out onto the promenade looking out over the harbour, only to find out that this was the prime viewing position for 'A Symphony of Lights', a famed Hong Kong extravaganza where all the buildings opposite are linked to a central control, and their lights, which are individually spectacular, are all choreographed in synchronization with a musical sound track which is played through speakers around the viewing platform. Hang the ferry trip — this was going to be much better!! And it was!! You can get a good idea of it, in a slightly earlier incarnation, in this 10-minute YouTube clip.

After all this entertainment, it was time to pack our weary bodies back to the hotel for a good night's sleep!

27 May 2019. <HK> Hong Kong —

In Hong Kong. We were met at the airport by Alan, who gave us our tickets for Thursday's train ride to Shenzhenbei (on the way to Xi'an). He and his driver took us on a 45 minute chatty high-speed drive from the airport to our hotel. We're staying at the Royal Pacific Hotel in Kowloon for about 3 days. We've arranged various touring options around the city, partly with the Big Bus (a hop on, hop off bus tour of the city).

For lunch today we found a little hideaway Chinese restaurant. We only found it because of a little lady sitting on the pavement, touting for business. The photo gives you an Idea — there are two restaurants/cafés advertised with signage. It's neither of those! There's a little doorway hiding behind the work truck (you have no idea how much roadwork, gas work, who knows what else, is going on in Hong Hong!), and that leads to an elevator up to the seventh floor! The place was packed with Chinese — not a westerner in sight, which in itself is unusual, as Hong Kong seems to be a Mecca for international tourists and businessmen — and we got a very tasty meal (chicken and potato curry with steamed rice) for the princely sum of HKD 57, or about $10 Australian.

Tonight we walked up to the Temple Street Night Market, about a kilometer from our hotel. On the way we walked past and sussed out the Hong Kong West Kowloon Station, the new station from which we will be catching the high speed train to Shenzhen-bei early on Thursday morning, on our way to Xi'an. The station is huge, and eye-catching.

Anyway, the markets were alive, full of shoppers, and smelling of all kinds of exotic foods. Warren was able to buy a set of Sony noise-cancelling headphones, haggling the price down somewhat, but sternly resisting the shop-holders pressure to upgrade to a more expensive model (whose boosted bass would have utterly destroyed the classical music Warren likes to listen to), and also resisting the push to buy a fish-eye lens for the camera he was carrying!

At the end, somewhat footsore, we sat on a couple of stools on the footpath and indulged in some of the local food — some kind of deep-fried battered concoction, which Warren washed down with a little of the local beer. And a couple of ice creams as indulgence!

And then back to the Hotel for a well-earned sleep!

26 May 2019. <AU> Brisbane, Queensland —

We're off on another trip.

We met a young couple, Tom and Lauren, when we were camping in Bratislava. We have kept contact, and earlier this year we received a wedding invitation, for a celebration in Keighley (Yorkshire) on July 28. There was no way we would pass this up, so we are now on our way to the UK -- but we're taking the l-o-o-o-o-ng way to get there. So today we fly out to Hong Kong! We depart Brisbane at five minutes to Midnight!