Enjoying this time of year in Mexico

First of all, yes, we know that there has been some kind of glitch accessing this blog. But if you're reading this then you've obviously got through it. 

This happened once before, a few months ago, and it resolved itself on its own after a couple of days. Hopefully this time will be the same.

I'm pretty sure we've made our decision...

The other day, our blog post went over some of the different types of vehicles that we were looking at as possibilities for our South American motorhome or campervan.

Well it didn't take much research to narrow the list of possibilities.

How much did it cost for three weeks in China?

We recently spent three weeks in four different regions of China. We arrived in Chengdu, then took the train to Xi'an, then flew to Zhangjiajie, then took the train to Guilin.

I won't include the cost of getting to and from China. That's useless information, because it depends on where you're coming from and going to! And this doesn't include our three days in Hong Kong.

Sunday market day

They were calling for a thunderstorm after lunch, so we got out early and did our five km (3 mile) power walk around our nearby town of El Arco.

It's not a nature walk, but I commented to Ruth yesterday that it's much more interesting than the same distance walk we used to do every day when we were house sitting near Ottawa the last few years.

It's definitely going to be fun designing and having an RV built exactly the way we want it!

Our original plan was to take Igor to South America, provided we were happy with him so far. But we've decided that Igor isn't the right vehicle. He'll do fine for us this coming winter in Central America, but South America presents a new set of problems.

The first problem is shipping him from Panama to either Venezuela or Colombia. 

Two projects on the go...

So, we're going to be here at home in Valle de Bravo for almost four weeks, and I've got two large internet research projects on the go. I actually started them while we were enduring the heat in Japan and we were stuck indoors most of the time.

At our location here in Mexico, there is no heat to endure. However it is rainy season, and we do average a couple of hours of rain every day. 

Happy to be home!

Having not had a "home" to come back to for almost twenty years, it's a bit of an odd feeling. The anticipation of going on a trip has always been there during that time, but we've never really had that feeling of "oh, I can't wait to get home" for a really long time.

But that feeling was strong over the past week, and now here we are!

Not sure when you'll hear from us again

We've got a travel marathon coming up over the next 48 hours or so. 

We have a three hour train ride to Narita Airport tomorrow morning, then at 3:45pm in the afternoon we have an almost nine hour flight to Vancouver... where we will arrive at 8:45am... the same day!

How do we search for accommodation and trains etc?

The other day, someone asked how we search for things like accommodation, trains, airfare etc. I think they were asking regarding our China trip, but this applies to any country really.

In doing the research for China specifically, I kept coming up with references to www.trip.com. And I knew of trip.com, but hadn't used it before. 

Always something to look forward to

We're using this time in Kofu to just relax and take it easy, although we have managed to get out a little bit just for the sake of getting out. Despite the high temperatures. Actually, yesterday was only a high of 31C (88F), so much more bearable.

It's actually funny how 31C feels not bad when you've been dealing with 36 or 37C!

China... the good, the bad... and the ugly!

I wanted to get this written while the trip was relatively fresh in my mind.

We spent three weeks in China... our first ever visit. But I can tell you right off the top that it likely won't be our last.

Grocery shopping in Japan

Thursday was another baking hot day. We eventually made it outside into the 36C (97F) heat to walk to a different grocery store than the one we had been at the day we arrived in Kofu.

This one didn't have great reviews, and yet we found it to be well stocked, if not a little pricier than the one the day before.

The morning in Tokyo, then train to Kofu

One of the things we're getting tired of is restaurant meals. More specifically, finding ones that suit our tastes and our budget while keeping Ruth's gluten free status in mind.

It's truly a job, especially in some of these Asian countries. So for breakfast yesterday, we kept our expectations low and did the hotel buffet.

Welcome to Japan... country #77

We were up at 6:00am Tuesday morning and had a short walk in spitting rain to get to the airport bus stop where we only had to wait about five minutes for the bus. It was a really convenient way to get from Hong Kong's central Kowloon Peninsula to the airport.

We checked in at the brand new Terminal 2 (it only opened at the end of May) for our HK Express flight to Tokyo.

Hong Kong from above, and Hong Kong at night

Monday morning we took the ferry across the harbor to Hong Kong Island. The ferry is very cheap and it's a nine minute ride to cross the harbor. So it gives you some great views from the water.

Hong Kong has a magnificent skyline!

A hot day in Hong Kong

We're not really here at the right time of year, but it was what coincided with our time in this part of the world, so here we are. The right time of year for Hong Kong would have been December through February.

July is too hot, so the hiking opportunities in the hills surrounding Hong Kong will have to wait for another visit. In the meantime, there's lots to see in the city in between breaks with air conditioning!

Welcome to Hong Kong... country #76

"Now wait a minute..." I can hear some of you saying. "Hong Kong is part of China".

While this is technically true, in reality Hong Kong is a country. You have to go through border control from China to Hong Kong or vice versa. Hong Kong has its own currency. They even send their own team to the Olympics.

A great last day in China with spectacular views

The sun decided to make an appearance during our last day in China, and it came out at exactly the right time as some of the photos below will show.

We decided to take a Didi taxi all the way to the ancient village of Xingping. There, we learned that the tour boats were allowed back on the water, but by this time we had already decided that the really good views weren't from the water at all.

We had fun touring around for the day on an "electric bicycle"...

Yesterday I mentioned that we were okay with missing the boat trip that we came here for. It turns out that much of the scenery that you can see by boat can also be seen from many of the paths that line the river.

So we rented an "electric bicycle" which in reality is not a bicycle of any kind... we would call it a scooter.

Even without the boat tour, the scenery is great

On Wednesday, we walked into the small city of Yangshuo itself. Very much a tourist town, but kinda fun to wander around. 

And it's located right at the end of the section of the Li River where they normally do the boat cruises from Guilin.

More exploring around Yanghsuo, China

We waited out the rain in the morning, and then headed back out to do some more exploring. We didn't have a lot of success though! We tried to find a hiking trail, and when we did there was a sign at the entrance saying there had been a landslide and it was closed. 

Then we went to a cave that was open to the public, but it was so commercialized (with colored lights etc.) that we didn't think we would enjoy it for the price.

Flooding cancelled our boat trip...

The plan was to arrive in Guilin, spend a night there, and then be at the docks by 9:00am to do a four hour boat cruise down the Li River to Yangshou and our next accommodation. This is a very popular cruise through some of China's most amazing scenery.

But Typhoon Maysak had other plans for us.

Seven hour high speed train ride in 1st Class

When I booked the three different trains that we'll be taking in China, I had noticed that the price difference between 2nd Class and 1st Class wasn't huge. So just for fun, when I booked the Zhangjiajie to Guilin leg, I hit the 1st Class button just for the experience.

Plus, this leg was for a full seven hours, so better to be as comfortable as possible!

How do we pay for things in China?

Another iffy day from a weather perspective. We decided not to enter the main part of the park. Kinda felt like we needed a bit of a break from the crowds, although we felt bad not using one more day of the park pass. 

Actually, we did try to use it again at another area near the guest house, but it turned out the pass we had wasn't valid for that area and we felt we had spent enough, so we just turned around and went for a walk around town.

Wulingyuan Scenic Area Part 2

They sell a four day pass, which is the one we bought because it was the best value even though we were only planning on using it for three days. But really, you only need two days in the park. Even though the scenery is spectacular, it gets to the point where you feel like you're seeing the same thing over and over.

The weather wasn't getting any better, but the worst of it was over by noon. So just before lunch, our hostess here at the guest house drove us over to the East Gate entrance, and we took a bus to a lower hiking area where we set off on a 6 km (3.7 mile) walk following a river.

The amazing Wulingyuan Scenic Area

Once again the weather wasn't looking great, so we didn't get an early start. But by 10:00am we had been down to the lobby where our hostess arranged our tickets to the park and she drove us over to the East gate park entrance for 11:00am.

We ended up buying a four day pass that includes all transportation inside the park including the cable cars.

This area is a bucket list item!

The main reason for coming to the Zhangjiajie area is for the two national parks... Tianmen Mountain, and Wulingyuan.

Ever since I saw photos of Wulingyuan National Park many years ago, this area has been a bucket list item.

Well that was a pleasant suprise!

Tuesday was a travel day. We were going from the city of Xi'an to the city of Zhangjiajie. The original plan was trying to travel between locations using China's efficient high speed train network, but when I went to book it, the route was a bit complicated and I found out that China Eastern Airlines does a direct flight.

So I booked us on the hour and a half domestic flight from Xi'an to Zhangjiajie.