Wulong, Adventures with dinosaur transformers PT1 December 2019

This trip has been on my China Bucket List for a very long time. I figured if I didn't go soon it wasn't going to happen at all. I booked a few days off work and set about trying to figure out how to get to this place in the middle of nowhere. 

As it turned out, it was all very smooth and civilised which went again almost all of my experiences traveling domestically in China. Convinced there was another shoe to drop, I was overly careful and prepared for anything. My flight in the evening arrived on time, taxi found the hotel no problem, picked up train tickets and left on time. Got to WuLong and jumped on the only bus around, found myself at the ticket building so I walked up the hill to my hotel in the hope of checking in early. This is where the plan went slightly squiggly. I found the hotel and a note stuck to the door "Claire, call this number" so I did. Turns out I was the only person staying in a  huge 5 floor hotel. The guy turned up, lets me into my room and then says he'll give me a lift back down the hill. Somewhere in the less than 5 minute drive, it was decided that I would be their guest at their families kill pig dinner in the mountains. An hour later we arrive at a farm house somewhere miles away from where we started. 
Everyone was a little confused about where the random foreigner had come from but they were nice enough and fed me. The hotel guy and his sister were very nice and patient with my Chinese and often translated from the various local languages for me. I was "force fed" cups of homemade honey flavored rice wine which was absolutely lovely. 

I was treated as a guest of honour and everyone was very worried about me being cold. I was expecting to be hiking so I was in shorts and boots. A little chilly but definitely not in need of the fire they insisted I sat next to. 

After the meal, I was dropped off at the first of the scenic areas The Three Natural Bridges. 


This place has been used for domestic films for years but only recently for anything not Chinese made. Transformers (I don't know which one) was filmed here and now there are statues and pictures of various robots just everywhere. Its fun turning a corner and being face with a dinosaur, or having  Optimus Prime point to the bus but I felt it gave the park a bit of a theme park like atmosphere. Only in places though so its fairly well contained. 

I was here at the beginning of December so very much off season. They park was very quiet and the shuttle buses almost deserted.

First you have to follow a path to a giant glass elevator and go down into the bottom of the gorge, then you keep going down millions of steps through the first of the three bridges to the temple. It is very impressive and very difficult to make sense of the scale of the place. It actually has two arches with a height of 84-123 meters (275-403 feet) and a span of 20-75 meters (66-246 feet), (I goggle that)

It is just massive! Annoyingly I was attacked by every Chinese woman wanting a photo with the foreigner, I was polite for the first dozen then started getting annoyed. The last few pictures are of my looking very pissed off, I don't think 20 minutes would be an exaggeration for this one just delightful group of grannies. Didn't stop again. 

Anyway, the path winds along the bottom of the gorge and through the bridges/arches along side a river. It was very quiet and empty for the most part so I didn't really feel the need to rush. I was in the bottom of the gorge for about 2 hours before I hiked out the far end and got back on the bus to the ticket building. 

I got back to the hotel and found out that the owner guy doesn't actually live that close by. He asked if he could just lock me in and go home. I was given the keys to the hotel, shown the kitchen for if I got hungry and taught how to use the TV. 

It felt like a scene from the Shining but at least it was quiet I suppose. 

Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur: National Day 2019

I have heard both rave and damning reviews for KL so I wasn't really sure what I was getting myself in for. All I knew, big city with lots going on which is generally my sort of place, so I cautiously booked 3 days to give the city a chance. 

As soon as I arrived, I realized I had underestimated the scale of the city. There are 3 possible airport, I was at the smallest, furthest away domestic airport. A full hours drive to the hostel. 

I took a recommendation for an area to stay which turned out to be a very good idea. I was about a 45 minute walk through the Indian district and a very confusing shopping center to the Petronus towers. I love curries, so I loved the food options and sampled many of the local eateries. 

KL is just exploding with shopping centers, some are so huge that they have joined onto others that were separate. I got lost every single time in the massive v shaped Central shopping center, which annoyingly only connected to other buildings or sides of the road, on certain floors. Many hours were passed truly frustrated staring at google maps. Until I found the bar of course then I at least had beer whilst I was lost. 

I was lucky as the weather was a bit cloudy so it wasn't too hot as I was wandering all over the city. 

At the bottom of the Petronas towers is a massive shopping center. In which I found a breathtaking bookshop. I love bookshop! They're just not the same in China, of course i can't read most of the books but the feel is just off. I can't explain it, there's just something missing. Anyway, this one has a large coffee shop complete with sofas and the best selection I've seen outside of England! 

Add to that, the import supermarket in the basement and I was in heaven. I actually stopped in my tracks because of a cheese counter. Much to the amusement of people around me. So I stocked up on my marmite and books fill and moved on. 

Most of my time in KL I was just wandering about, occasionally stopping for something to eat or a breath of fresh air-con. I have no idea what people were complaining about. Yes, it's a big city so it's full of people and cars. Traffic is a nightmare and the buses are an absolute mystery but I loved it!  think my three days could easily have become many more and I would have still had things to find and see. 

Sadly national day is only a 7 day break so I had to head back home to keep teaching the kids.

 

Malaysia: Penang. National Day 2019

This trip was a bit of a lucky break in that I still had some discount codes for previously cancelled flights that were about to expire, and a new direct flight to Penang from Kunming was still in its early days and so cheap. Combine the two and a very reasonable National Day Trip materialised.

Mam and Dad have spent years talking about Penang. Then some friends of mine went and just loved it too. Jealousy being a big problem of mine, I shuffled it to the top of my travel list and am very glad that I did.

I spent 3 days in Penang before going to Kuala Lumpur for the reminder of the week. So a fast introduction to the country but a very good first impression.

I stayed in Georgetown in a very nice little guesthouse with a very efficient landlady. She basically wrote daily itineraries for me to follow ensuring I got as much in as possible. I did maybe half of what she recommended but loved it.

Penang has a reputation for being a food lovers paradise so my first task was to find the food! I lost count of the number of prawns (which are my favourite) I managed to fit into my three days but it was well into double figures.

I felt most of the charm of Penang could be found when just walking about in the old town and getting lost. Luckily its not too big so you either hit water or a main road and can reorientate pretty easily.

As I always do, the first day is just wandering about and getting the lay of the land. Second day is when I actually go in search of something. This was my Penang Hill day with ultimate goal to get to the beach on the other side of the island. I managed the first only but for very good reasons.

Penang Hill is pretty much as it says on the tin; a hill that overlooks Penang. To get to the top is a 20 minute rollercoaster ride on the worlds steepest funicular railway, (I googled: Length: 907 meters (2,976 ft) Height: 319 meters (1,047 ft) Maximum Steepness: 50.5%), which on the way up was impressive, on the way down however was terrifying. 

At the top, as well as some stunning views, is a small collection of wacky museums designed purely to occupy a bit more time, some restaurants and a path to a new "wilderness walk". intrigued, I followed the signs and got to a ticket office, paid and walked out onto one of the few canopy treetop walkways in Asia. 

I suspect, as you had to pay extra, most people didn't bother because I nearly had the whole walkway to myself. Its a newly completed wildlife awareness and conservation charity run "habitat" that really is quite stunning. There are currently 5 pathways (I think) that all connect in a bit of a spiderweb design. Every now and again, there are swings or bridges with a huge structure at the top. I loved it! 
This was the reason I didn't make it to the beach, as I got completely sidetracked and spend over 2

hours in the quiet and chilled out treetops. 

My final evening in Penang, i spent wandering about looking for the famous street art. 

All in all, I was very taken with the small part (Georgetown) that I saw and have made it a permanent feature on the "to go bad to" list. 

Penang to KL is a very short and very cheap flight, or a 5 hour bus. I chose the flight! 

Taiwan Take 2: Summer 2019

The end of my summer brought around another trip to Taiwan. AS I have been before, knew I liked it so I was pretty damn excited.

I met Dan in Taipei which, after the chaos of Indonesian Ferries and Singapore Subways, just felt so well organised. We arrived when we were supposed to and nothing was delayed or held up.

We hadn't really been able to get reliable or consistent information on how much time is needed for each place so we decided to play by ear and plan as we went around. Our ultimate goal was Sun Moon Lake in the middle of the Island which, according to Dan, is where the Taiwanese tourists like to holiday.

We spent a few days in Taipei taking in the tourist things, my favourite of which was the cable car up MaoKong Hill/Mountain. The trip itself was a little unremarkable but the view from the little bar around from the arrival station more than made up for it. We spent so long there that it got to the point we could stay there for sunset with not much waiting. So we did and it was definitely a good idea.

From Taipei we went north to JuiFen which is a small ancient town which claims to be in inspiration for the Studio Ghibli "Spirited Away."Now I have never seen the film and neither had Dan so we didn't really know what to expect. What we found was the best hostel I have ever stayed in, and an alright town. The place was rammed with tour groups just before sunset and in the early morning, but other than that, we were pretty lucky and had the place to nearly ourselves. Max and Osmond sent us off on the local train for the day where we stopped at a cat village, which was Dan's choice, and a waterfall which was mine. The village was a weird jumble of streets which were nearly all coffee shops. We wandered about a bit and had a coffee before getting on the train to the next place.
The waterfall as it turned out was manmade but still quite nice. It was a short walk through the train street and down a very uneventful road to get to the entrance of the park. Once inside it was a bit nicer walking along the river and over some very unsafe feeling bridges to the falls. Small but still pretty.

By this point we were hot and hungry and so battled our way back to the train.


From JiuFen, we had to head back to Taipei before getting a train to TaiChung on the west side of the island.

All we knew was that we needed to get a bus from there to get to the lake. Our trip was pretty much all made up as we went along. The city itself was nothing special and we left the following morning on the bus.

3 hours later were at the lake. Luckily for us, the weather has taken turn for the more miserable so we hunkered down in a bar and ignored the rain.

The lake itself was busy and full of boats or cruises. There is a small ferry that bounces between three different points on the lake; the side we were staying on, a weird temple place and a second small town on the opposite side with a cable car up the hill. Cable cars are always fun, so that's where we went.

This was a definite case of the journey being more impressive than the destination as it dropped us off at the entrance to a theme/water park. ten minutes later, we were back on the cable car heading back to the ferry port.

As trips go, this was another very speedy blast about the island but I still love the place. My trip was cut short but another typhoon, so I left a few days early back to Kunming and the start of the new year.