International – Jim's travels

China & Hong Kong 2026

May 16, 2026May 20, 2026 by theholmesteader, posted in China, China, International, Intrepid Travel

Once again, I used the excellent facilities provided by Kenneth MacLeod Travel to arrange this trip. With the help of their representative, Michelle Gemmell, flight arrangements were quickly adapted to suit the changing conditions created by the conflict in the Middle East. I had originally booked to travel with Emirates through Dubai to Melbourne, but this was no longer possible, which could have resulted in me cancelling my trip. Michelle stepped up to the mark and was able to get me rerouted through Kuala Lumpur to Melbourne, where I planned to stay with my son Graeme and his wife Briony for 4 weeks before moving on to Beijing. This part of the trip went really well; I had a great time with them and met up with many friends during my time there. You can read all about that part of the trip in an upcoming post.

On arrival at Melbourne Airport, I discovered at check-in that my Air China flight was fully booked, and I was unable to get an aisle seat. I said my goodbyes to Graeme & Briony at the security gate, thanking them for hosting me for what was a brilliant month.

Due to the full flight, being unable to get an aisle seat was a bit of a letdown. My seat in a row of 4 was quite cramped to say the least, the entertainment choices were very limited (unless you like Chinese movies), and the lady in the aisle seat fell asleep right away, trapping me for almost all of the flight.

Saturday 11th April – Beijing

I arrived in Beijing Capital International Airport fairly early on Saturday morning, and was quite pleased to be able to stretch my legs after almost 12 hours in a cramped aircraft seat. After spending an hour and a half to get through the usual immigration, baggage collection and customs rigmarole, I entered the arrival hall expecting to see my name amongst the many displayed by the many waiting transfer drivers. Despite going around several times and getting assistance from a couple of waiting drivers (with the help of Google Translate), it looked like I was on my own. I reviewed my options,

I could wait at the airport until Jim arrived, some 14 hours later
Try to contact Michelle to arrange another pickup
Jump into an airport taxi to the hotel

I chose option 3 (no surprise there) and was quickly whisked into the city to my hotel by a friendly and helpful driver; he even waited around until I could get some cash to pay him. I found the experience of using the taxi service to be honest and efficient, and at no time did I feel that I was being exploited or messed around in an expensive service.

When I arrived at the Grand Millennium Hotel, in the centre of Beijing’s CBD, it was too early to check in, so I left my luggage with the concierge and went for a walk around the area and to get a feel for my time in mainland China. To be honest, it was not in any way what I had expected. I was unprepared for how quiet, peaceful, clean and friendly it was; everyone I spoke to was extremely welcoming and friendly. After a bit of shopping and lunch, I returned to the hotel and eventually checked into our large, spacious and comfortable room on the 19th floor. Thinking about my experience with the lack of the expected transfer, I thought it best for me to return to the airport to help Jim get sorted, so after a short rest, I went to the nearby subway station and took the train to the Airport Express line straight there, again I found this to be a very good, inexpensive and efficient service.

Just like me, it took Jim the same time to clear immigration, etc., before he emerged into the arrival hall, and I think he was quite pleased to see me waiting for him. He told me later that he did not find solo travelling to be much fun.

What surprised us both was the appearance of both transfer drivers to collect us, although mine was some 14 hours late, and after much discussion between them, we eventually made our way back to the hotel, where we caught up with each other’s travel tales over a welcome glass of wine before bed beckoned.

Sunday 12th April – Beijing

A good night’s sleep and a good hotel breakfast set us up for our first full day in Beijing. After reviewing a map of the city, we made our plans for the day, including the places we wished to visit, ensuring that we wouldn’t visit any that we would visit on our forthcoming tour. We thought we would use the city’s metro system to get around, and following our day’s travels, I would highly recommend it. The service is extensive, with 30 routes and 423 stations, the staff are very friendly and helpful, and the tickets are cheap and easy to obtain from the concourse machines or from manned ‘self-service’ booths. The station nearest our hotel, Jintai Xizhao, on Line 10 of the Beijing metro system, was very similar to Glasgow’s 15-station Subway in that it runs as a loop; however, with 45 stations, it is a slightly larger loop.

After obtaining a wonderful map from the hotel concierge, we selected a few places to visit. For our first outing, we chose to go to Area 796. Named after the 798 factory, which was built in the 1950s, the 798 Art District is located in the northeast corner of Beijing. It is also known as the Dashanzi Art District (DAD) because it is located in the Dashanzi zone. Characterised by modern art, it has become the exhibition centre of Chinese culture and art and a world-famous centralised area for the cultural and creative industries. For me, this was a good choice, after a wonderful coffee in the Coffee Museum and some shopping in the quirky shops, I found some of the city’s only murals, loads of unusual bars and cafes, all spotlessly clean and well maintained. Being a Sunday, it was full of families taking in the sights in bright sunshine, and after sampling a couple of the local craft beers in a fun bistro, we returned to the subway for our next stop.

For this visit, we chose to go to the Lama Temple. I don’t know if this was to relive our visits to such places when we were in India and Sri Lanka, or whether it was the nearest on the map, but we are glad we went. After paying an inexpensive entrance fee, we were handed a bunch of incense sticks before making our way through the various temples, before reaching the final one, which holds Beijing’s latest golden Buddha, which stands at 26 metres (85 feet) tall and is carved from a single piece of white sandalwood. It really was a most impressive visit and one we both enjoyed.

After we visited the temple, it was time for lunch, and this is where we came across a problem that many international travellers experience in China. International credit cards are not routinely accepted in China; they prefer to use Alipay or WeChat, so cash became the preferred method of payment for us. Another problem was that many restaurants we encountered required you to order through an installed app with the payment method attached. Looking for a wee rest and some lunch, we gave in and went to a Costa Coffee shop, which did accept our Visa card.

Back on our wanderings again, we headed to see the Drum and Bell towers, but unfortunately, due to it being a Sunday, the area was closed to the public. Our next choice from the map, the Houhai Lakes, was also out of our reach, as we were unsure how to use the local bus system (you may notice latee that we visited these areas before we left Beijing). By the time we discovered this, it was time to head into the city centre to hit the main shopping street, Wangfujing Shopping Street. This turned out to be a busy and vibrant area after dark, when groups of people gather to dance, some in traditional costumes. It was great fun to watch, especially when members of the public joined in. The street is home to many of the world’s upmarket brands, many of them fronting large malls full of interesting shops and restaurants. Feeling the need for some refreshments, we visited the West Central Mall, where on the 5th floor of the Mandarin Oriental hotel we found Mo’s bar, we decided to forego the £650.00 room and settled for a couple of beers instead, once refreshed and rested, we went back onto the street in search of the fabled street food, which we were unable to find, so it was back into one of the mall for a lovely meal before heading for our hotel. Jim was really pleased while on the street to find the Lego store and a Starbucks next door to each other, so this year’s Dan Challenge was completed early and easily, unlike last year’s Alaskan venture.

Monday 13th April – Beijing

After a leisurely breakfast, we returned to our room to repack our luggage and get ready to check out of the Grand Millennium. We were sorry to be leaving this hotel, but it was soon time to leave and to make our way to the Chongwenmen Hotel to join our tour group. A short, inexpensive taxi ride quickly got us there, and after checking in to our much smaller, but perfectly adequate room, we went out to explore our new part of the city. The Chongwen District of the city was so different to the big modern buildings of the CBD; surrounding our hotel were large shopping malls, shops and restaurants, especially bakeries, the city is full of them. One lucky find for us was the Red Star bakery just along the street from the hotel; their version of a Pastel de Nata was really something special.

Aware that we needed to be back in the hotel for our welcome meeting, we decided to stay as close to the hotel as possible. For our first visit, we chose to visit the Hongqiao Pearl Market. This turned out to be a large bustling market with many interesting things on display, but with the constant touting and the need for aggressive haggling, we decided to leave and go somewhere gentler.

Having heard so much about it, we took to the subway system and headed to Qianmen Street, this restored street with features reflecting the area’s 600-year-old history, is full of quaint shops alongside the many tourist souvenir shops, cafes and restaurants, all in traditional buildings. All along the street, which leads you to the edge of Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, is lined with impressive bronze sculptures of characters from the past. Off the street, it looked like they were gearing up for a festival of some sort, as they were erecting stalls, stands and stages. This was a really good place to visit, Jim was delighted to find a post office where he spent some time buying a range of bright, colourful postage stamps.

All too soon, it was time to leave and return to the hotel, where we had a short rest before going to meet the rest of the group we would be sharing our Intrepid Beijing to Hong Kong adventure with. Unfortunately, Doris Wang, our tour guide, was unable to attend the meeting, so a representative from Intrepid came along instead. After this brief meeting, a few of us decided to venture out for a meal. On finding a nice noodle bar, we made our choices and had a lovely meal.

**Our Route through China to Hong Kong**

Tuesday 14th April – Beijing – Great Wall

In the morning, we were met by Doris, our Intrepid tour leader and the rest of the group. This is a mixed group, we have the Christian & Julia from Reading, Magugu & Mumbi from the USA, Medina from London, Galway girl Ciarraí, Cailin from Melbourne, and of course Jim & I from Glasgow. Doris came across as a bright and bubbly personality, and from first impressions, it looked like we would all get on very well.

Once the introductions were over, Doris took us through the plans for the next few days as we made our way north to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall, for about 2 hours by private coach. We travelled to this section as it is known for being one of the best-preserved parts of the Great Wall and is popular for having fewer crowds than the other available sections. On arrival, we had the choice of walking up or going on a cable car; we wisely chose to go by cable car up to one of the watch towers. When you consider that it would take 18 months to walk its complete length, we decided it would be sufficient to walk and climb a short and not too steep section. Our stopping point was the Zhengguantai Pass, which is a historic pass once used as a defensive stronghold. Its watchtower design and panoramic mountain views make it an ideal spot for us to linger and take our photographs. Walking through its stone pathways, you could almost feel the echoes of the ancient builders who created this masterpiece and the soldiers who walked before us.

The cable car and toboggan facility at the wall reminded me of the Luge in New Zealand and Singapore, which I enjoyed, but both Jim and I were disappointed to discover that we couldn’t go down on the toboggan as we are over 60 years old.

For lunch, we visited a buffet restaurant where we were able to sample the many regional dishes on offer before boarding the coach for our return to Beijing, with a brief stop at Taetea for a tea tasting session. This was great fun as the lady who presented it was a wee bit cheeky, continually making jokes as she served the many different teas. Not being a tea drinker, most of it was lost on me, but many in the group were impressed enough to buy some tea and accessories, which I did like. For our next stop, Doris had pre-booked tickets for a Sichuan Acrobatic show in the afternoon. This show was spectacular, the performances were unbelievable, extremely skilful, it had it all, acrobatics showing great strength and flexibility, extreme balancing acts, all topped off with a fantastic motorcycle display where 5 riders entered a large metal globe for a wall of death display.

This very full day was completed when Doris guided us to Du Wan Ju, a local restaurant for a Peking Duck dinner, which was glorious, with the added benefit of Doris giving us a demonstration on how to create the perfect pancakes. We thought that we would only have the duck served, but what arrived was a veritable banquet with course after course of delicious food. We were all surprised when the bill arrived, as the whole meal was extremely inexpensive.

Wednesday 15th April – Beijing – Xi’an

We had another early start this morning, having to check out at 7 am, leaving our luggage behind as we made our way to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Before leaving home, We left early to try to miss the crowds, but even then, it was still mobbed. Security is very tight in the area, and the checks were more stringent than airport ones; plus, as we moved through the complex, we had to go through further checks. Every time we stopped to let others catch up, we were moved on by the security detail. Due to a visiting dignitary, Tiananmen Square was closed for security reasons, so we could only see it in the distance as we passed along in front of Mao’s mausoleum.

After passing through another security check, we made our way through the courtyards to view the many staterooms, again, unfortunately we were unable to go into them, viewing them only from the outside, which somewhat diminished our visit. I think we would have needed to spend more time than our tour allowed to visit the exhibitions.

Leaving the Forbidden City behind, we boarded a local bus (another excellent service) to the area around the Houhai Lake, where we stopped for a coffee before visiting the Drum and Bell Towers. These towers, built in 1272 & 1420, were an early method of telling time; the bell would ring at dawn, and the drum would sound at nightfall. Jim and some others from the group climbed the drum tower. He told me later that the stairs were very steep, but the climb was worth it, as at the top there was an interesting museum of timepieces, and there were also great views over the city showing the meridian line running from north to south through the city.

Whilst the group went climbing, I sat in the park in the sunshine, watching the locals playing games and exercising, where I was joined by a young Chinese man, Eisen, who wanted to speak with me in an attempt to improve his English. We chatted for half an hour about all sorts of things. He wanted to learn about Scotland, and I wanted to know more about life in China. We had more experience of this when we all went for a stroll around the lake. We were approached by 2 girls who wanted to teach us a Chinese song and then film us performing it. We certainly drew some looks from the crowds around us as we sang our hearts out.

We returned to the hotel to collect our luggage, then made our way to the Beijing West Railway Station for our Overnight train to Xi’an. The train, which was configured in the same style as those I had travelled in whilst in Vietnam, was very good indeed. It was spotlessly clean, very quiet, and the onboard facilities were excellent. Jim & I shared a cabin with Christian and Julia, and after sitting chatting for a while, we all settled down for a reasonable night’s sleep. As we left Beijing, Doris told us that we would arrive in Xi’an at 08:23 am. We were a bit sceptical about this, but we were proved wrong when we did indeed arrive bang on schedule at 08:23. All in all, this journey was a good experience.

Thursday 16th April– Xi’an

On arrival, we dropped our luggage off at the hotel before driving out of Xi’an to visit the Terracotta Warriors

We left the hotel early to try to avoid the crowds, stopping off for lunch at a restaurant that was more like a family home. Once again, there was food in plentiful supply, and we all had great fun with the candied balls, each of us lifting higher to see who could get the longest candy thread. The family looked as though they were extremely proud to be serving us such wonderful food.

On reaching the Terracotta Warriors site, we found that our early start was in vain as there were massive crowds, at times, you felt that you were standing about 8 rows back from viewing rails, but a discreet and well-administered Glasgow elbow got me through to the front to get a better view. We started our tour at Pit 3, the smallest of the three pits. I think this is a good representation of the whole place, just on a very small scale. Part of the uncovered section still has warriors and horses in fragments, and you could see signs that a restoration team was painstakingly putting them back together again, and I could see some in various stages of restoration. I could see the benefit of visiting the pits in reverse. Pit 3 was really cool and interesting, but it would have been less impressive had I seen Pit 2 first, as most of this pit is still underground, but they’ve used X-ray or something to see where and what everything is. There were a great many on display, while you could see large areas where they are yet to be uncovered, I was told that they are trying to preserve them with their original colours, as the pigments fade as soon as they are exposed to the light.

Then I went over to Pit 1. This is actually where it all started about 40 years ago. Some village farmers were digging a well when they found some pottery, and on further inspection and digging the discovered this hidden treasure. Pit 1 is enormous, and with the exception of the main entrance, it was relatively uncrowded, so I was able to walk completely around the pit and take pictures from all angles. In fact, I took so many photographs that it was difficult to decide which ones to include here.

Before leaving the complex, we were taken to meet Yang Zhifa, one of the farmers who discovered the site with his brothers. He was a really nice man who made us most welcome.

On our return to Xi’an we checked in to our accommodation, The Days Inn Central, got cleaned up and had a short siesta before venturing out with Doris to the Muslin quarter, a bright and vibrant part of the city’s night scene, we wandered around taking in the sights, sampling some street food before visiting a restaurant whose speciality was XiAn JiaSan Tangbao Zi Guan (HuiMin Jie), these are dumplings with soup inside, and once again, as we have found in China, meals are never simple affairs, there is always copious amounts of food, I must admit though that the concept of soup filled dumplings was a new one on me, soup dumplings have actual liquid soup/broth inside, so when you bite into the dumpling, there is a gush of hot liquid, and then you get to the filling, they were delicious. We were glad to get back to the hotel after such a busy and packed day.

Friday 17th April – Xi’an

For our free day in Xi’an, we decided to walk the city walls. The walls are very impressive, at over 14 km long, 12 metres high and 15metres wide. We started our walk at the North Gate and after watching all the girls in colourful traditional costumes getting their photographs taken, we climbed onto the wall hoping to find the bicycle hire shop, we met with Medina and Ciarraí from our group and continued walking together, we came across a guy who wished to speak with us, telling us that he was an English teacher and wished to hear the language as spoken by native speakers, he was a very nice guy and amazed us all by quoting Shakespeare at us. We eventually found the cycle hire shop, only to be told that we were too old to hire a bike. Disgruntled and discovering that there were very few exits, we all left the walls at the first opportunity and made our way to the Grand Mosque of Xi’an, passing through an area where fake cherry blossom trees were adorned with little messages of love, and more girls were posing in traditional costumes. Once we reached the mosque, we were a bit disappointed as we had arrived at the start of daily prayers, so we couldn’t enter the prayer hall, but it was pleasant strolling through the grounds.

Whilst in the Muslin Quarter we decided to visit the restaurant we had dinner in the previous evening, when we requested our food choices we were told that it was unavailable, we thought this strange until we were told, by using Google Translate, that the kitchen was closed, so we made our way back to the hotel for a quick siesta before joining Doris and the group to make our way to the Empress of Tang Dynasty music and dance show and Dumpling Banquet. On entering the theatre, we were shown to our table and presented with a never-ending supply of food, with emphasis on the many types of dumplings. This was a colourful display with many of them shaped like little animals, such as green frogs, brown hedgehogs, etc. During our meal, we were entertained by a troupe of actors and dancers replicating the rise and prosperity of the Tang Dynasty, accompanied by a classical orchestra, and individual solo pieces by talented musicians, especially the Pan Pipe player (at least, that’s what Doris told us). The performance includes stunning dances, live traditional Chinese orchestra music, and elaborate costumes, creating an immersive historical experience. This really was an enjoyable experience and one not to be missed when in Xi’an.

I didn’t take too many photographs while here. After our dinner, I was too engrossed in the show and forgot to take any. I have included a YouTube video which provides highlights of the show.

(Thanks to @aroundtheworld4723 for the video)

Visits to Xi’an’s highlights are never-ending, so after the show ended, we travelled by public transport to see the Wild Goose Pagoda, which looked fabulous at night, lit up. The Pagoda was near our next stop, the Great Tang Ever Bright City, a large mall, at over 1500 x 500 metres. The pedestrian street is brightly lit at night, and is crowded with people, many in traditional costume, again, a must-visit place while in Xi’an.

Saturday 18th April – Chengdu – Mount Qingcheng

Up and at em’ again this morning as we made our way to the station to catch our train to Chengdu, where on arrival we boarded our bus to take us up to the Taoist holy mountain, Mount Qingcheng. On the way, Doris handed out great big mandarin-type oranges grown by our driver; they were delicious. Mount Qingcheng and the Tai’an Ancient Town, where the Anping Hotel sat on the riverside, was our stopping point. This hotel is glorious, we were allocated a large, spacious and well-equipped suite with balconies overlooking the river. We found this mountain tourist town to be full of local tourists, and it looked like we were the only foreign visitors. We found the local people and shopkeepers to be super friendly and welcoming, although I must admit that I didn’t like the look of the smoked meats on display. While the main part of the group took a trip up the mountain and trekked back down, Jim and I stayed in the village soaking up the sights and meeting the locals, having fun on Tonglinggou Bridge, the large swaying rope bridge in the town, we quickly made a friend in the lady who ran the store that sold beer and Baijiu Chinese Whiskey, which Mumbi from our group asked us to source.

On the group’s return, we gathered for a meal in the hotel, and yet again it was a veritable feast with an endless stream of dishes arrayed on a Lazy Susan. This was a great way to experience authentic regional Chinese food. The addition of the local beer and Baijiu carried on into the night, and it was an enjoyable way to come together as a group.

Sunday 19th April – Mount Qingcheng

The food experience continued the following morning when we were served a Chinese breakfast, which consisted mainly of vegetables and Congee rice porridge, which Jim loved.

This set us up nicely for our return to Chengdu to pay a much-anticipated visit to the Dujiangyan Giant Panda Base. This park, with around 40 giant pandas and 5 red pandas, they even had a couple of orphaned brown bears. This was an ideal place to see giant pandas in a natural habitat. We were lucky to get up close to a large number of pandas; however, we were unable to see any red pandas. As we were there in the morning, the pandas were quite active, sitting outside their enclosures munching their way through piles of bamboo for breakfast, one little youngster delighted with its antics, climbing the trees and just having fun, it was also interesting to see 2 brothers in the same area, and just how different they behaved, one was quite shy and reserved, while the other as a bit more active annd boisterous.

Everything in the park was panda-related, from the souvenirs on sale, our ice cream was also panda-shaped, and it was delicious and most welcome in the heat of the day. There is a volunteer programme where you can get up close and personal with the pandas, gaining an understanding of the entire process of giant panda breeding and conservation, and experience the daily life of a panda caretaker, plus help make panda snacks. Due to the nature of our tour, we were unable to take part in this, had we wished.

Again, I took so many photographs while here, it was difficult to choose which ones to include.

After our visit to the Pandas, we made our way into the city where we checked into our hotel, the Chengdu Furong Hotel in the city centre. Again after a short rest, we gathered to make our way to Shoo Loong Kan for a hotpot lunch, this meal was highly anticipated and didn’t disappoint, Doris made a wise choice to split our hotpot into three broths, with the traditional really hot chilli, plus tomato and mushroom varieties, we each made our own sauce from a variety of available sauces, herbs, vegetables and spices, before adding the various meats and vegetables into the respective broths, we quickly realised that the chilli version was a little bit too spicy for us, so the tomato and mushroom ones went down well with us westerners. This method of serving a meal, similar to the Sukiyaki meals I experienced in Japan, was another memorable meal in China.

After lunch, we set off for Tainfu Square, but when it started to rain on our walk, we abandoned that idea and went to the nearby People’s Park to see the local population enjoying their Sunday playing music and singing in bands dotted about the park, and playing Chinese Chess and Mahjong. It was fun to be taken to the Matchmaking Corner, which is famous for parents seeking partners for their children, pinning resumes on frames, pink for girls and blue for boys. We strolled through a bonsai garden to Heming’s, one of the traditional tea houses to make our choices from the wide list of available teas and cakes, Jim was particularly taken by the Chrysanthemum tea, which went well with the tiramisu style cake he chose, I however was disappointed that there was no coffee on offer, something that I have noticed whilst in China, we coffee drinkers are somewhat neglected, with only chains like Starbucks or Lucken Coffee available. We were all delighted to see a demonstration of the traditional art of long spout tea pouring.

From the park we made our way, by a couple of taxis (while Doris cycled), to the Sichuan Cultural Opera show. This truly was another experience not to be missed, our entrance ticker entitled us to a free gift, a massage or an ear cleaning session, we both chose not to have the ear cleaning, Jim chose the gift of a nice tote bag, while, just like Christian, I elected to have the neck and back massage to ease my tight right shoulder, after a good work and a pummelling, I left feeling much better and ready to see the show. Our seats, around a tea table, where we were served with copious amounts of tea, and large supplies of sunflower seeds, while we watched the show, which blends acrobatics, puppetry, music, dance and the famous local art of face changing, again a truly wonderful experience.

On our return to the hotel, tired and weary after such a long and busy day, it was wonderful to find, directly across from the hotel, a bar serving local craft beers; a glass of their chocolate Java stout was the perfect finisher.

Monday 20th April – Chengdu – Yangshuo

A full day of travel today, firstly by high-speed train to Guilin, before transferring by bus to our final Chinese location, Yangshuo. The weather was not kind to us when we arrived in the evening, and we checked into our accommodation, the Yangshuo Hanting hotel on West Street, before going for a meal in a nearby restaurant serving the local delicacy of chicken, steam-cooked in a length of bamboo. The uniform of the staff was interesting, it almost reminded me of a similar outfit I had seen years before in Peru, and as night fell, the local women wore ponchos that were similar too. After our meal, we then visited West Street, the local shopping street, which evolved into a night market and ‘beer street’ I especially liked the chocolate factory where they had giant chocolate sculptures of pagodas and temples. A couple of local beers in a neighbouring restaurant finished off the day.

Tuesday 21st April – Yangshuo

Due to the wet weather, our programme of outings and visits became a bit more flexible, fitting in activities which were suitable for the weather, so we started off the day with a cycle tour of the town on our way to the riverside to take one of the bamboo boat trips that are popular in the area. We were unsure how Jim would cope as he hasn’t cycled for quite some time, but it was me who turned out to have the problem, my balance centre has gone to pot, I think mainly due to my ear problems, and I keep on losing my balance and couldn’t steer straight. Rather than holding the group back, Doris arranged a Pedicab for me to travel alongside them, my driver, a lady called Wangmei, was great fun and took great delight in describing all the local attractions. When we reached the riverbank, we discovered that due to the high-water level and fast river flow, our cruise was cancelled (they also said that as we were European, we were too heavy for the fast river flow).

Despite our initial concerns, Jim rode his bike perfectly and had a wonderful morning of fun.

After spending some time at the riverside viewing the surrounding limestone Karst formations, which dominate the landscape, very similar to the limestone formations in the adjoining Vietnam’s Ha Long bay, we especially liked the Moon Hill with its large round hole through the middle. We returned to town and our hotel, where we all split up to take part in various activities.

Jim, Christian and I were met by Lui and Andy, to be taken to the local market to see the ingredients required for our cookery course. Whilst there, we were joined by 2 girls from another tour; after visiting the market, we went back to Lui’s school to have some fun. The school staff washed the ingredients and divided them into the correct portions, ready to get started cooking, so after a good hand washing session and donning our aprons and chef hats, we were fully prepared to start our class.

Lui carefully explained how to use the gas burner, chopping block, etc., on our personal cooking station and then instructed us on all the “secret” techniques to employ to guarantee the tastiest outcomes for our labours. During the class, we learned how to properly chop the ingredients by the heavy Chinese cleaver, and how to cook vegetables and meats over a sizzling and smoking wok, etc. We quickly got started preparing the ingredients for the 4 dishes we were going to cook. Our first dish was a cucumber-based soy sauce with garlic, ginger and chillies. Once prepared, it was put to the side while we created a pile of pork-based dumplings. They were put into steamers to be cooked while we continued assembling a Gong Bao chicken dish and an eggplant stir fry. All too soon, the dumplings were ready, so we retired to the dining room to sample our efforts for our evening meal. Although eggplant is not my favourite, the stir fry was OK, but everything else was good, and I’m sure I will cook it again.

Once the cookery course was finished, Jim returned to the hotel, while Christian and I were joined by Julia and Ciarraí for our calligraphy lesson, this time it was Andy who was our instructor and we had great fun learning the basic stokes from him before spelling our names and home countries, he seem to be fascinated with Scotland and bagpipes so we had to write that too. I found this activity to be great fun, so much so that I purchased a calligraphy set later in the trip to practice at home.

Wednesday 22nd April – Yangshuo

As the wet weather continued, our plans were changed again, and the Silver Cave complex became our morning visit. It is called the Silver Cave, but in reality, it is actually a route of joined caves running for 2 kilometres through 12 of the Karst mountain peaks. This was a welcome visit to see the various formations of stalagmites and stalactites, and how they had used projected light shows to tell a story. The cave coffee part of the way through was very welcome indeed.

A refreshment break at the hotel and a quick lunch were next on the list, before we travelled to the Ruyi Peak Cableway to take a cable car up to the top of the peak. We felt that we were heading into the clouds up through the mist to the peak in the car. This attraction is a series of routes to cross and traverse a few of the peaks in the limestone karst mountain range near Yangshuo. It has amazing views of the surrounding mountain range. It was just as well I wore a good pair of shoes, and was prepared to walk a LOT of steps up and down and across! Due to the rain and mist, the visibility was so poor; however, after a short time, the mists cleared and we were presented with stunning views of the surrounding countryside. The engineering on this complex is immense. We climbed multiple stairways, crossed a superb suspension bridge, and the red ribbons tied along the bridge for luck looked lovely as they danced in the wind. We then made our way along a winding mesh/glass bridge (the glass section was closed off due to the rain), and then climbed even higher to take the cable car back to ground level. Along the way, there were several shaded and comfortable places to sit and have a snack and a nice, warm and welcome hot drink.

This was a great visit, although at times, I found it difficult to manage so many stairs, but I am glad I made the effort. One thing I did like during the visit was the sight of a little Chinese woman on the side of a mountain in the pouring rain sweeping the path; it typified China to me, they are fixated on cleanliness.

In the evening on our return to the hotel we cleaned up and rested before visiting ChunJi Roasted Goose Restaurant for yet another feast of a meal, this is one of Yangshuo’s oldest restaurants and it is difficult to get a table, so Doris excelled herself in getting us a private room, where we all had a great time over our meal, which was in reality our final meal together.

Overall, the food we have eaten during this trip has been very good; each region presented us with different flavours, such as the spicy Sichuan Cuisine, the much milder Cantonese cuisine, and the combination of spicy and sour flavours of Hunan cuisine. There were surprises along the way, the fiery chillies in the Xi’an Hotpot, soup-filled dumplings and multi-coloured dumplings shaped like little animals, and the quantity of food served at each meal. In each city we visited, wonderful little bakeries were serving glorious treats, the array of fresh fruit on offer was astounding, the mandarin oranges and apples were huge compared to ours back home, there really was something for everyone.

The bright lights of West Street beckoned us as we had some last-minute shopping to do before leaving mainland China, and after picking up a few bits and bobs, we made our way back to the hotel. What we didn’t realise was that there are several Hanting Hotels in Yangshuo, and that West Street is a long street, so we subsequently found ourselves at the wrong hotel. The staff there were extremely friendly and helpful, and they quickly got us sorted out with a taxi to our hotel, tired and ready for bed.

Thursday 23 April – Yangshuo – Guilin – Hong Kong

A slow, leisurely breakfast this morning before packing up and leaving Yangshuo to go by bus to Guilin to catch the China high-speed train to Hong Kong. Again, we witnessed the efficiency of the Chinese railway system. Once through the airport-style security system and our passports were checked, we were allowed onto our platform a short time before the train arrived. Again, Doris excelled by positioning us in the right spot to enable us to board quickly and to get our luggage stowed in the limited spaces available. Our journey, at times at over 300k/hr, went smoothly and we arrived in Hong Kong bang on schedule.

Once in the city, we transferred by taxi to the Travelodge hotel on Saigon Street in the centre of Kowloon. The hotel, although in a very central location, was possibly the worst hotel of our trip; the room was very small, and the facilities were very poor.

Temple Street Night Market was our next destination, so after an orientation stroll around the area to visit an exchange shop (Doris eventually changed our Chinese cash at a better rate), we went to visit this typical Asian night market with its souvenir, food stalls and bars. None of us wished to visit the many fortune tellers dotted about the area. After a quick beer, we returned to the hotel and sadly had to say goodbye to Doris, this girl was a star, by far the best tour guide I have had the pleasure of travelling with, she made our tour truly memorable, bright, cheery and bubbly, she was able to cope with everything that was thrown at her and was quick to adapt the programme when we experienced bad weather or difficult situations.

Friday 24th April – Hong Kong

This morning, we took a taxi to transfer to our final hotel, the Harbour Grand, to find that our room on the 18th floor of this 5-star hotel gave us upgraded facilities in the Harbour Club Lounge on the 19th floor. We discovered that this gave us access to a private breakfast, afternoon tea and evening drinks and exclusive check-in/out facilities, all of which were so much different from the Intrepid hotel and very welcome indeed.

In the afternoon, we took a wander along the waterfront and around Hung Hom, the local area, which includes the Whampoa, a large mall built as a cruise liner in the middle of town, before returning to the hotel for dinner. Looking to do a little more shopping, we took the metro back up to the Temple Street market, where we bumped into Ciarraí from our tour group. We returned to the harbour front to watch the nightly Symphony of Lights, where all of the buildings on the island side put on a light show with multi-coloured lasers and fancy displays of cascading lights on the buildings. There is usually a musical accompaniment, but due to a festival on our side of the harbour, this was cancelled. When the show was over, we returned to the hotel and relaxed over a couple of glasses of wine before retiring for the night.

Saturday 25th April – Hong Kong

Feeling a wee bit weary following our travels, and with no activities planned, we took advantage of a long lie-in this morning. After lunch, we took the metro to the Star Ferry terminal and crossed over to Hong Kong Island, on the Northern Star (not to be confused with Shaw Savill’s liner of the same name), to make our way to the Mid-Level Escalators, stopping off on the way to take a ride on one of the ‘Ding-Dings’, one of Hong Kong’s famous trams, to Happy Valley. I found that the escalators had been upgraded since my last visit, and that they were still extremely busy. Once we reached the top, it was time to take the trek back down the steep streets (with 2 pairs of painful knees). On the recommendation of my friend Thomas, we decided to visit the Mong Kok ladies’ night market. This market was no different to the other night markets I have encountered in Asia, all selling similar products. A beer in a rooftop bar, the Subtle Island, finished off a nice, relaxing day.

Sunday 26th April – Hong Kong

We did a bit of travelling today, taking the metro to Tung Chung to catch the Ngong Ping Cable Car up to Ngong Ping village to see the Big Buddha, one of the largest bronze seated Buddhas. The cable car ride is pretty spectacular as it is one of the longest in the world, climbing over the many hills in the area, from which you have a clear view of the Hong Kong to Macau road bridge/tunnel system. Once we had explored the village and stood at the bottom of the extremely steep staircase up to the Buddha, both of us declined the urge to climb, since I had previously been to the top on my last visit.

We took a local bus for a short journey to the Tai O fishing village. We were intrigued by the number of dried fish products on sale around the village, but resisted the temptation to try some. We took a boat trip around the stilt village before going out into the bay to try and spot a White Chinese Dolphin to no avail, but we did get another view of the Macau bridge/tunnel system. Once off the boat, we boarded one of the local buses back to Tung Chung to return to the city via the metro. After a light dinner and drinks in the Harbour Club lounge, we had a couple of drinks in the waterfront bar before bed.

Monday 27th April – Hong Kong

Leaving day, today. When we went up for breakfast, Vicky, our hostess in the Harbour Club Lounge, told us that she had extended our checkout time until 4:00 pm and that we could check out in the lounge with our luggage and that they would get it delivered to our driver when he arrived. This gave us almost a free day. We returned to the metro station to return our Octopus card and get a refund of the unused funds. With this extra cash, we did a little shopping. I wanted a new neck cushion for my flight home, while Jim hunted out the local Post Office to pick up some nice Hong Kong stamps for his collection.

The remainder of our time in the hotel, we spent on a lounger at the rooftop pool, soaking up the last of our Hong Kong sunshine. All too soon, it was time to check out, so we took our luggage up to the lounge and enjoyed a nice afternoon tea while we waited for our driver.

Conclusions

I thoroughly enjoyed this tour. I entered China with no real expectations of what the country would be like. I only had memories of old movies and TV shows, and of my trip to Hong Kong in 2018, to refer to, so I was pleasantly surprised by what I found. I found the country to be a unique and interesting place to be in. While Beijing and Hong Kong are more international, Chengdu, Yangshuo, and especially Mount Qingcheng and the Tai’an Ancient Town feel more like deep China and are mostly unknown outside of the country; this made them, in my opinion, interesting places to visit. When I was in Japan last year, I experienced overtourism in places like Kyoto and found it to be a bit uncomfortable moving through crowds of people. Apart from the Forbidden Palace and the Terracotta Warriors, which were a bit crowded, there seemed to be a more relaxed pace to the tourism elsewhere, giving me time to enjoy the experience of being there. I had 3 must-sees on my list before going to China: walking on the Great Wall, the Terracotta Warriors and seeing Giant Pandas in their natural habitat, and see them I did, they were wonderful experiences to be added to my memory bank.

The Chinese people I met along the way were, on the whole, polite, friendly, helpful, and inquisitive about us, with many opening up conversations, displaying very good English language skills, and others were quite happy to use Google Translate (the wonders of technology crossing boundaries). The cities, towns and villages were all very clean and free from litter; they were relatively quiet, mainly due to the proliferation of electric vehicles in use. I used a variety of transport methods during my time, and I found them all to be extremely efficient, dependable and very inexpensive. On the whole, the hotels we stayed in were very good, with nice, clean, large rooms with excellent facilities .

As many readers of my blog know, I have travelled with Intrepid many times and found them to be a great company. Their tours are extremely well organised, taking you to places you would never consider going to when travelling alone. Great care is taken by the guides to ensure you have an enjoyable and safe tour at all times. Our guide for this tour, Doris Wang, was a perfect example of a highly efficient guide. I don’t think I can sing her praises highly enough; she was wonderful, bright, bubbly, attentive, and caring. Her knowledge of the areas we visited was extensive, keeping us informed at all times of the history and highlights of the places we visited. She was able to quickly adapt the programme to suit the changing weather conditions and also change timings according to expected crowds in locations. Her choice of restaurants and diners displayed detailed local knowledge, ensuring that we were able to eat without worry, and she did it all with a happy smiley face. Doris certainly made the tour informative, enlightening, safe, and most of all, fun. I would certainly recommend this tour to anyone with an interest in visiting China.

We were a small group of nine tourists who gelled together quickly, and we all got on famously, taking care of each other when needed. What made it special for me was travelling with my mate Jim; we shared so many highlights along the way, having great fun. We were sorry to say goodbye to Doris and the rest of the group, but I’m sure we will keep in touch in the future. I would like to thank them for allowing me to use some of their photographs in this blog.

Vancouver

Nov 3, 2025May 9, 2026 by theholmesteader, posted in canada, International, Uncategorized

Saturday 27th September

After an early breakfast, we departed the ship in Canada Place and took a taxi up to the Sutton Place Hotel, our accommodation for our stay in Vancouver. As expected, we were allocated a different room from our previous stay, and as the room wasn’t ready, we checked in our luggage and went for a walk around town to familiarise ourselves with the area. In typical Jim Jimmies fashion, we ended up walking for miles, unwittingly taking in many of Vancouver’s famous sights in areas such as Chinatown and Gastown as we went, we both enjoyed the peaceful Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Chinese Garden we stumbled upon, it was a really special place, you would be forgiven for forgetting that you were in Canada and not somewhere in China, we also came agross the Sam Kee Building, at just six feet two inches deep, it is said to be the world’s narrowest freestanding office building.

Once we were able to access our room, we unpacked and had a short siesta before heading out to Fable, a local Bar & Diner, for our evening meal. A short walk back to the hotel ended a long and tiring day.

Sunday 28th September

We decided to use the local HOHO bus, which fortunately stopped outside our hotel, to explore the city. Most of the journey through the main sights confirmed that we had indeed visited them all on our walk yesterday. As it was a nice day, we decided to hop off the bus on Granville Island for lunch. This area of the city, previously a derelict industrial area, has been gentrified like many such areas with microbreweries, restaurants, art studios and a bustling Public Market, where we enjoyed our lunch sitting by the waterfront watching the boats go by. There is also Vancouver’s version of silo art with it’s Giants murals on the Island. We then hopped back on the bus to take us to the famed Stanley Park, our friend Cheryl had recommended it to us; it was so relaxing walking through the historic trees of the park before reaching the seawall, which provided us with stunning views of the city, and the ‘almost a copy of Copenhagen’s Little Mermaid statue’, Vancouver’s ‘Girl in a Wetsuit‘ statue. Another of Vancouver’s tourist hotspots within the park is a collection of native Totem Poles, which we found very interesting and well worth seeing. We then got lost in the myriad of forest paths, before admitting defeat and returning to the Aquarium area to ask for directions to the HOHO bus stop for our return trip to the hotel, a nice meal after our siesta finished off yet another excellent day.

Monday 29th September

Back on the HOHO bus to take us back downtown to the Canada Place area, where we booked a visit to FlyOver Canada, an interactive and immersive flying journey going East to West over Canada’s spectacular sights, sounds and stories given a whole new perspective. We soared above the various territories, swooped through sailing ships, and over cities, towns and villages. We even took a dip into the ocean and swam with beautiful Beluga Whales. This was an attraction that I would highly recommend to anyone visiting Vancouver.

Despite trying to find The Lamplighters Tavern, reputedly one of Vancouver’s oldest pubs, open on many occasions, we elected to visit the second-oldest, The Cambie (1897), for lunch, which caused us a little bit of confusion, as The Lamplighters Tavern is dated from 1899 and is said to be the oldest. We found this bar to be an interesting spot with good food and beer at a reasonable cost. I especially liked the table tops painted by local artists. We decided to try out the local Skytrain on our return to the hotel, hoping to see some sights from on high, only to be disappointed when most of the journey took place in tunnels. Another local dinner and a couple of beers to end the day went down well.

Tuesday 30th September

A short walk downtown, stopping off for breakfast in one of our favourite Tim Hortons, brought us to Canada Place and the site of Vancouver’s Olympic Cauldron. There was also a large ‘Digital Orca’ nearby, which prompted Jim to think of giant Lego. Whilst there, we caught a free shuttle bus to the Capilano Suspension Bridge visitor attraction. The Capilano Suspension Bridge is a narrow, swaying suspension bridge 140 metres long, 70 metres above the Capilano River. The park it is situated in is part of a forest with giant Douglas firs, Red Cedars and Hemlock trees, with the added attraction of the Treetops Adventures, which consists of a series of footbridges suspended between tall trees, taking us up into the tree tops with stunning views of the forest floor below. This was another attraction I would highly recommend to anyone visiting Vancouver.

I will admit that it can get a bit tiring for those of an older generation, as can be seen below.

Still unable to find the Lamplighters open, we returned to the Cambie for a lunchtime pint before going back to the hotel to pack our luggage in readiness for our journey home. The day was finished off by a trip down to Gastown, originally to visit The Moose Garage for our dinner, but on our arrival, we found the music to be far too loud for our aged ears, so we went to the nearby Blarney Stone, an Irish pub, for a good dinner and a couple of refreshments for our last night in town.

Wednesday 1st October

We were collected by our driver early in the morning for our 30-minute drive to the airport, which gave us around 3 hours to hang around, and as our first flight was a domestic one, the departure lounge was pretty basic, but there was sufficient there for us to get a breakfast, and it gave us a chance to reflect on our wonderful adventure in Canada and Alaska. The flight to Toronto was uneventful, likewise the final flight from there to Edinburgh, where we cleared immigration and customs with no problems and were collected by Dan, who was especially happy that we were able to meet his challenge in finding Starbucks outlets, particularly the one in Alaska.

This has been a tremendous trip, full of memories of places visited, stunning scenery, people we met along the way, and, once again, great companionship travelling with Jim. This is one I will not forget in a hurry.

Alaskan Cruise

Oct 26, 2025Oct 30, 2025 by theholmesteader, posted in Alaska, International, Travel

Saturday 20th September – Embarkation

Following a short Uber ride, we arrived at the cruise terminal in Canada Place and joined the long queue to go through US customs and immigration, which proceeded relatively smoothly. We soon boarded Holland America Line’s MS Koningsdam and were shown to our stateroom on the Main Deck, and introduced to our cabin stewards Riben and Ganang, 2 extremely nice guys, who promised they would look after us during the voyage.

We went for a wander around, this huge ship, to try and familiarise ourselves with the its layout, then we went on deck to watch us departing Vancouver, we found a spot on the Lido deck beside the pool and spent most of the morning watching and learning the ways of the ship, how to order and pay for purchases using our ships ID Card, ensuring we could stay within our daily limit. We were well catered for, with the ship having a wide variety of restaurants and bars and a good number of entertainment venues. During the voyage, we dined mainly in the main dining room, where the quality of the food and service was exemplary, and used the casual Lido Market restaurant for breakfasts and lunches. We did take advantage of our included speciality restaurant booking and made another booking for our last night on board. As I stated earlier, the quality and quantity of the food available to us were superb.

There were a good number of entertainment venues on board, where we spent most of our evenings. The ship had a large main theatre which hosted dance shows, a magic show, singer songwriter performances and movies, a BB King R&B club with an OK band, held our attention for one night, Billboard 2, was a couple of excellent singer pianists, playing music from all eras and who held a nightly request show, we alternated our time between them and the Rolling Stone lounge, where the resident band put on some great shows.

Sunday 21st September – At sea

At sea today, cruising up the inside passage, we had a relaxing morning before going to book our speciality dinner reservation for Wednesday evening, then going up to deck 12’s excursion desk to book a trip for our day in Skagway. Whilst on deck 12, we settled into the lounge in the forward section of the ship. This lounge, The Crows Nest, was also a games room, so we quickly found a table and whiled away some time playing cribbage. It was fun exploring the different areas of the ship, discovering hidden spots, one we both enjoyed finding was a little room next to the spa, that they used as a waiting room, it was a wonderful chill out room with comfortable loungers, gentle background music, all with great views of the ocean gliding by, we visited it regularly during the voyage. I later discovered that this day was unique in my travels as it was a day when I didn’t take a single photograph. I have included some I captured from a video by The Port Lowdown of various images from around the ship.

Monday 22nd September – Juneau

We arrived at our first port in Alaska, the state capital of Juneau, on a wet and windy day. Juneau is unique among U.S. state capitals in that there are no roads connecting the city to the rest of the state or to the rest of the United States. We had decided not to take up any of the shore excursions while here, so after going ashore, we had a walk around town, visiting some of the many souvenir and jewellery stores that lined the streets. From what we could see, this seemed to be the main source of income for the town.

After wandering around in the rain, we paid a visit to the Imperial Saloon, Alaska’s oldest bar (established in 1891), which was an interesting place, but with very little in the way of atmosphere. After a walk around the town trying to find a Starbucks, to no avail, we settled in a local coffee shop for lunch. I even managed to find some street art while wandering around town.

Later in the evening, in an effort to get out of the rain, we visited the famous Red Dog Saloon. This was a great fun place, a true dive bar with sawdust on the floor, good beer, and a gnarly old guy singing country songs, and a black bear chasing a guy through the ceiling. They also claim to have a pistol that belonged to Wyatt Earp, one of history’s most notorious gunslingers. How true the story is debatable, as there is also a notice in the Imperial Saloon saying that they took his gun from him.

When we returned to the ship, we discovered that we were correct in not choosing any of the available shore excursions as they had all been cancelled due to the poor weather. We really felt sorry for a couple we met who had booked this cruise with the intention of going whale watching in Juneau, only to have their trip cancelled at the last minute. Perhaps because it was late in the season, our impression was one of a town that relied on its past history and the millions of cruise ship passengers who visit each year.

Tuesday 23rd September – Skagway

Skagway, our second port in Alaska, was our destination today. At the northernmost point of the Inside Passage, Skagway is the main port of call for cruise ships, and was the trading post serving the Klondike Gold Rush in 1897. Within three months, a tent and shack town of 20,000 people had sprung up, and throngs of hopeful gold-seekers stampeded the town, the jumping-off point for the 500-mile (805km) trek to the goldfields in the Yukon, and it still maintains its historical feel, with old original wooden buildings and boardwalks instead of pavements.

On coming ashore, we were picked up by our excursion guide and driver, a quirky little lady with a great sense of humour. Our trip started with a visit to Liarsville, a replica tented town so named for the journalists dispatched to Alaska during the Klondike Gold Rush who fabricated tall tales from a safe location away from the hardships of the Yukon. We were greeted by a troupe of 4 young sourdoughs and dance hall girls, who acted out the role of residents of the town. This camp, situated at the foot of the White Pass, nestled beside a waterfall, on arrival, we made our way to the Hippodrome, where our hosts put on a fun and irreverent show, performing with great humour, a hilarious melodrama and a poem by the “Bard of the North,” Robert Service.

We were then taught the art of gold panning, before being set free in the Liarsville gold fields, where we were guaranteed to find that precious metal that started the gold fever! We did indeed find gold in our pans, but not enough to start another gold rush, it’s sad to say.

Pockets weighed down with our gold, we then made our way to the Liarsville BBQ area for an all-you-can-eat alfresco campfire feast in the forest. The wild Alaskan-caught salmon was freshly grilled over an open wood fire, Prospector Pete’s Reindeer Beans really gave the meal that authentic touch, and the blueberry cake finished off a great meal. It was then fun to wander through the camp and visit the Fancy Goods store, bordello and laundry tents to view the antiques and vintage clothing left behind by the miners and ladies of the evening.

Back on the bus after lunch, we returned to Skagway to board the 1898 White Pass Railway, which took us up the treacherous pass the original prospectors had to undertake on foot while heavily loaded with supplies, eventually, after passing back through customs and passport control, back into Canada, to reach Fraser, British Columbia. The trip took us through mountains, tunnels and glaciers, often above the clouds, in restored old railcars complete with a log-burning stove in the corner. The commentary given during the trip was very entertaining and informative. Once in Fraser, we were happy to get away from the cold weather by re-boarding our bus for the return journey, back into the USA and Alaska, on our way back down to Skagway.

The final visit of our trip was in the town where we were given a tour of the upstairs rooms of the infamous Red Onion Saloon. This was an interesting place to visit, full of history, with the bar staff and girls all dressed in period costumes. Of course, we stayed a while to sample some of the beers on offer.

We truly enjoyed our time in Skagway and the excursion we had chosen, one we would recommend to anyone making the same journey as us. It really provided a taste of how things really were in the gold rush days of the 1890s. We were only too glad we missed a snowy season, especially when we saw the size of the railway’s giant snow blower engine.

Wednesday 24th September – At sea

We were at sea all day, cruising down the Endicott Arm, a deep fjord which led to the stunning Dawes Glacier, the captain had opened up the bow section of the ship so I took the opportunity to get up close to the glacier, fortunately not too close that I was required to wear my thermals, although the decks were very wet and slippery. The views of the glacier and the bergy bits (large lumps of ice that had calved from the glacier) were a little of what we had come to Alaska to see. After reaching the glacier at the end of the fjord, the ship was turned around, and we continued our voyage South. We then spent the rest of the day having a relaxing time playing cribbage in the games room, then attending an origami presentation where we learned how to make a crab; it was great fun. Jim was highly delighted when we returned to our cabin to find that our steward, Riben or Ganan, had created a towel elephant sculpture for him. When it came time for a shower, he didn’t want to use his towels.

Our evening meal tonight was in the Pinnacle Grill, our speciality dining option. The food and service in this restaurant were of an extremely high standard, making it really special indeed. The day was finished off listening to some good music in the Rolling Stones Lounge.

Thursday 25th September – Ketchikan

Today we visited Ketchikan, the salmon capital of Alaska. Again, this town seemed to us a wee bit tired and worn out, relying on the tourist trade, although there did seem to be more fishing boats around, and we did see some industrial parts of town.

Due to a strong tail wind, we made good time on our voyage South, bringing our arrival time forward a couple of hours, this meant that they were able to add in an additional performance of the towns Lumberjack Show, which we decided to take up, since this wasn’t due to start until the afternoon, we went exploring to find the elusive, to date, Alaskan Starbucks. Tucked away in a Safeway supermarket on the outskirts of town, we managed to find it. We were delighted, of course, but just a little saddened that we couldn’t complete the challenge by finding a Lego store.

Back in town after our adventures, we joined the audience of the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show and had a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon watching 2 teams of 2 guys representing the US vs Canada, competing against each other in a tournament of wood-cutting activities. The skills they demonstrated with chainsaws, axes and the like were amazing and all performed with great humour as they egged on the audience to cheer them on. It was a great fun visit and another highly recommended one. You can get a taste of what we saw in this YouTube video.

Whilst in town we paid a visit to its oldest pub, the Arctic Bar, which by coincidence had 2 of the musicians from the Rolling Stones Lounge band playing, they have a regular gig there each Thursday when the ship is in port, this was a typical dive bar and right up our street with good beer and real friendly people, we even sampled their signature shot, a Ducks Fart, a once in a lifetime experience. All too soon, sadly, it was time to leave this great port to continue our voyage South.

Friday 26th September – At sea

Our final full day on board was like all the other spent at sea, starting with breakfast, a game of cribbage in the games room and another visit to the origami class, this time to make a rose, we were all delighted to spot an Orca playfully swimming alongside us while we were in the class, it was good to see, but I didn’t take any photographs of it as I have found in the past that they just don’t turn out right.

One of the highlights of the day was the City on the Sea presentation in the main theatre, given by the cruise director and the captain and many of the crew members, which explained a great deal about the day to day operations of the ship and crew from the engine room to the bridge with everything else in between, we were amazed to discover that the ship had its own tailoring department which manufactures all the uniforms worn by the officers and crew, what also astounded us was the amount of provisions taken on board at the start of each cruise.

Another highlight for us was our evening meal. We decided to make a reservation for the pan-Asian Tamarind restaurant, and the meal we had was something really memorable, and the service from our waitress was marvellous; she couldn’t do enough to make the meal a special one. All in all, for a supposed quiet day, it turned out to be another one to remember, despite having to pack our cases during it.

Saturday 27th September- disembarkation day

Having packed our cases the day before, we were able to take our time over breakfast and enjoy the last few hours of the trip before going ashore in Vancouver. Despite us both saying that we are not cruise people, we both thoroughly enjoyed every minute of our time on board. We experienced great sights in some stunning locations, met some really nice people from a variety of nationalities, listened to great musicians every night, ate some wonderful food, all served up by people who bent over backwards to provide a great experience, so thanks to Holland America Line and the crew of the magnificent MS Koningsdam for adding to our memories.

Banff to Vancouver

Oct 11, 2025Oct 12, 2025 by theholmesteader, posted in canada, International, Rail Journey, Thailand, Travel, Uncategorized

Thursday 18th September – Banff – Rocky Mountaineer

A special treat for us today, as we set off on our Rocky Mountaineer train on their “First Passage to the West” journey from Banff to Vancouver. As this is a private railway company, and there are no public access stations, we were collected at the hotel by the Rocky Mountaineer team. At this point, we said goodbye to our luggage before being taken by coach to their terminal in Banff, where we were greeted by our carriage hosts and invited to board car number 3 via a lovely red carpet, guided upstairs and shown to our very comfortable seats near the rear of the car, where we settled ourselves down and started exploring our environment for the next 2 days.

We had booked a Goldleaf Service rather than the Silverleaf, which provided us with a double-decked carriage with a lower deck containing a dining room, large, spacious and clean toilets, an open-air viewing platform, whilst on the upper deck we had larger, comfier reclining seats with tons of legroom, plus fabulous full glass-dome windows with panoramic views. This level of service also provided an upgraded food and drinks package plus a slightly superior hotel at our mid-point stopover. Was it worth the additional cost? Read my conclusions at the end of the journey.

Once underway after being waved off by the station staff, we made our way through some stunning scenery, and each corner when turned provided another beautiful vista. The staff were very attentive and after an initial safety briefing, our carriage hosts Robert, Victor and Melissa described the day’s schedule and the sequence of dining options. We were lucky to be allocated to the first breakfast group today, and went down to the dining room for a really good breakfast. When entering the dining room, you are asked if you wish to share your table with other travellers. We chose to do so, and during our 2 days, we met and chatted with some friendly and interesting people. Having previously seen some YouTube videos of the journey, we were looking forward to some good food, and we were not disappointed.

The day continued, with Robert giving us a running commentary highlighting the areas we passed through, pointing out the significant attractions. At times, there were just too many sights that it was difficult to photograph them all. All of this was done whilst being served complementary drinks and snacks. All too soon, lunch time rolled around, and we went down to the dining car once again for some excellent food accompanied by a glass or two of fine Canadian wine.

When we were passing through towns and villages along the way, it was really good to see people being excited when the train passed through. People were holding up children so they could see the train. People were running out of their homes to the trackside to wave. One pair of fans, Robert told us, is Doris and her husband Brian, who greet the train each time it passes their house, near the town of Canoe. He told us that the Rocky Mountaineer staff became so fond of Doris’s big, joyful waves that when they discovered that they had an approaching anniversary, they invited them on board for a trip to celebrate. They then sent Rocky Mountaineer staff to wave at them as they passed their own house. It was eventually discovered that it was their dogs who could tell from the sounds and vibrations of the Rocky Mountaineer trains that alerted them when they were approaching. Right on schedule, there they were, standing on their back porch, wildly waving at us as we passed. As you can imagine, we were all just as wild with our returning waves.

The pace of the journey was at all times dictated by the volume of traffic on the line at any given time, with freight trains taking precedence. As there were a number of trains in front of us, we were often slightly delayed. Due to these delays, we were served an extra meal at dinner time, which was very welcome. It also allowed us to take some nice sunset photographs on the way. I thought that I would be taking tons of photographs during the trip, but there was just too much wonderful scenery of mountains, rivers and lakes, that it was impossible to capture it all. We were told that this is the busy season for grain trains, which are given priority on the line. This caused us to reach Kamloops much later than expected. On arrival, we boarded coaches in the dark and were taken to our hotel, the Windgate, to find our luggage already in our room, or at least some of it. By the time we checked in and searched, and found Jim’s misplaced backpack, it was time for bed.

Friday 19th September – Rocky Mountaineer

Day 2 of our railway journey started with us being collected early in the morning and taken back by coach to the Rocky Mountaineer terminal to reboard the train to be waved off by the terminal staff. We were later told that they were the night shift staff, and waving the train off was the last duty of their shift. As we had our meals on the first sitting yesterday, it was our turn to dine in the second sitting, while the first group were having their breakfast, we were given a coffee and a pastry. This was a nice way to start the day, riding along the Kamloops Lakeshore watching the eagles soaring above the waters, in yet another brilliantly sunny day, the weather on this trip has surpassed us; we never expected it to be so sunny and warm.

Early on in our journey, we encountered a couple of giant freight trains. The length of these trains is mind-boggling, at over 3 miles long, with well over 150 box cars; one recently took well over 5 minutes to pass us.

As we travelled further west, following the banks of the magnificent Fraser River, the landscape changed from an almost arid prairie to more agricultural flat lands. Our crew, Robert, Victor and Melissa, kept us informed and entertained during the journey. It appeared that all the hosts on board were linked via radio, so they were able to point out any highlights and wildlife we encountered along the way, but importantly, they kept us going with drinks and snacks as we travelled.

I apologise for the lack of photographs in this edition of the blog. We were enjoying the journey so much, it seemed such a shame to miss anything whilst behind a camera, so to compensate, here is another YouTube video; however, this one shows our journey in reverse, but we did pass through all of the places mentioned.

We eventually arrived in Vancouver and were taken by coach to the Sutton Place hotel, when we checked in and given our room key, we were very pleasantly surprised by the room we were allocated and opened the door, it was fun to walk down our hallway towards our sitting room, which sat alongside our kitchen and dining room, then we discovered the 2 bedrooms with their giant king sized beds, I chose the en-suite one, mainly due to my nocturnal activities, whilst Jim was more than happy with the other one. The large balcony overlooking the city was an added bonus.

Saturday 20th September – Vancouver

After a visit to the local Tim Horton’s for a quick breakfast, we returned to the hotel to finish packing and took advantage of a suitable time to catch up with family in Scotland and Australia, before departing on our cruise.

After a bit of a Snafu with an Uber hire, we were eventually dropped off at the Canada Place cruise terminal, where we had to pass through security and USA customs and immigration. Despite the long queues, we passed through this fairly quickly, and we boarded the MV Konigsdam and were directed to our stateroom.

In conclusion

I have travelled on many rail journeys listed as one of the world’s most scenic, only to find them a wee bit mediocre. This journey, however, I would certainly say has been the best I have travelled on to date. The scenery we passed was fantastic; there were sights to be seen around every bend and turn in the route. The Goldleaf carriage, with its high, full glass-dome windows, which provided wonderful views of that scenery, made it all the more special with comfortable seats, entertaining and knowledgeable hosts, a lower deck dining room and viewing platform, in addition to the wonderful food and drinks that would rival any high-class restaurant, puts the service at the top of my list. If you are considering a trip on the Rocky Mountaineer, don’t hesitate to upgrade to the Goldleaf service; it certainly is worth the additional cost.

The next instalment of this trip’s blog will follow shortly

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Japan 25

May 16, 2025May 10, 2026 by theholmesteader, posted in International, Travel

Monday 7th April ~ Tokyo

Monday morning 3;00 am, the sound of my alarm told me it was time to get up, shower then breakfast before saying goodbye to Graeme and Briony (& Joffrey of course) and catch an Uber to Melbourne airport for my 10-hour flight to Tokyo. All the usual checking etc went smoothly, and I spent the rest of the time in the departure lounge relaxing before taking off.

The Qantas flight took off on time and we arrived at Narita Airport on schedule. The flight was reasonably comfortable, the fact that I had an empty seat next to me made it much easier, the catering was standard fare (no real cutlery though Jim) and there was a reasonably good number of movies to watch, I opted to watch the Bob Dylan Biopic and the Brutalist, both of which helped pass the time.

On arrival, there was a fairly long queue to get through immigration, but with a high degree of efficiency on display, it didn’t take too long to get through, it would have been a bit easier if I had completed the disembarkation and customs declaration forms beforehand, but there were plenty available to allow me to complete them whilst in the queue. Once I had collected my luggage and cleared customs, I withdrew some cash, bought a SIM card for my phone then headed to the railway station to catch the train into town. Leaving the station behind, I quickly found my hotel for the night, the Agora Place Asakusa, and checked into the small but perfectly functional room. Since I had been on the hoof for around 20 hours, I was happy to retire for the night.

Tuesday 8th April ~ Tokyo

A good night’s sleep was just what I needed, and a nice breakfast in the hotel restaurant set me up for my Japanese adventure to begin.

Not knowing too much about my local area, I decided to check out of the hotel and go and find our tour-starting hotel, the ICI Hotel, which was about a 15-minute walk away. It was relatively easy to find and after leaving my luggage, I decided to visit the nearby Senso-ji temple, this temple, built in 645, is Tokyo’s oldest, and was a really nice place to visit in the sunshine. Surrounded by cherry blossom trees, the temple and the adjacent 5-storied Pagoda certainly brought out the crowds, many of the young people resplendent in traditional clothing. Coincidentally, just as I got caught up with graduation ceremonies on my first day in Hanoi last year, the same thing occurred today; there were many families dressed in their finery, many of the mothers in traditional kimonos.

It was good to just wander aimlessly enjoying the sights and sounds of this fascinating city. I eventually ended up on the banks of the Sumida River, where I found a nice restaurant to have lunch, a refreshing beer and a chance to rest my feet. One thing to notice was the lack of street art in the areas I had so far visited, I only managed to find one piece in my wanderings, and from what I had read, I was lucky to find that. Another slow stroll took me back to the hotel to get into my room and have a short rest before the Intrepid group meeting.

It was interesting meeting our small group. We were met by Rie, our Intrepid tour leader and the rest of the group. This is a mixed group, we have the Johnson family from Melbourne, Mark, Lou, Cameron & Ingrid. The Rose family from London, Michael, Aron & Sasha. Gianna & Roger from Switzerland, and of course,e myself. After the meeting, most of the group went with Rie to Seiryu, a nice restaurant for a tapas-type meal before returning to the hotel and calling it a day.

Intrepid’s Land of the Rising Sun Tour – Our Route and the Group

Wednesday 9th April ~ Nikko

Since we were not leaving on the next stage of our tour until the afternoon, I took a stroll through town to visit Ueno Park. This peaceful park was just the place to spend a morning in the sun. The Benten Temple on an island on Shinobazu Pond, with walkways lined with Cherry blossom trees, was so relaxing, it didn’t take long until the lake was full of colourful pedalos, many shaped like large swans, and I resisted the urge to get on the water myself.

In the afternoon, we all made our way to Asakusa Station to catch our train to Nikko. The train, being a limited express, which left bang on the schedule, was very comfortable and spacious, got us there in around 2 hours through an ever-changing landscape, from the urban sprawl of Tokyo city then into arable fields, some converted to solar farms, then finally into the highland country with it’s snow-capped mountains and scenic rivers and waterfalls.

Our accommodation, The Turtle Inn, for the next 2 nights is a lovely rustic chalet-style B&B off the beaten track, deep in the forest. Everybody in the group was very surprised to hear that the room I had been allocated had beds rather than the simple futon mattresses on the floor that they all had, (I must admit that it was a rather comfortable bed too, but I didn’t admit that in the morning at breakfast): After checking in, we all walked along the riverbank to the Kanmagafuchi Abyss, this short gorge with its row of about 70 stone statues of Jizo looking out over the river. These statues, said to be guardians protecting children, looked wonderful, all decorated with red crocheted caps and red bibs amongst the mossy forest area.

For our evening meal, the whole group of us went to the Bell, a nearby restaurant, to try a Yuba Festa ( a monk’s diet). Yuba is one of Nikko’s most traditional delicacies, made by gently scooping the skin off soy milk while it’s boiling, and in our meal, served in a wide variety of ways, I must admit that it was not among my favourite meals in Japan.

Thursday 10th April ~ Nikko

Following a simple breakfast, we walked into town to visit the Nikko National Park and especially the Tashogu Shrine complex. This magnificent shrine, dedicated to a famed warlord, is full of carved and brilliantly decorated structures. The complex forms a part of Nikko’s UNESCO World Heritage status, and we spend a good few hours being guided by our local guide, Mr Suzuki. Our visit completed, we returned to the Nikki town centre, all going our separate ways to find a good lunch spot. I managed to come across a lovely cafe called Hatsuishi, a lovely little cafe hidden in a back lan,e where I enjoyed a light lunch and a wonderful coffee.

After lunch, a group of us met up again near the Shinkyo Bridge before returning to the National Park to visit the Toshogu museum. this excellent museum was much quieter than the shrine. The only disappointment I had was that photography was not allowed. Despite being a smallish museum with a great collection of artefacts and the portable shrines we heard about during our tour. It is just a pity that we won’t be here on May 18th to see the procession called Hyakumono-Zoroe Sennin Gyoretsu, in which some 1,000 men dressed in samurai warrior outfits march to reproduce the scene where the first shogun’s grave was being transferred to Nikko.

Friday 11th April ~ Hakone

A taxi ride took us to the JR Nikko station to catch our first train of the day, a local public transport journey to Utsunomiya, a short journey of 6 stops took around an hour. We quickly changed trains at Utsunomiya onto one of the fast shinkansen, bullet-type trains to Tokyo Central. This journey was very smooth and very rapid and comfortable. Once in Tokyo we only had a few minutes to catch our next train to Odawara, then after a break for lunch we caught our last train to Hakone and got the bus to our destination, as I said, it certainly was a travel day.

Our accommodation for the next 2 nights is the Fuji-Hakone Guest House, set in lovely countryside. The guesthouse is in a traditional Japanese style with rooms without bathrooms or toilets. Tatami mats and Futon beds. We were provided with Yukata, Japanese cotton bathrobes, and towels. Our friendly host Ted welcomed us warmly, explaining how things worked in the house. Our evening meal was in a Chinese restaurant (Japanese style), which was unlike any Chinese restaurant I have visited before. I found the house to have a friendly, homely atmosphere combined with traditional style which ensured us a comfortable and restful night.

Saturday 12th April

Another interesting day today, using our provided Hakone freedom pass, we caught a bus outside the accommodation to Gora to then take the Hakone Tozan Cable Car up the mountain to the Hakone Ropeway, stopping at the top in Owakudani to view the sulphur springs, the interesting thing there was the Black Egg shop, which sold eggs boiled and treated in the sulphur springs, which turned the shell black. We then descended on the ropeway to Lake Ashi for our cruise on one of the mock pirate ships down to Hakonemachi-Ko. Back on another bus to go to the Mishima Skyway, Japan’s longest suspension bridge, to walk across to see all the activities on offer and to have lunch. We then returned by bus to Motohakone-Ko to board another pirate ship back up the lake to Togendai on our return home.

This trip, whilst it was good to see so many interesting and different places using a variety of transport methods, was a little disappointing as we had hoped to catch a glimpse of Mount Fuji at some point during the day. When we awoke this morning, the sun was shining and the skies were clear, but by the time we got to the viewpoints, it had clouded over.

We visited Gin no Ho, a local Japanese restaurant, where I sampled a Kanameshi chicken dish. I found this to be excellent, and I may consider it to be one of my best meals so far. On returning to the accommodation, I had a session in the Onsen (thermal springs bath), I found this to be so relaxing and a great way to end the day.

Sunday 13th April ~ Takayama

Back on the move again, this time from Hakone to our destination of Takayama, again using a variety of transport methods, including another of Japan’s speedy bullet trains.

Once we arrived in the city, we took a shuttle bus to the Hida Folk Village, a heritage park with many old historical thatched buildings from the area’s past. This was an interesting place to visit despite the rather wet weather. We learned how the villagers lived and worked, and how the buildings were constructed to withstand the extremes of the weather.

Hotel Wings International, our accommodation for the next 2 nights, was our next destination, and once checked into my room and reunited with my luggage, which we last saw in Nikko, I met the rest of the group to visit Tenaga Ashinaga, a lovely traditionally styled restaurant, for another good meal, this time I had a ramen dish with local Hida beef which was so tender. All too soon, it was time for bed.

Monday 14th April ~ Tkayama

I woke early, so I decided to use the time to visit a nearby laundrette to get my bits washed before breakfast. We visited the morning market on the riverbank, where we visited Takumikan, a cafe attached to a beautiful furniture store. I really enjoyed looking around, gathering ideas for my future crafting. After breakfast, following a stroll through the town, we visited a temple complex where we were given a tutorial on how to mix Japanese incense by a really fun old guy with a good sense of humour, following that, we were allowed to sit through the monk having his morning prayers; it certainly was interesting to see.

From one spirit to another, it led us from there to a nearby Sake brewery for a tasting session, which was very good, but I must admit that I couldn’t detect much difference between them.

We were fortunate to arrive in Takayama in time for their Spring Festival, or Sanno Matsuri, which is an annual festival of Hie Shrine and celebrates the coming of spring. The festival consists of a parade of 12 Yatai (festival floats) around the town, 3 of the floats have a marionette show, which we got a chance to see amongst the packed crowds in blazing sunshine, unfortunately due to the threat of rain, the evening lantern parade was cancelled, but we did see some of the Yatai returning to their storehouses. A lovely Ramen meal finished off a great day in a nice location. However, I did find a website which stated that all 12 floats had managed to gather for the Festival for the first time in three years. I have linked to a short video showing some of the scenes we were unable to see. Video Here

Tuesday 15th April ~ Hiroshima

After another morning travelling with a variety of trains, local and bullet, we arrived in Hiroshima just a bit too early to check into our hotel, leaving our luggage behind, we were taken to the Peace Memorial Park to see the remains of the Dome building, which was left standing as a permanent memorial and to stroll around the area being told the history by a delightful local guide, before visiting the museum. Like many other similar memorial sites I have visited, I found this to be very moving, especially when hearing the stories told by our guide.

On our return from the museum, we were able to check into the Comfort Hotel, and another small but perfectly formed room, before going to visit Okonomimura for an Okonomiyaki dinner. Okonomiyaki is a savoury pancake with loads of cabbage, bacon, noodles and egg cooked on a teppanyaki grill. It was great fun watching the couple behind the grill cooking it all, they had it down to a fine art (if you look closely at the photographs, you may notice that she has her baby on her back while she was cooking), another great day in Japan.

Wednesday 16th April

A tram, a train and a ferry took us to Mayajimi Island this morning. Known for its forests and ancient temples, roaming deer, and just offshore, the giant, orange Great Torii Gate marks the entrance to the Itsukushima Shrine, a beautiful place. I was lucky enough to visit relatively early, so it was quiet. A lot of the activity was around a wedding party, which was followed by a prayer session by a group of monks. It was a lovely way to pass a morning.

One of the main activities on the island is to climb Mount Misen at 535m above sea level, while the rest of our group decided to do the trek up to the summit, I elected to take the easy route up using a cable car system to 430m above sea level. While the day was really sunny and warm, the clouds restricted the views somewhat, but it was still a worthwhile trip.
Back down in the village, I wandered around the little souvenir shops, stopping for lunch, watching the world go by, including the many deer who populate the island. I eventually met up with our group, who told me that I had made the right choice in missing out on the climb. The ferry, train and tram combo quickly got us back to the hotel for a well-earned rest.

I went for a walk in the city centre in the evening and had my evening meal in a Wagyu Beef restaurant I chanced upon, a nice meal and a beer finished off another great day in Japan.

Thursday 17th April ~ Hemiji ~ Kyoto

After a stop in Himeji to visit the famous Shogun castle and have a lunch stop, Himeji Castle, also known as the White Heron Castle, is both a Japanese National Treasure and a World Heritage site. Its status as one of Japan’s 12 remaining original castles makes this beautiful fortress a must for anyone visiting the area. We entered through the Hishi Gate and then started to climb the keep to the top floor. The floors got progressively smaller as we ascended. On the top floor, there was a small shrine and viewpoints that allowed us to look over the Castle grounds and the city.

After leaving the castle behind, we continued to Kyoto, the tour’s final destination, on another shinkansen, this one was a bit different as it was decorated from top to bottom as the ‘Hello Kitty‘ special (click the link to see a YouTube video), Once in the city, we quickly caught a bus to our hotel, another Comfort Hotel. This time, my room was much larger than the previous ones. I have been lucky this trip. Due to there being 2 spaces left on the tour, I was allocated a single room for the whole tour. Thankfully, there was no need to share, as I had expected.

Gion, Kyoto’s famous geisha district, was our first stop in the city. It was an interesting area full of shops, restaurants, and teahouses. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see many geisha while we were there, and the famous theatre was fully booked. However, it was still a fascinating place to visit.

An interesting meal in one of the bustling city centre restaurants, I sampled a chicken Caesar salad with a rice omelette, which was very good, before returning to the hotel after finishing yet another great day.

Friday 18th April ~ Kyoto

Kinkakuji, the Golden Pavilion, was our first visit of the day, a temple built overlooking a large pond, whose top two floors are completely covered in gold leaf. The temple is set in a beautiful garden with evidence of wildlife throughout, a highly recommended visit in my mind.

The Arashiyama Bamboo Grove was next on our list, and there was no way to avoid the massive crowds here, as this is also listed as one of Kyoto’s top sights. When you stand among the towering stalks of bamboo, it is like being in another world. Before we could get there, though we had to pass through a ‘Kimono Gate’ in the railway station, this collection of kimonos in glass columns was very colourful and fun.

Like all other Intrepid tours I have done, this one was no exception. After leaving the forest behind, we were taken to a factory to learn how to make some Mochi sweets and Macha tea. The end result was worth the effort as they were very enjoyable indeed, and it was great fun to do.

After a brief stop on our return to our hotel, we headed out again to visit the Fushimi Inari Shrine, famed for its thousands of bright red Torii gates, which wind their way up a series of trails through the wooded forest of the sacred Mount Inari. Again, the temple was quite crowded so it was difficult to capture those iconic ‘Insta-type’ photographs of the gates disappearing into the background.

Since we wouldn’t get the chance to all be together for our final meal, we decided to splash out on a special Sukiyaki dinner in a wonderful restaurant called Kyoumachi, this was a really wonderful meal, served in an Edo styled room, with mats on the floor on low tables, by waitresses in traditional clothing. The food was delicious, served raw, and we cooked it in a hot pot as required. It really was a special meal I will remember for some time.

Saturday 19th April ~ Kyoto

This morning, I went with Michael and the boys to revisit the Gion district to visit the Yasaka Shrine. The shrine includes several buildings, including gates, a main hall and a stage. It was good to be there early to miss out on the crowds. We followed this with the Ryozen Kannon, a beautiful, peaceful Buddhist temple commemorating the dead of the Pacific War. The memorial with its stained windows was very touching. The whole temple is dominated by a giant statue of Buddha. Next on our list of places to visit whilst in the area was the Kodai-Ji Temple. This temple, set in lovely gardens with turtles and fish-filled lakes, was a pleasant way to spend some time. It even had its own bamboo Grove, which was much quieter than yesterday’s.

Before returning to rhe city centre and the shopping malls, we braved the crowds, and steep hills and staircases to catch glimpses of some of the other attractions of the area, whilst walking around in the rising sun, we quickly needed a rest, by chance while exploring a little side alleyway, we came across a little coffee shop. The patron, an elderly lady, made us most welcome, and some pretty amazing coffee. She took great delight in talking about Japanese Baseball and origami, and she was enthralled by Aron’s little rose he made for her. It was a stop well worth making.

Sunday 20th April ~ Kyoto

After breakfast and saying goodbye to the rest of the tour group, I made my way to my hotel for the night, which was conveniently near the main station..
As it was too early to check in, I left my luggage and went across the road to the massive Kyoto Station to determine where to catch the train to Osaka Airport tomorrow.

I then took a bus into the city centre and the famous Nishiki Market, where I had a nice lunch and did some souvenir shopping, before sitting on the riverbank watching the world go by.

In the afternoon, I drifted into a large department store and spent a few hours looking at the myriad objects that you didn’t need or even knew existed. It was a great way to spend some spare time. A meal and a couple of beers in a local bar finished the day off in style.

Monday 21st April ~ Kyoto – Osaka – Home

Going home day. As my flight from Osaka wasn’t until the evening, I decided to visit the Philosophers’ Path. At the bus stop outside the station, I met a lovely New Zealand couple, David and Janela, who were going the same way. After chatting whilst waiting for the bus, we decided to travel together. The path, following alongside a little canal, was a wonderful way to spend a morning; it was so peaceful with none of the huge crowds. We saw artists drawing, one old man making little bamboo leaf boats and having great delight giving them to passing people to float down the canal. It was a really lovely morning spent in good company.

After a quick lunch in the station area, I returned to my hotel to relax in the lounge, reading, before collecting my luggage and heading for Osaka. I had prebooked my journey on an express train, which took around 1½ hours, getting me to the airport with sufficient time to check in for my flight.

My first flight to Dubai left on schedule, and 10½ hours later, we touched down after a fairly uneventful journey. Since it was a nighttime flight, I tried to sleep for most of it to no avail.

My next flight became interesting when I went through the final gate security in Dubai. I discovered I had been upgraded to Business Class, what a different way to travel! The seat was amazing, it could turn into a bed at the touch of a button, and they even supplied a mattress. The food service was divine, I reckon it’s the only way to fly, but I doubt I could afford it too often.

It would be difficult to pick a highlight of this trip; Japan is an amazing country. It is an experience which surrounds you in every way. Each day I was there was filled with new discoveries, cultural differences, and utter delights. The people are very friendly, polite and in the most part very welcoming. The food is so much more than the perceived raw fish sushi that we westerners expect. I can honestly say that I ate some of my most memorable meals whilst there. The towns and cities are spotless, and the same can be said for the very efficient transport systems. I can’t describe it beyond that, but everyone who has been there knows exactly what I’m talking about. Japan is one of the few places I would welcome a return to; hopefully, I will be able to go back.

Classic Sri Lanka

Jan 6, 2025Oct 6, 2025 by theholmesteader, posted in International, Sri Lanka, Travel

I know it has been quite some time since my return from Sri Lanka, but due to loads of laser work to be completed before Christmas, my internet access being down for about 2 weeks and of course the Christmas and New Year festivities, I have been delayed in getting my latest blog post out.

I must admit that I had great fun putting it together, it certainly brought back memories for me, and I’m sure it will do the same for those who joined me and Jim on the tour. It may also be of interest to those who may be thinking on visiting Sri Lanka, I certainly would recommend doing so, it is a wonderful country.

The blog can be found on the MY TRIPS AWAY page, or by simply clicking on the following link.

Sri Lanka 2024

India’s Golden Triangle

Dec 4, 2024Oct 6, 2025 by theholmesteader, posted in International, Travel

Following my return from India and Sri Lanka, I have been quite busy preparing for the coming festivities. This led to a delay in getting my travel blog for the India stage of the trip completed, thankfully it is now done and hopefully will bring back memories to those who joined me in the adventure, perhaps inspire others to venture out into the world, or simply to while away some time reading it.

The blog can be found on the MY TRIPS AWAY page, or by simply clicking on the following link.

India 2024

Sri Lankan blog to follow, soon I hope!

Vietnam 24 ~ Week 2

Apr 24, 2024Oct 6, 2025 by theholmesteader, posted in International, Travel, Vietnam

Saturday 13th April

Following a wonderful first week in Vietnam with a great group of people, staying and visiting some special places, we set off on the next stage of our journey south.

We travelled by bus, with various stops along the way for photo opportunities, and for a good Bánh mì lunch in Da Nang, with its Golden Dragon Bridge, if you look at the photograph below you may spot the guy in the river searching for snails!

We then continued on to Hoi An arriving around 13:00 and transferred from the bus to local taxis which took us onto the island where our accommodation is situated. Riverside Impressions Villa, was a lovely looking place, situated beside the Thu Bon River, with well-equipped rooms, and a pool with a little bar, my room on the ground floor, with its balcony overlooking the river really was delightful.

Hoi An, an ancient port city, has preserved much of its 15th to 19th-century architecture and is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its well-preserved example of a Southeast Asian trading port.

Tuan took us all for a walk into town in the afternoon, to visit the many historical buildings in the old town, you certainly could see the Japanese and Chinese influences as we strolled through the narrow streets, it was interesting to visit the Chinese Medicine Museum, and the various temples. I especially liked Tan Phu Giao, a shop full of model ships from all eras. One of the main features of the Old Town is the absence of motorcycles and cars as they are banned at certain times of the day.

Another attraction of the town is the high-quality bespoke tailors and leather goods manufacturers that are in the old town, Erica, in our group, had been here previously and told us of the high quality of the items produced in such a short time, so many of the ladies in the group spent the afternoon in Yaly’s, a store, selecting materials to be turned into high fashion items and collected by them before we left.

I decided that I wanted to see more of the town, so I went for a wander taking in the sights, occasionally stopping off for a beer, which in Vietnam is very, very cheap. In the evening we all met as arranged at The Hoianian, one of the riverside restaurants for a lovely meal, before finishing off the night by strolling through the night market and then heading back to the hotel.

Sunday 14th April

One of the great experiences of this trip was the basketboat ride through Hoi An. Known locally as “Thúng chài”, these coracles are made from bamboo and palm leaves and coated with a mixture of resin and tar, which waterproofs the boat.

We drove to the Bay Mau coconut forest, in Cam Thanh village, in one of the extended golf buggies they allow in town, and had great fun, two to a boat. initially, the boatmen and boatwomen took delight in spinning us around, then getting us dancing in the boats to Gangnam Style, before taking us on a trip through the coconut palms, we had a fishing net throwing demonstration and Siobahn did us all proud by repeating it perfectly, we were then all given little fishing rods to let us catch crabs along the shoreline. Another brilliant experience in Vietnam.

The beach at An Bang was our next stop, reputed to be one of the world’s top 100 beaches, this 4km stretch of golden sand was just what we needed to relax following the busy days we have all had. All too soon it was time to leave and return to the hotel. I took a nice long shower before heading back into town to do some shopping.

In the evening, the six of us who had booked to go on a cookery course met Tuan who introduced us to Mr Hung Nguyen, the chef who was going to run our course, we then headed into the market where he described the various ingredients we would be using in the recipes on the course. Leaving the market, we walked to The Tropics Hoi An, his school, donned our hats and aprons and got started on the four courses we were to cook. It was great fun and the results were very good, whether I will be able to reproduce them at home is another matter, but I will give it a try. A slow stroll back to the hotel, with some of us spending even more in the night market on the way, finished off yet another full and brilliant day in Vietnam.

Monday 15th April

A long day driving today as we continued south towards Quy Nhon, stopping off on the way in Tam Thanh village, a quiet coastal fishing village, completely transformed by artists, who have worked their magic on the sides of around 100 homes.

The murals capture the life and soul of the village, from young children playing, to fishermen in the ocean, I liked the one showing a man at his sewing machine and when I spotted it, he was happy to replicate the image in real life.

Our next stop on the road was at the historical relics in the Tuy Phuoc district, we visited the Cham towers and their associated ruins, I enjoyed seeing the Phu Loc tower, which is built on a hilltop with a height of 76 meters, it reminded me of similar architecture I saw n Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

We finished the day’s journey at the Seagull Hotel in Quy Nhon, a large seaside hotel, my room was very nice and spacious with an excellent sea view, however, perhaps it was because it was out of season things were a bit lacking. We all decided to dine in the hotel and discovered that the service was dire, some had finished their meals while others were still waiting for theirs. To finish off the evening, a group of us went to the nearby 69 Pub for some beers before retiring for the night.

Tuesday 16th April

After breakfast, I decided to forego a visit to a Kung Fu school to just relax in the sun and recharge my batteries in preparation for tonight’s overnight train journey, which Tuan told us of some difficulties due to a landslide in one of the tunnels on the line. Exciting times ahead.

I had a very relaxing afternoon by the pool after lunch, with occasional dips to cool off. A little shopping for snacks for the train journey, before using one of the shared hotel day rooms to freshen up, and then it was off to the station to catch the S1 Reunification Train to Ho Chi Minh City.

Vietnamese trains like their British counterparts can be unreliable, which meant that we left about an hour late, at around 7:30 we then travelled for around 1 hour, only to stop in a siding for 45 minutes to allow a northbound train to go past, once on the move again, at around 11:30, we were stopped and got off the train to be taken by bus due to the tunnel landslip. The bus we boarded was an interesting one, it had 3 rows of double-height bed-styled reclining seats, which being built for Vietnamese people, were just a bit too short for me. At 01:30 we got back on a train to complete the rest of our journey.

Wednesday 17th April

Our journey was not as grim as expected, I don’t know if it was a relief to finally get underway to our destination or not, but we all settled into our respective cabins and settled down to sleep almost right away. The train itself was much like the other one, the toilets still a bit iffy and the food service non-existent, however, we did decide to miss out on the complimentary breakfast of a bowl of congee, runny rice soup as Christine politely described it.

We checked into our rooms in the Central Park Saigon Hotel and took the chance to shower and refresh ourselves after the journey before heading out to Pho 2000 for lunch, this restaurant was made famous following Bill Clinton’s visit to the city, and the Beef Pho he ate when he was there, was very good. After lunch, we paid a short visit to the nearby Ben Thanh market before paying a visit to the huge GPO building, where we also saw the Pittman apartment building where the last helicopter to leave in the escape from Saigon took place, the War Remnants Museum was our final stop before returning to the hotel for a short siesta.

In the evening I went with some of the group on another street food tour, our guide Chao, took us on an interesting walking tour of a small part of this huge city, enthusiasticly describing the food we were served. We sampled another beef Pho from a little kitchen in an alleyway, which was very good indeed, following this we bought some roast duck from a street stall, which we took to a nearby coffee house to eat. Our next stop was at a small place where we built, under Chao’s guidance, our own spring rolls, before moving on to yet another place for tasty dessert.

Ho Chi Minh’s version of Beer Street was our next stop to sample a local beer, this street, like the other similar ones, was full of bars pumping out loud music, all serving the same drinks. We decided to return to the quiet of the hotel for a nightcap,, but on discovering a Belgian Beer Bar nearby, we stopped there instead for one before retiring after another full and interesting day.

Thursday 18th April

The Mekong Delta was our destination today, so it was yet another early start for us, after breakfast, we boarded the bus leaving Ho Chi Minh City behind and headed south. After arriving in Viet Han, we boarded a river boat to take us to Unicorn Island with our local guide Phung, a delightful lady with a great sense of humour. Once on the island, we were taken, by Tuk-Tuk, to a small village where the locals laid on fresh tropical fruits, they also provided us with some traditional music and songs which was very entertaining.

Back on the boat, we returned to the mainland to take a canoe trip through the coconut groves to another village, where we visited a honey bee farm, a coconut candy factory, where Tuan delighted in showing us a jar of rice wine with a Cobra marinating in it. our next stop was a chocolatier and a coffee roaster, all of which were very interesting, before stopping for a wonderful 7-course lunch, starting with a spectacular Elephant Ear fish dish, and coconut flour pancakes amongst others.

An hour in a hammock afterwards rejuvenated me ready for the trip to our homestay for the night, this spot on the banks of the river was quite idyllic.

We weren’t in a long room this time, all separated by marital status and sex, meaning that Howard and I shared a long room of our own.

This homestay was a little different from our previous one by being on the riverside and had slightly better facilities, however, they were both quite rustic. We all spent what was left of the afternoon lazing on a patio by the river playing UNO before walking around the area.

Dinner, served by the family, was of a very high standard indeed and was followed by our host offering us a shot of the local rice wine which was very potent, he then told us, in very good English, of his life as a young Vietnamese man fleeing Vietnam and of his subsequent return and rebuilding his life and how he eventually build the homestay we were staying in. This was another very full and interesting day.

Friday 19th April

Awakened by the sound of the river traffic at around 6:00am, I had an early morning shower, a strong coffee and a chance to repack before breakfast. The hosts at the homestay made us welcome during our stay and the location on the river was ideal, I especially liked the big coconut wood recliner on the patio, in which I spent some time.

Time to leave, we boarded the bus to return to Ho Chi Minh City. All of us in the group wished to visit the Cu Chi Tunnel complex, so negotiations were carried out with Tuan and our driver to make an unscheduled stop, this was certainly worthwhile. The complex of 3 layers of tunnels in the jungle, with everything the Viet Cong needed to evade the American GIs, was on display, unfortunately, I was too big to fit into many of the tunnel entrances. The way the various rooms were laid out was very ingenious with a ventilation system hidden in fake termite hills. The hidden traps we were shown were so particularly lethal looking it was no surprise that the GIs hated being in the jungle.

Eventually, we returned to the Central Park Hotel Saigon and I checked into my previous room, then went for a walk to Starbucks to buy a mug for Dan before meeting Howard for a beer before dinner.

Later in the evening, Tuan took us all to Da Long, a nice traditional restaurant for our farewell dinner which was very good indeed. As the night was young, we all went to the Ben Nghe Street Food Market for some farewell drinks. Most of the group was returning home, however, some had a few more days in Saigon and Howard, Chris and Hilary were joining another group and continuing on to Cambodia to finish their holiday. I was sad to say our goodbyes to those leaving us.

Saturday 20th April

Case packed, backpack filled I went for breakfast, then Howard and I walked to the Reunification Palace to visit a most impressive building that played a huge part in Vietnam’s history. Howard said his goodbyes there and I then revisited the market for some last-minute shopping before stopping for lunch in the Ben Nghe Street Food Market.

Back at the hotel, I met Abby and both of us walked to the Bitexco Financial Tower, taking the elevator to the 49th floor, to visit the Skydeck there, this provided some great panoramic views of the city, it really lets you see the scale of the place.

On our return to the hotel, I took advantage of Erica & Cristine’s offer to use their room to freshen up and get changed for my flight home.

As Siobahn and I were on the same flight to Dubai, we sat and chatted over a couple of beers while we waited for our transfer. Once through the long queues at check-in, passport control and security, there was nothing to do but sit and wait until called.

The flight went as smoothly as expected, as ever, I couldn’t get to sleep and couldn’t settle to watch a movie, so my book came in handy again. I had a 4-hour stop over in Dubai, but it went quickly, I had a little nap, chatted with Siobahn and read my book. My flight boarded and left on time and was fairly comfortable and we arrived in Glasgow on schedule.

Overall, I had a great trip, it was good to spend time with Graeme and Briony in their new home, catch up with Betty and her family in Perth, and then topped it all off with an interesting tour of Vietnam with a great bunch of people.

Vietnam 24 ~ Week 1

Apr 13, 2024Oct 6, 2025 by theholmesteader, posted in International, Travel, Vietnam

Thursday 4th April

I had a quiet day at home in Perth, getting my laundry sorted and packing my case, I settled down to recharge my batteries to prepare for a longish overnight flight where I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep. After dinner and a chat with all the family, Cameron and Georgia drove me to the airport, where the automatic check-in process and bag drop failed, I waited in the queue to get sorted, however, the security system was excellent an I soon found myself waiting at the gate for my flight.

The 8 hour flight was uneventful, and despite being very tired I just couldn’t get to sleep. Flying with Emirates does tend to spoil you for long flights, on this Malaysian Airways one, the legroom was a bit tight for me, and I didn’t rate the in flight entertainment and tge meal was adequate, but hey ho, I arrived here in plenty of time to make the transfer across the airport to board my next flight.

The next Malaysian flight to Hanoi was late departing, but it was a fairly comfortable one, again legroom etc was a little tight, but for a 3 hour flight it was OK

Friday 5th April

I arrived in Hanoi around 13:00 and quickly got through immigration and was able to collect my luggage before being met outside the airport by my pre-booked transfer driver for the 40 minute journey into the city through the chaotic traffic, there are millions of scooters and motorcycle all driving as if there were no rules of the road.

On arrival, I checked into my room in the Hong Ngoc Cochinchine Hotel in Nguyen Truong To, which was a nice room and perfectly adequate for my short 2 night stay. The staff were extremely friendly and helpful, assisting me in obtaining a SIM card for my phone and finding an ATM to get some cash. I withdrew around £60-£70 and was pleased to quickly become a multi-millionaire as I received 2,000,000.00 Dong (vnd),

After looking around the local area to get my bearings, I set out for a bit of a wander to find a street mentioned on my map as a street art location, I very soon discovered that being on foot is every bit as crazy as driving, you certainly need your wits about you at all times to avoid being hit by a motorcycle. Having failed in my mission, I returned to the hotel, stopping off at Pasteur Street, a craft beer brew shop for a refreshing pint of very good beer, although I discovered later that they are over 3 times the price of the local brew, Hanoi Bia.

I returned to the hotel with just enough time to change my sweaty tee shirt (it is very hot and humid here) before being met by Anna my guide for a Street Food Tour I had booked on my arrival. I was told that I was the only person booked on the tour and was asked if I would like to do it by walking or as a pillion passenger on her motorcycle, anyone who knows me will know what I decided, we quickly got underway to our first stop for some Banh Cuon, a delicious steamed rice pancake rolled with shrimp, back on the bike we then went to sample Banh Goi, a really nice mushroom pillow cake, our next stop was for Bun Cha, rice noodles with grilled pork, which I really enjoyed, among the other dishes we sampled on the way was Pho Ga, rice noodles with chicken, and a lovely desert of fresh mango with coconut ice cream. This sample of the flavours of Vietnam was finished off by a Cafe trung, a delicious egg coffee, which I admit that as I don’t normally like white or sweet coffee, I found absolutely delicious. All of the places we visited were places you would normally walk past of miss completely, just like the hawker markets in Singapore, they specialise in one dish, which they cook to perfection, in the Banh Chao shop, the lady making the rice pancakes has been doing that same job for 32 years, no wonder they were so good.

The city was very busy being a Friday night, there were many tourists out doing the same as me on food tours, we passed a busy night market and had a glimpse of the area they call beer street, but we decided to give it a miss and returned to the hotel, considering the distances we travelled, I was glad the I chose to go on the bike, it was great fun, thought I wouldn’t have liked driving it myself. A quick beer in the hotel bar finished off an exciting but tiring day.

Saturday 6th April

After a nice breakfast in the hotel, where I met Howard, another Intrepid tourist, I ventured out to find the famous Hanoi Train Street, this a street where regular trains run just a metre or so from the shops and houses. As I had some time until the train came, I enjoyed a refreshment in one of the many cafes to while away the time, watching the world go by. It was great fun watching a team of guys renovating a building opposite, there certainly wasn’t any H&S considerations to be seen there.

The train coming through certainly was worth the effort of waiting, it passed within a matter of inches from me, you really had to keep yourself tucked in as it hurtled past.

Next on my list of places to visit was an area full of murals, this street of railway arches had a series of murals depicting life in Hanoi, painted in 2017, they were all very good and interesting.

Back to the hotel to recharge my phone, stopping off at the Pasteur Street Taproom finished off a really interesting morning, where i found that I had quickly learnt how to navigate the streets and traffic of Hanoi.

With time to kill before the Intrepid meeting, I went back out and went towards the Tran Quoc Pagoda on the lake, this was a peaceful place to visit, it was strange to see people bringing goldfish and turtles and placing them in front of the Pagoda as an offering, as I was leaving I looked out onto the lake and spotted a man up to his neck in the water fishing with a rod, I’m not sure if he caught anything, other than a cold.

At 18:00 we met with Tuan, ourguide for the trip and met the 11 other travellers who would be with us for the next 15 days it was a good mix, two couples, and the rest of us were singles, no doubt I will get to know them better as the trip progresses. After the meeting in the hotel, we all went to a local restaurant for a nice dinner which helped break the ice a little.

A few of us Intrepid travellers decide that the night was still young, so we ventinto town, via the night market to ‘Beer Street’, this was just like your typical party street in South East Asia, plenty of beer, loud music and hawkers pedling their wares,after a couple of beer we headed back to the hotel for an early night to prepare for tomorrow’s start of tour.

Another great day in Hanoi.

Sunday 7th April

Our first day of or tour meant leaving our hotel behind, including our luggage, and boarding the bus to visit the Temple of Literature, as it was Sunday large groups of childen from the surrounding areas were there for graduation ceremonies making it extremely busy, it even looked like there was a photo opertunity for a beauty contest, they certainly all added colour to a damp and dreary morning. I even got a chance to wear my Cambodian Temple pants.

Following our visit we then started our drive 120km north westwards into the mountain region. Forty minutes out of Hanoi, we stopped off in a a cafe for a comfort break and a traditional Vietnamese filter coffee served with condensed milk which certainly took some of the bitterness away.

The further into the mountains we got the raods became narrower and the villages more rural. We eventually reached the Sung Village, our homestay for the night, we were all allocated a cot styled bed in the long house and shown where the toilet facilities were before being served a nice lunch on the terrace, the food was delicious.

After a short rest after lunch, we all headed in to the hills to visit the cave of the Mountain God, this 3km trek was at times quite treacherous, with steep slopes and slippery surfaces. One of the village residents met us there, preceeding us to ask the god for permission to enter the cave, it was all worth the effort though and the cave was well worth visiting.

On our return to the homestay, tired and a touch sweaty, a shower and change of clothes was in order. After another nice dinner we were visited by a group of locals in traditional outfits, entertained us with singing and dancing routines, eventually asking us to join in.

Videos will be added on my return home

Monday 8th April

After breakfast we said our farewells to our hosts an set out on a 15km trek to Da Bia a village on the shores of Hồ Hòa Bình. The trek was a bit difficult for me, Tuan told us that it would be easy going on level ground with a few ups and downs, what he omitted to tell us was the steepness of the climb into the mountains and the eventful descent, my poor knees really suffered, especially on the way down. However, the scenery was spectacular through the mists, thankfully it wasn’t a blazing hot day.

Lunch and a beer by the lakside revived me ready for our boat trip to Thung Nai, where we picked up our bus again to make the 2 hour trip back to Hanoi. A quick shower to freshen up before dropping off my laundry in a local shop before a nice meal at the Met restaurant and a couple of beers with Howard finished a nice but very tiring day.

Tuesday 9th April

Another day that started with us checking out of the hotel, again, and boarding the bus for a trip East to Ha Long Bay.

On the way out of the city, we stopped off to visit The Blue Dragon children’s Foundation, which works with disadvantaged children throughout Vietnam, protecting them from the effects of human trafficking, disability and the poverty which forces them on to the city’s streets, the group who met us made us very welcome and told us of their work over tea and coffee. This was an interesting visit.

Back on the bus we travelled to the Cat Ba ferry terminl, on our arrival at the terminal we boarded the ferry, which was a pretty basic and not even up to CalMac’s standards, for the short trip to Cat Ba where we travelled to the other side of the island to board out cruise ship. After cruising round many of the limestone islands in the bay, whilst having a wonderful lunch we stopped at a floaing pontoon to allow those who wished to go kayaking and swimming, I chose not to take part in these activities but still rnjoyed myself nonetheless chatting to Kristina who also stayed behind. The weather wasn’t brilliant, it was a bit overcast, but apparently that’s normal for the bay, but it was brilliantly nonetheless.

Back on the main island following another sightseeing voyage, we took the bus to a nearby Eco Lodge, our accommodation for the night, which was an interesting place set in woodland with rustic chalets around a central area. We had our pre-booked dinner withhappy hour cocktails served from the bar. After dinner a few of us played pool, with difficulty, then finished the night off chatting to other guests round the campfire. Yet another great day in Vietnam.

Wednesday 10th April

After a good nights sleep and an interesting breakfast, we drove to the ferry terminal to catch the 8:30 ferry back to the mainland, stopping off on the way to Hanoi at a roadhouse for a comfort break and to buy some snacks.

On arrival in Hanoi, and after lunch in the Downtown Restaurant, we visited the Ho Chi Min complex, starting at the mausoleum then moving through the various buildings he used and lived in, including the famous stilt house he preferred rather than the palataial former presidential palace.

Our next stop was at a charity which supports handicapped people, including those who suffer from the long term effects of agent orange from the American War. This group provides employment, and we visited their embroidery workshop to see the beautiful silk tapestries they produce.

To finish off our time in Hanoi, we went to catch a performance of the Water Lotus Puppet Theatre, this was great fun, the puppets all performed in a pool of water with the puppeteers hidden behind screens. The performance contained tales of Vietnamese life on a fun and interesting way.

We returned to the Hong Ngoc Cochinchine hotel for the final time, and after collecting my laundry, made use of the room they provided for us, to freshen up, sort out my luggage and prepare for our night train journey south.

Leaving the hotel behind we took the bus to the train station and quickly boarded the night train, which departed bang on schedule. We were allocated a 4 berth cabin, which I shared with Howard Chris, and Heiki. Using Google Translate, Heiki, who is Esstonian and speaks no english, created a memorable experience for us by having conversations using technology which sometimes gave interesting results.

The journey was much better than expected and I was able to sleep for much of it, the toilets were a bit iffy, but apart from that, the facilities were fine for me, breakfast was a bit of a hoptch potch of the stuff I bought before leaving Hanoi, but it did the trick.

Thursday 11th April

On arrival in Hue at 10:00, we discovered the difference travelling south made to the weather as it was very hot and humid, we boarded the bus to the Alba Hotel where, as it was too early to check in, we all had a coffee before going to a family home for a delightful home cooked meal with a wonderful variety of local dishes and their version of rice wine.

After lunch we then travelled to the The Imperial City of Hue inside the Citadel, a walled fortress and palace belonged to the ancient city of Hue which was a capital city of the Nguyen Dynasty for 140 years until 1945.

The spectacular architecture was built in 1803 by the emperor who founded the Nguyen Dynasty. The Imperial City was finally completed in 1832 and it was the biggest structure built in the history of modern Vietnam. The city was made an UNESCO Site in 1993 with the remained buildings being actively restored and preserved after the destruction by the Americans during the Vietnam War.

We returned to the hotel for a seista and to cool down a bit before a few of us headed into town with Tuan, for a meal in a rooftop bar called the DMZ Bar, the food was very good. We returned to the hotel to catch up on some well deserved sleep.

Friday 12th April

An exciting day to day, after yet another good Southeast Asian breakfast, we were met outside the hotel by a team of motorcyclists in blue uniforms and helmets who were to be our drivers for the day.

After a short H&S briefing, we set on a convoy around the beautiful city of Hue, stopping off at various pounts to see the sights. We visited the Tu Duc Emperor’s tomb, the Thien Mu pagoda and a location where they make the famous Hue poem hat, a conical hat that displays a poem when held up to the light, they also showed us how they make incense, giving us a chance to try. We stopped at local markets, visited temples and stopped off for a fabulous vegetarian lunch on the way.

Our time with the motorcyclists was brilliant, they were extremely patient with us and at no time did any of us feel unsafe as we whizzed around the city and surrounding countryside, my rider Huan was a great guy who put me at my ease at all times during the day.

The afternoon was spent across the Perfume River to visit the Dong Ba market where a few of us made some purchases, I loved the little Vietnamese filter coffee system so much I bought one of the sets to make at home.

Rather than travelling back to the hotel, we all stayed out in town at the Why Not Bar where we had a few refreshments and a meal, before having a few happy hour drinks in Brown Eyes bar where I won a B52 cocktail and Chris won a tee shirt in their lottery, before returning to the hotel and retiring for the night following yet another brilliant day in Vietnam. Roll on next week as we head further south.

Budapest

Dec 5, 2023Oct 6, 2025 by theholmesteader, posted in International, Travel

Following our recent trip to Morocco, my mate Jim and I still had itchy feet, so out came our trusty Lonely Planet “Happy Weekend” book. On opening up we landed on Budapest, a city I had long wished to visit, so a decision was made to scope out the best way to get there and when. After a bit of research, we found that the city’s Christmas Market was opening on the 17th November so we wanted to go after that. Down we went to visit Michelle at Kenneth MacLeod Travel and set her the challenge of sorting us out, and although we set her a budget this time, we were booked to go a few short days later.

Our first flight was the Red-Eye to Frankfurt from Glasgow, which meant leaving the house at 04:00am to get through parking and security for the flight at 06:00. This flight went well and we arrived in Frankfurt early, which meant we had plenty of time to relax and catch a bit of breakfast before our flight to Budapest, which was a wee bit delayed. On arrival we caught the excellent 100E direct shuttle bus into the city centre, where we wanted to get a local bus to the hotel, unfortunately, the local buses don’t take cash and we had no working Wi-Fi to allow us to buy tickets so took a chance and got on one anyway and arrived easily at our hotel, the Danubius Hungaria, around 15:00.

Once checked into a nice room and connected to their Wi-Fi we discovered how to use the public transport and picked up a city map then went for a walk to find one of the rest area restaurants recommended in our Guidebook we quickly found Rakoczi, a restaurant that was highly rated in our guide book for serving traditional Hungarian food. After a wonderful meal, we then visited Rizmajer a local brewhouse for a couple of beers before returning to the hotel at the end of a very nice but busy day.

Our first full day in Budapest started with an excellent breakfast in the hotel, where we made our plans on how to make the most of our visit, we discovered that all the various Hop-on-Hop-off (Ho-Ho) bus companies had merged and that they provided good value tours of the city and included a Danube boat cruise, so off we set to catch one. The ticket office was just across the road from St Stephen’s Basilica where the Christmas Market was situated. Still, we left that treat until later and boarded the bus for an orientation tour of the city’s highlights, thankfully the weather was nice to us and we were able to sit on the upper deck for a better view of this beautiful city. During our journey, we stopped off in the Kupak Bar & Bistro to sample some traditional Goulash soup and a beer for lunch, before going round the corner to visit the stunning Dohány Street Synagogue. This building, built between 1854 and 1859 reminded us somewhat of our time in Morocco with its decoration based mainly on Islamic models. We enjoyed our tour especially when we reached the garden with its Tree of Life Memorial, designed by Imre Varga in 1991 and paid for by the late American actor Tony Curtis. On leaving the Synagogue we thought we would sample another of Budapest’s delicacies, a Chimney Cake, we both chose to have an apple strudel version, topped with freshly whipped cream, they were most delicious.

We returned to the hotel to freshen up and have a siesta, before a 30-minute wander down to the Basilica to visit the Christmas Market, where we enjoyed seeing all the stalls selling trinkets and Christmas items, there was a spectacular light display on the front of the Basilica which we watched while eating Langos, another Hungarian delicacy, which is basically a deep fried flatbread with different toppings, Jim had his usual chicken while I had one with sausage and onion, both of them were really tasty and very filling. The perfect way to finish off the day was a visit to Szimpla Kert, one of Budapest’s iconic ruin bars, this place is inside a dilapidated pre-war building in the Jewish Quarter, furnished with junk furniture in its nine bars all built out of old doors and windows, it was a real cool place to visit.

The next morning, after another great breakfast we caught the first Ho-Ho bus of the day and took it up to Heroes’ Square where we made our way into the City Park to visit the Széchenyi Baths, one of the largest thermal bath complexes in Central Europe, these baths are one of Budapest’s most famous. With an exceptional backdrop of classical columns and canary-yellow walls, it was a great way to spend a morning lounging in some of its indoor and outdoor pools, although it was a chilly 10 degrees outside, the thermal waters at 30 degrees in all the pools was a fabby treat and great fun, we could have easily spent the whole day there. Whilst visiting the Christmas Market the previous evening, we managed to meet part one of ‘Dan’s Challenge’ in finding a Starbucks to buy a mug, to complete the challenge we returned to town to find a Lego Store and eventually found one in one of the large shopping malls.

A quick bus trip took us down to the river to catch an evening cruise on the Danube as part of our Ho-Ho ticket, this was most enjoyable, the view of the city in the evening light with the buildings illuminated gave us yet another view of the city.

On our way back to the hotel, we were on the lookout for somewhere to go for dinner, we stumbled upon the Amigo Rockabilly Bar just around the corner from the hotel, it turned out to be just what we were looking for, a true dive bar, its 1950’s Elvis and Rock and Roll theme was interesting, but the staff, service and food could not be bettered, and the beer was very good too.

As we had only bought a 2-day Ho-Ho ticket, after breakfast we went to the railway station and purchased a 24-hour public transport ticket then headed over to the Buda side to spend the morning touring the castle and palace. The castle was spectacular, just like a real-life fairy tale. The palace and its grounds came a close second, we were even treated to a changing of the guard in all its precision. Back down on the riverbank, we made our way to the Central market hall for a wander around the stalls, and some lunch in Fakanál Étterem one of its many eateries, the food was good and we were entertained by a couple of in-house musicians.

The opulent Parliament House was our next stop, however, being closed to the public, all we could do was see the outside and the gardens. After walking across the Chain Bridge for our morning coffee and wandering around quite a bit despite our travel passes, we went back to the hotel for a wee siesta and to decide what we fancied for dinner. We thought it would be good to revisit the Ruins Bars and on our way there we came across Frici Papa’s, we had seen this place before on our travels, and as it had received good reviews and gauging by the queues outside, we thought we would try our luck. After a short wait, we got a table and discovered that the food and service lived up to the reviews. We cut our visit to the Ruins Bar short after one pint, as it was so crowded we found it difficult to get a seat and made our way back to the hotel stopping of in Amigo’s again, tonight it was a bit different, there was a karaoke in full flow when we got there, it turned out to be very entertaining listening to amateur Hungarian singers sing Hungarian Songs with the occasional song in English, it was such great fun we stayed until the end of the night.

Friday was our last day so after yet another great breakfast we went back to the riverside to see the Shoes on the Danube Bank, a touching memorial erected in 2005, to honour the Jews who were massacred by fascist Hungarian militia during the Second World War. They were ordered to take off their shoes (shoes were valuable and could be stolen and resold by the militia after the massacre) and were shot at the edge of the water so that their bodies fell into the river and were carried away. The memorial represents their shoes left behind on the bank.

A return to the nearby Central Market Hall for lunch, in a different eatery without the music, and a look at the loaded produce stalls finished off the early afternoon. We took a stroll along Vaci Utca one of Budapest’s popular shopping district finishing off in the Pointer Bar, Budapest’s version of a Weatherspoon’s for a refreshing pint before catching the bus back to the hotel to collect our luggage.

A local bus back into the city centre and the 100E back to the airport saw us start our journey home, despite a slight delay in Budapest we arrived in Frankfurt in plenty of time to catch our flight to Glasgow, our only problem being the lack of open food outlets at Frankfurt at night. We arrived back in a chilly Glasgow and quickly made our way home tired but happy after yet another great trip away.

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Category: International

China & Hong Kong 2026

Saturday 11th April – Beijing

Sunday 12th April – Beijing

Conclusions

Vancouver

Alaskan Cruise

Banff to Vancouver

Japan 25

Classic Sri Lanka

India’s Golden Triangle

Vietnam 24 ~ Week 2

Vietnam 24 ~ Week 1

Budapest

Saturday 11th April – Beijing

Sunday 12th April – Beijing

Conclusions

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