Adventures in Asia: Guangzhou, China

I came to Guangzhou by train yesterday.  This morning I fly home from CAN.

After checking into my hotel late in the afternoon, I headed down to the Canton Tower to see it at night.  It had been impressive in the day, but it was even more spectacular lit up at night!

The lights change colours and pattern constantly.

All along the river the buildings are lit up, so I walked along the river and over the bridge to the other side, enjoying the lights as I walked.

I was cold and hungry when I reached the other riverbank, so I stopped in an underground food court to warm up and get something to eat.  "Nostalgic pig feet" sounded good!

Adventures in Asia: Hong Kong

From Manila I was supposed to fly on to Brunei, but on Wednesday Cebu Pacific let me know that they had canceled my flight without any explanation!

I looked into alternatives, but nothing affordable or convenient was going to allow me to have the quick weekend in Borneo I hoped to; so, instead, I came back to China on Friday evening instead of Monday morning as I planned.  I fly back to Canada from Guangzhou on Tuesday, so I spent the weekend in Hong Kong.

I came to Hong Kong in May 2016 whilst cruising on the Sapphire Princess, but this time I came over the newly completed Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge.

As I came into Hong Kong over the bridge, I got a sense for the magnitude of shipping going through this part of the world!

The bustle, street food, and sky scrapper lights were all parts of Hong Kong I had experienced in 2016 as well, but they were as captivating the second time as they had been the first.

Something I had not been able to witness last time was these scenes of (mostly) ladies hanging out on cardboard in public spaces.  This article does a good job describing what is happening: http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20161109-a-sunday-ritual-for-300000-women.

In 2016 I had only been in Kowloon, Central, and on the Peak, so this time I took a ferry to one of the larger outlying islands, Lamma Island.  The ferry leaves from Central Pier and takes about twenty minutes.

The ferry takes about twenty minutes, the first few of which are in Victoria Harbour, with Hong Kong to the left and Kowloon to the right.

The ferry took me to Sok Kwu Wan, the pier on the southern half of the island.

From Sok Kwu Wan you can hike north, to Yung Shue Wan (the other pier with ferries to Central) for example, or you can do a nice two hours circle hike to the southern side of the island, which is what I opted for.

Despite its proximity to the rest of Hong Kong, Lamma Island's villages feel peaceful and rural, and hiking the island on a nice afternoon was wonderful.

Back at Sok Kwu Wan, there are numerous fish sellers that also have restaurants overlooking the harbour where they serve their fresh fish.

Adventures in Asia: Back to Manila, Philippines

Sadly I had to leave Banaue yesterday morning and make my way back to Manila.  I walked down the street from 7th Heaven to find a jeepney, and this time it was quite easy to do so and the driver was communicative and friendly.

I did not get a picture of the jeepney I was in, but I did get to take a picture of one through the window across the street while we were stopped in Lagawe.

From Lagawe it was another hour and a half or so to a place called Bagabag, and the jeepney dropped me off at what is called the Bagabag junction.  It did not look like much of a transit station, but the junction proved to be a bus and jeepney hub!

I took a seat in the shade next to a pile of these pies that vendors hawk on the buses when they stop.

I waited less than an hour before a bus came by that was going to the Sampolac bus station in Manila.  I possibly could have gotten on one even earlier, but I waited until I was confident.

It proved to be a great bus, because I got two seats to myself the whole time, and it had WiFi!  It was about 12:30 once I got on, and we reached Manila around 19:30.  I jumped off early, because I realized we were stopped below an LRT station, and I figured it would be easier/faster to take the LRT further into the city rather than wait for the bus to make its way through traffic.  I think this was a good choice, because I was back at my hostel by 20:00--plus I got to experience the LRT, which was certainly the most modern of the Philippines modes of transportation I have used!