Things we did in Xi'an, China

For our 2 days, 2 nights stay at Xi'an last July 2019, these were the things we did:

1. The Xi'an City Wall Walk

Entrance fee =  54 CNY for adults.

We were fortunate that the hostel we stayed at was really close to the South Gate of the Xi'an City Wall. It is said that it is the most complete city wall that has survived in China. It is around the city center of Xi'an and is around 13 kilometers walk.

We did the city wall walk just before sunset because we saw that the sun could be so harsh while up there. There were solo bicycles and couple/double bicycles for rent. We saw stalls selling snacks and drinks, too. It had a great ambiance. Very relaxing to watch the city life from above. We loved just  watching the flow of traffic and the people from the top of the city wall. We planned to come back the following day to do the whole walk but we weren't able to because we decided to watch the Chang'an Impression.

2. Chang'an Impression

Entrance Fee = 260 CNY for adults

We did not know about this show until we were walking at the city wall and heard that there is an ongoing show within the city gates. It looks impressive and it really made us curious on what it is about because we tried to peek through the enclosure from the top of the wall. It was pricey but we could still stretch our budget so we had a go the following day.

This show is held at the Yongning Gate which is about 10 minute walk from the bell tower. After exploring the Muslim Street, we walked as fast as we could to the Yongning or South Gate. The first act was done outside the gate and in the open space. Another wise technique to pique interest from the people outside. From here, they made us realize that we are guests visiting the old Xi'an which was the old capital of China.

Our tickets had seat numbers and we had to look for them inside. Not long after, the show started. We saw more dancing with the performer's elaborate costumes. I can say that the production was really good and the money spent is not wasted. The lights that served as a backdrop kept on changing as well. The whole show lasted for an hour. At the end, the guests were allowed to have their photo taken with the dancers/performers.

3. Terracotta Warriors and Horses

Entrance Fee= 150 CNY for adults

This was the main reason why we headed to Xi'an. We did not want to join any tour groups because we wanted the adventure. After reading some blogs on how to DIY, we headed to Main Railway Station and looked for Bus No. 5. Fare for the trip was 7 CNY and 1 hour for the travel towards the Terracotta Warriors Museum. The drop off was a huge parking lot and we had to walk for about 10 minutes towards the entrance. We bought our tickets via klook.com and headed to a designated window where we showed our vouchers to exchange for a physical ticket.

A lot of tour guides offered us for their service but we refused them and headed on our own. This was quite a mistake because we did not know where to go and we cannot find a map. We just followed the crowd. The walk towards the first Museum was about 10 minutes. Here we saw the photos of the excavation of the 3 pits. It was nice staying inside as it had air conditioning on. Then we headed to pit No. 2. It was founded in 1976 and is the most spectacular one for the variety of divisions including infantry, crossbow, cavalry and 80 chariots.

We then headed to pit. No. 3. It appeared as the smallest of the pits but it was the command post of the armed forces. It is said that it contained 68 warriors and a chariot with 4 horses.

We purposely left pit no. 1 last because it was the biggest and as per advise of the travel bloggers. Truly it was massive and the array of infantry was impressive.

 The work of restoration is still on going and we can see that it was tedious. Most of the horses and warriors were broken and like pieces of a puzzle, they were fit one by one.

Travelling to Xi'an? Here are our tips:

1. There are options for the subway trains: one day pass or 3 day pass card. For us, since we stayed for 2 nights and 2 days, we just purchased one way tickets each time we had to use the subway.

2. City wall walk was very worth it.

-You can pack snacks to bring while on the wall. There are stalls selling snacks but they are expensive.

- Bottled water at convenience stores are only 2 CNY while in tourist areas, it can cost as much as 6 or 5. Evian water is expensive at 28 CNY each.

- Options to see the whole wall are walking, biking or shuttle bus

-Time your visit for sunset as the views are nice and the sun is not too hot. It is also nice to see the buildings light up during the night.

- City wall is open until midnight. You can buy tickets on the day as it does not have a maximum ticket limit.

3. Muslim St is best for street food and cheap souvenirs. It is very near to the drum and bell tower and it can get pretty crowded in there.

4. When travelling by train to other provinces (in our case, Chengdu) the ticket for the high speed train can only be redeemed from the railway station and not at the subway stations.

5. Arrive at the High Speed Railway Station about 1.5 hours prior to departure. Food options are available at the station. Expect a very long line when queuing up for food or for boarding.

6. Buy your Terracotta Warrior entrance ticket in advance. In our case, we purchased it from the Klook. There is a limit of 65,000 tickets sold per day.

7. Bus 306 (or Bus No.5) goes to Terracotta Warriors. We used google translate to inform the bus staff that we wanted to go to the site. Cost per way is 7 CNY.

8. Don't forget to bring hats, umbrellas, sunscreen, water and snacks while at the Terracotta Warriors and Horses site.

9. Visit pit B first then pit C and A the last while at the Terracotta Warriors Site.

10. Restaurants outside the site can be skipped as their prices are costly. We were so hungry and we gave in to temptation to eat at one of the restaurants. We paid for almost 100 CNY for just 2 meals! Also,  a man offered us some souvenirs for 50 CNY and we just walked past him, he shouted that he is offering down to 10 or 5 CNY even.

I hope this helps! Thank you for reading and 'til next blog :)

2 days in Chengdu

The third city we've been to during our China trip is Chengdu. This is the capital of the Sichuan Province and we came via the high speed train. It took about 5 hours for the trip. We have booked the train tickets from Trip.com and we exchanged our voucher at Xi'an North train station the day before our departure.

I thought that Chengdu would not be as big but I was wrong. It has a very organised metro line and lots of tall buildings at what I think is their downtown area. For this leg, we decided to splurge with our hotel accommodation. We stayed in a hotel that I did not know was a 5 star one LOL. It was called Dorsett Grand Chengdu and was very near the train station. We were assigned to a room in the 33rd floor and this was our view.

We arrived at around 3pm and just decided to go to People's Park. It was so easy to get to as it is right beside the People's Park station. Entry was free. It was a Saturday afternoon and so it was packed. It was nice to see families with their kids playing and just enjoying the atmosphere. The park was huge.There was a bonsai garden and a fish pond.

I think it is the only park I have seen that has a mini kid's carnival. There were rides like bumper cars and roller coasters. This was the busiest part of the park. Also, we found out about a food cart that sells of sugary lollies that can be customized to different characters. 

The kids love it!

Chengdu is known for their spicy food and abundance of hot pot. We are not really adventorous with food but I tried to eat dumplings with a little bit of spice. It was surprisingly not too bad! I would not hesitate to have it again. 

The main goal why we headed to Chengdu was to catch a glimpse of how their pandas are being taken cared of. We went to the Panda Research Base and I have written all about it here.

Some tips we have compiled for your upcoming Chengdu trip:

1. The Panda Research Base opens at 7:30am. We got to it at 8am and there was a long line at the entrance already. You can choose to come in really early and buy tickets right there at the entrance.

2. Taxi rates can vary from time of day, taxi companies and etc. We paid 60 RMB going to the panda base on an early morning but only 40 RMB coming back to the hotel after. This was even though there was heavier traffic going back.

3. Souvenir costs are pretty much the same whichever store you go.

4. Heading to or from the Chengdu airport? Easier to take the subway line whichever way.

5. Be specific when ordering food. Some establishments might forget you can't only tolerate a spicy meal.

6. It was a good decision to just pay for a subway ticket everytime we would ride a subway line. Saved us time from searching how or where we can have a permanent subway card refunded. Although it takes time to line up at the ticket counter but we did not mind.

Thank you for reading and 'til next blog!

Mornings with the Pandas in Chengdu

I have not blogged for a long time because me and Joel went for a 3 week holiday to Japan and China. After coming back to Australia, I spent a few weeks getting back to my daily grind and now that I have settled I will try and write about our amazing trip. I might not be able to write it in order of the itinerary but here we go..

On our last 2 days in China, we were in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province. We arrived in Chengdu via the high speed train from Xi'an. I planned for us to go and see the pandas at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding or Panda Base for short. It has been created to imitate the natural habitat of pandas for their rearing and breeding. This base takes care of other endangered animals such as black necked cranes, white storks and etc. There are other panda bases in Chengdu but I chose this because it is the nearest (because of its location, it is the most crowded!)

I've read a lot of blogs and one of them suggested not to go with the group tours as they leave the city late and when you arrive at the base, there will be tons of people and most probably the pandas are asleep already. It is said that giant pandas generally spend most of their time sleeping. Therefore, I did not bother to look for tours.

We woke up early and tried to get there by 9am. We asked the hotel staff's help to hail us a taxi. We paid about 60 RMB for the 10km journey and upon arriving, saw heaps of crowd already! Talk about trying to beat the crowd LOL. As with all tourist attractions in China, we had to line up to buy the tickets. Adult ticket is 58 RMB.

Upon entering, some people were lining up to ride the free shuttle that would take you directly to where most of the giant pandas are. We ignored that and just followed the general crowd. The map of the base makes it look huge but walking through the area is not that bad.

There were bamboos on the sides that kept the area cool and shady anyway. I even felt that I was back in Japan!

The first pandas we saw were the red pandas. They were so cute! We had the right timing when the carer came to their area and fed them. They were eating and getting food from the bucket while the carer cleaned their space.

We also saw pandas sleeping on top of the tree which was cute!

Also, a panda playing while his mum is sleeping. The young panda was so playful that it climbed up and down their tree house which made for a great crowd entertainment.

The crowd was becoming thick as the tour groups have arrived. We decided to do a bit of people watching by sitting on the benches that are on the sides. I saw people were selling panda headbands or accessories inside the base.

We would have stayed longer but we had to go back to our hotel to check out. Before we left, we didn't forget to check their gift shop for a souvenir.

Goal achieved for our last day in China! We then headed to the airport via the metro line for our flight bound for Australia. Thank you for reading and 'til next blog!

A Day in Healesville

On a rare Saturday that I am not working, we decided to head to Healesville, Victoria. It is a town 52 km northeast of Melbourne CBD and about an hours drive. It was a long drive but a scenic one. I had fun watching the plains and valleys and wineries along the way.

Our first agenda was to visit a colleague/friend's cafe. She has set this up with her husband who was a chef. We found them at Black Spur Nursery and Cafe. While waiting for our orders, we looked around the nursery. It would have been nice to buy one but there is no space and time to take care of it so we dropped the idea. Finally our orders arrived and it was delish!

Next on our list was to visit Hedgend Maze. I found a Groupon voucher with about $4 discount for this attraction. Regular adult price was $18. Joel always wanted to try a maze and it was the perfect time to try it. We went to Hedgend and just presented our voucher. The attendants then gave each of us a wristband, a map of the place which also contains the things we can do and a pencil.

First we headed off to the mini golf. The last time we had one was months ago and because the last one was my very first one, I lost the game. There were 18 holes on this mini golf and even though Joel had a hole in one, I beat him by 6 points! Haha

The next thing we did was the native maze. I had a lot of fun with this. It's a trust maze and one person has to be blindfolded and another person directs with his voice. I was blind folded first and Joel successfully guided me without running over a bush. Of course, when it was my turn to blurt out the directions, I wasn't as good as him.

The famous hedge maze was next on our list, I felt quite claustrophobic going into it. We had to find a secret message from the encircled letters of a statement made by a famous person. It was difficult and we gave up after finding 7 letters LOL. The maze had parts that are not yet fully grown so some people would cut to them. I also was kind of feeling dizzy from walking within the walls so we headed out of it.

We then headed out to the look out tower wherein we saw how vast the land area was, the top view of the Hedge Maze and we can also see another maze called the Rainbow Maze.

It is a colour pathway with 4 levels of difficulty. Level 1 was easy - The aim was to go from start to end staying on the red pathway.

There were other activities such as Tangled web, Mural Eyespy, Frisbee Golf, Fossil Dig, Lawn Games and etc.

There was also a picnic and BBQ area for family gatherings. It was a productive Saturday for us and we headed back to Melbourne happily. There is another attraction there called the Healesville Sanctuary that we might visit in the future.

Thank you for reading and 'til next blog!

Rottnest Island 2019

I fulfilled my dream of visiting Perth after almost a year of working. Perth was the first city I've been to in Australia and I remembered Perth as awesome. I hoped to visit because I also had one luggage left at a friend's house. Unfortunately, the friend moved to NSW so I just chilled and relaxed while in Perth. Joel hasn't been to Perth before and he came with me this time. He wanted to see the quokkas for himself and so we decided to go to Rottnest Island.
 

From Perth, we took the Fremantle Line towards Fremantle. Although there was an option to catch a ferry from Perth city, we chose this to spend a bit of time walking in Fremantle. We went to Perth Underground at 10am and were amazed that the station was almost empty.

 

The train ride was about 45 minutes and since we were not in a hurry, we went to eat at the Famous Fish and Chips Restaurant in Fremantle while enjoying the beautiful view.

 

We then walked towards B Shed Fremantle and bought our ticket. We chose the SeaLink Rottnest Island Ferry. Not sure if there was a promotion going on but for a return boat trip for us both, we paid a total of $96. The boat trip was at 2pm and we had a lot of time to kill so we went to the Fremantle Markets which was just the opposite building and browsed through their merchandise and had some coffee.
 

When it was time to board the ferry, we were first timers so we chose the open seats at the back of the ferry. We did not know that the seat would expose us to a lot of sea water splashing, we were almost fully wet. We transferred towards the covered seats where more people were. The kids loved and screamed through most part of the ferry trip because of the big waves but me and Joel were dizzy. Finally, we arrived in Rottnest Island after the 30 minute gruelling trip.
 

We saw thousands of bikes in the island, all most probably for rent. However, we did not hire any bikes because, embarrassingly, I do not know how to bike. I was interested to do the Hop On Hop Off Bus but we arrived a little bit late to catch the last bus. So we just decided to walk where our feet would take us.

The first quokka we saw was near the bins. We were so excited and wondered why the people were just passing by it. Joel's parents told us they had difficulty looking for one when they were visiting the island a lot of years ago so we felt super lucky to find one right away.

But, just a few meters from the first one were more quokkas. They were not afraid to be surrounded with a lot of people. They were just minding their own business and eating leaves. I was amazed at how they sleep as well, they just protect their tails and put them under their feet and bow their heads.

Quokkas are said to be the happiest animals on earth. They are the smallest members of the macropods or "big foot" family which includes the kangaroos. They are nocturnal which explains why most are asleep during our visit and they are the only land mammal on Rottnest Island. Anyone caught touching a quokka on Rottnest Island will be fined $300.

People were trying to catch that famous quokka smile. Some were lying on the ground just to get the perfect selfie. I was fortunate to have one :)

There were hundreds that we saw on our short stroll. And we saw one who has clearly hurt himself because one of the fingernail was hanging from the hand. We tried to call the ranger and he said he will come soon but we have not seen him even if we stayed a few minutes just to make sure we can identify the correct quokka. Oh well, we tried our best.

We went to one of the many beaches on the island and spent minutes enjoying the sun before we returned to the port to take another boat ride.

Fortunately, this time, the boat was bigger and there wasn't much bumps.

I loved every minute of our Perth trip. The food was good and the atmosphere was not as rushed as back home. But as with all trips, we had to say goodbye and head off. Perth will always be in my heart.

Thank you for reading and 'til next blog.

kunanyi/ Mt Wellington 2019

For those heading to Hobart soon, kunanyi/ Mt. Wellington visit is a must on your list of things to do. The Aboriginal culture called the mountain with numerous names but the official indigenous name is kunanyi. The mountain is unmissable as it towers over Hobart City. 

On my 2nd day at Hobart, I decided to go into the visitor center to book myself a tour for Mt. Wellington. Other people would choose to drive up there but because I can't drive, I settled with a tour. I chose the one that departs at 12 noon so I could have time to explore Salamanca Market on that Saturday morning. I paid $30 for this 2 hour tour. You can also book online for these tours but I chose to rock up to the visitor center just to ask for more details and see some alternatives they could offer. 

I came to the meeting place at least 15 minutes ahead and waited for the tour bus. Then a white van pulls up with the unmissable label. The driver, who also serves as the tour guide, asked to check our confirmation slip and let us into the bus.

On the way up, he was explaining about suburbs at the foot of the mountain and how the flora on the foot of the mountain was different from the ones on top. He was also sharing a story about a forest fire that happened before that left some trees looking dead or without leaves but the fire must have not entirely destroyed the roots that is why they are still standing until now. 

When we were at the top we were informed we had 20 minutes to explore the place. This is the pinnacle area. I was able to come up there even if I was wearing  dress and sneakers. The boulders were a bit risky to climb to.

The plants on top of the mountain are shorter than that of the ones on the foot of the mountain. One of the reason is that the winds are stronger on top, and the plants in order to survive, will grow to a few centimeters only.

I also went into the observation deck where I had read more about Mt Wellington and at the same time be protected from the wind/ cold from the outside. It is said that on top of the mountain, the temperature is 10 degrees less than that of the city.

There's also a walkway outside the Observatory for those wanting to see more of the view.

After enjoying the view and reading at some helpful facts about the mountain, our tour went halfway down the mountain to an area called  the Springs for some coffee. After that, the driver/ guide took us all back to Hobart City.

I felt it was a quick trip to kunanyi/ Mt Wellington but I'm satisfied to see what is there to see. Thank you for reading and 'til next blog!