Solo travel to China
29 MAY - 10 JUNE 2019
DAY 1-2
Zurich - Hong Kong
Ready for my first travel-solo: I am off to China.
My KLM flight leaves Zurich in the evening, and after a very short stop in Paris CDG, I take the direct connection to Hong Kong, the first destination of my trip. A few movies and several hours of sleep later, I finally land in HK, on the late afternoon of the following day. It's strange to travel alone, to spend time on the plane without chatting with anyone, to arrive in a new world and be disoriented, to have to make quick decisions, without being able to consult with anyone on the best to do.
And so I am catapulted into this hot and humid world, where I just have the time to realize where am I and I already miss by an inch the bus that should take me to the city center. I resign myself to waiting on the dock for 20 minutes, while my body in crisis tries to get used to the indescribable humidity.
My bus arrives, strictly double-decker, as the English colonial tradition requires, and I quickly grab the front seat of the upper floor. Armed with camera, GoPro and phone to capture the journey to the city, a magnificent alternation of lush hills, tall and dense buildings leaning against each other, thousands of containers on the harbour animated by many cranes and cargo ships and, finally, in the dim light of twilight, the lights of the city. I reach my lodging in the dark, on the Central Island of Hong Kong, Sheung Wan area.
HOTEL: Butterfly on Waterfront
The location is decentralized, but enjoys an incredible view, from the 31st floor, towards Kowloon and its skyscrapers over the canal dividing the central island from the working-class districts. I quickly get dressed into the dark room with few lights, as well as small as a service space, and I run outside, eager to explore, and in a hurry to grab a bite of food before everything closes, around 21:30. Heading for dinner, always head-on looking at the details on the facades of the tall buildings, I notice the strange light that reigns in the city. The damp fog envelops the sky and lights up the orange lights of the center, making what is actually a dark night seem like daylight.
Bright red writings, tall and crumbling buildings, glass palaces, aerial walkways alternate around me, and after a labyrinthine search for the restaurant inside a huge shopping mall at closing time, I manage to sit just in time at the table of this tiny place full of people, with huge tables to share, before closure.
DINNER: Tim Ho Wan, Central Station Exit A
Obviously, Dim Sum, in a restaurant whose cook was awarded with a Michelin star, but looking like a shoddy mall diner. The impression is not the best, but the environment is funny, and I share the table with hungry locals biting chicken's feet in a dark sauce. Har Gow with shrimps, Shumai with shrimps and mushrooms are my dinner, topped with a generous cup of hot tea. I go back to the hotel to rest, after taking some night photos of the picturesque passers-by. The bed will have to wait, however, because my room seems not to have been cleaned before my arrival, and so I have to ask and wait to be placed in a new room. Luckily the new room is newer, more spacious, with a better view and I enjoy a well-deserved rest ready for the following morning.
DAY 3
Hong Kong, The Peak, Central, Kowloon
This time of the year is not optimal for the visit of Hong Kong, and as to my arrival the evening before, an insistent drizzle welcomes me, besides the humidity in the air and the asphyxiating heat. Unfortunately my visit to Hong Kong will not be long, and I cannot choose to postpone my plans because of the rain. So, regardless of the weather conditions, I walk to Victoria Peak.
The program is to climb the hill (or rather the mountain) on the western side, get to the top, and then go down to the center with the funicular. The route is demanding, uphill, in the woods, even more so if you consider the intense heat and rain. I strenuously arrive at the top, the long morning walk at 8 a.m. was anyway pleasant and picturesque.
However, the view I expected to see from the highest point of HK is completely hidden by a thick white fog. Just the view towards Lantau islands is clear and beautiful. Besides that, the funicular is closed for maintenance for a few months, and so I have to equip myself for a descent by bus.
Back at sea level, I walk all morning through the financial center of HK, a dense agglomeration of skyscrapers and buildings, more or less new, symbols of modern architecture, and anonymous shopping centers, all connected by a system of raised pedestrian bridges that cross the buildings entering and leaving in opposite directions. Obviously I get lost several times, finding myself in the foyer of a bank when I was thinking of going out on the street, or on the street when I wanted to enter a shopping center.
But even if with some difficulty, I can explore the entire center, up to the 55th floor of the building that houses the Monetary Authority exhibition of HK and enjoy a magnificent view of the center and the hills.
After hours of walking, it's time to take a lunch break to eat an exceptional noodle soup with beef, perched on a microscopic round table with 6 other people.
LUNCH: Kau Kee
On the way back to the hotel, I stop for a photo session at the Man Mo Temple, a Taoist temple characterized by a forest of burning spiral incense hanging from the ceiling, from which hundreds of prayers on red paper hang and move among the swirls of incense smoke.
A walk through some antiques market, and after browsing through the thousands of dry food and spice shops that populate the neighborhood of my hotel, I return to take a shower and get ready for the evening. I go out in the late afternoon, with the intention of eating something later in Kowloon.
A walk to the port and I take the famous Star Ferry, that for a few cents leads to the other side of the channel. I walk through Kowloon, a much poorer neighborhood, full of shops, lights, markets and people walking in the night market, a pile of Neon-illuminated stalls selling trinkets of all kinds. I can't find an inviting place to stop, and so I decide to keep walking, and then have a fruit-based snack at the hotel.
DAY 4
Hong Kong, Diamond Hill, Kowloon
Even today no jet lag, and despite not sleeping much, I can wake up early and rested. The rain seems to have given break, as in the afternoon of the day before, and indeed today the sun often overlooks the clouds. It's time to explore the suburbs and this morning I go by subway to the Chin Lin Nunnery, a monastic complex with a traditional adjoining garden, located north of Kowloon.
I arrive at the opening of the park, when no tourist has yet invaded the peace of this place, a green nest animated by some gold and red pagoda temple, out of time, surrounded by the impressive tall buildings. The garden leads to a Buddhist temple that once housed a convent of nuns, a place dominated by traditional buildings in dark wood, water pools populated by water lilies and porches that frame the dense concrete buildings in the background. I take lots of photos until I decide to leave and give way to the tourists who are starting to arrive. Walking on foot, next to freeways and under imposing overpasses, I go to browse through the buildings I saw in the distance from the Nunnery. Poor neighborhoods where people, between the amazed and the suspicious, observe me all the time long, in front of the shops or sitting on the benches of the common spaces that separate tall buildings crossed by vertical ribbons of air conditioners and windows.
I reach a more isolated neighborhood, surrounded by colored parallelepipeds that still house apartments, and I find myself on the roof of a covered parking lot, together with dozens of young people shooting Instagram-worth pictures, on a huge basketball court in coloured neoprene, matching with the colorful buildings surrounding it. I go back to the metro, and with it to Kowloon.
A walk among the shops of the flower market. A walk through the bird market cages, where colorful parrots alternate with containers full of crickets served for dinner. Through Kowloon, the Ladies Market, I leave behind me the thousands of bright signs, the expanses of stalls, the crowd that goes in and out of the shops, and, after having crossed a long connecting bridge that creeps into a series of new buildings built in the West, I arrive at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, where, instead of going up to the nearby Sky 100 to admire the view from above, I decide to go and enjoy a snack in the bar overlooking Central: I stay for a sweet mango and coconut pudding, and I take some photos of the beautiful forest of skyscrapers and hills covered with greenery that stands out in front of me.
I return to the hotel for a shower and to get dressed for the evening. I spend the evening with some guys just met through friends, who invited me for an aperitif at home and then for dinner and clubbing. I have the pleasure, therefore, to climb on one of these high '60s buildings, apparently dangerous and hosting an indefinite number of apartments.
As crumbling on the outside as well as in the foyer, the building hides renovated apartments worthy of a Beverly Hills villa. The view, from the top of the hill and from the top of the twenty-third floor, is breathtaking, over the lights of the center and the bay.
DINNER: Tokyo Lima
After a short visit to a club, at 2:00 a.m. I take my way home. I go back to the hotel to close my luggage, sleep a couple of hours, and then go to the port to take the bus, which with a very long journey through the city, takes me to the airport, again, where I leave for Beijing.
DAY 5
Hong Kong - Beijing
Arrival in Beijing. I leave the airport in a very short time, despite the visa check, and I reconnect with a friend of whom I will be a guest in this gigantic city.
In the afternoon we go together to visit the Lama Temple, a complex of Buddhist temples really fascinating. A short visit before the closing and after, with a walk interrupted by the rain in the district of the Hutongs, we stop to eat a Hot Pot meal. Meat, vegetables and mushrooms in a hot and spicy broth, and with a sweaty forehead, we leave the place and go home. A stop at the supermarket, to provide me with sunscreen and snack fruit for the trip out of town the next day.
DINNER: Old Beijing Meat In Hot Pot
DAY 6
Beijing - Jinshanling
I wake up at 6 a.m. and with a Uber-like service, I am taken to a desolate bus station, where I board a bus heading to Jinshanling, one of the areas where the Great Wall is, which we reach after a 3 hours-long journey. With some difficulties to make me understand in English, I inform myself about the path to be taken and the duration. I convince myself to hike a stretch of about 15 km on foot, from the east to the west. Most tourists go up through a funicular, not included in the ticket, and visit the stretch around the landing area. Fortunately, this makes the rest of the wall deserted.
After a walk in the woods and some difficulty in finding the access door, I climb on the back of the wall, and admire the endless panorama of the hills, on which dominate the watchtowers of the wall. The sun is scorching, but the climate is wonderful. I cover the whole stretch stopping only to take pictures, or to buy a few bottles of extra water brought on the watchtowers by street vendors, who arrive every morning with energy carrying the goods by foot.
The route is tiring because it follows the roughness of the ground, with very steep stairs, with steps as high as my leg, and equally steep descents. With some hesitation about the feasibility of the route in the available time frame before the only bus bound for Beijing leaves the West gate, I arrive at the end of the planned stretch and, very tired, I get back on the bus that takes me back to Beijing. I go home to prepare myself and we go to dinner to eat an excellent Beijing duck.
DINNER: Beijing Da Dong - Peking Chamber
DAY 7
Beijing
First day of visit to BJ. A short visit to the financial district and CCTV headquarters, and I head to the Temple of Heaven. The subway trips are endless, the distances incredible, and the monuments immense: it takes a couple of hours to visit the whole complex. In the afternoon I take a walk among the Hutong, the traditional alleys of the city and I skip the lunch considering the cooking class I will take part to in the afternoon. I learn how to prepare spring rolls, a Won Ton soup and glutinous rice with chicken wrapped in lotus leaf, and I eat an exquisite meal, sufficient as lunch and dinner.
COOKING CLASS: The Hutong
DAY 8
Beijing - Guilin
I'm planning a visit to the Forbidden City today. My entrance is booked at 10 a.m., so I spend the morning wandering in the Hutong district not far away. When I approach Tien An Men square to go to the Imperial City, I realize that the square is closed for the national holiday events of the previous days, and I find myself bottled in a queue of hundreds of people who head to the square forced to wait for passport and bags checks that last for hours. After more than an hour and a half spent crushed like a sardine in the crowd, I manage to enter and running to the entrance I manage to endorse my ticket at 11:56, 4 minutes before the end of my turn to enter.
I begin to visit this immense monument made of squares, stairways, traditional red buildings with yellow, green and colorful roofs. The crowd is immense, given the 80,000 visitors admitted every day, but just deviate from the central route and tourists begin to disappear. There are peaceful corners in the most hidden areas of the City. A magnificent place, too crowded unfortunately, but suggestive to the point of forgetting the crowd to enjoy the peace of the courtyards, corridors, squares, buildings in red wood.
After exiting through the North door, I go to Jingshan park, just behind, where from a hill made with the earth excavation of the embankment where the Forbidden City stands, you can admire the endless view over the city itself and over the entire Beijing. I return home, stopping at Zaha Hadid's Galaxy Soho, and I come back in time to prepare my suitcases for the departure, with my friend, to Guilin, where we arrive late at night.
HOTEL: Zen Tea House
DAY 9
Guilin
We wake up slowly, and we walk in the city center to go for a snack. We find a tiny place where a lady bakes delicious jian mao shaobing stuffed with pork cooked in an oven similar to the Tandoori. A succulent meal, together with won ton, and we go for a quick visit to the Elephant Trunk Hill, a park next to the river, where a spur of rock that seems to be forged in the form of an elephant's trunk, plunges into the muddy river.
STREET FOOD: 戋毛烧饼
We climb the hill to admire the view of the mountain formations of Guilin, an anonymous city that stretches against the backdrop of these endless wooded dunes. We are surprised by a torrential rain, and we struggle to return to the city with an Uber. We spend the rest of the afternoon resting in the hotel, given the inclement weather, and we can not even go out for dinner, since there are no taxis because of the heavy rains. So we order a take away and eat in the hotel, hoping that the day after the rain will give us a break and not ruin our travel plans.
DAY 10
Guilin - Yangshuo
Luckily the climate seems mild, and we manage, as scheduled, to take part in a cruise on the river Li to admire the mountain landscape that surrounds it. Unfortunately it seems difficult to organize autonomous trips, so we are forced to take part in this beautiful group trip, with a guide with a microphone on the bus that explains, in an incomprehensible English, what we will do. The cruise is however very suggestive, even if the river is invaded by similar boats that bring hundreds of tourists in the same places.
A few hours on board, plus a microwave meal of very poor quality, and we arrive in the town of Yangshuo, a beautiful agglomeration of wooden houses topped by gigantic wooded mountains. We make a short stop here, and then a stop at the traditional village of Shangri-la, with a boat trip, more touristy than picturesque. The return trip to Guilin is long. When we arrive we take a walk in a microscopic traditional market where we buy dried mango, and then we go to dinner.
DAY 11
Guilin - Longsheng
Even today the weather is mild and we manage to visit the rice fields of LongJi. The bus trip is turbulent, we climb on rotten concrete roads along the ridge of the hills. We arrive at the village at the base of the valley of the rice fields, and we set out for a walk on the slopes. The landscape is endless, and the villages are small jewels with wooden houses and red lanterns clinging to the slopes furrowed by the rice fields. We arrive at the top with a one-hour-walk, where of course there is a cable car that takes tourists up, and immediately we set off to return on foot along the opposite side.
The return by bus is as turbulent as the outward journey. We give up an evening out after having planned to wake up at dawn to avoid the bad weather of the valley of Guilin and go to look for some refreshment in an Onsen in the area of Longsheng.
DAY 12
Guilin - Longsheng - Beijing
We struggle to find someone to take us to a remote place in Guanxi called Longsheng Hot Springs, a SPA area embedded in a narrow and very high lush valley, where we find refreshment after a few days of walking and during the umpteenth day of rain. An oasis of peace, a jungle that surrounds very high temperature pools where we soak for hours, chatting and enjoying the sounds of the surrounding nature and the rain that beats on the water. Few other people appear during the day and the spa is all for us. In the evening, after several difficulties in finding a taxi to take us back to Guilin airport because of the bad weather, we leave again, with hours of delay.
DAY 13
Beijing
My last day in China starts very early, to try to complete my sightseeing plans. A passage to the traditional market of Panjayuan, teeming with sellers who set up their stands of bracelets, sacred stones and prayer counters, brushes, ceramics, paintings and jade jewelry.
I go then to the Summer Palace, and I take a pleasant walk among the gardens, the traditional buildings, the courtyards still deserted, the immense lake crossed by bridges and pedal boats and surrounded by willows. Here too, like in all of China, the place is full of people, and wandering in the most remote areas you will find some peace, magnificent views of the park from above and scenes of everyday life, such as old people playing Majong, artists who paint, with giant brushes, pictograms on the paths, and women in martial uniform who practice tai chi and sword dance to the sound of music.
A walk through the city, some shopping to take home some tea, a cookbook, and some Chinese trinkets. A short but very tasty lunch with xiaolongbao, ravioli stuffed with broth, and a honey and grapefruit tea.
LUNCH: Din Tai Fung
Then a short stop in the must-see Olympic city to visit the stadiums Water Cube and Bird's Nest, and finally I join my friend for a last greeting, after having made a fruitless visit to the Silk Market, hoping to do a good deal with cheap luxury items: anything but cheap.
We dine with a quick-sandwich and then I go to the airport with a Uber drive, to return to Zurich.
This content is NOT SPONSORED, but based on my genuine personal experience. Spontaneous opinions, positive and negative, shareable or not, that I hope will help to live better travel experiences. My advice is a guide to lead you through world explorations, but the real journey, you build it
