Hong Kong & Taiwan March 2017
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Day 1. The start of our Asian adventure
I’m fortunate to be off on my travels again, this time to Hong Kong and Taiwan. Hopefully a good balance with a week in a firm favourite of Hong Kong followed by our first ever visit to the beautiful island of Taiwan. We’re planning on seeking out some new places to visit in Hong Kong…
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Day 2. Arriving in Hong Kong
Hong Kong’s Chek Lap Kok airport is both large and well organised, meaning that reclaiming our luggage and heading out to the bus terminal to catch the City Flyer A11 service to North Point only took a matter of minutes. Rather than taking the Airport Express train from where we would have had to change…
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Day 3. Riding Hong Kong’s Peak Tram and Mid Levels Escalators
Despite the 8 hour time difference we slept until our alarm went off at 7.00 a.m. We couldn’t see across the harbour from our window as it was so misty but were hopeful that it would soon clear. Breakfast followed in the hotel’s restaurant – a good selection of fruit, yoghurts, pastries and hot dishes to…
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Day 4. Kowloon Walled City Park and Stanley
Another misty morning, and an unusual hotel breakfast combination of Chinese dumplings and Scotch pancakes with maple syrup but equally tasty. Leaving our hotel we called in to the nearby Java Street market, a large indoor wet market over three floors selling fish, meat, fruit vegetables and flowers. The fish market was the most interesting as…
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Day 5. A Day in Macau
It was drizzling slightly as we caught a rush hour MTR train from North Point station to Sheung Wan for the ferry to Macau. On arrival in the ferry terminal we discovered ferries were subject to delays due to dense fog in Macau and we were unable to depart until 10.30 am so we found…
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Day 6. Aberdeen & an evening at Happy Valley, Hong Kong
A bright, breezy morning and after a leisurely hotel breakfast we wandered across the road to the North Point bus station to take bus no. 38 to Aberdeen, the journey going via the Aberdeen tunnel and taking only 30 minutes. Aberdeen is located in the south west part of the island and is famous for…
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Day 7. The Po Lin Monastery and Tai O Village
A clear morning with no signs of any mist so after breakfast we took the MTR to Tung Chung, located at the end of the Tung Chung line. Our plan for this morning was to visit NGong Ping to see both the Big Buddha and the Po Lin Monastery. On recent visits I have travelled…
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Day 8. Cheung Chau and the Hong Kong Flower Show
It’s hard to believe that it was our last full day in Hong Kong – the days had flown by. During the morning we decided to visit one of the outlying islands so we travelled on the MTR to Central and then walked across the footbridge to Central Pier for the 9.45 a.m. fast ferry…
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Day 9. From Hong Kong to Taiwan
It was a bitter sweet feeling needing to pack our suitcases after breakfast, the Ibis Hotel North Point having been a good place to stay and Hong Kong being a much loved destination. After pulling our luggage along to the step free entrance of the MTR station we rode the metro for the final time this…
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Day 10. Yangmingshan National Park and Beitou Hot Springs
We woke at 7.00 am but struggled to get out of bed for another half an hour. Fortunately the monsoon shower head invigorated me and we were soon ready to experience our first breakfast in Taipei. The Green World Grand Nanjing hotel restaurant, located on the 2nd floor was called ‘Find the Life Kitchen’ and had…
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Day 11. The Presidential Office & Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial, Taipei
Over breakfast we chatted with two ladies on a weekend break from Japan who were sitting at the next table. They had both visited England and one had fond memories of the Cotswolds. We assured them that Japan was high on our list of places to visit, which they thought was nice. Before leaving home,…
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Day 12. Taipei 101 and the National Palace Museum
Drawing the curtains back, it appeared to be a dull morning but thankfully with no rain. The two Japanese ladies we met at breakfast yesterday were around again at the same time this morning so we exchanged pleasantries and wished them a good day. Our plan for the morning was to visit Taipei 101 which until…
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Day 13. Taipei Zoo and the Maokong Gondola
It was a bright, sunny morning as we took the MRT to Taipei Zoo Station along the Wenhou (Brown) line for most of the journey. The trains on this line run overground and are driverless, similar to London’s Docklands Light Railway and it was fun sitting at the front having uninterrupted views on our journey.…
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Day 14. Visiting Pingxi and Shifen from Taipei
Our plan for today was to travel by train to the small countryside towns of Pingxi and Shifen. Getting there by public transport was quite easy, taking the MRT to Songshan Railway Station from where we caught a mainline train to Ruifang taking 46 minutes (its 34 minutes on the Express train but as the…
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Day 15. Daan Park and Elephant Mountain, Taipei
It was lovely warm, sunny morning so after breakfast we strolled along to the Nanjing Fuxing MRT station on the Brown (Wenhu) line. This overground line differs from the others as it runs on tyres on concrete tracks. Alighting at Daan station, a residential area of the city, we walked westbound to Daan Park hoping to…
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Day 16. The Grand Hotel & Martyrs’ Shrine, Taipei
A relaxing breakfast on our final morning in Taipei, the week has passed in the blink of an eye, we’ve had such a fun filled time, seeing and doing so many different things in beautiful Taiwan. Returning to our room, we packed our belongings together managing to squeeze in numerous packets of Taiwanese Oolong tea…
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