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More updates on Travel to/from Hong Kong Airport to Shezhen

The questions about how to get from Hong Kong Airport to Shenzhen and back keep coming up in various forums. Even now that there are direct flights from Taiwan to China (rather than via Hong Kong) the topic is still active. The fact is there is still a border and a border check between China / Shenzhen and Hong Kong — so it takes time and effort to make the connections. I have done the trip via various modes
* Ferry: Hong Kong airport to Shekou (described here: http://site.chinafinds.com/travel/?s=Shekou)
* Plane: Shezhen to Hong Kong Airport or Macao Airport and on to next destination
* Van / car : you get picked up in Shenzhen and the driver helps you with the transfer
* Taxi to LoHu border crossing — cross on foot — taxi, MTR or van to other points in Hong Kong

All these modes are fine based on what your challenge is — time, money, effort…. :-) Or if you go often to Shenzhen / Hong Kong, try them all :-)

I have put the timetable for the CSK lines in the Resources section of this Blog

Street Performer off WangFuJing

Just recently I was scanning through the videos we had taken during various times in Beijing and came across an interesting one (not great quality unfortunately — the evening we took the video we had just a small pocket digital camera with us which had basic video functions). That evening friends of ours and us went out for dinner in the Pacific Plaza Mall (near the intersection of JianGuo Avenue and WangFuJing) and after dinner decided to take a stroll in the area. We ended up in one of the backstreets (near the night food market) selling the usual small eats and trinkets but we also came upon a stage where amateurs performed various Beijing Opera acts….. So if you are interested in that, this could be an easy area to get to and spend some time checking out the various performers — apparently they are different each evening….Here is a short video of what we saw and heard:
Beijing Opera Performer off WangFuJing in Beijing

Review of Ethel M Chocolate Factory and Cactus Gardens

If you are visiting Las Vegas and are looking for things to do with your family or friends you may be tempted to visit the Ethel M Chocolate Factory. After all it is advertised and promoted as “quite an adventure in various Las Vegas related travel sites. Well, mine and my family’s verdict after following the advice of those Web sites — SAVE YOUR TIME! AVOID THE ETHEL M CHOCOLATE FACTORY.

WHY?

Well think of the following experience: On our way back from a trip to the Hoover Dam we decided to look for the Ethel M Chocolate Factory and tour it. We plugged in the address in our GPS and headed off to the supposed adventure. Upon arrival we were rather surprised by the large number of tour buses in the parking lot. It was late in the afternoon just before sun set.
We entered the factory to find a very narrow corridor which was glassed in on one side and revealing a view of the factory floor — where we saw a bunch of mixers and other machines obviously used in the making of chocolates. Walking along the wall through the corridor was a 10minute experience — at the end of which was a table with samples.

An employee of Ethel M Chocolates was there to hand out the samples — there were two kinds: white and milk chocolate — small bonbons. My wife asked if she can sample both — just one of each. The response was rather terse “NO!” Only one per person….. Oh, what a decision — which one should we choose :-)

Then the corridor / tour ended up in a huge store — this is where the real action was :-) Lets buy very expensive and overpriced Ethel M Chocolates!!!! After all you have spent the time to get here — might as well buy some chocolates :-(
We DID NOT…..

Then we decided to see the “famous” Cactus Gardens…. Well if you have not been in the Arizona or New Mexico or Nevada dessert, this may be a place to see a cactus or two…. Other than that, SAVE YOUR TIME AGAIN. Not worth it.

All in all — this is a place to avoid. There are plenty more very interesting places to visit in and around Las Vegas. I will write some more on these soon.

Happy Travels!

Trip to Zion National Park - from Las Vegas

Well folks, the Christmas and New Year’s holidays are almost over - literally a few hours left of the weekend and the first work day of the new decade starts - tomorrow is January 4th….But in the next few hours I will try to catch up on posting photos and writing a brief set of notes about what my family and I considered the noteworthy points about some of the trips we took during this vacation.

So lets start — first topic: ZION NATIONAL PARK. In planning our trip during the week of December 20-25th we had several destinations in mind (Las Vegas of course — it was the place we were going to stay the nights, the Grand Canyon, Zion). ZION was certainly a very pleasant surprise — its beauty was quite something! But first things first. If you are willing to spend only a day at the park — which is what we planned — then you can certainly make a day trip out of it. Plan to leave your hotel in Vegas early in the morning. The trip is about 170miles (one way) — we stayed at the Signature at MGM Grand — and will take you approximately 3 hours of driving. Here is a link to the driving directions (per Mapquest — our GPS system showed similar route)

Once you get close to the park, you will enter the town named Hurricane — interesting name :-) where you will see many rock and jewelry shops. We did not get a chance to see any of them as on the way in we wanted to spend as much time as possible in the park so we did not stop. Later that evening, on our way out of the park everything was closed — surprise ! We had forgotten that it was December 24th — yes we visited ZION on Christmas Eve. Needless to say there were plenty of benefits of that — most importantly — the park was near empty. We felt we had the place to ourselves. One of the park rangers told us that there are 5000 cars that enter the park daily in the summer!!! On Dec.24th there were may be 5 :-)

Once in the park, we went to the visitors center (only a couple of miles after the main entrance), where we took a map and were told that the best thing to do for a day trip is to take a drive first on the North Fork road (along the Virgin River) and then backtrack and take Route 9 / Zion Mt.Carmel Hwy through a couple of tunnels and as far as we would like to go past the two tunnels.

It is very difficult to narrate all the beautiful views we encountered on both roads. The North Fork gives you access to see the Grotto, Angels Landing, Big Bend, West Rim, Court of the Patriarchs, Temple of Sinawava…. all these names are neat but the best thing to do is to see the photos (at least) - my descriptions will not do them justice.

The views from the Zion Mt. Carmel Hwy are very different — also spectacular… Here you will get the benefit of climbing through a series of switchbacks in the road. Since we were pretty much alone (or one of the few cars in the park) it was very easy to stop or pull off the road at many of the pullouts and of course took tons of photos….Going through the tunnels gave us the opportunity to see some interesting views as the tunnels have “windows” to let natural light in — as they were built in the 1920s and finished in 1930, there was no provision for electricity — and none is needed as the tunnels are small and the “windows” provide plenty of light and of course give you the opportunity to see the canyons framed in a different way.

On the way out of the park we stopped at a bridge just before the visitors center and again had the opportunity to snap some great photos….

The return journey back to Las Vegas and our hotel was uneventful — we spent the time recounting all the different sights we had encountered and deciding when we will make a longer trip to ZION next…. Hopefully soon :-)

The first set of photos are active on the Web — two albums….

One album is from photos taken in Las Vegas (various hotels and exhibits) and one album with a bunch of photos from Zion National Park. The Park is stunning. I will write more about it in the next 2 days or so. For time being enjoy the images — I believe they speak for themselves….

Travel in the Western States of the US - visits to several national parks

Greetings! And Happy Holidays to everyone! This week my family and I have been traveling to destinations in several states in the Western part of the US. You can expect a few postings about our travels within Las Vegas, NV, as well as our visits to several national parks - the Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, ZION national park. As I have been finding out this blogs have been getting quite a bit of traffic from searches for photos. So I will plan to post a whole bunch of photos (I think very good ones :-) I might add) from those locations.

I definitely recommend a trip to ZION National Park. I know you will probably ask — “What about the other ones — Grand Canyon? etc?” Well, I know that those “other ones” are popular and will get your attention anyway.

At any rate, I am at the airport now, and will be going home shortly. Stay tuned for the postings with the photos from the trip.

Interesting experience going through Beijing International Airport Termal 3

Recently a took a flight from Taipei to Beijing. Yes, the flights between the two cities are now becoming the norm. Earlier in the Summer (of this year) I flew from Shenzhen directly to Taipei, and now from Taipei directly to Beijing. For those of us who remember just a couple-three years ago this was a dream…. I recall 2004 — possibly the first time we saw charter flights (during the Chinese New Year) take Taiwanese expats on direct flights between Shanghai and Taipei… That was a big happening. In that same time — in 2004, 2005, 2006….all of us traveling on business or pleasure between China and Taiwan had to take the long route via Hong Kong, or Macao, or South Korea or via Japan to make it from the mainland to Taiwan. That usually meant that a trip to Taiwan had to factor in a day to get there (from Beijing) and a day to come back….

Today the situation is different. I was able to get on a 7:55am flight from Taipei International Airport to Beijing via China Air and arrive in Beijing at 11:20am. What an improvement :-)

Once we arrived in Beijing I had to go through Terminal 3 of the new Beijing Capital airport. Each time I go through it I think how impressive the new structure is. Yes, an interesting and innovative building. All this is good until you hit the medical check point. While on the plane you are given a medical certification form — you describe your health condition etc. Fine. Then you get off the plane and start heading to immigration. Prior to immigration you go through the proverbial control point — infrared cameras take your temperature while you walk and then you face a government official who examines and stamps your medical certificate. Then you walk further and then “surprise…!” Another official collects the paper that was stamped just 2-3 minutes ago at another desk. Well, that is one way to fight unemployment :-) and create jobs. Who needs a stimulus package :-)

The next thing that surprises you about Terminal 3 is how huge it is. And how empty. I ended up walking for a while and went down three floors to find my way to the exit for the taxi stand…. So nice job in building the Terminal. I just wished it was easier to get in and out of it…. But then, who would mind a few miles of walking :-) We all need the exercise. Wait, wait, I sense a business opportunity: we can create a walking exercise routine for airline passengers. “Walk to fitness”

Happy travels!

What happens when you are tired and in a strange hotel away from home

Well, earlier this year I was traveling on business. One of the evenings on my trip while in Sweden, I decided to check out the local channels on cable TV in the hotel…. I came across a great music video on MTV — believe me that was the first time I watched MTV in probably 15 years at least…. At any rate, the song I came across caught me and I decided to stay on the channel. I know, this blog is about travel experiences and all things related to that, but the song was really good (no, I do not get any royalties from anyone listening to it or watching the video).

Here is the YouTube listing for the song - give it a try:

Making Hotel Reservations in Beijing

When I was in Beijing a few weeks ago, I found it necessary to change hotels because of dissatisfaction with my current accommodations. What I found to be interesting, however, was the difficulty in getting a good rate when making reservations directly with the hotel. I had checked out room rates online with several candidate hotels, including the New Otani Chang Fu Gong and the Holiday Inn Temple of Heaven, and had found good room rates online–both on sites such as Orbitz and Expedia and on the hotels’ own websites. However, when I called the hotels’ front desks directly in Beijing, I was quoted much higher rates. When I told them that I had found lower rates online, they did not seem surprised, and instead encouraged me to make my reservations online rather than with them! So, keep this in mind if you ever need to make a last minute hotel change in Beijing. In my case, I made my reservations for the Holiday Inn Temple of Heaven online (using the complimentary internet access in my room) about 30 minutes before I checked out of the Holiday Inn Downtown. Had I not done so, I would have paid considerably more per night.

Holiday Inn Temple of Heaven Beijing vs. Holiday Inn Downtown

During my recent trip to Beijing to purchase jewelry and Christmas ornaments for my store–www.chinafinds.com, I decided to try out a new hotel. During many previous visits to Beijing, I have stayed at the Holiday Inn Temple of Heaven, which I have found to be an excellent value, if a trifle out of the way. This time, I decided to try out the Holiday Inn Downtown because of its very close proximity to the subway. I reserved a room on the executive floor, with a room rate that was about $15 per night more expensive than the executive floor at the Temple of Heaven, figuring that the increased convenience of the location was perhaps worth the increased cost. However, I am sorry to say that I left after only one night. My reservation had fortunately been prepaid only for the first night, so I hightailed it over to the Holiday Inn Temple of Heaven the next morning where I paid less and got more. The only thing that the Holiday Inn Downtown had going in its favor was its proximity to the subway. It was very close–just a few minutes easy walk. The Holiday Inn Temple of Heaven is also accessible via the subway, but it is a good 10 minute brisk walk. The walk is through quite a pleasant Beijing residential area, however, and was only problematic if it was raining. Overall, I found the food was better at the Temple of Heaven, the rooms were larger and quieter, and the staff seemed better trained and more attentive. It really is an excellent value for accommodation in Beijing.