Travel

March 10, 2025March 1, 2025 Kirsten

Asia Diaries: February 2025 ~ Lets go to SINGAPORE for the first time!

After having such an amazing trip to China and Hong Kong in May 2024, I already knew I needed to plan to return again. I spent some time over the Summer of 2024 thinking about where and when I might like to go – having always had a good experience with seeing cubs on my November China trips, a Winter trip was very appealing. Looking at the timing of Chinese New Year and also my field hockey schedule, I ended up with a ‘sweet spot’ of time in February. I also knew I wanted to see pandas somewhere new, so I focused on Asia so that I would be able to easily get to China as well – and in the end Singapore won^ Let’s get started with the Asia Diaries: February 2025.

February 17, 2025January 20, 2025 Kirsten

China Diaries: May 2024 #8 ~ Chengdu>Hong Kong

Onto the final part of my trip – time to visit Hong Kong for the first time! I had a great few days in Chengdu to round up my time in mainland China. When I was looking at flights, there are no options from Chengdu directly back to Europe, so I was going to need to transfer somewhere like Shanghai or Beijing – I’d already started my trip in Shanghai, and I was in Beijing back in September 2023, so I had a look around and found Hong Kong was an option. With both pandas and Disney to see, I was sold!

August 26, 2024September 15, 2024 Kirsten

China Diaries: May 2024 #4 ~ Ya’an to Dujiangyan City + Dujiangyan Schedule

My original plan was to spend 2 nights in Ya’an and do 2 full days at the Ya’an Bifengxia Base, but because Yang Guang and Tian Tian weren’t on show I didn’t really feel the need to have a second day here. So over an afternoon ice cream, I changed plans and decided to travel on to Dujiangyan that evening together with my friend. In the end, I don’t think it added too much of a cost, if I’d gone back to see the pandas again the next day it would have cost me two taxi rides and the entry ticket, which wasn’t that much less than the cost of a hotel room.

July 15, 2024July 1, 2024 Kirsten

China Diaries: May 2024 #2 ~ Shanghai to Ya’an, let’s stroll in Ya’an centre

After 2 nights at Shanghai Disneyland, it was time to head on towards the main purpose of my trip – to visit the pandas in Chengdu and the surrounding area! So let’s get started with the second part of my diary on this trip, getting myself from Shanghai to Ya’an, a trip I’ve never made before: