Author: Mike

To Châu Đốc, Sam Mountain and Tra Su Bird Sanctuary

We left our lovely guest house in Cần Thơ on the 17th October and took a 3 hour bus journey to our next destination – Châu Đốc which is near the border with Cambodia.

We stayed in Châu Đốc for a week to recharge and catch up on some school work. We didn’t venture far during our time there – we just mooched around town visiting the local market, cafes and restaurants, and the riverside where there were exercise machines for the kids to play on.

We made friends with some ladies from a local tour agency who wanted to improve their English so we chatted with them and let them photocopy Martha’s English textbooks!

They organised our visit to Sam Mountain to visit the Hang Pagoda and the Tra Su Bird Sanctuary for a day which we all enjoyed.

Sam Mountain

Hang Pagoda (or Chùa Hang, or Cave Pagoda) on Sam Mountain is a Buddhist temple and is reached by climbing a few hundred steps up. There were some great views of the surrounding countryside of the Mekong Delta when we got to the top.

There were several levels to explore, as well as a network of tunnels deep within the mountain with various rooms and places to worship.

Tra Su Bird Sanctuary

In the afternoon we went to Tra Su forest which contains cajaput trees and flooded mangroves and areas turned green by water ferns during the rainy season.

We took a boat trip through the flooded forest along narrow channels, which the kids enjoyed, and then climbed a watchtower to get a view above the forest canopy.

Museum of Vietnamese History and Independence Palace

We visited the Museum of Vietnamese History in the morning and saw a short water puppet show.

We then went to Independence Palace (also known as Reunification Palace), which was the site of the end of the Vietnam War when Saigon was captured by the North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong in 1975.

The current palace was was built in the the 1960s and since it was overtaken in 1975, not much has changed externally or internally.

The basement bunker was really interesting as it contains lots of secret tunnels and a war room and old telecommunications equipment from that era.

Saigon Central Post Office and Notre Dame Cathedral

After a leisurely start to the day, we decided to go see the Central Post Office. It was built between 1886 and 1891 when Vietnam was part of French Indochina.

Apart from being a tourist attraction for its French architecture, it is still a working post office, so we bought some stamps!

Across the street from the post office is Notre Dame Cathedral, also known as the Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica of Saigon.

This was built between 1863 and 1880 by French colonists and all the original building materials were imported from France.

We arrived late on in the day so we couldn’t go inside. Also there was some building work going on so we weren’t quite sure if you could go in anyhow. However we managed to get a photo of the exterior before it got dark.

On our way back to the hotel we stopped off at a little bakery next to a busy roundabout/intersection…

Hello Vietnam!

After saying goodbye to my cousin David and his wife at Hong Kong airport, we caught a flight and arrived in Vietnam a few hours later.

We got a taxi to our hotel (dodging many motorcycles along the way) and when we got there we were glad to see 2 familiar faces… Angela’s mum Kate and niece Katie!

They had arrived a few hours earlier from Japan and would be travelling with us for the next few days.

Goodbye Hong Kong!

It’s time to say goodbye to Hong Kong. (We shall actually return in 7 weeks or so but only back to to airport where we will fly in then out a few hours later.)

I liked Hong Kong because of Superpark and air conditioning. I also got to see a friend from the Alaska cruise. And the parks. We got to see ma-ma and ye-ye (grandma and grandad) and met our cousin David.

Sam

It’s been an interesting 5 weeks or so! It didn’t quite go to plan with Martha being poorly (can’t really plan for that!) but all’s well that ends well and she’s fine now.

It was hot in Hong Kong. I loved Disneyland because we went on lots of rides. These were the rides we went on:
– Parachute drop
– Teacups
– Mine cart
– Carousel
– Flying Saucers
– Journey to Halloween Town
– Dumbo
– Slinky
– Hyperspace Mountain
– Iron Man Simulator
I also really liked the show “Let’s Get Wicked” and my favourite villain was Cruella De Ville. I bought a bubble machine in the shape of Mickey Mouse.

Martha

We only spent one afternoon in China instead of two weeks, but our visa does last for 2 years so in theory we could return! And despite the current political issues, they didn’t affect us too much in stopping us exploring and enjoying Hong Kong. We just had to adjust and plan and be flexible when needed.

We enjoyed being at our Causeway Bay flat on Hong Kong Island and would love to go back there, but hopefully when protest marches are not going past our block!

It was also good staying in Yau Ma Tei in Kowloon as we were close to all the shops and eateries that we needed, as well as having the MTR station on our doorstep so we could get pretty much anywhere.

However, towards the end of our stay it got a little bit frustrating as the protests were consistently occurring on the next street so we just had to make sure that we got back in the afternoon and before the MTR station got closed down. We just hope that the people and the government can listen to each other and see a way through the current troubles.

Seeing my parents from the UK and meeting my Hong Kong family were the highlights; and my cousin David wins the Hong Kong star for looking after us, taking us places, and going beyond the call of duty by giving the kids a piggyback down some steep steps in the park in China!

Shenzhen, China

After missing our chance to go to China a few weeks ago, my cousin suggested that we could go today for a few hours, so we did!

My cousin goes fairly regularly (his wife’s family live there) so I was grateful that he would be our guide for the day.

The first task was to get to West Kowloon Station and from there catch the High Speed Rail to Shenzhen.

We got our tickets for the next train, which fortunately are quite regular. Unfortunately, the station was much busier than normal due to much of the the MTR (Hong Kong subway) being closed so people could only get to China from here. Also because we were technically entering another country and not Hong Kong citizens, we had to go through all the immigration and security controls.

Because of all this we missed our booked train and had to buy new tickets for the next one as they wouldn’t exchange them. That was a bit annoying but eventually we managed to get on a train which was very comfortable and very fast once we set off. We arrived at Futian Station, Shenzhen, in mainland China in less than 20 minutes.

We had lunch in the station (Sam got his first taste of chicken feet) and then went outside for a walk around the area. We only had a few hours before our return train so we didn’t wander far.

We walked to Lianhuashan Park and walked up a hill to Peak Square where there is a large statue of Deng Xiaoping who was leader of the People’s Republic of China from 1978 to 1992.

It was hot and really humid walking up but we were rewarded with great views of Shenzhen.

It’s a shame that we didn’t have more time to explore the area but we had a nice day and enjoyed the walk in the park.

  • West Kowloon Station
  • On the High Speed Rail train
  • Lunch in China
  • 70th Anniversary
  • Looking back towards Shenzhen
  • Looking towards Lianhuashan Park
  • Kite Square, Lianhuashan Park
  • Made it to the top!
  • Statue of Deng Xiaoping, Peak Square
  • Peak Square
  • View from Peak Square
  • View from Peak Square

Mid-Autumn Festival

I was able to head down to Victoria Park near our apartment tonight to see lanterns and lights as part of the Mid-Autumn Festival.

The festival falls on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, which is a full moon. This corresponds to this day on this year according to the Gregorian Calendar.

I’ve always known it as ‘Moon Cake Day’ as this was when as children we used to eat ‘mooncakes’ which are rich pastry cakes typically filled with sweet-bean or lotus-seed paste.