Early the next morning, we took the subway (couldn’t have been easier!) to the Yuen Po Street Bird Garden, where old men walk their birds and socialize. We bought a bird cage, and set off to explore the flower market. On a weekday there wasn’t much going on here – just a couple of flower ... (read more →)

Almost all backpackers stay in either the Mirador Mansion, or the Chung King Mansion. These ‘mansions’ are in fact just large buildings, with various floors owned by different guesthouses. We stayed at the Cosmic Guesthouse. Be aware that certain elevators go to odd floors, and others to even.
Although the floor that the guesthouse is on ... (read more →)

See our Hong Kong slideshow
We flew from San Francisco to Hong Kong. Our experience as we arrived in Hong Kong couldn’t have been better. It is an incredibly well organized and run airport (and city). An express train took us from the airport direct to downtown. The airport express is very well set up, with ... (read more →)

We spent 2 weeks in China.  We visited Hong Kong, Beijing, Xian, Guillin, Yangshuo and Longshen.   We also spent 3 days on the Yangtze River and cruised through the 3 Gorges.  We are backpackers and stay in budget places, and use Lonely Planet and Let’s Go guidebooks as our main travel information sources.