Travel

Lakes Our hotel 湖泉酒店 was located inside a park named 湖泉生态园, which I decided to explore more today. I checked out after the breakfast, had my luggage stored for free at the hotel, and walked around the park. There were lots of lakes, lots of trees. It was really pleasant to walk in the tree shades, watch water fowls, and enjoy the beautiful scenery.  Hotel I then took Didi to my second hotel 荟语酒店. This one was cheaper than the first one (400 vs 600). This hotel was nice, but I struggled with their WiFi. Their public WiFi required Chinese cell phone numbers for text verification; their room-based WiFi reset everyday. The front desk people used their phone to help connect my cell phone to the public WiFi and one employee went to my room to set up my room WiFi using some hotspot system from the smart-TV. The room WiFi worked for one day, the next day it reset and nothing worked. Since it was the weekend, I did not need to work, so I just decided to not connect my computers to WiFi...

Breakfast The hotel 湖泉酒店 was a big resort. We stayed at building E, which was close to the hot springs. The breakfast was in another building 400 meters away. The hotel provided constant shuttles, so we took the shuttle to the breakfast building. The buffet was huge, like a full dinner buffet in the US. The restaurant was beautiful too, they even had an indoor koi pond. SIM card After breakfast, I called the local 中国电信 store asking them about purchasing a SIM card with a US passport. They first said that they required a working permit. After I insisted that this was not the case and that they should check the policy, they said that they would call me back. Not giving up, I took Didi to get to the store and pleaded with the store clerk in person. She said that they had not done it before. She called some people and I waited over one hour before she finally got it approved. The card cost 100 RMB, less than half of what I paid at the airport. The person was very nice, she said that ev...

Flight 1 We left SFO at midnight 12:35am July 1 and arrived Wuhan 14 hours later at 6:00 am July 2 local time. The flighht was smooth. We flew China Southern Airline this time and a nice surprise is that they offered a little gift bag with toiletries.  Wuhan Airport In Wuhan airport, the borader entry was quick and there was no lines.   It was 6am, most shops were closed. We walked around and found a noodle place. The food was good.  I tried to buy a SIM card, but it turned out that there is no SIM card vendor in this aiport. One had to take Didi to some shop 20 minutes outside of the airport. I decided not to do that.  The good part is that the WiFi in the airport can be accessed by providing a scan of passport, so we were able to play with our phones while waiting 6 hours for our next flight.  Flight 2 We left Wuhan at 11:40am and arrived Kunming at 2pm. For such a short flight, they provided lunch, so it was nice.   Kunming Airport We got our c...

Preparation 2025 is solar maximum, peak of a 11-year solar activity cycle, which means best chance to see northern lights (aurora). One cannot see norther lights in the summer due to the constant daylight. I wanted to see it in the Spring. Here is how I chose the travel dates and place to see northern lights: New moon . Strong moonlight may reduce the chance to see northern lights.  Jan 29 is new moon. 27-day northern light forecast   It is not accurate, but I thought it was better than nothing.  I saw two red bars (Kp=5) on Jan 30 and 31.  Clear weather. Clouds will block northern lights. I searched Accuweather weather forecast  for Fairbanks (Alaska, USA), Whitehorse (Canada), and Yellowknife (Canada) to see which place would have clear weather on these days.  Yellowknife was in favor of good weather. That made me to book a trip to Yellowknife on Jan 29 - Feb 5. Before the trip, I upgraded my phone plan so that my SIM card would work in Canada. Goo...

Itinerary Day 0. June 18. Tuesday. United Airlines flight departed San Francisco at 11:35pm. Day 1. June 20. Thursday. Arrived Dunhuang at night. Stayed at hotel Dunhuang Zhongzhou International Hotel ( 敦煌中洲国际酒店) Day 2. June 21. Friday. Mogao Caves. Watched the show Dunhuang Celebration ( 敦煌盛典) at night  Day 3. June 22. Saturday. Mingsha Mountain ( 鸣沙山) . Day 4. June 23. Sunday. Flew to Xi'an. Stayed at Sheraton Xi'an Hotel ( 西安喜来登大酒店 ).   Day 5. June 24. Monday. Visited Terracotta Warriors (兵马俑). Skipped the show Song of Everlasting Sorrow ( 长恨歌) because  Claire got a fever.  Day 6. June 25. Tuesday. Visited the museum Shanxi History Museum ( 陕西历史博物馆) and a mall. Day 7. June 26. Wednesday. Visited Yisushe (易俗社), a Qin Opera (秦腔) and shadow show (皮影戏) museum and theatre Day 8. June 27. Thursday. Flew to Lijiang. Watched the show Lijiang Eternal Love Scenic Area ( 丽江千古情). Stayed at Hampton by Hilton Lijiang Old Town ( 丽江古城希尔顿欢朋酒店) Day 9. June 28. Friday. Visited ...

Leaving Kunming  The hotel offered free airport shuttle. It required a reservation and ran at fixed time. We booked the 6:00am shuttle the day before. The shuttle picked us up and we went to the airport smoothly. Our flight departure was all smooth too.   Hong Kong We arrived Hong Kong at 10am. Our flight to San Francisco was 10pm, so we had plenty of time to explore. We got our luggage check-in luggage. Then I got some Hong Kong dollars from an ATM. I stored our luggage at a storage counter in the airport.  I bought two Octopus cards at the airport with 50 Hong Kong dollars each. These were transportation cards. We used the cards to take Airport Express to go to Hong Kong Central. We walked a bit and Claire got some snacks at a shop in the mall.  We then took the Star Ferry to go to Victoria Harbour, using our Octopus cards. We walked near the harbor. The skyline view was very pretty. It was really hot and humid. We ate some mango ice cream at a McDonald's...