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Stopover into the Past: Lijiang

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On a trip back to Jessica’s hometown of Kunming in the Yunnan province this past spring, we decided to make a side trip to Li Jiang, where its Old Town Lijiang is an UNESCO Heritage Site, famous for its waterways and bridges in the old city that has left intact as it were from the Qing dynasty time period, in style if not in substance.  The town was an important point along the old tea horse road as well as the ancient Southern Silk road.  The majority of people in Lijiang are of Naxi heritage, an ethnic minority in China.  Thus, the architecture style and culture of Lijiang is somewhat distinct from the rest of China.

We took an early morning flight from Kunming.  At the airport by the departure gate, there were touts taking reservation for cars, hotels, and tours for Lijiang.  (This is not unusual in airports here.)   The price quoted for the transfer from the airport to our hotel sounds like a decent deal based on amounts that hotel had mentioned to Jessica, so we signed up for a car.

The flight was a short one, approximately 45 minutes in the air, but it was bumpy.  We met our car guide coming out of the airport security area, who escorted to our waiting car in the parking lot.  The guide rode with us to the hotel, and he pitched various tour options we can take during the ride.  Jessica has been to Lijiang before and has ideas on where we can and should go on this trip and some idea on costs.  She ended up negotiating a package for the next day that would give us a private car and driver to take us to a few selected spots in the area.

Bayan Tree Resort Pond with Jade Dragon Mountain at back.

View of Jade Dragon Mountain from Hotel Room

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our hotel, Bayan Tree Lijiang, is considered to be one of the best five star hotels in the area.   The hotel is layout with receptions, restaurants, spa services and shops at the center plaza of the resort, with the two story buildings and villas for the accommodation spread out to the left and right side of the plaza.    Straight ahead from the central plaza is a small lake with a view of the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain.  There are about 100 units at the hotel, including villas and spa suites, where you can get a full service massage treatment in your room.  The buildings in the hotel complex are built in traditional Chinese and local Naxi style.

Tree Canopy to Shuhe Ancient Town

As our room was not ready when we arrive, we decided to leave our luggage at the hotel and walked over to the nearby Shuhe Ancient Town, another of the old towns in the region that has retained the town’s layout and look from the old days.   It was about a 10 minute walk away by foot from the hotel.  The area around the hotel was very quiet, at least at that early morning hour, with light traffic and not too many people walking about.   We walked through a tree arcade canopy that led us to the entrance of the town.  It was only about 9:00AM, most of the shops were just starting to open up.  Shuehe has the feel to be a “living town”, that is, there are still people living in this town or nearby and the activities of the town seem to support the livelihood of the people living within its walls.   The main features of the old towns in the region are the canals and rivers running through the town, which was an important conduit for everyday life.   The restaurants and ‘cafes’ in the town highlighted special region food.  At that hour, we saw a number of the restaurant people washing and preparing the vegetables along small canals that runs by along the building.   The quiet street scenes bring about the thought of slow, lazy small town vibe with focus on simple daily routines.  Of course, here the draw is still tourism.

 

Street Canal in Shuhe.

In the town’s center plaza area, there were a number of vendors selling vegetables and fruits.   Shuhe also has numerous “inns”.  These inns are more hostels/bed & breakfast than modern hotels, but we did see people staying there, including a number of foreigners.   In the old days, these inns served the large number of travelling merchants through the area.  Today, these places definitely provide an option for the visitors to live close to the ‘locals’.

 

 

Shuhe Plaza with Street Vendors

Shuhe itself is fairly compact.  We were able to walk through the main portion of it in a little over an hour.  We stopped at a restaurant by the river for our brunch: Soybean milk, fried dough stick and rice noodle soup.  The fresh rice noodle is a specialty of the area.  The ones people cook here are made fresh daily, not the dry version that we normally see elsewhere.   We sat on an outside deck at the back of the restaurant with a view of the creeks and hills behind the town.    After eating, James dozed off for a few minutes while Jessica was checking out online chats on her smartphone.

Hills behind Shuhe Ancient Town

We left the restaurant around 11:00AM and walked around the other parts of the town we haven’t seen and also did some light shopping in a few stores.  We picked up some small locally made small souvenirs and around noon, started looking for a place for lunch. We settled on one that Jessica though looked reasonable ‘clean’.    Local cuisine leans toward the spicy side.  Since James doesn’t handle spicy food well, we picked out a couple of more basic dishes that focus on the local ingredients that is light on the spiciness side, including a fish from the local river.

When we finished, it was around 1PM and we decided to head back to the hotel, hoping our room would be ready.   When we got back, our room was still not ready, so we went over to the library area and check things on our iPads.  Finally after 2PM, our room was ready and the staff drove us to our room in the golf cart.

Our second floor room came with a view of the Dragon Jade mountain as promised.  It had a fairly large balcony with a couple of chairs and table.  The room itself was fairly large; there is a sitting area with a large sofa on one end and TV and large desk on the other.  The bathroom was large, with a double sink, a tub and a separate shower.   The bed is situated when you can lie there and see the full window view if you choose.

After settling in, we decided to splurge a bit and headed to the spa to get a massage, a famous treatment at Bayan Tree resorts.   We selected to go with full body massages along with a sand scrub.    The private massage room was laid out in a very calm and smoothing environment, with soft music playing in the background and curtains drawn. There was a separate private shower and changing room, where we change into appropriate attire (they even provide disposable underwear to use.)

As the masseurs began, they asked us how much force we prefer and also told us as they move to different areas of our body.  After some light massages, they started with the scrub.  It was James’s first time doing a scrub; he was surprised with the hot materials.  After the scrub, we went to the showers to wash off the materials and return to finish off the rest of the massage.  The two hours went by fairly quickly, almost feel too short.  Afterwards, the staff led us to a sitting area where they had tea and snacks prepared for us to unwind before leaving.

We headed back to the room to relax further.  Originally, we had thought of heading out into town for dinner.  However, since James’ stomach was not doing well, we decided to stay at the hotel for a bite.  We chose the hotel’s western style restaurant.  Its menu wasn’t extensive but had some dishes that seemed to be worth trying.  One was the mushroom soup made with local wild mushrooms.  The Yunnan region is famous for its wild mushrooms, so we both ordered one.  Jessica went with a grill local fish along with a garden salad while James ordered a pizza with Cesar Salad.   However, they ran out of Cesar Salad dressing, and James switched to a Tuna salad, which turned out to be more Tuna Tartar with a few pieces of leaves than a salad.  But it turned out to be not too bad.

Jade Dragon Mountain

The next day was to be our big touring day, with a tour to the Snow mountain first and then to a couple of other sites before heading over to the Lijiang Old Town in the afternoon.   Our guide arrived as scheduled, and he first brought us over to a shop where we bought a couple of cans of oxygen and rented a couple of jackets for the trip to the mountain.  But just as we arrived near the gate to the mountain park entrance, it was announced that the cable lift up to the mountain was closed for the day (likely due to wind).  There was an option that we can just go to the plateau at the lift’s base.  However, Jessica thought that there wasn’t much to see there, so we headed back.   After returning our jackets (unfortunately, can’t return the oxygen), we started our drive to Lashi Lake, which is located north of Lijiang at about 2,500 meter elevation.  The drive took us up the hill a bit where we could see the vast plain of the Lijiang and surrounding area.

An Apline Lake in Lashi Mountain

At Lashi Lake, the main attractions was hiking the mountain trails or for most people, taking a horse ride through the historic Horse Tea Trail led by the local guides.   We chose a tour that includes one of the longer horse treks up the mountain and then a boat ride in the nearby wetland park.   We were paired with a couple of small local horses and began our trip first through the streets of the local town.   While one guide led our two horses, we rode with a caravan of other riders.  The guides sing songs as people did in the old days as they rode through the tea trail.   As we go up the mountains, we moved along a wear worn path through the forest and pond.    This is where each group traveled along at more varied pace and also destinations.   Our guide pushed ahead a bit faster than most and we pass some of the slower moving packs.    While the ride was far from serene given all the other packs that were going up and down, it gave us some views of the mountains and valleys in the area.   James’ compliant was that it would have been better if we could have stopped at various points to enjoy the view more and take pictures.

We rode all the way up to near one of the top valley plateau where one of the source lakes for the rivers in the area is located.  The water in this alpine lake is crystal clear and cold.  There is a stable like structure near the shores, but that is about all the sign of civilization.   This is the area where it would have been nice to have a picnic.   We walked around for about 20 minutes before we started back the trip down the mountain.

View from Boat at Lashi Wetland Park

View of Ducks on Lashi Wetland Park

After arriving back at our starting point, we took a shuttle to the estuary for our boat ride.  The estuary is a protected national wetland park, where numerous birds, ducks, geese, etc. could be found.   The area is said to have over 57 kinds of birds, including the protected black-neck Crane.  Winter is the best time to see the birds as that is when most birds can be found frolicking in the area.

The water level where we passed through was very shallow and filled with alage and other water plants.  The boatman used a stick to push the boat forward more than paddling.  Our boat ride was a relatively circle near the shore.  We saw a bunch of duck and geese in the area, but were not really able to get too close to them.

Dry Lake bed in Jade Spring Park

After we got back on shore, our driver took us to the Jade Spring Park in Lijiang, not too far from Old Town Lijiang.  As we hadn’t really eaten anything all day, we stopped off at a bakery to grab a few items along the way as fillers.   The park itself was quite nice.  It has many local varieties of flowers and plants and is set into a serene and calm layout, with walkways meandering through the ponds in the garden.  The most famous is the Black Dragon Pool.  There is a Pavilion set in the center of the pond.  This pond could be beautiful when it is filled.  However, Yunnan region has experienced drought condition the past three years.  The pond was almost bone dry when we were there.  There was only a small puddle at one end where a small number of fish were present.  Jessica said that this pond typically filled with fishes and water.

After leaving the park, the driver took us to the entrance of Lijiang Old Town.  It was about 1:30PM and we set to meet the driver back around 5PM to bring us back to the hotel.

A Main Street near Lijiang Old Town Entrance

Lijiang Old Town is much bigger than Shuhe, with wider streets, cleaner atmosphere, more picturesque and many more attractions.  But this is outwardly a more a tourist location than a real living area.  With a KFC and Pizza Hut right at the entrance street probably elicit that feeling.  We didn’t have a plan, but just wandered through the different streets looking at anything of interest, and to pick out places where we may want to eat.   There were many restaurants inside Old Town.  Some can be call bars as they have music and are catered to tourists.   There was also a plaza area where a number of vendors sold specialty snacks, from grill meat and fish to dumplings and Chinese sandwiches to sweet crepes and cakes.   James was itchy to try, but with his stomach still recovering, he had to hold of.   The shops are mostly selling basic souvenirs, though some are locally craft products.   We walked around a couple of hours until we got to a more remote part of the Old Town and were a bit lost.  After a few attempts, we finally got back to the path we recognized and start thinking about where we should eat and rest.

Side Street of Lijiang Old Town

Food Vendor Stalls in Lijiang Old Town

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back Alley Canal in Lijiang Old Town

We decided on a restaurant that had a large seating terrace next to a canal that served a mix of items.   Along with juice, coffee and cake, we ordered the some fried small fish and rice noodle soup, two local specialties.  The small fried fish was especially good.  We sat in the shades as we munched and did some people watching.  We meandered through our food for over an hour before we decided to head back.

 

On our way back to the hotel, the driver took us to a large show room that sells mostly jade jewelry.  The place was about half a football field long, lined with rows and rows of counters with all sorts of jade products.  This was one of the side trips for our ‘tour’ package.   It can be a bit inconvenient but probably saved us a few bucks.  Jessica looked at a few things and asked about a few items, more to get some prices than to really buy them.  But this place we went to does offer something that is hard to beat:  It will buy back any Jade piece you buy there at the cost you had purchased at any time.

We returned back to our hotel just after 6PM.   Because both of our stomach wasn’t feeling too great, we decided to just get some light bites from room service and watch some movies to get ready for our return the next day.

 

Seychelles – Indian Ocean Paradise (Part 2)

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A light rain shower hovered over sky as we departed for La Digue early the next morning.  Our trip consists of first taking the interisland ferry to Praslin Island and then taking another ferry from there onward to La Digue Island.  It felt a bit inconvenient, but it made more sense once we discovered that given the number of passengers shuttling between the three islands and the location of the terminals/piers on the islands.

Rainbow at Mahe Island

Just as the boat (a large double deck catamaran) was ready to depart, a full rainbow appeared stretching across the horizon.  Almost everyone onboard was trying to take a picture of it, including both of us.  And for James, that was just about the last good moment until we reached Praslin Island.  A few minutes after we reached the ‘open sea’, James began to get the nauseated feeling.  He tried to stare straight ahead at the horizon to maintain his inner balance, but the bouncing motion of the boat still made it difficult.  Not sure if it was good that there were a few others on the boat that looks to be in the same condition.  But for the last 45 minutes or so of the trip, James just kept looking for sign of land and couldn’t wait for us to reach solid ground.

 

When we reached the Praslin Ferry terminal, a single building with a few travel agencies, a ticket office and a café, James was able to take a deep breath of relief but was a bit weary on the next ferry leg.  But the ride to La Digue turned out to be short (20 minutes) and relatively smooth even if it was on a smaller boat.  La Digue is the smallest of the three main islands of Seychelles.  There are not many paved roads on the island and only a few service vehicles.  The prefer mode of transportation on this island is bicycle, along with electric carts and ox-powered carts.

Domaine de L’Orangeraie Hotel Entrance

The hotel arranged an electric cart to pick us up at the ferry pier (can’t really call it a terminal because there isn’t any structure other than a place for boat to dock).  Just beyond the pier were some shops, banks, travel agencies, and restaurants.  This can be considered the key hub of the island.   We rode on the main road that circles the island, which is a simple two lane wide road.  Our hotel, Domaine de L’Orangeraie, was only a few minutes away.  The hotel was split by the road, with the pool and restaurants on the beach side of the road and the lobby, business center and cottages on the other side.   The rooms at Domaine de L’Orangeraie are individual cottages in a garden setting.  Our ‘room’ was a split level townhouse, with a sitting room, half-bath and a full kitchen on the lower floor and the bedroom and a full bathroom upstairs.  In the back of the cottage, there was a deck with a lounge chair and table facing into the garden area.  There is also a private stone enclosure beach ‘shower’ to wash off before going inside.  This is the kind of place one can be comfortable for a long visit.

After putting our stuff away, we first asked the hotel concierge to book a dinner reservation for the restaurant at La Digue Lodge, which was recommended on a couple of websites.  Then we picked up a couple of hotel bicycles and start our exploration of the island.  We first started going south on the main road.  We were looking for a possible place for lunch as well.  There were a number of restaurants along the way, but we wanted to see a bit more, and we were enjoying the riding.   We started toward inland toward the Veuve Reserve (a garden reserve) and ran into a restaurant that Jessica seemed to like.   While there weren’t a lot of patrons, it had somewhat an extensive menu.   Jessica ordered a chicken plate with fries and rice, and James ordered a grilled fish with rice and potatoes, along with a tuna salad that we would share.  The plates turned out to be huge.   Jessica’s dish had two enormous pieces of chicken.  And James’ fish turned out to be not just a fillet but a whole 12 inch long fish.  By the time we finished – and left quite a bit on the plate still – we were both stuffed.  We rested a bit at the restaurant before we started riding again.    We first stopped at a store that had some local art and craft items.  We picked up a few local trinkets and artwork.  And then we stopped at a grocery store to pick up a few snacks and drinks.  The baskets on the bikes came in very handy.

Anse Severe Beach

We stopped temporary back at the hotel to drop off the stuff we bought and picked up a couple of beach towels before restarted our way up north in search of a good beach spot.   There was a long stretch of beach within a few minutes of a bike ride from the hotel.  Anse Severe may be one of the better beaches easily reachable on this side of the island where most of the hotels and guesthouses are located.  The eastern side may have more beaches but the roads is said to be more hilly than those on the western side.    We checked over the beach as we rode by.  We decided to go onward to see some of other ones.  We went around the northern tip of the island and started down the eastern side.   We rode by a couple of more beaches.  We walked around each one a bit, but they didn’t seem to be as good as Anse Severe, at least to us.  We doubled back and picked out a spot under a tree at Anse Severe to rest and enjoy the beach life.  While the water didn’t seem that rough, only a few people ventured into the water.  Jessica walked around and picked up a few more souvenirs off the beach, but didn’t take a dip.  The various pieces of shells, corals and rocks became important keepsakes of our trip.   Then Jessica napped while James read a magazine on the iPad.  After a couple of hours, around 4:30PM or so, with the tide start to come in, we rode back to our hotel.

Domaine de L’Orangeraie Hotel Pool

As it was still a while before our 7:30PM dinner reservation, Jessica decided to take a dip in the infinity pool.   We played around the pool area for about hour before heading back for a shower and some snack.   The mango juice we bought was good, but when Jessica opened the bag of biscuits, which was not vacuum sealed, there were lots of little bugs inside the bag.  These bugs actually seem to be everywhere here on the island.  We threw the biscuits away.    The wafer bars, which were vacuum sealed, seem to be without uninvited guests.   Anyway, we snacked away while watching a movie on TV as we waited to leave for dinner.

We arranged a ride from the Lodge to take us to the restaurant.   There was little amount of street light as we drove down the street.  Most of the light came from the buildings along the road.  The Lodge is located by the beach about midway on the island.  The first thing we noticed with the restaurant was that the floor was sand, and the dining room seemed to be encased in a big tent rather than a building.  (The next morning, we saw that our hotel restaurant was almost put together the same way.)    There were only two or three other guests when we arrived.  Instead of selecting the preset menu, which seemed a bit big for us, we decided to order a la carte.  Jessica ordered the Creole seafood soup and the Seafood platter and James ordered a salad and grilled jumbo shrimps.   Jessica’s platter came with lobster, crap, shrimps and three types of fish fillets – a large plate indeed.  My plate had 6 or 7 jumbo shrimps along with a good size serving of rice and vegetables.   Sharing the plates between us, we were both stuffed again by the time we finished.  Yet, we decided to try a piece of their chocolate cake to cap our dinner.

The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel’s ‘beachfront’ restaurant.  It had a good selection of buffet items, but the bright sunny day and view of the blue water and sky probably enlighten our perspective of everything there.   Our plan that day was to head out to the L’Union Estate, where there is a nature park and tortoise reserve and Anse Source D’Argent, the beach by the reserve.  We took the bike and rode down the coast once again.

Male and Female Tortoise

After passing through the Nature Park entrance, we ran into some local vendors selling coconut oil, local snacks and utensils.  We picked up a wooden spatula.   Then we headed to the tortoise reserve, which has a waist high stone walled compound that looks to be about the size of half a football field.  Inside, there is a little pond and a number of tortoises.  Most seem to be resting and sleeping.   And a couple seemed to be doing that male/female thing.   We tried to feed some of them, but they were picky initially.  Finally, some park staff people dropped off a bunch of foliage next to the enclosure, and we had a bit more success using those to feed them.

 

Anse Source DArgent Beach La Dique

After about half an hour with the tortoises, we continued our ride through the park toward the beach.   At the edge of the beach, there is a restaurant.  It was about 11:00AM and the restaurant seems to be doing brisk business already.   Leaving our bikes by the restaurant with many other bikes, we started exploring Anse Source D’Argent.  The water was very shallow at the beach; the shallowness seems to stretch hundreds of feet out to the sea, a perfect spot for snorkeling if not swimming.  Jessica started wading into water looking for corals and sea life.   We played in the one part of the beach for about half an hour before starting down the trail toward another part of the beach further down the coast.   Along the way, there was a stand selling juices and fruit; we stopped to get some coconut juice.  We played on the beach a bit longer before deciding to grab lunch at the restaurant at the beach.

The menu of the restaurant was set on a large blackboard behind the counter – variation of local dishes.  James decided to go with a tuna salad, and Jessica ordered a Creole fish platter, with fresh lime juices for both of us.  The plates here turned out to be surprising generous as well.  And like most places on this island, the floor was on sand.

As we started to get back on our bike to head back to the hotel, James’ gear chain had slipped off.  Luckily, Jessica still remembered how to reset bike chains and helped to get it back on the gears.  About two-thirds of the way back to the hotel it started to drizzle a bit.  By the time we got back, it became a light rain.  We were lucky that our stuff didn’t get too wet.  After cleaning up a bit, we decided to go to the pool area to kick back for the rest of the afternoon.  Because of the on and off showers, we decided to grab a ‘sofa’ by the lounge area next to the pool, waiting for an opportunity to take a dip.  Due to the weather, there were only a few people around the pool.  We end up spending most of our afternoon napping and reading our iPads, while enjoying the scenery of the coast and water.  James was able to jump into the pool for a quick dip, mostly to cool off.

Sunset from La Dique Hotel Beach

Sunset on La Digue

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had wanted to have dinner at the hotel’s a la carte restaurant, but it wasn’t open on that night, so we went to the buffet restaurant instead.   The selection may not have been the most extensive, but the quality was good.  There was a grilling station, where they were grilling fresh meat and fish, and there was also a pan-fried pasta station where a chef prepared a pasta dish to your liking.

Seychelle Coconut

After an early breakfast the next morning, we prepared for our departure from La Dique.  Before returning to Mahe Island, we stopped over at Praslin for a full day of guided tour.  Our first stop of the day was Vallee De Mal National Park.  This park contains the Coco-der Mer (Seychelles coconut) trees, indigenous to this island.   There is a male and a female variety of the palm, with the female bearing the fruit.  A mature fruit can weight upward of 30kg, a very big fruit indeed.   The guided tour took about an hour and a half through the park.  We also got to see a number of other local plants and trees.  Jessica picked up a number of red colored seeds that is used for jewelry and artwork.

 

Anse Lazio Beach – Praslin Island

Our next stop is the world famous Anse Lazio beach located on the northern end of the island, which is ranked among the best beaches in the world.  We got there just after midday.  There are two restaurants there; one on the beach right near the entrance onto beach and the other one a bit further down the road that sits inside a former plantation style house.   We decided to go with the second one, which also has a souvenir shop.  We picked up some specialty local soap there before our lunch.  For lunch, Jessica went with Fish and Chip set lunch while James went with a club sandwich and fries.

After lunch, we head to the beach.  Anse Lazio is a long, wide white sand beach, with strong waves.  It is a top choice for both surfers and bathers.  Jessica ventured out into the water a few times while James mostly rested under the shade.  Our ride to the ferry picked us up around 4PM.  Our Ferry was originally scheduled to leave at 5PM, but ended up being about an hour late.   There wasn’t much to do while we waited in the terminal area.  The wait only prolonged James’ dread for the hour long boat ride. As the boat began its way back to Mahe Island, the sun also began its downward path.  We could see a bit of the sunset over the water as the sky turns from light to gray to dark by the time we reached Mahe.

When we returned back to the Fisherman’s Cove, James’s head was still spinning from the boat ride.  The room we were given on our return was a bit smaller than the room we had before; primarily there was no living room area in our new room.  The bathroom, the bed and most of the amenities were similar.  After putting away our stuff, we decided to go to Le Bourgeois restaurant for dinner, just a few steps away from our new room.  The food was great as the first time; instead of fish this time, Jessica had beef and James ordered the seafood risotto as the main courses.

What made this dinner more memorable was a mishap James had.  He had his shorts on when going to the restaurant but was told by the host that long pants were required for gentleman at the restaurant (Jessica would question whether James qualifies as a gentleman).

We ordered and were just settling in with our basket of bread and drink when James’ coaster flew off toward the edge of the restaurant near another table.  There was a small pond on the front edge of the restaurant.  James totally forgot about the pond and in the evening light, the water look like just plain old dark ground.  To try to avoid bothering the patrons at the table where the coaster landed, James tried to step around outside to get the coaster.  But he stepped right into the water.  James could see all eyes at the restaurant were on him as he stepped out of the pond with his pants all wet.  The good thing was that James was wearing his Crocs.

Fish Stall at Market in Victoria

With a late night flight the next day, we decided to head to the island’s main town (Victoria) after we checked out of our room just before noon.  We planned to spend a few hours there for lunch and a little bit of final local shopping and sightseeing.  We browsed through some of the local craft stores and picked up some local souvenir items.  We also walked through the local market, with a number of interesting looking fish there, along with a number of local vegetables being hawked.  One of the things we noticed when we walked through town was that a number of shops have Chinese proprietors.  In fact, the taxi driver who drove us from the hotel into town said that his wife’s family was originally from China.  A good illustration of the distance Chinese people have traveled to find opportunities.

For lunch, we settled on a restaurant called the Parrot’s Cove in the center of town, a casual Applebee and Chili’s type of eatery, which we discovered had a casino upstairs later on but didn’t have time (or the cash) to visit.  Jessica ordered a salad while James went with a pizza, along with an order of fries and drinks.  Afterwards, we walked around town a bit more, including getting some local stamps at the post office before taking a taxi back to the hotel. One note on taxi, there are no meter, and it can be uncertain how much a ride may cost.

It was about 4PM where we returned back to the hotel.  We just ‘lounged’ in the lobby until about dinner time.  We settled in our favorite spot, napping and doing some reading.  Every once a while, looking out into the sea, we both regret that this will be our last day here.  While we were there, Jessica struck up a conversation with a group of people from her hometown area.  They compared notes on the arrangement for the trip, the itinerary, and prices.

We wanted to go back to Berjaya Beau Vallon Bay Resort for dinner.  But when we got there, most of the power was still out and the restaurant we want to eat was not open.  Thus, we headed back to the hotel and went with the buffet route.  We figured we will fill ourselves before the flight.

The first leg of the flight from Seychelles to Dubai was uneventful.  As usual, Jessica slept most of the way while James ended up able to dose off for only a couple hours.   Arriving in Dubai around 4:30AM, we started to think of what we want to do before our 11AM flight to Beijing.  We decided to do our shopping first, have a light bite and then figured a way to rest before our flight.

Had a hard time figuring out what would be good to bring back, we finally settled on picking up some local specialty snacks, such as prunes and chocolate covered dates.  Jessica also got some more branded scarves and jewelry.  Thankfully, she passed on the leather Ferrangmo iPad cover.

After a light bite of muffins and juice at Paul’s, we started looking to see where we can get some rest.  Originally, James was thinking of the paid Airport Lounge; but the sign of “No Sleeping” out front discourage us from going in.  But then Jessica spotted a ‘sleeping pods’ place not far from the lounge, where we could rent a capsule with beds to rest by the hour.  We settled on a two hour slot, for about US$30.  This turn out great, as the nap was really helpful to get ourselves rejuvenated.  And we figured that it would be especially good for our long leg of the flight.

But a surprised awaited us when we boarded our flight.  We got an upgrade to Business Class for our flight.  The extra space and accommodation put an exclamation point to our trip.