I am a girl from the little red dot who LOVES to travel. Having grown up in a tropical island city called Singapore, I love travelling around the world to see different the majestic mountains and beautiful sceneries, to experience the different seasons (yes Singapore is summer all year round!), to get to know different cultures and meet wonderful people across the globe, and to eat all the delicious cruisines.
I enjoy travelling solo as much as with family and friends. I love my family but as a modern day girl, I am always preoccupied with my own stuff whenever I am home. So travelling with my family gives me quality time to spend with them and bond with my loved ones. Travelling with friends is so much fun, with all the crazy things that we can do together. Travelling solo is another different experience. Being totally independent and alone, one tend to be able to indulge in the local culture much more and to make wonderful new friends in the course of the journey.
The reason why I created this blog is because I always love my trips so much that usually I will end up with some “withdrawal symptons” whenever am trip is ending. So, in order for me to “relive” my fond memories and extend my “feel good factor” from my trip, I started this blog to share my wonderful journeys with friends.
Also, any travellers will agree that planning a trip is a challenging process but the planning phrase is usually the start of the “excitement” in anticipation of the upcoming travel. The satisfaction from going on a trip that you have planned yourself is really invaluable. So hopefully, the sharing of my experiences will help all of you in your trips planning, making it less painful and your journeys even more enjoyable.
For those who are still undecided on where to explore, I also hope that my sharing of the joy of travelling will entice the “explorer desire” in you to start planning for a wonderful journey.
If you would like to ask me something, feel free to drop a comment at my blog and I will try to help whatever I can. I am also happy to help if your planning as well 🙂
The Carefree Traveller ~ Wanderer from the Little Red Dot 
Hello
We are a senior couple from Singapore and enjoy reading your travel writings. We came to your blog after searching for “wutaishan villages” on yahoo. And we love your Shanxi travel description.
Would you be kind enough to tell us which hotel you stayed while on Wutaishan? And did you use private or public transport to get around while in the wutaishan area? Thank you and regards Teo
Hi uncle Jay,
I stayed in Wufeng Hotel at the center of the town (called 台怀镇). The time I went was many years ago before Marriott was built,m and this hotel is considered one of the best for foreigners. Now if you can afford Marriott, I will recommend that over this.
I was traveling free and easy and rented a car with driver. There are many places around the mountain that public transport will not take you, such as if you want to go up to the respective 5 peaks of the mountain. Wutaishan is called “wutai” because it has 5 peaks surrounding the center of the town. Most tourist will only visit the center and ascend to dailuoding (黛螺顶) which is term as the “small pilgrimage” (小朝台) as you are essentially ascending a small hill in the town center area which is around 1700m and not the actual 5 peaks which people term as the “big pilgrimage” (where the highest peak is 3062m). It takes efforts to do the big pilgrimage and you need to arrange for your own driver for that. But I can assure you that the scenery that you will see doing the big pilgrimage is really amazing and worth it.
Happy to help if you have more questions on wutaishan or Shanxi in general.
Hi, we are going to Norway from 3-12 Nov. Do you mind to share your itinerary and local agent you engaged for the activities in Tromso.
Hi, I have sent. I did not use a local agent but rather booked directly for each activity. Details are in the itinerary. Let me know if you have more questions.
you are brave to travel solo. its not my style. i prefer a partner to share the experience with. look forward to more blogs from you 🙂
natasha
Thanks Natasha! It can be quite an excitement to venture into the unknown alone 🙂 Of course, having a partner to share all the joy is great too!
Hi, I am thinking of going taipei in dec 2012. Do you mind sharing the itinerary? My email add is terencelaitl@hotmail.com
Sent 🙂
Hi,
I would be travelling to Northern Taiwan in Dec 2012. Do you mind sharing the itinerary? My email add is delinelu@gmail.com. Thanks a lot!!! ^.^
Hi Deline,
Sent! Have fun planning 🙂
Hi, which travel agent in Singapore did you travel with to zhangjiajie? We may want to visit in dec 2012. Was it very foggy such that the scenery could hardly be seen ? What was the temperature like when you were there? If this place is no go in dec, we may visit jiangnan instead or maybe Harbin. Thanks.
Hi,
I visited Zhangjiajie at end December and will recommend this timing. It was cold but I was lucky that it snowed, making the place super beautiful.
Fenghuang Old Town is nearby (a Few hours away) and you may want to plan visiting the old town on 31 December and stay till 1 January. Many people will be putting water lanterns on the eve of the new year and the atmosphere is really great!
I joined Hong Thai. Pretty good.
I won’t recommend Jiangnan in December. The winter in Jiangnan is bad as it’s the wet type of coldness (will feel even colder than northern china even though the temperature is higher). Anyway, Jiangnan is prettiest in spring.
Haerbin will be super cold but it’s dry cold so better than Jiangnan. So if u can’t get the your to Zhangjiajie, it’s better to go here versus Jiangnan.
Thanks for your reply. We can only travel in dec due to school holidays. In fact, I would really love to visit jiuzhaigou or a ctc package to Xian, hukou and the hanging monastery. But both jiuzhaigou and hukou would have frozen waterfall, which I thought it would be a pity as they won’t be as spectacular.
You mean jiangnan in dec would be rainy ? You mentioned that the way to hukou from Xian side is very rough. Windy thus dangerous ? Hanging monastery, worth going ? I read from trip advisor that some actually got bored after a while in zhangjiajie as they look the same – the various mountain, and that Phoenix ancient town is commercialized.
If I can’t find any suitable places to go in china in dec, maybe I can explore Hanoi and sapa valley.
Hukou is nice when there is high water volume, then you can really feel how majestic the waterfall is. In winter, the water volume will be really low (even if it’s not frozen).From Xian side, the road to Hukou is more bumpy then from Shanxi side. Also, the waterfall looks more majestic from Shanxi side. Hanging monastery (located in Shanxi) is nice and you can do 1 trip to cover this all the way to Hukou but I am unsure whether there’s any tour agency who cover the whole route. I was on free and easy and hence managed to cover Shanxi province from north (ie Datong) to south (ie Yuncheng to see Guanggong’s temple). But in December, Xian and Shanxi are really cold but yet you won’t be able to see the nice winter scenery of white snow unlike in the north-east of China (eg Ha-erbin). So I will suggest that if you are fine with northern China’s climate, go to Ha-erbin instead of Xian and Shanxi in December since you can see the famous ice scrupltures in Ha-erbin only in winter. Jiuzhaigou is on highland and hence December will be really cold (but you will get to see the snow).
For Jiangnan, when I say “wet cold”, it’s not that it will be rainy. It means the air has high humility and hence you will feel some “wetness” in the air, causing it to be much colder than the temperature suggest. Jiangnan is really a miserable place to visit in winter. Even for people who has grown up in northern China, they also commented that winter in the north is much better (even though the temperature is lower).
I personally enjoy Zhangjiajie and Fenghuang. In fact, I find Zhangjiajie nicer than Huangshan. I have travelled quite extensively in China and I can say that this area is one of my favourite. Same scenery? I have heard people commenting that Europe is boring as well as lots of cities/towns look the same with the cathedrals ;P I guess different people will have different preference. It all depends on what you like. If you like city stuff, then this is not the place to go.
Hi can i hv a copy of your itinerary of ur taiwan trip? My email is preciouslittlepaw@yahoo.com.sg
Thanks in advance!
Hi Estee,
I have sent over. Enjoy planning!
Love your blogs! You have been traveling a lot.. I’m traveling to Taipei soon .. Mind sharing your itinery?
Hi Rachel, sent! Enjoy!! 🙂
Hi, thanks for sharing your Taiwan trip in such detail. Can you email me your itinerary for Taiwan?
Thank you!
Hi Amanda, I have sent over to you. Have fun planning!
hi, enjoyed reading your blog. would it be convenient if you can send the itinerary for Taiwan to me? As I will be heading over in May. Still quite lost in planning it. Thanks and do keep up with the posting =)
Hi Amly,
I have sent over. If you have any questions, I will be happy to help as well. Good luck in planning 🙂
Hi, since you were able to cover Yehliu etc in 1 day from Taipei, I am thinking of spending just half day from Jiufen to visit those places that you visited and night for Keelung night mkt. Do you think that is doeable and not too rushed? Also, is Huashi St Night Mkt worth visiting? Heard they sell wild animals there but you cant take any pictures?
Hi Kwan,
Yes it is possible to cover Yehliu, Jiufen and Keelung all in 1 day.
If you want to save time, an alternative way is to take the taxi. You can flag down any taxi on the road and asked them how much is it to go to Yeliu. They will likely offer you a full day package (for 8 hours it cost around NT 3,300 depending on how you negotiate). It is more convenient and you can visit other surrounding places like Jinguashih, the Gold Waterfalls and the Bay of 2 Colours which are all near Jiufen. So within 8 hours, you will be able to see many attractions instead of spending time waiting for the public transport (and the longer travelling time).
For Huashi St Night Market, there’s the Longshan temple there. When I went, there are nice lights displayed in the temple so it’s nice to go and see and then walk around the Huashi St Night Market (but nothing much about the night market though). I saw some wild animals but was feeling a bit disgusted so didn’t even want to take any picture haha.
Hi Kwan, I have emailed u. I have a taxi driver to recommend but usually they pick up people from Taipei city. I think it may be cheaper to just grab a taxi from Jiufen instead of pre-book. There are plenty of taxis at the bus-stop at Jiufen (opposite the 7-11 at the lower part of Jiufen) so you shouldn’t have difficulty getting one. The taxi drivers there are mostly very friendly (actually the people in Taiwan are mostly friendly and that’s the nice part about Taiwan).
For train ticket from Taipei to Ruifang, you can book a day in advance and usually shouldn’t have an issue. But of course, booking a few days ahead will provide more certainty.
Enjoy Taipei and Jiufen!
Thanks for your quick reply and itenary!
Hi, could you email me your itinerary? I will be travelling to Taipei and Jiufen. As I will be staying over at Jiufen, I am thinking of hiring a taxi driver from Jiufen to go to Yehliu, Nanya Rocks, Yuen Yang Sea, Keelung. Would you have any taxi driver from Jiufen to recommend or would it be ok to just hire one when I reach Jiufen? Also, how early should I book the train ticket from Taipei to Ruifang? Thanks!
enjoying reading your blog. Would you please email the taipei itinerary echankm@hotmail.com. Thank you.
Thanks! Glad that you enjoyed it. I have dropped you an email with the itinerary.