October 13, 2024
Portimao, Portugal - small fishing village
Never heard of this small fishing port until today. Town was pretty quiet on a Sunday afternoon. This port is up river and not navigable by the big cruise ships. Did a stroll along the harbor, sipped on some sangria and beer with fellow residents and soaked in the sun. I attempted to organize a speed boat tour of local caves, but wind and surf too rough to do safely.
We did all our travel for this trip in China via high speed railway. We started in Hong Kong and traveled to Guilin in just over 3 hours. Then our longest leg, of 7 hours for Guilin to Zhangjiajie . Next was Zhangjiajie to Chongqing at 3.5 hours and finally Chongqing to Xi'An was around 5.5 hours. Some of the train stations were massive like Chongqing below and Xi'An. Signage was pretty good, with some English, so we could navigate well.
LONGJI RICE TERRACES were just a short drive from the Red Yao Village . We had originally planned to view the terraces from a cable car ride, but it was raining and too windy for that operation. The alternative was to take a shuttle bus about 1/2 way up the mountain and walk pathways along the terraces. I think we actually lucked out with this change, because the views were spectacular! The mist and rain added another element and since we were inside the terraces, we could really appreciate how they were painstakingly engineered!
The gang with our guide Jack , who we had for the 2 days of excursions from Guilin . Jack was very informative and a super nice guy. He was an expectant father while with us and told us how his family was preparing for the arrival of their new child. They have a 6 year old boy now who Jack says can destroy a room in the house in minutes. He was hoping for a daughter! His wife delivered their 2nd son, the week after we toured with Jack. Best of Luck and Congratulations!