Home / Blog / Day 19 – Yuyuan Garden Shopping Mall

Day 19 – Yuyuan Garden Shopping Mall

This is not really a shopping mall, but a large area taking in a few roads which are closed during the time this market/mall is open. It’s very much arranged for the tourists, and you don’t see locals at this market. What drew, Wendy, to this area was the Chocolate Factory which was clearly called out in our maps. When we arrived to see the Chocolate Factory we were quite surprised at the size of the market, and how far it spread.

However, the Chocolate Factory turned out to be no more than a chocolate shop, with a couple of chocolate animals as you walked into the shop, one being a kangaroo. We looked around the shop, and they had made some interesting sculptures with their chocolate, but nothing that enticed us to buy anything.

After a couple of circuits of the shop, and of course with Wendy in awe of the chocolate, we made our way outside to battle with the crowds again as we looked at the shops that were around this complex. We didn’t buy anything, because at this stage of our trip we have to either use or eat what we buy as we can’t really take much with us.

After the busy and chaotic few nights in Hanoi, we decided to chill out in Tam Coc. Tam Coc is a small town in the Ninh Binh Province close to the actual city of Ninh Binh but far quieter. We stopped at a lovely little hotel located down a side street off the main through...

Dinner on our first night in Geelong, and this isn’t a bad Thai. In fact, it’s one of the better ones. What makes it better? Fresh herbs and spices; fresh curry leaves and peppercorns are easy to miss. I was asked how spicy I would like it, ‘Thai spicy’, yes absolutely, and it was certainly...

Taipei Main Station is massive, a cavernous labyrinth of interconnecting tunnels and areas. There are very large markets in this subterranean area, at least four stations and I wouldn’t like to guess the area of this station underground. It has quite a few levels so you seemed to be either going up or down a...

Our foray into Taipei started with a couple of museums as they’re a great way to learn about the locality, they can be very interesting, and they are a good way to stay out of the heat. First off, we headed to the Taiwan National Museum, with a very low entry fee which we were...

This was our chosen location for our final day in Hua Hin and our last trip out on the bike. Only 30 mins from our hotel so an easy ride after breakfast. I’d only seen the temple advertised on a taxi advertising board so we had no idea how large the site would actually be....