WHOLE TRIP ROUND-UP
BIRDS and MAMMALS
160 life birds seen
27 life mammals seen
I have included Australia and Malaysia in the animal stats below, although they were only briefly mentioned in the thread. I was in Sydney for just two days, and Malaysia for four days before going to China. At the end Thailand was also just a couple of days in Bangkok.
AUSTRALIA
I saw 49 species of birds in Australia, of which 2 were lifers (White-winged Chough and Red-necked Avocet).
I saw no mammals.
MALAYSIA
I saw 55 species of birds in Malaysia, of which 2 were lifers (Thick-billed Spiderhunter and Malayan Laughing Thrush), and a further 2 were new for my Malaysia list (as in, I had seen them previously in other countries but not Malaysia).
I saw 9 species of mammals, none of which were lifers.
CHINA part one
I saw 278 species of birds in China (part one), of which 48 were lifers, and a further 128 were new for my China list.
I saw 10 species of mammals, of which 4 were lifers.
JAPAN
I saw 187 species of birds in Japan, of which 65 were lifers.
I saw 23 species of mammals, of which 15 were lifers.
TAIWAN
I saw 121 bird species in Taiwan, of which 27 were lifers.
I saw 13 species of mammals, of which 7 were lifers.
HONG KONG
I saw 33 bird species in Hong Kong, none of which were lifers.
I saw 1 species of mammal, not a lifer.
CHINA part two
I saw 137 species of birds in China (part two), of which 16 were lifers, and a further 20 were new for my China list.
I saw 10 species of mammals, of which 1 was a lifer.
THAILAND
I saw 28 species of birds in Thailand, none of which were lifers.
I saw 2 species of mammals, neither of which were lifers.
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ZOOS AND AQUARIUMS:
I visited one collection while in Australia; seven in China (part one); twenty in Japan; two in Taiwan; three in Hong Kong; three in China (part two); and two in Thailand. All are listed below in the order of visitation. I have posted individual reviews and / or species lists for all the Zoos and some of the Aquariums (and there are brief summaries for all of them within the thread).
AUSTRALIA
1) Featherdale Wildlife Park
Featherdale species list, 24 Nov 2024 [Featherdale Wildlife Park]
CHINA part one
2) Kunming Zoo (Yunnan)
Kunming Zoo species list, 30 November 2024 [Kunming Zoo]
3) Yaojiaping Rescue Centre (Yunnan)
4) Chengdu Zoo (Sichuan)
Chengdu Zoo species list, 29 December 2024 [Chengdu Zoo]
5) Shaanxi Nature Museum (Xi'an, Shaanxi) [a museum rather than a zoo but it has a section for the display of live insects]
6) Zhoudao Cute Pet Paradise (Xi'an, Shaanxi)
Zhoudao Cute Pet Paradise (Xi'an), January 2025
7) Fantasy Aquarium (Xi'an, Shaanxi)
8) Nanning Zoo (Guangxi)
Nanning Zoo species list, 12 January 2025 [Nanning Zoo]
JAPAN
9) Inokashira Park Zoo (Tokyo, Honshu)
Inokashira Park Zoo species list, January 2025 [Inokashira Park Zoo]
10) Sumida Aquarium (Tokyo, Honshu)
11) Aqua World Ibaraki Oarai (Oarai)
Aqua World Ibaraki Oarai, visit January 2025 [Aqua World Ibaraki Oarai Aquarium]
12) Kushiro Zoo (Kushiro, Hokkaido)
Kushiro Zoo (Hokkaido) visit and species list: February 2025
13) Wakkanai Aquarium (Noshappu [Wakkanai], Hokkaido)
Wakkanai Aquarium (Hokkaido): species list, February 2025
14) Joyama Zoo (Nagano, Honshu)
Joyama Zoo (Nagano, Japan), species list February 2025
15) Tokyo Sea Life Park (Tokyo, Honshu)
16) Ueno Zoo (Tokyo, Honshu)
Ueno Zoo - visit and species list: February 2025 [Ueno Zoo]
17) Tennoji Zoo (Osaka, Honshu)
Tennoji Zoo (Osaka), review and species list: March 2025 [Tennōji Zoo]
18) Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan (Osaka, Honshu)
19) Kobe Animal Kingdom (Kobe, Honshu)
Kobe Animal Kingdom, review and species list: 3 March 2025 [Kobe Animal Kingdom]
20) Minoh Park Insect Museum (Osaka, Honshu)
Minoh Park Insect Museum (Osaka)
21) Tama Zoo (Tokyo, Honshu)
Tama Zoo visit and species list, March 2025 [Tama Zoo]
22) Oshima Park Zoo (Izu Islands, Honshu)
Oshima Park Zoo (Izu Islands), March 2025
23) Sunshine Aquarium (Tokyo, Honshu)
24) Saitama Childrens Zoo (Tokyo, Honshu)
Saitama Childrens Zoo review and species list, March 2025
25) Kagoshima City Aquarium (Kagoshima, Kyushu)
26) Hirakawa Zoo (Kagoshima, Kyushu)
Hirakawa Zoo (Kagoshima): visit and species list, March 2025
27) Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium (Okinawa)
28) Okinawa Zoo and Museum (Okinawa)
Okinawa Zoo and Museum: review and species list, 17 April 2025
TAIWAN
29) Taipei Zoo
Taipei Zoo species list and walk-through: May 2025 [Taipei Zoo]
30) National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium
National Museum of Marine Biology & Aquarium: May 2025 visit [National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium]
HONG KONG
31) Kowloon Park
Kowloon Park: species list, 22 May 2025 [Kowloon Park]
32) Edward Youde Aviary
Edward Youde Aviary: species list, 22 May 2025 [Edward Youde Aviary]
33) Hong Kong Zoological and Botanic Gardens
Hong Kong Zoo: species list, 22 May 2025 [Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens]
CHINA part two
34) Guangzhou Zoo (Guangzhou)
Guangzhou Zoo: review and species list, May 2025 [Guangzhou Zoological Garden]
35) Ocean World (Guangzhou)
Ocean World (Guangzhou): review and species list, May 2025
36) Chimelong Safari Park (Guangzhou)
Chimelong Safari Park: review and species list May 2025 [Chimelong Safari Park]
THAILAND
37) Bangkok Butterfly Garden and Insectarium
38) Bangkok Snake Farm
Bangkok Snake Farm: species list, 18 June 2025 [Bangkok Snake Farm]
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COSTS
These are the total costs and daily average for each country - that's including all costs within each country, so hotels, food, transport, etc. I haven't recalculated the exchange rates, so they are as they were when I worked them out after leaving each country. The international flights and any other additional costs are at the end.
There is more detail for costs and other stuff in the breakdowns (round-ups) which I posted within the thread as I left each country.
The most expensive country was always going to be Japan (which worked out as NZ$178 per day on average), and the lowest was the first visit through China (NZ$77 per day), but really all of them turned out to be "not cheap" on this trip.
Trivia: I used Trip. com for booking almost everything. People who do a lot of travelling or who use whatever other sort of online purchasing will know how rewards or points work in this sort of system, but for anyone else. There are rewards which accrue on Trip, called "Trip coins", which are gained when you complete a hotel stay, write a review, stuff like that, and the amount of which increase per booking as you rise in "level" (i.e. the more you book, the higher in level you go, and the more Trip coins you get for each thing). Then you can use those accrued Trip coins as actual "money" when making bookings so you pay less of your own real money. Over the course of the trip I saved 683.99 Yuan (which is NZ$160) by using Trip coins when making bookings.
CHINA part one
Total spent and average per day:
17,545 Yuan total = c.NZ$4242 ; UK£1932 ; Euro 2302 ; US$2416
Over 55 days that’s an average per day of 319 Yuan (NZ$77 ; UK£35 ; Euro 42 ; US$44).
JAPAN
Total spent and average per day (because of the way the bookings worked in Japan I had to calculate my total costs in NZ Dollars and then converted that into Yen, rather than the other way round):
NZ$14,236 total = c.1,260,715 Yen ; UK£6375 ; Euro 7495.50 ; US$8469
Over 80 days that’s an average per day of NZ$178 (15,763 Yen ; UK£79 ; Euro 94 ; US$106).
TAIWAN
Total spent and average per day:
73524 TWD total = c.NZ$4143 ; UK£1837 ; Euro 2145.45 ; US$2490
Over 33 days that’s an average per day of 2227 TWD (c.NZ$125.50 ; UK£55.65 ; Euro 65 ; US$75.40).
HONG KONG
Total spent and average per day:
HK$2174 total = c.NZ$462 ; UK£206 ; Euro 237 ; US$277
Over 4 days that’s an average per day of HK$543.50 (c.NZ$115.50 ; UK£51.50 ; Euro 59.25 ; US$69.25).
CHINA part two
Total spent and average per day:
9622 Yuan total = c.NZ$2246 ; UK£999 ; Euro 1149 ; US$1342
Over 21 days that’s an average per day of 458 Yuan (c.NZ$106.80 ; UK£ 47.55 ; Euro 54.70 ; US$63.90).
THAILAND
Total spent and average per day:
4570 Baht total = c.NZ$235 ; UK£105 ; Euro 120 ; US$140
Over 3 days that’s an average per day of 1523 Baht (c.NZ$78.30 ; UK£34.90 ; Euro 40.20 ; US$46.90), and that's absolutely
ridiculous for Thailand!
The hotel did end up costing me NZ$45 per night instead of NZ$40, because of bank fees / exchange rates added onto the booking, but that still means I was spending NZ$30 a day on food and trains (after removing from the average the Bangkok Snake Farm's entry fee of 200 Baht or NZ$10.30).
ADDITIONAL COSTS
(visas, and travel between countries)
Chinese visa: NZ$105 (UK£46.60 ; Euro 53.80 ; US$62.40)
Travel insurance: NZ$952 (c.UK£423 ; Euro 488 ; US$566)
Train from Hong Kong to China: 90 Yuan (c.NZ$21)
International Flights:
Total for the international flights is roughly NZ$3300 (c.UK£1470 ; Euro 1690 ; US$1960)
NZ$346.10 - Emirates, from New Zealand to Sydney (Australia)
NZ$521.43 - Scoot, from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) via Singapore
NZ$298.57 - Air Asia, from Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) to Kunming (China)
NZ$480.16 - Peach, from Shanghai (China) to Kagoshima via Osaka (Japan)
NZ$269.25 - Batik Air, from Okinawa (Japan) to Taipei (Taiwan)
NZ$120.29 - Hong Kong Airlines, from Taipei (Taiwan) to Hong Kong
NZ$170.53 - Sichuan Airlines, from Chengdu (China) to Bangkok (Thailand)
NZ$1096.57 - Qantas, from Bangkok back to NZ via Sydney
And just for interest's sake, the other airlines I used for internal flights:
China:
China Eastern Airlines, from Dali to Chengdu (NZ$142.63)
Japan:
Jetstar, from Kagoshima to Narita (NZ$127.60)
Air Do, from Sapporo to Haneda (NZ$212.78)
Skymark, from Kagoshima to Amami (NZ$109.47)
Solaseed Air, return flight Okinawa to Ishigaki (NZ$224.29)
TOTAL COST
Total cost for the whole trip:
Just over NZ$31,000 (c.UK£13,770 ; Euro 15,880 ; US$18,430)
If you added up all the numbers provided earlier it would come out as less than this because there are some extra costs not included up there, like Australia and Malaysia. This does sound like a huge amount of money to spend if you just look at it as a lump sum, but it was spread out over seven months.
Over 209 days that’s an average per day of roughly NZ$148 (UK£66 ; Euro 76 ; US$88).
If removing the "extra" costs of international flights, travel insurance, etc, so just working out the "within country" spending, it is an average per day of roughly NZ$127 (UK£56 ; Euro 65 ; US$76).
I knew Japan was going to be expensive, that's basically a given, but I hadn't thought Taiwan would be almost as expensive. Hong Kong wasn't in my initial plans, but I wouldn't have dreamed that would be anywhere
close to being as expensive as it was.
China was also a bit more expensive than I'd anticipated, the second part much more so than the first part although that could just be because it was less than half as long (the longer the length of time the more the average gets to smooth out).
Generally speaking, this trip was about two or three times more expensive than other trips I've done in Asia.
In summary: I spent too much money!
Extra summary: it was worth it.
Extra: I just had a look at some of my older travel threads for average costs of the longer trips:
My 2013-2014 trip, which included eastern Asia - eastern Russia, Mongolia and China - along with southeast Asia, came out at an average of NZ$57.30 per day (with the exchange rates at that time working out at US$49.40, UK£29.35, and €36).
The 2016-2017 trip, which was India and southeast Asia, averaged out at NZ$34.15 per day (with the exchange rates at that time working out at US$24.70, UK£19.55, €22.20).
So this trip had a massively higher average cost-per-day!
At least now Japan and Taiwan are done for me. There were some birds and mammals I'd have liked to have seen, but in general I got enough out of those countries that I probably won't be going back, or if I do it will be for short visits focused on seeing specific animals.
China, on the other hand, I will definitely be returning to.
