A Long Overdue Travel Flashback-China

Due to the fact that I have one more paper to go, and that chee wei said I have not been posting'interesting' posts (come on, I DON’T publicize my private life=P), I have decided to jot down the first oversea trip that involved ALL the family members of mine. It was China: Shanghai-Nan Jing-Su Zhou-Wu Xi-Wu Zhen-Hang Zhou. It was a 7-day-6-night trip (in December) and I enjoyed it TREMENDOUSLY.

Shanghai
Our plane landed in Shanghai in the morning. The group of 20 of us (Reliance customers) was then welcomed by the local tour guide, Xiao Wei (Wil). It was so so cold and we had to wear our long johns in the washroom, our shawl/skarf, windbreaker and hats were a must.
We then visited the 'old shang hai road' and the bund (Shiong Hoi Tan). The river was called Huang Pu Jiang, and it overlooked the scenic skycrapers, including the towering Pearl Tower.
When we came back on our last day, we had a boat ride and got to enjoy the night scene of Shang Hai, all lit up by the array of lights. (the view you saw in MI3, minus the fighting scene) ^_^

Shanghai is well known for its siao long bao BUT then it wasn't impressive. Argh, u know my sis and I lined up for around one hour at this place called Cheng Long Miao, however, due to time constraint, we had to get back to the bus, SO WE didn't get to try THAT siao long bao. In other restaurants, we were served with it BUT I think the ones we eat in malaysia are way nicer. May be those superchun chefs have been imported here. =) The meals were all ok, as Reliance Agency live up to its name of being reliable. The freaking stories from friends and families regarding no meat serve, bland porridge and oily vegetable DID NOT happen to us, thank goodness.

Wil is a very nice tour guide; did you know that the tour guides who get to serve foreign customers are graduates? His English is fluent and he is a knowledgeable man. At age 20+, he is sporting in the sense that he can mix around with those younger people, not forgetting to take care of the elderly. At times, he belted out tunes like ‘Long on ban, Long on lau’ (the soundtrack from the show Shiong Hoi Tan that stars Chow Yun Fatt). He also enhanced the history-telling with jokes and managed to relate them to today’s life. He really widened my knowledge on China.

What I think:
Shang Hai is a HAVEN for shopping; those winter clothings are SO NICE and they are NOT expensive. Too bad I don't travel often, if not i would have sapu-ed some back.
I LOVE the walk along the bund, because on one side it is the OLD shanghai and the other, the NEW shanghai. A great contrast indeed. Not to mention, the walk in the park near the bund.
Oh and the mutton meatballs dad bought was so yummy. He regretted NOT getting more, haha.
Weather was cold, I think it was around 5-10 degree Celsius, so we took some time to adjust to it. It was end of autumn and the beginning of winter after all. Autumn is ALWAYS a romantic season.

Hang Zhou
We also visited the tea plantation-green tea. My dad is so into tea; so he bought the AAA grade green tea. It was really good! This brought back memories of the green tea ice-cream I ate in japan. =) I MISS JAPAN!!

Xi Hu (West Lake) was really nice. I am not so poetic to paint a picture in your mind, do excuse me for that.

We went to a place called ‘Soong Cheng’ (Soong city) for musicals- they depicted the Chinese folklores and the various dances from different country-being diplomatic. The theme of the musicals was-

‘Soong4 Cheng2-Gei2 Wo3 Yi1 Tian1, Huan2 Ni3 Qian1 Nian2’
Loose Translation: Soong City- Give me one day, return you a thousand years.
What it means: Spare us (the people in Hangzhou) one day, and we will give you an experience of a lifetime!

What I think:
I like Xi Hu and the musicals a lot.

Nan Jing

We visited Sun Zhong Shan Memorial-not going to talk about his political role for fear that I get some facts wrong here. =) However, what got me touched was his love story. He actually had a wife from arranged marriage. Later on in his life, he met Soong Mei Ling (one of the Soong’s sisters) and they both fell in love. His wife was well aware of it; yet she had no grouses at all. She understands that her husband and Mei Ling had this compatibility and Mei Ling really supported him in the political field. However, the wife continued to serve her in-laws dutifully, just so that her husband can focus on his career and need not have to worry about the family. This LOVE was so noble indeed; even the tour guide, Xiao Wang, admitted that she doesn’t have the spirit of sacrifice and unconditional love like that.

As my ex-neighbour, Mrs Tai’s homeland is Nanjing, she arranged to meet up with us in our hotel. Haha, she is already a wealthy lady back in Malaysia. (she married a Singaporean who settled down here). In China, she is really some super rich 1^st class lady! Haha. And her son, my ex-student, grew taller and looked really good. (or was it because of the windbreaker that made him look smart, and the weather that really flattered our skin?=)

Mrs. Tai is one great lady and she took us to this restaurant for siao long bao and duck mee. Wow the siao long bao there is the BEST I tried in China, shame on Shanghai! Haha.

We then proceeded to Fu Zi Miao, a street near our hotel, for a shopping spree. The streets is something like our Petaling Street and it was the opportunity for us FEMALES to show our bargaining and persuasive skills.

What I think:

Bahasa Malaysia came in really USEFUL in China, when you don’t want others to know about your conversation, yet you don’t want to be rude and starts whispering. A typical scenario:

“Dia kata 40 la, kamu betul suka ke?’
‘Ya, beritahu dia 10.’
‘Jin yun, kamu mahu kena marah ke?’

Then I proceeded to say 15 (coz she will mark up the price anyway)
The hawker: Na Bu liao (can’t take away) I have to lose if I give you that price ok!!! (in mandarin, DUH)

Then, 3 of us looked at each other, acted a bit like, ‘we don’t really like the earrings, but actually we DO.’

Then one of us proceeded to leave and another told the hawker to further reduce the price. If this doesn’t NOT succeed, we all made a move…

‘Wait come back, 20 ren ming bi, you take it la!!!’

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

Su Zhou

Su is my surname! Haha. Those who are avid couch potato like ME, will know from those HK shows that, those beauties are always from Su Zhou. And Su Zhou is well known for its FOOD as well. That’s why the Emperor loved that place so much. True enough, the tour guide there, Amy, is a beauty. She is a mother to a daughter but she looks really good.

We visited Liu Yuan, one of the world heritages. It was originally owned by a wealthy and influential man in the olden days, and over the years, the place has been refurbished and as such, it is well maintained.

This place is so huge, it is just like what we see in tv programmes, no wonder they need a maid to every Siu jie or siu ye, so that there are messengers to walk around the maze and inform you, ‘Dinner is ready.’ Or that ‘Mr. So and so is waiting for you at the living room.’

The trip to Su Zhou couldn’t be completed without a visit to the silk factory.
The staff there were so eager to demonstrate how pure the scarf made of silk is, they burnt 2 scarfs, one that is made of nylon (burned easily) and the other that did not. Ah, talk about marketing skills.

Of course, there were so many ‘water fish’ there- many tour groups from various countries. My family didn’t buy anything and merely enjoyed the numerous silk products there.

We also visited this little hill called ‘Hu Qiu Shan’ and there was a little leaning tower in there too. Now why do we have leaning tower EVERYWHERE? There is one in Ipoh/somewhere in Perak(teluk intan?) and of course, the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa.

What I think:
I LOVE Liu Yuan. It was just marvelous.

Wu Zhen

This is a small village and it can be dubbed ‘Mini Venice of the East’ . So you get the picture, there are the nostalgic houses, boatmen, flowing water. (MI3 last scene). The shops were set up like that of the olden days, there were freshly made malt sweet, peanut cookies, mutton meat balls.

When we entered the village, there were this bridge with 2 entrances, one that symbolizes ‘Sheng Guan Fa Cai’ (Got promoted and rich), another is ‘Xue Ye Jing Bu’ (Improvement in studies). Being a student and being one who really needs luck, I chose the latter one. However, there were KIASU people, (or they think they are funny), who entered through one, then came out and entered through the other. Talk about wanting the best of BOTH WORLDS. Come on, I think it was a belief among the local people, must they take it so seriously?

I got a NICE SCARF with my name written on it by the artist. It was just 18 ren ming bi if I am not mistaken. =) Happy happy!

What I think:
A nostalgic place with marvelous view- it was like a drawing.

Wu Xi

This place is actually not that chun, but then the government is SO SMART to cash in on the freshwater lake, Tai Hu. They had some man-made pearl factories there so it becomes one of the tourist attractions, or you mean, waterfish slaughterhouse.
The pearls aren’t really marvelous, and the sales people were so pushy!

I will look like an aunty if I wear the pearl jewellery. They kept telling me I look nice, bla bla bla. When they could see that they failed to sell us the expensive jewellery, they then proceeded to sell their ‘pearl powder mask’. Sorry, I am a supporter of Body Shop-Environment friendly, benefiting 3^rd world country, and reasonable price.

The best memory about this place is the visit to San Guo Cheng (The City of The Three Kingdoms). This place was built when they wanted to film San Guo Yan Yi (Romance of The Three Kingdoms). So we got to see some people ‘fighting’ on horseback and saw how Liu Bei, Sun Quan and Cao Cao’s ‘mansions’ were like.

What I think:
I have only read the simplified version of San Guo Yan Yi. Don’t know why I am never into Chinese classics. I bet I will find the movies more interesting.

Conclusion:
I wish to thank daddy for forking out the $$ for this wonderful experience for the family. Travelling is so expensive nowadays, wonder when the whole family get to go overseas next.
Everyone should consider this Jiang1 Nan2 Xing2 (Travel to the province of Jiang Nan)- it was also dubbed the ‘travel of Emperor’ because the Emperor, like I told you, loved to go to Su Zhou and Hang Zhou for the girls and the food.
I would LOVE to go Jiu3 Zai4 Gou1 (near Shan Xi I think) one day, the sceneries are BREATHTAKING and the place is one of the world heritage as well. *Wishful thinking*