After a couple of months of waiting, finally the day dawned when my sister and I were ready to embark on a tour together. My sister Anna had booked us on an 8-day Reliance tour to Shanghai and a few cities. It wasn’t my first trip to China. In 2006 i went to Beijing with the entourage led by the KSU of MOE for the JWG meeting. Then last year, I was in Hangzhou for a UNESCO-APEID conference and delivered a paper. So on the morning of the 27 August, we met at the KLIA at 7am as organised by Reliance. Much to our chagrin, we waited and searched for the tour guide..he wasn’t at the meeting point, gate 4 level 5. My sister of course was upset and went in search for him. Finally around 7.30am, we managed to locate him. Apparently he had gone ahead and checked in a group at 6.30am and forgot about the rest of us. So anyway, after an exchange of words, not really good to start an 8-day tour, we checked in and luckily all within time as our flight was scheduled at 9am to Shanghai.
The flight to Shanghai took off as scheduled and although was a bit bumpy, it was ok. We travelled by MAS and overall the plane ride was fine. There was only brunch served around 11am and also ice cream around 1pm. We arrived at 2.30pm at Shanghai international airport. After clearance from immigration and customs, we were met by our local guide, Xiao Fei. He seemed a nice fellow and most important was bi-lingual. My grasp of Mandarin isn’t something I’m proud of, so the use of English to explain certain things helped. Also my sister was able to understand more of the Mandarin and was able to explain to me as well. Anyway, once we got our things on the bus, we were taken on a ride on China’s Maglev train, touted to be the fastest, going at 480 miles per second. So our ride took about 8 minutes in all. We ended up on one side of Shanghai and boarded the bus. We were then taken on a trip to Hangzhou, our next destination, hometown of our local guide. Arrived at a restaurant for dinner. Our first meal in China, and we found I to be a bit too oily and salty. Dishes were many especially vegetables but the meat or fish served was a tart too small, even not enough pieces to go round the ten of us. Anyway, it had been a long day, so any hot meal would do for us. Then drove to Hotel Braim, our hotel for two nights, for the night having arrived almost 10.00pm. After checking in and a hot bath, it was bedtime for day 1.
Day 2: After breakfast at the hotel’s restaurant, we were off at 9.30am for our next destination. The infamous Westlake, often known as “heaven on earth” by the Chinese. Well, it was my first time visiting the place even though I was in Hangzhou last November. Then winter came early and everything was dark by 5pm, so even while I dined at Shangri La one evening, which was opposite Westlake, I couldn’t see it at all. So another visit to Westlake was fantastic having heard so much about it. Our trip to Westlake was to go on a boat cruise around the lake. Our tour guide gave a good review of the scenery around the lake, we saw pagodas on hills, temples along the way and causeways or bridges. The whole cruise took about an hour. Yes indeed, the lake was beautiful and serene. Later we visited the Westlake garden and fish coy pond.
We had lunch at Grandma’s, a favourite restaurant of our tour guide, Xiao Fei. Yes home cooked food, still for me and the rest, we had what they called the special Hangzhou Dongpo meat and beggar chicken. Next, we visited the Leifang Pagoda and Museum on the Westlake. The pagoda was really high up, built on an older site. I didn’t go right up as I was sure my legs couldn’t stand the hike up. So my sister and I decided to just go up two levels and come back down again and wait for the rest.
Next we went off to the lakeside for some shopping at Lixing Plaza and Hubin fashion street. We stopped in front of Starbucks. In fact, we would see a lot of Stabucks, KFC and McDs in all the shopping areas. We had coffee at a donuts shop. It was ok. Didnt do much shopping cos’ there were things we could get back home and the price is not exactly cheap. We did get some stuff at Watsons! Then it was time for us to get on board the bus, have dinner take a shower back at the hotel and get ready for the nite out to see the West lake Impression, choregraphed by director Zhang Yimou.
Left the hotel at 8.00pm...wow we had to park on the opposite side of the lake and take a long walk.
Then waited for the tour guide to get tickets...wow the number of tourists already there was fantastic. Finally we were allowed in and shown our seats around the lake. It was an open arena theatre and set around real mountains and waters as its backdrop and there were actually raincoats tucked at the side of our seats! The show started at 8.45pm, very punctual. The nite was clear but pitch black. The performance was all done on a built up stage on the lake. Yes, it was about an hour long performance about two lovers who were separated reunited in the end. Yes the show was spectacular, I think it involved hundreds of performers and they got all wet performing! But that was all part of the show. I should say it was entertaining and money’s worth. After the show, we walked back to the bus and headed back to or hotel for the night.
Day 3: After breakfast, we were taken to visit Huagang Park and Longing Tea Plantation. There we were taken to a room where the processing of green tea was explained to us. This was the beginning of many “special” personal sales services prepared for us by Reliance and the Chinese Tourism Ministry. Infact, at the end of the trip, I was a bit bored by all these “forced” sales trips and to me, we could have seen more if taken to visit places where the locals shop and ate! Anyway, on our way to the green tea factory, the tour guide had already started selling us the idea that China green tea was best and good for our health. One packet of the highest grade costs RNMB 1900. Out of the 20 people in our group, in the end 2 ex-teachers, husband and wife, and my dear sister bought the tea. Hope it is worth all the money and talk about the goodness of it all!
Next we boarded the boarded Zhuji, a city south of Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province. It has an area of 2,311 sq km with a population of over 1 million inhabitants, to visit the hometown of Xishi, one of the famous beauties in China. We visited the memorial of Xishi at the Zhengshi Temple. We had lunch nearby and though still salty, was overall ok, with lots of vegetables. So far the fruit we got for dessert has been watermelon, must be the seasonal fruit!
Next it was off to Shaoxing, a prefecture-level city in northwestern Zheijiang province. Lying on the south bank of the Qiantang river mouth, it borders Ningbo to the east, Taizhou to the southeast, Jinhua to the southwest and Hangzhou to the west. We arrived in the city and visited the former residence of Luxun, a well-respected official of the Zhou dynasty. Here, we saw the old residences of the former officials, the gardens and of course the practices at that time. Next, we were brought to some shopping centers till dinner time. Then it was off to a hotel to spend the night. Suffice to say, so far the hotels we stayed in have been comfortable and the breakfast that comes with it has been good.
Day 4.
Another day on the road. After breakfast, we journeyed to Wuchen. Our initial tour included Nanxun town, an old town well known for its cultural heritage. Wuchen was put in our itinerary to replace Nanxun. Wuchen is an ancient water town. Here we were met by a local guide, a young pretty girl who was also bi-lingual. Surrounded by canals, the town center was divided into houses and shops. Many of the residents have moved but there were some old folks who still live there and have their lives open to the peering eyes of the tourists. A walkabout took us about an hour. That included seeing how rice wine is produced and various other small industries. We took a few pictures along the canal, bought some fans as souvenirs, and even sat down in one of the stalls for a couple of
drinks.
After this, it was off to Suzhou, well-known for its beautiful women. This was where the emperor set sail from his palace and sailed down the river looking for his future concubines, so I’ve been told! Then we took a ride around the Lake Taihu . Apparently three sides of the lake are covered with hills, forests and pagodas. One side has been developed and high-rise buildings are seen all over the hill. Here another local guide met us and was also bilingual. That helped a number of us who were not really Mandarin proficient.
Suzhou is also famous for its beautiful and expensive silk. We were taken to a factory that produced Suchou Silk. Here we saw how silk thread was made from the cocoon of the silkworms. It was quite an eye opener. Of course the next thing we were introduced and sort of pressured to buy silk comforters, bedsheets and pillows. I ended up buying a comforter, my sis bought a whole set and spent quite a sum of money on them too. We were also treated to a silk fashion show, where young girls paraded silkwear from cheongsams to night gowns. I think a few of them in our group bought some silk items and souvenirs. Then there were silk creams and products which were introduced to us as vital for smooth clear skins. And yes, we bought some as well. Then it was time to catch some lunch and go for a short shopping trip at Guangian Street. Then it was dinner time and back to the hotel for the night. And so ended day 4.
Day 5:
Day 5 saw us on a trip to the Lion garden after breakfast. Here, the ancient garden had figurines carved like animals and lions. There were pagodas and little bridges with gardens. We also saw date trees though it wasn’t the season. After lunch we proceeded to Wuxi where we were met with another local guide called Ginger, or Xiao Chiang. He spoke English very well on top of Mandarin. Infact, he was no stranger to Malaysia having been there many times and staying there for long periods as well. He could even tell us Malaysian jokes and secrets!! We visited the famous Jade Buddha Temple amidst heavy rain. Luckily the guide decided to get us the tram else we would have to walk 8km to see the Buddha. A few tourists bought umbrellas...pretty good buys actually...a big giant umbrella for RMB 50 (RM25), bigger and sturdier than a Golf umbrella so said a golf player amongst us. My sister and I decided the hike up the Giant Buddha would be too much for our legs so we took a raincheck and posed for pictures with one that was level ground. Also interesting was the Buddha Palm and anyone touching it while going round was said to have luck, thus the white line around the palm can be seen quite clearly (many people took the advice thus the much used space around ...). we also took pictures with the laughing Buddha surrounded my kids...seems if we touch ‘it’ we would have a happy family. Then it was another shopping center...still found it expensive so didn’t buy anything. So far its been difficult to get any souvenirs. We went to a hotel for dinner before proceeding to Shanghai for the night. We checked in at the Holiday Inn Express in one and a half hours.
Day 6
After breakfast, we visited Lihu scenic spot and the pearl farm. Once again we were introduced to the farming of oysters and the products made from pearls from jewellery to pearl creams etc. After some shopping, yes suffice to say we got a few souvenirs here, yes plus the creams. Then it was lunchtime and shopping at a local supermarket.
Day 7.
As usual, after breakfast, it was off to visit the Jade Buddha temple. The whole Buddha statue was made from jade and was impressive. After an hour...we came out of the back lane and at last wallah...there were a few stalls selling some small souvenirs! You would notice by now that the intention of the Reliance tour and the Chinese Tourism Ministry is to bring all visitors to planned factory visits and big shopping centers, just to tell you that you should only buy quality products and big shopping foreign shops means that China has arrived! I think basically if I look back at my trip I should say they have been successful cos I can’t really remember all the places I went nor the names but I do remember the sales trips to the silk, pearl, jade, green tea, chrysanthemum tea and teapots shows!
So at 11am we went of to the Shanghai expo 2010. We reached about noon and after parking the bus we were taken to the entrance of the expo. After getting us the tickets, we were told the bus would pick us up where the driver parked it. At car park 24, which was actually quite a distance away. Anyway, the expo was high on my agenda when I decided to join the trip but it was to be limited to just half a day in the end! We then proceeded to plan our way through the expo having only about 6 hours to make a quick run of the expo.
Thus, we managed to visit the following pavilions: The USA pavilion, the South American countries pavillion, the African continent, the Malaysian and Singapore pavilions. We didn’t manage the rest of the countries but just passed them by, the lines were really too long and our tired legs just couldn’t handle the walk and wait anymore. We dragged our tired feet to the waiting bus at 6pm. Then it was off to the hotel for the night. We had our dinner nearby at the Kungfu restaurant. Reasonable price. And this ended our day in Shanghai.
Day 8.
Today was at our own leisure. We took a quick walk around the hotel, stopped by a couple of marts and had a look at the local train station. Then it was back to the hotel for some final packing. We were off to the airport at 12noon. Our flight was at 3.35pm back to KLIA. ETA was 2050. It was a somewhat bumpy ride but all in all ok. I was glad to be home, somehow I guess it has been a while since I have been away on my own, the tour was a wee bit too long, the company was ok...but somehow not what I expected it to be. Anyway, what was I expecting? I asked myself that, suffice to say, I can now say I went to Shanghai, and saw a bit more of China. Would I take another trip to another part of China, maybe, but nevertheless none too soon, I think. Thanks sis for the company.
