My China Trip / 走遍中国

烧烤晚会

2012-01-16T23:59:00.000-08:00

第二天一早，要赶去Project Centre，虽在同一个校园，但离我们住的地方很远，一个东一个西，所以不能睡懒觉，一大早就爬起来了。好累呦。早餐就在对面的平安堂买了一个玉米，那地方四处透风，又没有空调，冻死了，不过好在也可以上网，不然闷死。
到了吃饭时间，

抵达白云机场

2012-01-16T19:24:00.000-08:00

12月19号一早，4点20分我就爬了起来，确切地说一夜未眠，因为要赶早班的飞机，所以心里很紧张，再加上刚刚要睡着时，手机想不停，是Facebook网友们在不停地写message。两，三点还在吵，最后只得把这两个Apps给删除了。
赶到机场，买了6盒有新加坡鱼尾狮标志的巧克力，准备送给番禺职校的老师，本来说3盒就够，但卖的人一再说买5送一，想想就买吧，花了$79.50。
到了飞机上我倒是拥有2个座位，但也没能睡着。
几个小时后到达了传说中的白云机场。这虽然是我第二次来广州，但第一次是坐火车的，所以见识白云机场是第一次。似乎也没啥特别之处。等了一会儿，L和番禺职校的黎老师带着4个学生就赶到了，黎老师是个美女，只有23岁，但很能张罗，左右逢源。他们带着我们上了一辆大轿车，直奔番禺。
也许一路上我们路过的都是广州的边缘，怎么感觉广州破破的，毫无特色，跟十多年前比起来没什么变化，没有什么现代化的气息。
番禺职校很大，规整也还蛮干净的。学生们都非常友善，懂礼貌。我们先期到达的学生领袖帮我装了翻墙软件，这样我就能看所有的网页啦。他还介绍我说对面那间眼镜店卖的电话卡最便宜，只要￥55块。住的地方有空调，所以感觉还不算太冷，只是冲凉太受罪，因为厕所在阳台上，洗脸也是，只有冷水。
晚餐校方宴请我们，每人￥30的标准，别提多差了，跟传说中的粤菜相去甚远，凑合着吃吧。我跟另一位老师合伙送了黎老师和张老师，一人一盒巧克力，本想也送给另一位什么主任的，但没想到多来了一位书记，我们当时没带那么多，只好连主任也免了。
校园里使用卡的，买饭啦，冲凉啦，全都需要卡，一张￥100块，用晚可充值。

杨柳青

2011-07-20T00:54:00.000-07:00

有人夫妇这次带我去了杨柳青，我们主要参观了著名的石家大院。石家是当地数一数二的大户，因为那里靠着大运河，所以石家是靠了贩运发的财。这里不仅亭台楼榭，最具特色是戏楼，据说以前很多著名的戏班子都在石家戏楼唱过戏，石家另一特色是它的采暖系统，采用的是皇宫的方法，民间很罕见。这个地方是著名的年画产地，剪纸也很普遍，且看起来不错。等我们参观完回到市内，已经是快3点了，到处都找不到吃饭的地方，通常的饭馆都要到5点才开门，于是我们在上岛咖啡吃了饭，原本担心上岛只有西餐，后来发现其实在中国的咖啡屋也一本土化了。饭后我们又去了古文化街附近，那里有座桥十分有特色，整座桥都是玻璃做的。一开始会有些害怕，过一会就好了。
晚上去转了附近的一间新开张的韩国购物中心，东西有中档的，也有高档的。中档的价钱与新加坡差不多，高档的应该比新加坡贵一倍以上，我买了一条短裙，好像是250块左右，也买了一件外套，2300+块。但是样式新加坡所看不到的。

告别 / Goodbye Beijing

2011-07-19T20:52:00.001-07:00

第三天吃过早饭，按照原计划我们去著名的鲁菜馆“丰泽园”吃午餐。因为爸爸和姑姑都是祖籍山东，对鲁菜有着特殊的感情，所以我们选择了这里。这里最著名的一道菜是扒海参，有两种规格，我们选了368块的那一种。坦白说这里的菜一般般，可能是我和妈妈没有在山东生活过的原因，况且价格贵得惊人，这种地方来一次就够了。但我很喜欢到这里来走一走，姑父是个老北京，对这一带的地形十分熟悉，从他们家到这里很近，根本无须坐车，一路上我们我们看到了还没有拆的老北京四合院，台湾一条街，刘老根的大舞台，前门外大街，为了恢复原貌，还保留了有轨电车的轨道，大栅栏等很多百年老店，姑父还特地介绍了内联升鞋店，据说以前就连皇宫里穿的鞋也是他们做的，那里有师傅现场制作，真材实料，只是我们现在没机会穿这种怪里怪气的鞋了。我再著名的六必居买了10袋酱菜，才10块钱人民币，真是物有所值。
吃过饭稍作休息，我们便踏上了回程，这次的高铁还在武清停靠了一下，好在只用了5分钟，又看到了一个新的车站，也还算不错。

参观鸟巢和水立方

2011-07-19T20:52:00.000-07:00

第二天一早，我们叫了一辆出租，直奔鸟巢。鸟巢对70岁以上的人实行免费，60岁以上实行半价，所以老年人务必请带好身份证，否则是绝对也拿不到优惠的，好彩姑夫还不到60，否则冤死了。鸟巢和水立方实行联票制，两处一共80块。爸爸一直想弄清楚鸟巢的结构，他不明白那些钢架的真正承重点是哪里，这次看完他说终于明白了，原来钢架和里面的结构是两拿着的。我是外行，不太明白结构方面的，只是经常听说这是座雄伟著名的建筑，所以很想看看，但看了以后觉得里面不过就是一排排的座位而已，也没什么令人惊艳的地方。对比水立方，这里的一切，特别是座位都是红白两色的；而水立方中的一切都是蓝白两色，色调极为鲜明。本以为这两个地方相距甚远，没想到就在对面。水立方中有个水上乐园，对公众开放，但价格高得惊人。我们在水立方里吃了午饭，三碗炸酱面，一盘外婆醉鱼，一盘辣萝卜条，一盘凉拌蕨粉，一盘炒双菇和二两二锅头，价格比外面高了20%。

相会在北京/Meeting in Beijing

2011-07-13T21:10:00.000-07:00

6月14日，应姑姑和姑父的邀请，我和爸爸妈妈一起去了北京。本来我家离北京很近，去北京是一件再容易不过的事情，可自妈妈病了以后，这也成了奢侈。好容易要成行了，我们都十分激动，吃过午饭，稍作休息后，便开始了准备，下午3点多我们便出发了。叫了辆出租，把我们载到天津东站后广场，然后便去买票。票不算太难买，只是下一班的没座位了，我们只好等下下班的。还好等的时间并不算太长，终于看到传说中的新干线了，果然即高级又舒服，半个小时就到北京啦，好快哟！
一到北京永定门火车站，姑父已经在等我们了，坐上出租车，很快就到了姑姑家。可不知为什么，刚到北京不久我的胃就开始不舒服，晚上姑姑请我们去她家门口的老北京炸酱面吃饭，想让我们体会一下老北京的生活，由于身体不争气，只能放弃了。

津湾广场/意式街/古文化街 / Jinwan Sqaure/Italian Street/Antient Culture Street

2010-07-07T22:20:00.000-07:00

6月1日，友人夫妇带我去了津湾广场。津湾广场占地面积很大，现在只有一期工程已经完工并对外开放了，其他的正在建设中，但从已完工的这部分就已经能够看出其规模之宏大，这里将来将是豪华用品集散地，并由多个西式餐厅及咖啡厅，估计半年后再到访此地时将又会给人一种完全不同的感受了吧。
接下来，友人又推荐我去了意式街，现声明这条街并不是新建的，上个世纪初就有，因为天津从前是14国租界，到处都是洋房，其中一块集中的就在海河沿岸，那时候这里的建筑真可谓是美轮美奂，只可惜在共产党执政后把它们分给了穷人，你是知道的啦，这些穷人即使穿上龙袍也不像太子,皇宫也能被他们给折腾成贫民窟，那时到处被他们堆着煤球啦，白菜啦之类的，简直没有人愿意走近，更不要说观光了。幸好实行了改革开放政策，这些房子被收了回来，重新整修，令其再度光彩照人，这里现在是参观酒吧林立，颇具地中海风情。
从那里出来后我们又参观了古文化街。这里的街道大概除了天后宫外，都是新建的仿古建筑，但比原来破破烂烂的旧建筑来得要好得多，来这里的大多是游客，据说以北京人为主，现在有了新干线后，每15分钟就有一趟车来往于两地，全程也只要不到半个小时，所以从北京来的一日游的旅客非常多。不要以为游客多的地方东西就贵，这里的东西可便宜了，尤其以文化类如文字，图章等和旗袍为主，这里旗袍款式之多，价格之低廉令人瞠目，所以有机会来这里一定要买上一件。
晚上他们请我吃了正宗的炸酱面，再加上两盘小菜，一盘是凉拌海蜇皮，酸酸的，再加上有点芥末的味道，一口一口叫人真的停不下来。
吃饱喝足后，她又带我去了她家旁边的人民公园，她很喜欢这个公园，她说这个公园给他们的小区带来了几分文化气息，而且她说公园的名字还是毛泽东亲笔题的，毛一生就只为这一个公园题过字。总结一天收获真的好大，感谢有人夫妇。

On 21/06/10, my friend and her husband brought me to Italian Street in Tianjin. As Tianjin was a colony of 13 western countries and Japan, it left behind many western style houses. One relic of this sort of architecture was located near the Bank of Haihe River. Before the communist Party took in power, many western people and rich Chinese built their western style houses thereto make the place look like "Little Europe in China". After the liberation, Chinese Government confiscated these properties and gave them to the poor. Since then, those people started pile up their char coal, vegetables, old and dirty furniture and even rubbish around the buildings. Hardly one could tell these were the last time luxury residential areas. It looked like a slum in Bombay. You know what I mean, these poor people even living in palaces, they would have the abilities to turn them into hell. Thanks to God that after the reform and open policy, the Government took them back and gave these historical places a facelift. Now they are as shinny as new. Most of them now are restaurants or bars, some with the music performance. Now it’s back to heaven again.
From there, we went to the Ancient Culture Street. Although here the majority of buildings were just imitations, except Tian Hou Gong (Temple), they looked much better than the old shabby ones. People here were mainly tourists especially from Beijing. That was because after the trans-city express finished, it only took 30mins from Beijing to Tianjin and the interval was only 15mins. Items sold here were mainly culture related like personal stamps and qipao (Chinese traditional costume). I bought one qipao there, which cost only 50 Renminbi (S$10.23). Unbelievable. Better buy one here if next time you have chance to visit Tianjin.
Dinner was authentic Beijing Style Zhajiang Noodle. It came with 2 side dishes. One of it was Jelly Fish Salad. It tasted a bit sour and with the muster seed paste. Yummy.
After dinner, she brought me to 人民公园 next to her house. She liked this Park very much. She said this Park shed some culture atmosphere to their neighborhood. She also mentioned the words on the tablet which has the name of the park on it was written by Mao (Last time Chinese leader). This was the only Park which has the Mao’s own inscriptions. Today is a really interesting day. Thanks to my friend and her husband.

蓟县自驾游 / Visiting My Friend’s Vacation Home at Jixian County, Tianjin China

2010-07-06T20:54:00.000-07:00

6月14日，友人夫妇开车带我去他们在蓟县的度假屋。现在从天津到蓟县十分方便，开车走高速公路很快就到，多数家庭都有自己的汽车，因为那天是星期天，所以很多人都去度假，路上有点堵，要不然很快就到了。
他们的度假屋坐落于当地的富人区，那里多数是津京两地的有钱人的投资热门，小屋是酒店式的，虽然很小，五脏俱全，他们对此进行了豪华装修，特别是卫生间用具，都是一流的，房间集卧室，客厅，厨房于一体，倒也别致。屋外还有一个小院子，他们在里面种满了蔬菜，花生和番薯等，极富情趣。
这以后，我们去了当地的一间餐厅吃午餐，当地的餐厅以农家菜而闻名，又因为这里紧挨着于桥水库，友人说这里的鱼味道极鲜美，但最令我难忘的是一道叫做大丰收的典型农家菜，所谓大丰收就是将各种生的新鲜蔬菜切好装盘，再配上一碗黄豆酱，既不破坏蔬菜原有的营养成分，又不油腻，味道极好，现在想到还流口水。
饭后我们游历了具有上千年历史的独乐寺和白塔寺。虽然我们是自己游览，没有参加任旅行团，但我们随意加入了其中的两个，导游们也十分友善地回答我们的询问，凸现现在中国导游的素质已今非昔比了。
这之后，我们又去了蓟州古城，据说现在除了鼓楼外，其他都是新建的仿古建筑，但也极富特色，很值得一游。
有人的家就坐落在府君山下，于是游玩古城之后我们又去爬了府君山。有人体贴地为我找了一双软底拖鞋，再加上山并不很高，当时太阳已近下山了，周围设施修得极其完善，所以爬山的感觉很妙。在山上，看到一群年轻人在练习唱歌，据说是为了歌唱比赛或选秀赛做的准备，现在中国的乡下人生活也是极富色彩呢。
古蓟州，果然是个好地方，据说当年乾隆曾说早知有此，何必下江南，有机会一定要来此看看。

14/06/10, my friend and her husband drove me to their vacation home in Jixian, a county in Tianjin.
It’s about 2 hours drive from the city on the highway depending on the road conditions. Now Jixian is becoming a very popular vacation place for people from Tianjin and Beijing because it is located in between these two cities and many families now have their own cars. As a result, many people now are wooing for a short distance, self-driving tour. The day we went was on Sunday. So it was a bit congested.
Their vacation home is a hotel style suite. Although modest, it has nearly everything. The bathroom has just undergone an extensive renovation. All the accessories are world class. Additionally the sitting room, bedroom and kitchen are all one room, without walls or partitions. It’s quite interesting though. They also have one small yard outside which was planted with vegetables, peanuts, sweet potatoes and so on.
Lunch was at a local restaurant which was famous for "farm dishes". My friend told me because the place was near the famous Yuqiao Reservoir, so people normally come for fishes. But the dish impressed me the most was called "Da Feng Shou" – which means fabulous harvest. They had accumulated many kinds of raw vegetables cut into bite size pieces that you would then dip into fermented soy bean paste. It’s damn delicious and even until today the taste is still lingering in my mind.
After the lunch, we went to visit 独乐寺and 白马寺. These two temples both have more than a 1000 years of history. Although we did not join any package tour, we followed two guides from time to time. Both of the guides answered our questions although they realized we were not the members from their groups. That is a strong indicator that China has greatly improved their tourist industry.
Then we visited this ancient town. It’s said that except the 鼓楼- The Drum Tower (In each ancient Chinese town, city or village, there was a drum tower. The purpose of having it was to gather the crowd and make the important announcements) , and the rest of the buildings are simply the modern replicas. Yet it looked also terrific.
After that we climbed the mountain named 府君山, as their house is just at the foot of the 府君山. As my friend offered me her soft slippers and the mountain was not really that high, another reason was the Sun was nearly setting, our climbing was a truly enjoyable one. Inside a pavilion on top of the mountain, we saw some youngsters practicing their singing in preparation for some competition. It seems in China even villagers are having a more colorful life compared to the past. Ancient Jizhou (the old name for Jixian) was an interesting place which located on the border in between Chinese and Northern ethnic groups. Therefore, the culture is always attractive. In Qing Dynasty, the Emperor Qianlong visited there and said if I knew such a place, I wouldn’t visit Jiangnan (South Eastern China) He was right and it’s definitely worth visiting.

My nightmare with Standard Chartered Bank

2006-06-18T21:04:00.000-07:00

We decided to buy our own property in Apr 2002. The time when we signed the contract with the developer, Standard Chartered Bank salesman came in. He pursuaded us to take a mortgage loan from his bank (in fact we didn't need to take it in 2002, our scheme was under the defer payment). He said firstly you'd better to secure a loan when you still had job and secondly the interest rate was low (2.5%) at the time. That gave us a feeling that if we signed then, even though outside interest rate increase, our loan would still be 2.5%. On top of that, we could enjoy one time a free conversion and legal subsidy. We insisted that the offer items were to be written in the contract. They refused by saying the contract was fixed and the bank was a prestigious bank, they wouldn't bluff. We agreed and signed.

Until the following year (2003), our disbursement started. But the market interest rate dropped to only 1.5%. So we contacted the bank to do a free conversion, the manager (he was the one that came with the salesman and signed the contract with us, his name was M) refused by giving the reason "this was not in the contract and I can't remember we promised to offer you a free conversion". We managed to contact the salesman R who had already resigned at the time. He confirmed what we said and told us in fact it was his manager M who taught him to say so. He found this job was not suitable for him, therefore resigned.

After a long and sorrowful fight, finally Standard Chartered Bank agreed to convert for us.

Since the beginning of last year, Standard Chartered started to raise up their interest rate with tremendous speed. Almost every 2-3 month we would receive their letters about their interest review. It became worse from last Sept. Even with our write-in, they stopped writing to us with the exception of their interest review letters and the regular statements. We were furious and finally we decided to change to another bank after we found the interest they charged us were deferred from our calculation, and received no explanation from them.

We gave them 3 months notice based on our agreement. After chasing them for sooooooo many times, we received from them that we could do a full redemption by 16 Apr this year in black and white. they also verbally agreed to give us the detail breakdown of interest they charged for the controversial months. We were relieved and thought our nightmare was over.

We engaged our lawyer to deal with them. The lawyer told us the Bank informed her the final redemption date should be in Jun not Apr. Puzzled we called them with the proof, they admitted they had made a mistake, but that caused quite a handsome delay and we had to pay at a very high interest for their mistake rather than they paying themselves.

Last month I went to their branch in Raffles Place to close my account. Meanwhile I again made request to give us the breakdown detail. Even until today, more that 1 month already, I still haven't received anything from them yet. We made the same requests about 10 times since last Sept, all been ignored. That made us feel very fishy, if there's nothing wrong, why not just reply to the customer? It only takes few minutes, isn't it?

To conclude, learn from my lesson, don't do any business with this bank. I roughly calculated we lost almost $10K during these years from the higher interest compared to other banks and the lawyer fee for the transfer. Most important their service is terrible.

Tomb sweeping

2006-04-14T19:52:00.000-07:00

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Get your own

My granduncle's tomb

My Grandparents' tomb

My cousin Ping He's burning offerings to my grandparents
My uncle Qi's tomb, his daughter (Yin, Qi's third daughter) is paying respect to him
My mother's hometown -- Heng Shan Qiao -- a small town near Changzhou, Jiangsu Province. The picture shows a local delicacy there -- pancake with Chinese leek filling

The house belonged to my mother's grandma before she got married. It was confiscated during the Culture Revolution period

This house used to be my great grandfather's. Also confiscated at the same time. My aunt is standing there, think of the past

My great grandma's maiden house -- confiscated

My great grandfather's house -- confiscated by the government, now bought by another person, he transformed it into a shop selling weighing scales

My great grandfather's house, confiscated

Inside of that weighing scale shop

Inside the same shop

After our family houses been confiscated, my uncle's family was given such a shabby house and nine of them were living here until mid 70's. The persecution caused my uncle's early death

The same house -- his daughter (Wei, Qi' youngest daughter) and her boyfriend

A bridge over the grand canal in Heng Shan Qiao

The same bridge

Dinner gathering after the tomb sweeping at my cousin Ju's (Qi's eldest daughter) place. The standing lady is cousin Chun (Qi's second daughter), the girl sitting left to her is her daughter Jin (24)

The boy with white T-shirt is Zhong (cousin Chun's son, Jin' younger brother (20))

Buddhist ceremony for my grandmother

2006-04-14T19:44:00.000-07:00

29/3/06
My grandma will be 99-year-old this April. However, based on the Chinese way of calculating, she shall be 100. (a person is one-year-old soon after he/she was born, so it'll be one year more than the western way) That's the reason we held this ceremony for her. Many nuns came chanting for her.

Ancestor worshiping

Back to my aunt's place

2006-04-14T19:24:00.000-07:00

My cousin Yin (Qi's third daughter) and her daughter Ru(24)

My aunt Zhi(Qi's wife) and her grandson Hu (20)
My cousin-in-law Han (Qi's son's wife), cousin Ju (Qi's eldest daughter), cousin Wei (his youngest daughter)
The left most is cousin Xian (Qi's 5th daughter)

Day tour in Suzhou

2006-04-13T01:32:00.000-07:00

The following morning, my cousin Ping -- his father Qi was my mother's eldest brother who passed away 1995-- drove us to Suzhou.

Houses along a canal

Suzhou was famous for its private courtyards. This time we visited two of them (Shi Zi Lin and Liu Yuan). (there are plenty of them, each one has it's uniqueness) It's also been called Eastern Venice because the local people lived by canals. But now most of the canals have already disappeared due to reclaiming of land project since Liberation (1949).

Located in the northeast of Suzhou, Shizilin is a good representitive of antient classical private garden designing. Shizilin has a very long history. It was first built in 1342, Yuan Dynasty. Covers 2.5 acres in area, it is famours for its groteque rocks, which are limestone from Taihu Lake in Wuxi City. Some of them resemble lions, and that's the reason why it is named as Shiziyilin, which literally can be translated as Lion Garden.

A miniature shows how people in Suzhou lived a few hundreds years ago

A hall in Shi Zi Lin -- A private garden belong to Song official

Shi Zi Lin

One of the hall -- Yuan Xiang Tang --inside Shi Zi Lin

Another hall -- San Shi Liu Yuan Yang Guang -- inside Shi Zi Lin

A lady was taking photo inside the hall

Shizilin is an ideal sightseeing site as it has richly ornamental pavilions and towers in different styles; each has its own history and story. Walking through those numerous winding pathways and caverns of the anfractuous stone forest, one could easily lose one's way. With the old pines and cypress trees, the whole landscapes represent scenes of real mountains and forests.

A tree inside Shi Zi Lin Garden

Peach blossom in Shi Zi Lin

Beautifully decorated -- Shi Zi Lin

Inside Shi Zi Lin

Eastern version of Venice -- near Shi Zi Lin

Another private garden --Liu Yuan

Just like Shiziyilin, LiuYuan also has a long history. It was first built in 1583, Ming Dynasty. It had been changed many hands and finally belonged to Liu Family before it was donated to the Government and that's the reason why it was named.

Today the garden is separated into the eastern, central, northern and western parts. The central part features a man-made mountain and lakeside scene, resembling a long scroll of traditional Chinese landscape painting. The eastern part is noted for its joyous groupings of garden courts and elegant buildings, the western part for the enchantment of woody hills, and the northern part for cottages with bamboo fences and idyllic scenes.

Liu Yuan

An artificial hill made from Taihu rock is always the main component of Suzhou gardens. The 6.5-meter-high Cloud-Capped Peak in this garden, as the highest limestone in classical gardens of Suzhou, is believed to have been left behind by the imperial collector of the Northern Song Dynasty. Weighing about 5 tons, the limestone is supposed to have been carried from Taihu Lake, 40kms away.

One hall inside Liu Yuan

Outside one of the halls in Liu Yuan

Chinese calligraphy -- last time rich family like to decorate with Chinese calligraphy -- in Liu Yuan

Inside Liu Yuan

Bonsai in Liu Yuan

Liu Yuan

The story of Liu Yuan is written here

We had dinner at Xian's (Ping's younger sister) place. Many cousins, cousin-in-laws and their children came. It was indeed wonderful.

Visit Jiangyin

2006-04-13T01:27:00.000-07:00

In the morning of 29/4/6, my cousin Ping sent his driver to fetch us (my parents, uncle Pei -- my mother's elder brother) to his place -- Jiangyin.

In the afternoon, we visited the Library, Museum and Theatre. His friend -- the director of that library guided the tour.

My aunt Zhi (my uncle Qi's -- my mother's eldest brother -- wife). She's 79-year-old now

My mother and my aunt in front of the theatre.

The square
The library

Inside the library

The museum

Animal body found in Jiangyin -- inside the museum

Fish specimen in Jiangyin museum

This miniature shows how people in Jiangyin lived a few thousands of years ago

A miniature of an ancient tomb.

This miniature shows how people in Jiangyin lived during Song dynasty

At uncle Wu's house

2006-04-13T01:23:00.000-07:00

Next day (28/4/6), we were invited to uncle Wu's (my mother's cousin) house. He had already two great grandchildren even though he's only 70-year-old. The younger one was a cute little girl.

The little one is her

Is she cute?

We went back in the afternoon.

Back to Changzhou

2006-04-12T02:25:00.000-07:00

Next morning, we didn't feel like go back to see the West Lake again even though the trip in the previous day was a quick one and it didn't cover all. We took 11:30 coach back to my aunt's home. Since the night before I couldn't sleep at all -- too angry to sleep, I missed lots of nice sceneries outside the window of my coach.

One day trip in Hangzhou

2006-04-11T21:03:00.000-07:00

The next day, (26/3/06) we started our one day trip in Hangzhou from Yue Wang Temple. This temple was dedicated to Yue Fei, a national hero during Song Dynasty. He was a general fighting with Jin (ancestor of modern Manchu) and was framed and persecuted by his fellow colleagues.

A camphor tree in the courtyard of Yue Wang Temple -- according to the local custom, once a girl is born to the family, her parents will plant a camphor tree for her in their courtyard, because camphor wood is one of the best wood to make a wardrobe, they will cut the tree and give to the girl as dowry when she get married.

If it is a boy born to the family, his parents must plant a cassia tree, the reason I forgot.

Inside the temple

Jin Zhong Bao Guo -- Loyal to the country -- praising him

The statue of Yue Fei

Eating Xi Hu Ou Fen (Lotus root paste) -- how to tell whether Ou Fen is good? By looking at color. Good one suppose to be pinkish. If it is white, it means too much potato starch added, black means too much sweet potato starch added

Still eating -- it's not cheap, such a small bowl cost RMB5 (S$1)

In front of the Mausoleum of General Yue Fei

At the entrance of the temple

Next followed by West Lake (Xi Hu). Xi Hu, undoubtedly the most renowned feature of Hangzhou, noted for the scenic beauty that blends naturally with many famous historical and cultural sites, is a huge lake with clear and tranquil water. Surrounding was lavishly green decorated by all sorts of flowers, peach, cherry, and so on. The only thing was too crowded.

Xi Hu (West Lake)

Xi Hu

Xi Hu

San Tan Yin Yue -- Xi Hu

Xi Hu

Xi Hu

San Tan Yin Yue -- Xi Hu

Xi Hu

Xi Hu

Xi Hu

Peach blossom at Xi Hu

Peach blossom

Cedar tree -- The seed was given by former American president Nickson, unfortunately it never able to grow properly, people joked about it that's the reason why the relationship between US and China would never be good

Hua Gang Guan Yu -- Xi Hu

My father and I in front of cherry blossom at Hua Gang Guan Yu West lake

Yuan -- Fate, it means marriage depends on fate

Tour guide definitely would persuade you to buy their silk local products. We were brought to a silk factory there. They promised all the products there were 100% silk. The typical one for eg. Can Si Pei (a quilt filled with silk). They had demonstration there how this thing had been made and explained this one was suitable for any season, If you used it in winter, it would keep you warm and summer keep you cool. The price was based on the weight. It's about S$50+/Kg. My uncle bought one which they claimed to be 2Kg, after coming home he found it was only 1.5Kg.

Lunch was expensive(S$3) and terrible if you joined the package.

We visited Song citadel after the lunch. It's built based on the novel "Shui Hu" (Chinese version of Robinhood). It's quite small and ticket was expensive (S$20+). Things there were expensive too. One small bowl of bean curd cost more than S$1.

Next was the tea plantation. It's famous for Long Jing(a kind of green tea) here. It was so good that the emperor Qing Long appointed it to be royal tea. The girl there demonstrated how to differentiate the different quality of tea. Tea around the Qing Ming festival was the top one, then followed by Autumn tea. Summer tea was cheaper than these two. grade one could not be found in the market. It's reserved for the Central Government. Even grade two was too expensive, it's normally exported to foreign countries Like US, Europe and Japan. Grade three was more than few thousand Sing Dollars per kilo.

After the tea break there, we went to the last stop -- Huang Long Dong, a Taoist temple which was famous for fortune telling.

Huang Long Dong -- a Taoist temple

The whole trip ended at 6:20pm unlike what the sales woman promised us 5:00pm and we had to take our own taxi to the coach station, not as what she promised she would arrange transport for us. We heard the terrible news soon after we reached there -- there were no coach available, the last left at 6:15pm.

Can you imaging my feelings at that time? I was completely new to the place with no friends no relatives there. Where could I go if no transport going home? I was shocked how that woman could do such a terrible thing to me just in order to get some commissions. In fact, in the moring we found something wrong already. The girl in our group told us she stayed in the same type of room was only charged at RMB150 instead of 200. It made me already feel not comfortable and now was even worse. We found the complain hotline number to lodge a complain but in vain. The lady (Miss Hong?) in charge was terrible. She refused to admit that the staff told us about the time of the last coach. She asked me to provide the proof. As for the difference of the price, she said it was our problem. We accepted the price the woman offered us and did not bargain with her. "Since you are happy with the price, what's the point for us to lower it down". I really did not know how to answer her. But based on my previous travel experience, I never even heard hotel price also could be bargained like buying some cheap from roadside. Well, guess that's the lesson I learned. So, remember, next time when you go there, must be very careful, everything must have black and white as I told you before the local people there were cunning and unfriendly. No choice we went back to the same hotel. ( we did not know any other hotels in Hangzhou and it was too late)

Tips: The hotel I stayed is "Dong Hai Bin Guan", the travel agent I followed is "Chang Yun Gong Si Lv You Bu". They are two different department of the same company. Try to avoid this. It's better to book your hotel in advance through the internet. It'll be cheaper.

My trip to Jiangnan China(Hangzhou, Zhejiang)

2006-04-11T02:20:00.000-07:00

25/3 my father and I went to Hangzhou, a famous tourist hotspot. There's a saying in China: There's heaven above, down below we have Su & Hang. Su refers to Suzhou, which I'm going to talk about it later. Now we are going to Hang, which refers to Hangzhou. You can easily go there by train or coach from Shanghai. It's only about 1 hour by train from there. We went there from Changzhou, my aunt's place. It's also convenient. We went by coach and coach trip is no more the same as before. The coaches are quite new and all imported from foreign countries. They are very comfortable and not much difference from Japan. Road condition is also fantastic nowadays. So for such a distance it only took us 2.5 hours to go there and 2 hours coming back. I guess going there is going up the slope and coming back is down since Zhejiang Provence is higher than Jiangsu. Halfway through we arrived at the highway stop. The building was also more or less like the one in developed countries.

One of the stopover along Hu-Ning Highway

By noon we reached Hangzhou. Soon many people gathered around us and promoted their lodging and transport. We chose the one who claimed they belong to the Government simply because the private one usually could not be trusted. The woman(in her 50's) offered to drive us there and told us their hotel was 3-star hotel and RMB200 per night after discount. We followed her. Though we found the hotel did not look like 3-star as what she said, we still agreed to stay there since we did not want to waste too much time on finding hotels and her one looked acceptable. (a standard room with attached bathroom, with TV, hot water supply and a shower set) After we settled down, the woman persuaded us to join there 1 day tour for the following day. We told her we'd like to do so, the only thing we worried about whether we could catch the last coach to go home. She reassured us by saying it should be no problem at all because the trip would end at 5:00pm and the last coach would at 7:15pm and since the hotel and coach were belong to the same company, she could arrange everything in a package. So we accepted. (You'll hear more about this in my next day's blog)

We had our lunch in a small local restaurant. One of the most important parts of traveling is tasting the local delicacies. Hangzhou dishes are noted for their elaborate preparation, sophisticated cooking and refreshing taste. There are many famous dishes worth trying like Dongporou (braised pork), Jiaohuaji (a chicken baked in clay), xihucuyu (vinegar coated fish fresh caught from the lake), etc. Yummy.. and cheap.

After food, we went to Hu Xue Yan's former residential house. It was more than a hundred years old and it was so luxuriously built. Even today we could tell that this was one of the most prestigious families at the time. Hu was a successful businessman as well as a high rank government official. That's why he could accumulate his wealth in such a short time. From there we could see corruption was nothing new, it started long time back. The wood used was a top kind of camphor wood and you could see all the carving so much in detail either on the wood panels or on the walls. The garden was nice too. It was so big that we could not believe it belonged to only one family. Artificial hills and ponds were everywhere. There were so many halls that I even lost my count. Second floor were all chambers for the family. He had countless of concubines, each of them had her own building and a group of servants.

At the entrance of Hu Xue Yan's former residential house

The entrance

Isn't the carving so vivid? It's a mixture of mud, glutinous rice and some other ingredients

My father sitting in front of one of the halls there

Outside the hall

Inside one of the halls -- Bai Shi Lou

Inside the same hall

The kitchen

The courtyard

Another hall -- Yuan Yang Ting

The carving

Another hall

The courtyard

One of the building

The courtyard

Then we carried on to Qing He Fang, a replica of a commercial street of Song Dynasty. It's just beside Hu's House, about 5-10 mins by walk. Everything there was still kept according to the Song's style. Shops selling local products were along both sides. The most famous one tourists must buy were tea (Xi Hu Long Jing), silk, Lotus root paste (Xi Hu Ou Fen), etc. But must be very careful. The local people were very cunning. One got very easily cheated there. For eg, when they filled up tea in a can, the way they did was super fast. We could not see properly. Tea was very expensive, so if you bought many cans, one or two were empty, you would lose a lot. Worse case was you bought as a gift for your friend. Not only losing money, but also embarrassing yourself. Bargain was a must, usually started from the half of the price they offered you.

The shop assistant wearing Qing Costume to attract customers

The street looks as if we were in Song Dynasty

A girl was taking photo in front of the copper statue -- Mai Tan Wong (an old man selling charcoal)

The street

The shop selling traditional Jiangnan wearing

Traditional Jiangnan dining table

A girl wearing a costume of an ancient princess of a minority group

In front of Wu Shan hill (near Qing He Fang)

My trip to Jiangnan China

2006-04-05T23:58:00.000-07:00

24/3 was my "frightening" day. I supposed to go to Qi Shu Yan, Changzhou at 1:00pm. I thought it was still early after my breakfast. So there was no hurry. At 10:30am, I was ready to go to catch my train. Only at that time, I found I did not even know how to open his door. After a careful check up, I realized I was locked inside. I was not sure how to unlock it and there was no way to call him, because he had no phone at home. What should I do? I had to wait for him to come back in the evening? Then what about my lunch, nothing to eat, fridge was empty. Oh, my God! Nobody knew I was inside and he was unreachable. How? How? Suddenly I saw a intercom on the wall, I picked it up and made a call to the security guard. He was very helpful. He said he would send someone to help me. I took out my wallet to inform him my cousin's mobile phone number so that he could contact him. He told me it was not necessary because his man would be at my door soon. After a short while, I heard his knocking. Luckily the day before by accident I asked my cousin for his address. Otherwise, these people could not even find my unit. He asked me if I had the key so that he could open the door. That was another problem, because the key I had was only a single key. If I simply followed the man's instruction and throw it downstairs, we might lose it. So I hurried to the kitchen to find some weight to tie together with it, with my wallet in my hand unconsciously. The door was open, and finally I managed to go out. I felt so happy. The man showed me how to open it from inside. It was quite tricky. Anyway I was still on time when I board bus 129 to West Shanghai Railway Station. From there, I supposed to switch to 106 to Shanghai Railway station. But soon after I board this one, I found the second problem. Guess what?......... Yeh, I could not find my wallet. So strange, how come, nobody even went close to my bag and there was no cut on it. How come only this one was missing? I quickly alighted the bus and ran to a public phone trying to contact my cousin. At this time, I remembered I took out somewhere when I made phone call. But where? Where? Cool down, cool down. Another public phone? Which one? Guess already taken by other people. Oh no, it was at home I made call right? Yea, so no worries. Better rush back. After I went home, I quickly set my eye on the table, it was not there. Where could it be? Finally I found my wallet in kitchen. This time was the front gate which gave me problem. No choice, I knocked the neighbours' door and sought help from one old lady. It was too late when I settled these problems. Suddenly one idea flashed in my mind, I asked the conductor to alert me when we reached the nearest stop to the Railway Station and from there I took a taxi, so that saved me the trouble of switching to another bus.

Tickets were fully sold out that day which was quite not normal. I quickly rushed to the platform to board the train. The officer was very nice. Having heard my problem, he(she)? just let me go inside. The train so super crowded and I board it just few minutes before departure. I was happy. Though some unexpected happened, I managed to settle all of them and I was on time to go to my aunt's home. Most important, the train reminded me of my childhood. I was sitting on my suitcase in a corner beside the door with no room even for turning my body. Lucky this side door would never open during the journey. Yellow flowers all over the fields, small stream here and there. Grandma always brought me home by train when I was a little girl. Almost the same setting except grandma is no more with us.

I reached this small town after 2 hours journey. I made a call to my aunt. None of them were at home. This also seldom happened in my memory, because most of the family member are retirees. I waited for about 20 minutes. This time my cousin Yan picked up the phone. She came to me in just few minutes time and brought me home. In the evening, my parents also came back. The booked tickets to Hangzhou for me. So the following day, my father and I would go for a short trip to Hangzhou.

My aunt Jian -- my mother's elder sister who is 80-year-old now

My trip to Jiangnan China (Shanghai)

2006-03-05T18:32:00.000-08:00

Garuda check-in counter at Changi airport Singapore

I flew to Shanghai at 2:00am 23/3 by Garuda Indonesia. I checked in quite early because the last train stopped by 11:00pm. The plane came from Jakarta, there was no more window seats when reached Singapore. I was given an aisle seat. I was lucky because the other two seats beside me were empty, so I managed to get some sleep on the plane. It reached Shanghai by 7:00am 23/3. Check-in was quite smooth this time, guess this was because I came back quite often recently. By 8:00am, I finished everything, I even managed to make a phone to my sister back in Singapore using my Singtel world card.

Shanghai Pudong International Airport (taken from airport shuttle)

I took the airport shuttle to go to Shanghai Railway Station. It's one hour's journey, and my cousin Bing came to fetch me to his place. His new flat was just ready. After we reached there, he went to work and I went for a "Nong Tang trip" after a nap. When evening fell, we met at Xu Jia Hui, a famous hangout for the local youngsters. Dinner was at a local restaurant with many local delicacies. We went home after our dinner.

Below are my "Nong tang trip"

Fan Yuan -- old colonial house early last century

Fan Yuan

Fan Yuan -- Rong Yi Ren's (last time the richest man in China) former house before Liberation, now occupied by 5 households

Peach blossom in one of the park in Shanghai

Heritage Architecture in Shanghai

Heritage architecture in Shanghai

Madam Soong Qing Ling's former residential House (Huai Hai Zhong Road)

Old colonial building in Shanghai

Tips: When travel to Shanghai, airport shuttle is very helpful. It's cheap and fast. Normally it only cost less than RMB20 (S$4) and there should be one every 15 mins.