24th November - Hang Zhou

I’ve been to five star hotels all over the world but this hotel tops the charts for me. As of right this instant I am typing this entry on a BenQ flatscreen CPU with a free, yes i said FREE, Internet connection!! This is heaven. Even the top hotels I've been in never offered this service FREE.

Unfortunately, the environment i woke up in was quite different.

I thought I had gotten used to the wood-hard matresses, seems not. The honking sounds of the impatient traffic outside my hotel room woke me up way before any teenager should be made to. From the first honk it was a constant battle between my sleep and sound. Furthermore, the shanghai air pollution had finally got to my sinuses (black mucus) and the mucus built up had caused my throat to inflame, become dry, and sore.

After having a short breakfast at the hotel buffet (porridge for me) we were introduced by Peggy (our tour agent) to our tour guide for the Su Zhou trip – Katy (pronounced like Cathy) “a bit like hello kitty”, she says.

Getting to Su Zhou was a long trip, I was given a paracetamol and clarinase which I think helped out a bit. I slept the whole way through, meaning that i missed out on our 6000 yuan tour guide’s commentaries. The sleep was good though and the clarinase had done its job to my nose, the throat on the other hand was still sore.

Taro/Yam Pie only found in Mcdonald's China

After a short Mcdonald’s brunch we headed off to Lei Feng Pagoda.

This pagoda is built around west lake, one of the most famous lakes in china, built by the order of Xu Zhi the poet . The pagoda itself is extremely new and modern. It had fallen and was rebuilt in 2001. There are 3 stories to why the pagoda had fallen and had to be rebuilt.

1. With referrence to the famous story "Madam White Snake", Lady White was actually buried below the temple ages and ages ago, so when her son came and prayed for her to be released, the pagoda fell and she was set free.

2. Long ago during the Silk Godesses’ birthday, many ppl would come to the pagoda to pray, and when they left they took a piece of the pagoda’s foundation because the brick had sandskrit writing on it. The culprits believed the bricks were good luck. Although they did not know what the hell the words meant. Imagine *cue ripple effect*On a pagoda brick written in sandskrit - MADE IN CHINA. :p

3. During World War 2 the tower was burnt down by the Japanese.

Of these 3 stories the last 2 are true, the pagoda’s downfall was due to both those reasons.

The pagoda was the most modern pagoda I have ever been to, fully equipped with an escalator to climb the stairs. Moreover, when u reach the tower base there is an elevator that takes u to the top of the pagoda.

The view from on top the pagoda is beautiful, it was just a pity that the sky was full of haze. But it is not only the sight above to behold. Below the pagoda are the ruins of the old pagoda that had fallen down. Scientists have also found a tomb below the pagoda which contained Xue Li Zi.

Ruins of the old pagoda. Notice the money thrown on the floor.

Good monks are vegetarians. This means a lot of beancurd is left in their tummies. Consequently, when the monk is cremated the things in their stomach are hard to burn so the result is not only pure ash but also "stomach balls". It is very rare that you can find these balls and it is believed that only true monks get them. These balls or Xue Li Zi are considered sacred and kept beneath the pagoda.

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*Written at a later time, back in Malaysia*:
I am rather upset with the photos. Of the photos we took in Hang Zhou the whole set of Lei Feng Pagoda have disappeared, except for the two pics i have posted.

Of the missing pics that i wanted to post on this blog is:
1. Amongst the coins thrown into the ruins of the Old Pagoda there were a few RM1 notes
2. The magnificent view from the top of Lei Feng Pagoda
3. The high tech elevators which were glass on all sides
4. The escalators that led up all the way to the pagoda

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Green Tea will never be the same to me again. The whole village itself is devoted to ONLY, and I mean ONLY, Chinese tea. After passing countless hills carpeted with tea trees we finally stopped at a tea field which already had a few tour buses up its carpark.

Tea trees

We watched the process in which tea was done here by hand- heated twice, with a few days interval between the heatings. The person who picks the tea leaves plays an important role in the tea’s grade. So much for male chauvinism as tea leaves picked by women are considered to be of the highest grade. As far tea is concerned, women possess softer hands therefore meaning less damage to tea leaves.

Ushered into a private room, we were then shown by a tea university graduate (I didn’t know they existed, go figure O.o) the different grades of tea and the uses of tea. This was all done through a short tea ceremony.

Tea.

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Song Dynasty Park is “like Disneyland” (quote Katy).

SDP was a pretty cool place, it was just opened in may this year and it already has its fair share of tourists today (weekday!). The whole park is like a giant fortress and inside it is a town with a Song Dynasty theme.

We watched some acted out kung fu fighting, watched Chinese puppetry and dressed in Chinese clothes (for 5 yuan). Oh yes, before I forget.. IT WAS FREEZING COLD!

Kungfu fighting to the left

Wan sui, wan wui, wan wan sui!

Of the entire park though, the ending show was really the icing on the cake. I’ve been to Disneyworld, deamworld, universal studios, you name it, but the show I watched tonight was one of the best I’ve seen. It was a mixed show of dancing, acrobatics, laser lights and special effects. There were horses on the stage at one point! Although the performance required a few tweaks I would grant it a 4.9 outta 5. Later we found out that the reason to this extravagant production is the World Expo 2006 which will be held right here in Hangzhou.

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Dinner was set in a restaurant floating on the west lake. It had only opened for 2 years but according to Katy it had become hangzhou’s most popular restaurant by it first few months. I must say the food was pretty good.

Forgot the restaurant's name.

Waitress used a palm pilot which immediately send orders to the kitchen.

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So here I am ending my post in one of the best hotel rooms I have ever been in. A flatscreen cpu with a free broadband connection, how do you beat that?

http://www.hcgjhotel.com/

25th November - Hangzhou, Shanghai

Today as u might have predicted was the best sleep i've ever had. Pity though because we had to leave early in the morning so we could visit a few sightseeing destinations before heading back to Shanghai. Since we didn't use the breakfast coupons for breakfast the hotel let us use it for the hotel bakery, that's where i stumbled upon these:

OK, so perhaps its not such a big deal, but I've NEVER SEEN THEM IN CHINESE before so let me be! XD


First stop was Liu He Pagoda. Liu He Pagoda is a really old chinese pagoda which was destroyed and rebuilt several times.

From the outside appearance the pagoda looks like a 13 storey pagoda. When a pagoda is built, it is either 13 stories for royalty or 7 stories for commoners. In the case of Liu He Pagoda, the outward appearance of the pagoda shows 13 stories whereas inside it only has 7 stories. So don't ask me what it means - i don't know. Katy mentioned something about how its a pagoda built around a pagoda or something like that.

China's secret nuclear cabbage program outside LiuHe Pagoda

Liu He Pagoda is a hexagon. The 6 sides of the pagoda are meant to represent thr 6 directions of buddha- heaven, earth, north, south, east, west (forgive me if i'm wrong). The pagoda was built by the order of Wu King with the intention of scaring of evil spirits and tidal waves with his magnificent structure.

Ancient love messages etched onto pagoda by love-sick monks

When we finally reached the top of the pagoda (dad counted 234 steps) we got a view of the area around the pagoda as well as the Qian Tang river.

Left: Hip hip hooray!! We reached the top!
Right: Poledancing, big one too :p Now we know what entertainment the monks enjoyed

The Qian Tang river is supposed to be only a branch of the Huanghe river, but its SO DAMN BIG. Shudders me to think of the actual thing.

Left: LiuHe Pagoda surrounded by forest.
Right: View of Qiantang river and a 2 level bridge (1 for vehicles, 1 for trains).

When we had all come down from the pagoda we had a quick rest at the wonderful green vicinity of the pagoda.

Traditional music played in the LiuHe garden
I only noticed this when i was viewing the photo - the flutist doesn't have pupils O.o

Having missed a proper breakfast, we had a big brunch and then hurried off for a quick stop before we headed out of Hang Zhou.

No wedding here. During lunch and dinner time this restaurant is fully packed!

The Broken Bridge is one of Hang Zhou's famous bridges that revolve around a famous romantic tragedy of Madam White Snake. The broken bridge is the actual place where Lady White and Xu Xian meet.

Broken Bridge. Sadly most of the lotuses were dead due to oncoming winter.

The bridge is so named because during winter when the snow falls on the briddge there is supposedly an illusion that makes the bridge seem broken. Another reason is that the White Causeway from the Solitary Hill was cut off here....dun ask me what that means :S

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The trip back was a long one, and when we reached shanghai dad had to go to the MAS office to change some ticket stuff. Eventually we reached the hotel pretty late.

Overturned truck on the way back to Shanghai

Dinner was at South Beauty once again in Super Brand mall, but this restaurant was on the absolute top floor - the 10th.

Da Bao (takeaway bag) for Uncle Kuan

This restaurant was a bit more high-class than the other restaurant we went to in Super Brand Mall. The only sad thing is that some of the food was a bit spicy. I like spicy, but i can't handle too much :(

Dinner setting


Open kitchen. SO MANY CHEFS!!!
note: some have red collars some have blue collars


Left: Chili display at the main entrance to restaurant (of course fake chilis lah!)
Right: One of our dishes, glutinous rice balls or something like that, sweet, light and tasty. YUM!

"We are all victims of casuality. I drank too much wine, I must take a piss. Cause and effect." Merovingian


This is the urinal for the restaurant...i just find it weird... I guess girls wun get this, but to the guys..
I'M MEANT TO PEE ONTO ICE!!??

26th November - Shanghai

“A tiger fights its hardest at the end of its life”

Today being the last day in Shanghai, the “tigers” within the ladies of the group suddenly jumped alive, "Today is going to be a SHOPPING DAY!", they proudly announced. Reluctant as I was, it was either follow them or do nothing.

So in the shopping exertion we went to 2 shopping places, I feel too lazy now to elaborate the nitty-gritty bargainings (something originally 300 yuan can drop to 50 yuan). So instead here are some pics and little comments:

This was the first place we went to, i dun rmb the name and i can't read the words of the market, so here's a pic for u chinese readers.

The whole set up is kinda like an old Chinese building. But of course the shops below were not selling old Chinese clothes.

I bought one of those peeing pottery stuff. The price tag was 15 yuan so I told the lady 5 yuan, and she smiled happily and agreed. Later on I found out from Uncle Kuan that I could have got it for 1 yuan…GRRRR talk about getting pissed >.<

Xiang Yang Fashion & Gift Market

We were here a few days before but besides my sister no one bought anything in particular. Today on the other hand my usually un-shopping-ish self found myself walking away with a pair of timberland shoes ALSO a pair of dress leather shoes that I’ll prolly use on Mondays and Fridays. (it was all imitation goods, of course)

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At around 2pm we rushed to the Shanghai Grand Hyatt for a dim sum that would end at 2.30pm.

Picture taken from http://shanghai.grand.hyatt.com/

The grand hyatt itself is an amazing building, a skyscraper above other skyscrapers. To me the outward appearance is very much like the petronas twin towers, a magnificent giant clad in shiny armor and with a very pointy hat. Despite its grand height it stays true to the land on which it stands on, boasting the auspicious number of an exact 88 stories.

Upon entering the main elevator I was shocked at how this towering titan had only 3 buttons in its elevator, on a closer look I realized the hotel lobby was on the 54^th floor O.o

Dim sum at the hyatt’s canton restaurant was rather posh. We dined and admired the grand view of Shanghai from comfy cushion seats.

Dad and I headed back to the hotel by cab as the girls with Uncle Kuan as their guide returned to shopping at people’s park which is meant to have 95% girls accessories and clothing. Obviously dad and I took a pass on that one.

Tea and a View at the Shanghai Grand Hyatt

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He thrust the needle forward and in a split second it pierced through the glass and followed by the "pop" of a balloon.

As the show began, we promptly upgraded ourselves to the middle row center view of the half empty Lyceum Theatre.

The Great Kungfu Performance was all the basic Shaolin stuff, yet the performance was no less exhilarating. The difference between watching shaolins on vcd and watching the real thing is obvious.

The Shaolins did demonstrations of different weapons and qi gong. The energy put into every kick and punch can literally be felt by the audience.

Furthermore the weapons demonstrated such as the whip blade was a sight to see for me. As the blade and whip become a blur together with a "whishing" sound i pondered on how deadly the weapon could be if used against an oncoming foe.

The “rigid qigong” skills were shown to. The Shaolins bent spears with their throats and lifted themselves into the air by spears.

All in all though, the needle performance was the highlight of the show for me.

First was a short demonstration that the glass and the needle were real. Next, a monk then held the glass plank while another monk held a balloon behind the glass.

After summoning his Qi, the monk with the needle pulled back his arm and thrusted the needle forward so fast I could barely catch it with my eyes. Before I knew it the needle had pierced through the glass like a bullet and burst the balloon on the other side. The monk holding the glass then showed the glass plank with a bullet-sized hole right in the center of it.

HOW FREAKINING COOL IS THAT!!

note: photography was not allowed so please bear with my crappy drawing skills

Bustling Burma

Oh my god! Is this a new post? Yes, in between incessant buggings of ppl (*coughelainecough*) and getting plenty of nagging posts in the sidebar, i've finally lifted my ass and am writing this post. And just to make up for my lackadaisical behavior....PICS!!

Well as u may or might not know the past week or so (since nov 1st) i've been having a holiday with my dear mum and my dear aunt, elvina e e (ee is fu chow for aunt) in BURMA aka Myanamar (i think burma sounds WAY cooler).

The whole idea of going to burma at first was rather upsetting at first. Due to the trip to Burma mum had decided i was "travelling too much already" and because of that i was denied of goign to langkawi with schoolmates cuz she was "scared something might happen" -_- .


Burma is located just west of thailand and covers an area of approximately 678,500 km². The goverment now is still a military government and i can assure u that the whole of burma is dotted with military personnel everywhere. I would have liked to show u a picture of all this but unfortunately tourists (or "foreigners" to them) are not allowed to take pictures of any military personnel or structures. So when it came to shooting a picture i was a bit more concerned of being shot.

1st November
We arrived on Myanmar Airways International (MAI) flight 8M or MH9051 (the only plane i think flying back and forth from maynmar to klia). After waiting about half and hour to collect our baggage we set out to look for a sign bearing "mr. warren chan" in the crowded arrival hall. Yes, you heard right a sign bearing "Mr. Warren Chan", not "Agnes Chan" (my mum), or "Elvina Wong" (my aunt), but much to my mother's disgust was the name of yours truly. Now do not get me wrong the past 2 sentences are not meant to boast (i think :P) but are to illustrate a mentality of the burmese people - out of 3 individuals, they thought the male was the dominant.

After finding our beautiful tour guide we headed out of the airport where i took a snapshot, because stepping out of the airport i didn't see civilization...i saw trees



note: guy on right is military, he din see me take the pic :P

After getting into the tour van we left to the hotel



20,000 kyat ("kya" pronounced like "ja" in "jar")

note: 1USD = 1000 kyat

Our welcome drinks


After dropping our stuff at the hotel we went to Sule Pagoda, which is kinda located at the end of a street, in gact i think the street has been named after the pagoda. Anywayz, this pagoda is special cuz its got a hair of buddha in it. Unfortunately though we coucln't see the hair cuz the pagoda is a stupa.
There are 2 types of pagodas:
a) temple type pagodas where u can walk into it and see whatever is there
b) stupa type pagodas where the relic of the pagoda is enshrined under this pointy looking temple thing, so its kinda like the Kaaba (the black stone in mecca)

Sule Pagoda

The pagoda is octagonal shaped, this is because in buddhism, it is believed that there are 8 days in a week. For each day there is also a special animal for it. So buddhist when coming to the sule pagoda will then pray to the buddha for the day they were born, so there is a monday, tuesday, wednesday, etc. shrine respectively.


Something i found interesting is that according to Lily (tour guide) the amount of worshippers at the tuesday shrine is the most, and it seems most ppl are born on tuesday. I wonder what i am.




THIS POST IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION (INAPPROPRIATE DICTION INTENTIONAL)
Should be done within 3 days...there's ALOT