China 2010

Concluding, my trip to Shanghai, Wuxi, Suzhou, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Xitang Water Town and of course, the World Expo 2010 was a trip that gave me a glimpse of China's rich heritage and history. I realised I have more to learn about the Chinese heritage and history. The trip has also allowed me to get a glimpse of the advanced progress that China has made. In fact, compared to Singapore, China indeed has a wealth of resources and talents.

It seemed that I personally prefer free-and-easy tours. Yet, group tours have their benefits as it minimises a lot of planning on my end.

For the convenience of browsing, here are all the related links on my 8-days tour to parts of China, namely Wuxi, Suzhou, Nanjing, Hangzhou, and Shanghai. Thank you for joining me on this visual recall of my trip.

Snapshots from my visit to World Expo 2010 
What makes Germany Pavilion draw the crowd
The Singapore Pavilion
Some reflections on visiting World Expo 2010
Reaching Shanghai 
A day in Wuxi
The beautiful gardens of Suzhou
More of Suzhou
Nanjing, full of history
A bit more of Nanjing
A delicious lunch at Waipojia, Hangzhou
The Beautiful West Lake of Hangzhou
Longjing Tea Plantation
Dongpo meat and more
Xitang Water Town
The mesmerising Bund of Shanghai
A Visit to Shanghai World Financial Centre
Hong Zi Ji and more food
The visit to Madame Tussauds Shanghai
ERA
The evening near Chenghuang Temple
Qibao Old Town

In the meantime, I shall prepare for my wish to travel to Port Stephens and to Europe to materialise soon enough.

Qibao Old Town

If you have been reading the posts about my visit with my mother to Shanghai and peripheral cities, you may have realised that I would have preferred travelling on a free-and-easy style.

Whatever it is, I shall share one of the final legs of my trip to Shanghai and the peripheral cities here. I hope that many years later when I look back at this trip, I would have a record of the positive moments to reminisce about.

It was 20 May 2010, there was an additional trip to Qibao Old Town. According to the tour guide, the tour group had a complimentary of the tour-bus as a token of our appreciation for supporting the optional ERA performance.

I was told that Qibao Old Town is a very popular destination for the locals of Shanghai. Tourists will visit Chenghuang Temple, whereas locals find value-for-money items at the Qibao Old Temple. The word "Qibao" is literally translated into Chinese as "Seven Treasures". According to wikipedia, the word "Qibao" came from a local temple which is no longer in existence.

What I like about the Qibao Old Town is its general landscape. It is like an ancient water-town with many bridges and pavilions. The prices of the goods at Qibao Old Town were generally much cheaper than those from the city areas of Shanghai.

We were told that one of the well-known rice dumplings (tang yuan) stalls was selling comparatively large rice dumplings, about the size of a closed fist of a child, at 1 RMB each only. There was a long queue for the rice dumplings, obviously.

I visited a stall that was known to sell of the best xiaolongbao (a form of dumpling) in Shanghai. I was told that xiaolongbao originated from Qibao Old Town, Shanghai. I got eight xiaolongbaos that costs 15 RMB in total. The xiaolongbao were alright. I think I may prefer the ones that I had in Singapore, just because they were cooked to suit the tastebud of the Singaporeans. If you like to patronise this xiaolongbao stall, I am sorry that I do not have its address. However, I have taken a snapshot of the building that it is located in. I hope the photo will help you in your quest for what is reputedly one of the best xiaolongbao in Shanghai.

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Also see:
http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/shanghai/qibao-ancient-town.htm

The evening near Chenghuang Temple

 
This is a way overdued post of my visit to Shanghai in May 2010. I cannot quite understand what makes Chenghuang Temple in Shanghai so popular. It seems to be more popular with the tourists than with locals. It was said that a visit to Shanghai will not be complete without visiting Chenghuang Temple. I learnt that Chenghuang Temple is a Taoist temple. Chenghuang Temple looked bustling with energy and glamour at night.

It was the evening after our tour group's visit to the World Expo 2010 Shanghai China and to a shop that sells Pu'er black tea. The tour itinerary stated that we would visit Chenghuang Temple. Dinner was not provided. That meant that I could be free to choose what I would like to have for dinner. I ended up choosing to eat Ramen at an eatery that sells Japanese food. Ingredients were fresh. My mother had a bowl of noodles served with beef.

After dinner, we were treated to a complimentary performance entitled Yu Shanghai. The decor of the performance venue looked modern yet with an Asian twist to it. It took me a while to figure out that the performance was about a romance story involving some form of travel through time. I suppose I would need more education to better understand theatre art.

To be honest, I was not impressed by Chenghuang Temple nor the Yu Shanghai. Nevertheless, I treasure the time to be out travelling with my mother. It was also nice to have the companionship of a good friend and her family onboard this trip.

ERA

In the month of May this year, my mother and I visited Shanghai and a few other parts of Shanghai. In the evening of 18 May 2010, our tour group went for an optional tour. Each of us paid an extra 280 RMB to watch this performance named "Era", since this performance claims that "Miss it You miss Shanghai". "ERA" was performed at Shanghai Circus World.

The acrobats are well-performed. The lightings and stage effects were of world-class standard. I may not go for it again since I don't personally have a fascination for acrobats. I was more entertained by the live music that accompanied the performance. With the limited narration throughout the show coupled with my limited knowledge on China's ancient culture, it did take me a lot of imagination to figure out what was going on.

Anyway, to give this performance the due credits, I read from a source that "ERA Intersection of Time" lends its audience an insight into China's ancient culture and civilization. My friend who was on the same tour enjoyed the last segment of the show consisting of acrobatic performances involving numerous motorcycles.

Now, tongue-in-cheek, I can tell everyone that I have already watched "ERA" and I will never miss Shanghai even if I do not watch it for the second time.

The visit to Madame Tussauds Shanghai

One of the landmarks that I had visited during my tour to Shanghai was the Madame Tussauds Shanghai wax-museum. Interestingly, it is located within a shopping complex. I was told that the wax-figures in Madame Tussauds Shanghai have comparatively more natural looking poses than those in other similar museums. Since I have never visited the other Madame Tussauds museums, I am sorry that I cannot tell if this is indeed the case.

At the Madame Tussauds Shanghai, I had a glimpse of how the wax-figures were made. Like many other visitors, I took some time to pose with the wax-figures of prominent personalities. To much extent, they do have pretty natural-looking poses.

In this wax museum, I had the honour to meet wax figurines of well known personalities such as Bill Gates, Einstein, Andy Lau, Princess Diana and many more.

To be open, I might not visit a wax-museum if I were to visit Shanghai on my own. It had not strike me that wax-figures could be intriguing charming until I visited Madame Tussauds Shanghai. As such, I was glad that I had the opportunity to visit the humble-scale Madame Tussauds Shanghai.

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Madame Tussauds Shanghai
10/F,New World Building, No.2-68 Nanjing Xi Road,Shanghai 200003 PRC
http://www.madametussauds.com/Shanghai/en/

Hong Zi Ji and more food

It was 18 May 2010. My mother and I were on a tour to Shanghai and various other parts of China. After our visit to the Shanghai World Financial Centre, if I recall correctly, we had lunch at Hong Zi Ji, a restaurant that literally means as "Hong Zi Chicken". This restaurant, I was told, is one of the famous restaurant establishments in Shanghai. Generally, I was satisfied with the food at the restaurant. It is most famous for its chicken dish. One interesting feature of this restaurant is that the waiters and waitresses wear roller skates. I suppose they wish to serve the food as promptly as possible?

I pretty much like the vegetarian dish which was meant to imitate the Western pork chop. It is served with sweet and sauce sauce. I like its crispy texture.

I cannot quite remember the itinerary of the day. Anyway, we had went to an establishment that provides Feng Shui related services. Subsequently, in the evening, we had a healthy and nutritious meal at a Traditional Chinese Medicine establishment which kindly hosted us with a free dinner. The soups were good, and I like them.

Dinner on 18 May 2010.

I had not been travelling on package tours for a long time, and it seemed that the tour I had went for had a number of destinations that were related to getting us tourists to shop. Personally, I have learnt from this trip to stay clear-minded so as to only buy what I need and not on impulse. Spending is not saving, even if I was told that certain items are cheaper in China than if I were to buy them in Singapore.

A visit to the Shanghai World Financial Centre

This is considered a long overdued post as I had visited Shanghai sometime in May this year. I shall attempt to focus on the essence of my short visit to Shanghai. For readers who wish to read about the World Expo 2010, please refer to my earlier posts, please click on this link.

It was 18 May 2010, after breakfast at the hotel, the tour group were led to the Shanghai World Financial Centre. It is an impressive skyscraper with three observatory decks. The skies were rather hazy during my visit and while I could not see much from the observatory decks, I suppose the thrill was to be on a very tall skyscraper.

Visitors have to take a few elevators and escalators so as to reach what is currently the tallest observation deck in the world, that stands at 474 m (1,555 ft) above ground level. If I could remember correctly, the Shanghai World Financial Centre is a 101-storey building.

I was most intrigued by the special glass panels at one of the observatory decks that allow visitors to see through whatever lies underneath. Such glass panels are made of specially reinforced glass. Each glass panels are very strong and can take quite a lot of weight.

To have an idea how hazy the skies of Shanghai were on that day of my visit, here is a snapshot that I had taken from one of the observatory decks. The building that is prominently featured in the above snapshot is the Jin Mao Tower.

As I am writing this post, I realised I was possibly looking at lots of clouds when I looked down from the Shanghai World Financial Centre. If not, I was probably looking at fogs created from the emitted gases from the industrialised Shanghai?

Whatever it is, I felt rather privileged to have made a visit to the Shanghai World Financial Centre. It housed one of the most modern looking toilets that I had ever seen in my humble life.I wonder if the Shanghai World Financial Centre was meant to showcase to visitors some of the latest technology in the world?

If I had known that there was a post office at the Shanghai World Financial Centre, I might have penned on a couple of postcards and sent some of them via post. Anyway, time was limited and I decided to use that limited time to catch some shots of the The Oriental Pearl Tower from the Shanghai World Financial Centre. To be honest, I was more fascinated with the beauty of the flowers nearby since visibility was low that day due to the foggy skies.

I shall consider myself very lucky to have visited one of the key landmarks of Shanghai.

The mesmerising Bund of Shanghai

I shall continue to blog about my trip in May 2010 to selected parts of China.

After a day at the Xitang Water Town, the tour bus led us to Shanghai. Shanghai, I was told, is a densely populated city. One of the stops of the tour was Nanjing Road, which I was told is the main shopping street of Shanghai. I was not in the mood to shop and left the street pretty much empty-handed. It seems that one can find almost about anything in Shanghai as it is a global city where trade and commerce flourishes.

We had dinner at one of the restaurants in Shanghai. However, I can't remember the name of the restaurant. The company for dinner was great. In addition, there was enough vegetables served during the dinner to keep me very contented.

After the dinner, the tour group were led to The Bund (外滩). The night looked especially mesmerising when one is at The Bund. Many of the interesting architecture in Shanghai can be seen along The Bund. Our dear tour guide gave us a succinct account of the history of The Bund and many anecdotes. One of the anecdotes was about why the Old Bank of China Building in Shanghai did not become the highest building at the time of its construction. I beg your pardon that I was so caught up in experiencing the cool breeze at The Bund, that I did not memorise every single word that the tour guide has shared.

Many visitors to The Bund would also look across to the other bank of the river. The Oriental Pearl Tower
( 东方明珠电视塔) stood right at the other side of the river. One thing for sure, I realised that there is talents galore in Shanghai, and Shanghai is a very advanced and modernised city because of the talented people who have contributed to make it a success.

After the visit to The Bund, the tour group took a journey to a sub-urban part of Shanghai. Due to the World Expo 2010 held at Shanghai, most of the hotels in Shanghai have high occupancy rates. Whatever it was, I was contented to have a room to retire for the night.

Good night!

Xitang Water Town

The coach brought us from Hangzhou to Xitang Water Town. On the way, the tour guide entertained us with various anecdotes and trivia. I was told that the Xitang Water Town has a history of thousands of years. Xitang is well-known for its bridges, lanes, covered corridors and old houses.

We were told that Xitang Water Town was used as one of the filming locations of the movie Mission Impossible III. That movie helped more people know about the Water Town of Xitang. The movie has also attracted a number of enterprising immigrants to open new businesses at Xitang. Many of the former residents sold or rent their ancient houses to these immigrants.

I was attracted to the idyllic way of life at Xitang Water Town and the beauty of the ancient houses. We also learnt that the people in Xitang (at least the original inhabitants of Xitang) have an organised way of life. They would do the washing of food at the upstream of the river. Then they would do their washing of dirty items at the downstream of the river. This way of organising their lives help to keep the waters of the river relatively clean for the use of all the residents. However, with the influx of new immigrants and workers from other parts of China, this organised way of using the water from the river is gradually not being practised religiously.

One of the highlights of the visit to Xitang Water Town was a leisure boat ride. The boatman who steered our boat was already in his 50s to 60s and he looked very healthy and strong. We had quite some fun taking photographs on the boat. Many thanks to the boatman for his mastery in steering the boat. We kept moving about the boat yet the ride on the boat had generally been smooth.

On the boat ride, we caught glimpses of some very lovely looking bridges. These are works of art that display the intelligence and cultured taste of the people who have made these bridges possible.

As I look at the photographs I had taken, I was left with the impression that Xitang is a calm and peaceful place. I wonder what impression has Xitang left on you?

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References:
Old Town of Xitang Travel Guide

Dongpo meat and more

After the tea demonstration at Meijiawu Longjing Tea Plantation, there was a slight revision of the lunch plan. We were led to a nearby restaurant that was within the compounds of Meijiawu to enjoy a delightful lunch. The lunch was a pleasant one and left me with a generally good impression of Hangzhou cuisine.

We were each treated to an individual small bowl of Dongpo meat. Dongpo meat is named after the literati, Su Dongpo. Su Dongpo had served as the prefectural governor of Hangzhou for a period of time.

There seems to be various versions on how Dongpo meat came about. The version that my tour guide told us was that Su Dongpo was a gourmet who was knowledgeable in culinary art. He came up with a dish that was made by simmering pork and wine in a container that looks like tea-pot. He did not give the dish any name. Subsequently, people started cooking pork the way Su Dongpo did, and they named the dish "Dongpo meat".

I personally try to cut down on eating red meat as a dietary preference. Nevertheless, in my stay at Hangzhou, I have made an exception to eat two servings of Dongpo meat. The meat is soft and has a smooth texture. While it has many layers of fat, I suppose an occasional sample of Dongpo meat will help me better experience the culinary culture of Hangzhou. I was told that Dongpo meat goes well with cups of green tea. I guess it was perfect that the Dongpo meat that was served that the restaurant near the Longjing Tea Plantation was served in containers that looked like tea-cups. Savouring good food is an art itself in Hangzhou, I reckon.

References:
http://www.louwailou.com.cn/english/dongpo.asp
http://www.study-in-china.org/ChinaFeature/Diet/20095420284568.htm
http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?ArticleId=431372&publicationSubCategoryId=111

Longjing Tea Plantation

One of the stops of my trip to Hangzhou was the Longjing Tea Plantation at Mei Jia Wu (梅家坞). I was told that Longjing is a kind of green tea that is only produced near West Lake, Hangzhou.

Actually, I do not think I have stepped into a tea plantation. However, I did learn a bit more about tea appreciation and Longjing Green Tea when I was at Mei Jia Wu. I learnt that the harvesting of tea leaves is an art itself. Choosing the good time, the appropriate season and the right kind of leaves to harvest are all critical in determining the taste of the eventual green tea.

We also witnessed a demonstration of the pan frying of the Longjing tea leaves. The pan frying of tea leaves is done by hand and it takes a lot of skills to do it well. I read that pan frying is intended to stop the fermentation process.

We had the pleasure to appreciate Longjing tea. Longjing tea has a delicate and fragrant aroma, light and mellow taste. We were told that when we brew Longjing tea, the temperature of the water should not be more than 90 degrees Celsius. Tea-drinking itself is an art. The choice of tea-wares, water, location of drinking the tea and the type of company that one has, all contribute to the overall tea-drinking experience. We were also given a demonstration of how Longjing tea has properties of an anti-oxidant.

Overall, the Longjing Tea Plantation was an educational stop-over with scenic views.


References:
http://www.chinatraveldepot.com/N62-Mei-Jia-Wu-Longjing-Tea-Culture-Village

The beautiful West Lake of Hangzhou

"Viewing Fish at Flora Harbour".

This place has one of the ten most beautiful views at West Lake, Hangzhou.

Among the various places that I had visited in my recent trip to China, Hangzhou left the most positive impression in my mind. First, the air in Hangzhou (at least the places that I had visited) is fresh. Second, the people there appears to have an unhurried pace of life. This is especially helpful in reminding me to slow down to appreciate the finer things in life. Third, there are some very beautiful places in Hangzhou. One of these beautiful places is the West Lake (Xi Hu) of Hangzhou.

Please take note that my simple automatic digital camera may not do justice to the beauty of West Lake. Until sponsorship can be secured to use a more advanced camera, I ask you to use your imagination to feel the refreshing fresh air of Hangzhou and the leisure way of life of the common people.

Around the West Lake, there are lush green areas like the one you see in the above photograph. I felt a sense of tranquility as I walked about.

Above photograph: The four characters inscribed on the stone means "Viewing Fish at Flora Harbour". It was inscribed by Emperor Kangxi. Our tour guide pointed out to us that the last character "Fish" was deliberately written with one missing stroke.

Our tour group took a ferry and had a cruise of the West Lake. It was a leisure cruise. West Lake appears generally misty. It appears to be surrounded by hills. I was told that West Lake is a man-made lake.

Above photograph: Long Bridge. This bridge was rebuilt in the year 2002. A plaque nearby this bridge states: "According to historical records, during the Song dynasty, there was a three-arch spanning a broad outlet out of Qian Lake Gate. The view was spectacular as the bridge was 500 metres long, which gained it the name of Long Bridge."

Our tour group was told that in the Long Bridge was one of the landmarks that was being mentioned of in the legendary story of the Butterfly Lovers. The lovers, Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtao, had walked along and parted with each other several times at the Long Bridge.

Above photograph: Leifeng Pagoda. According to legend, Leifeng Pagoda is associated with the legendary Chinese folk story of Lady White Snake. However, we learnt that this structure that we see in the photograph was built less than a decade ago. The original Leifeng Pagoda was said to have collapsed.

Overall, I think among the various places that I had visited in my recent trip to China, Hangzhou is by far the best place to visit to relax and to enjoy beautiful sceneries. There is a good policy in Hangzhou to restrict the buildings of industrial and residential estates in certain designated area. In addition, there are policies for vehicles entering certain parts of Hangzhou (e.g. places near West Lake) to be fitted with engines that emit less harmful gases. Alright, enough of my bias reviews, I just prefer Hangzhou to Shanghai.