Hebitch in the Far East

The end...

2009-12-18T04:48:00.000-08:00

The next day, I decided to travel around Beijing myself (because the rest were too busy with their projects and decided to stay in the lodge for the whole day instead...).

I decided to go to Rem Koolhaas's CCTV building. It has been closed since February because of a huge HUGE fire. It wasn't even the CCTV tower itself that caught fire but the neighbouring Oriental Mandarin hotel which is part of the CCTV complex. The complex was supposed to open May this year. See here for article. It is now a very huge expensive white elephant.

It was hard to see the CCTV in all its 'cantilevering' glory with the 10m fence fencing up the whole complex:

Finally a peek:

So wasted!:

After that I went back to pack up to make my own way to the airport (I was flying back earlier because I wanted to celebrate Hari Raya Haji in Singapore; I already missed last year's when I was down under). Yeow, Huiloh, Pam and Ashley decided to stay in Beijing for a couple more days before staying in Shanghai for a few days.

I took the domestic flight to Shanghai. The new terminal 3 of Beijing Capital International Airport was designed by UK architect, Norman Foster's firm:

I was there too early and my flight was delayed indefinitely. I was really worried because my flight from Shanghai to Singapore was in the morning the next day. I HAD to fly back to Shanghai without delays! Luckily, after much pestering the lady at the check-in counter, she gave me an earlier flight out back to Shanghai.

So I flew back to Shanghai on my own and reached Shanghai Hongqiao Domestic Airport (Shanghai has two airports - the domestic one and the Shanghai Pudong International airport which are more than 40 km apart!). OMG, MY BAG. It was like shredded to pieces. When I first arrived in Shanghai, the top part was torn off; my book and my batteries where left scattered on the luggage belt. This time, the bottom of my bag was torn off completely, leaving some of my stuff dangling outside like the intestines and stomach after a bad road accident! Note to self: NEVER EVER bring a backpack to China ever AGAIN.

Hongqiao airport is 13km from the city centre and there were no other ways except for by taxis and buses to reach the city centre. I missed the chance to take the cheaper shuttle bus to Pudong Airport. Instead, I took a cab to May/Liangping/Wenhui's place to crash for a few hours. Queueing up at the taxi stand is HELL. Chinese people DO NOT know how to queue. Not to be outdone, I squeezed my way through and blocked all those queue cutters. Damn you if you think you can squeeze me out...

After a hectic queue for the cab, with my bagpack in my arms like roadkill, I got myself a cab and directed the cab driver to their place. Of course I had the address written in Chinese to give the cab driver but I was drilled by Pam and Huiloh earlier on to memorise and get the intonation for the name of the street right. The ride was cheaper than I predicted and he took me by the shortest route - cause thankfully, Shanghainese cab drivers are always never honest. I tried to converse with the driver in as much Mandarin as possible so that I won't sound like a 'non-local' (what? it was dark...). Coincidentally on the cab ride, there was a song playing; sung by some Chinese singer and the title (and some of the lyrics) was 'Aku Cinta Padamu'. STRANGE but TRUE! How coincidental was that??? A Malay guy took that taxi and the song the radio station was playing had some Malay words in the lyrics!

So I reached their place (even manage to pass through the security guards there) and had a quick rest (a nap and I had to tape up my bag with only masking tape) before they sent me off to the Maglev Train station to Shanghai Pudong International Airport (a cab ride there would cost about 250RMB!!! Its almost 40km away from the city centre).

Maglev trains are really fancy and travel at speeds up to 581km/h! Within half an hour or so, I reached Pudong International Airport. Only to find my Malaysian Airline flight was DELAYED for almost 4 hours! Weather conditions my FOOT. All the other flights took off except for mine.

I got vouchers for food at the airport. Then took the flight out after rotting for 3 hours at the airport. Thankfully, I was given the immediate flight out of KL (had a transit there before Singapore).

And I reached Singapore, 3 hours later than the original arrival time. Only to go to JB, Malaysia, (to spend Hari Raya Haji there) a few hours later at midnight.

Forbidden City.

2009-12-18T02:47:00.001-08:00

We later went to Tiananmen Square:

The police and soldiers there; heavily guarded:

Technically, this is the Tian'an Gate:

The square itself (across the highway):

One of the iconic pillars:

Jumpshot as usual:

Ashley:

Mao Zedong's iconic potrait:

It seems like his eyes look at you everywhere you go... think that is the whole point:

Gate of Tian-an Gate:

That is the Duanmen, another gate before the Forbidden City itself:

This is Forbidden City gate a.k.a. the Meridian Gate (entrance fee to Forbidden City: 45RMB, closed at 4.30pm)

Huge!:

Some Mongolians? Hahaa... or maybe just a group of tribal Chinese tourists:

The Forbidden City is also known as the Palace Museum. It was the imperial palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties (built from 1406-1420) and the complex consists of 980 buildings!!!:

This is the Gate of Supreme Harmony (another GATE), its plaza is seperated by a serpentine waterway spanned by the "Golden River Bridges":

The marble walkway you see is where the Emperors walked on:

Past the gate is the Hall of Supreme Harmony:

Rear view of the gate:

Jump shot!
Failed attempt number 1:

Failed attempt number 2:

Failed attempt number 3:

I give up! FAILED:

Just 'peace' will do:

Street fighter style in front of the hall:

Carved stone dragons:

One of the many incense burners:

Where the emperors sat (again had to jostle with locals who never seem to wash their hair):

Dragon-turtle:

Those are for 'fire-fighting':

Hall of Central Harmony (front) and Hall of Preserving Harmony:

Phoenix and dragon:

Hall of Central Harmony:

Interior:

Hall of Preserving Harmony:

Interior:

Past the hall is another complex called the Palace of Heavenly Purity:

Large stone carving:

Entrance to the Palace of Heavenly Purity:

The 'smaller' palace:

More 'Street Fighter' pictures:

Interior, it was used as the Emperor's audience hall:

Case of deja vu?
Those are the Hall of Union (front) and the Palace of Earthly Tranquility:

Inside Hall of Union:

Inside the Palace of Earthly Tranquility where most of the newly wedded emperors would live:

Entrance to the Imperial Gardens:

LOL. Eternal loss of beauty? LOL:

I took a dump at the garden's toilet, I finally crapped solid wastes! YEAH! I'm healed!

The rear entrance/exit of the Forbidden City:

We then decided to walk to the left side of the Forbidden City where more buildings awaited us. See map here for the names and locations of the buildings around the Forbidden City.

Here's a tip: DO NOT fall for the 'free exhibition' trap. There would be people (usually young pretty ladies) who would convince you that there is a FREE exhibition of artworks and paintings.

True, they are 'free' to look at. And true, they are 'exhibitions'... kinda. They are actually galleries of paintings which are for sale! Price tags unabashedly displayed. All the while, the 'painters' will proudly showcase their works. You would feel 'trapped' in the galleries as they close the doors behind you, looking very suspicious. If you are coerced into buying the paintings, make sure they are below 50% percent of the asking price.

The alleyways:

There are actually some historical exhibitions tucked away in some of the buildings, do keep a look out. Definitely FOC entry.

Painting of the longest reigning Chinese emperor, Kangxi Emperor:

Painting of the Empress Dowager Cixi, the most infamous (and 'evil') of the Chinese rulers, she was the scapegoat for the fall of the last Chinese dynasty - Qing dynasty.

Life during the Qing dynasty:

If you don't already know, Qing dynasty was the final Chinese dynasty. Technically, they were NOT Chinese. The emperors were from the neighbouring 'babaric' Manchuria who invaded China and clutched the 'Heavenly Mandate' from the Ming rulers. Under the Manchurian rule, the Chinese had to adopt the Manchurian costumes and the men grew the very familiar pigtails.

We wanted to go to the eastern part of the Forbidden City (the Palace of Tranquil Longevity) but it was closed and there was a seperate entrance fee.

So instead, we hung around at the plaza and found dozens of cats!!!:

'Bullying' the 'hibernating' cat we called 'Yeow' (Yeow is always 'hibernating' too and strangely, the cat responded to me calling it 'Yeow'):

This one looks like a lion:

The sun was setting and we had to leave the Forbidden City complex.

My favourite picture:

The soldiers (I suspect 'recruits' cause they sucked and looked 'blur') practising for the flag lowering ceremony.

Back to Tiananmen, just in time to see the flag lowering at the square.

Young and old, the Chinese were all waiting excitedly to watch. A large crowd had gathered, and the Tiananmen gate was blocked by soldiers.

The lowering ceremony involves the soldiers marching across the highway to the square. Of course, traffic was stopped.

Once again, traffic was stopped as they marched back into the Tian'an Gate with the flag:

Temple of Heaven.

2009-12-17T20:49:00.000-08:00

We wanted to squeeze both the Temple of Heaven and Forbidden City on the same day. Its possible but quite rushed.

Map of Temple of Heaven compound. Its 25RMB for the entry fee to the park and to the monuments. Otherwise it would be just 5RMB for the park entry:

The park is so happening lah. The Chinese are really one bunch of active folks - especially the old ones!:

And they are soooo touchy-wouchy:

Playing 'chapteh':

Line dancing:

Some racket and ball dance:

The covered walkway is a hive of activities. From poker cards:

To 'karaoke':

To artistic expressions:

To 'jamming' sessions:

To full-on orchestra and choir:

Finally we reached the Temple of Heaven compound. This is the iconic 'Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest':

The temple used to be visited by emperors from the Ming and Qing dynasties for annual ceremonies of prayers for good harvest. It was built in 1406 - 1420.

The interior:

Had to jostle with locals for this shot (some had the didn't-wash-hair smell; YUCKS):

The dragons carved into the stone demarcates the Emperor's circulation:

Buildings flanking the hall:

The Imperial Vault of Heaven and the Circular Wall:

Weird trees:
The Imperial Vault of Heaven is surrounded by a perfectly circular wall, the Echo Wall. You can stand on one end and a friend on the other, and you can still hear each other talking:

Interior:

Next up was the Circular Mound Altar:

The Heavenly Center Stone:

Standing in the middle:

That's it, we later went to Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square.

Great Wall of China: Part 1

2009-12-17T10:12:00.001-08:00

We befriended our Welsh roommate, Daniel, who recommended that we went to the Great Wall together the next day. We booked the same hike he had booked earlier, not knowing, until it was too late, that it was going to be a 10km 4-hour hike.

The hike is a HIKE. Its a grueling 10km hike from Jinshanling to Simatai. Technically, it is 19km with all the slopes you have to climb up and down, up and down, up and down.

Jinshanling is a section of Great Wall in another province (Luangping county) and Simatai is in the same province as Beijing (Minyun county). I had actually wanted to opt for the more touristy (and restored) Badaling section of the Great Wall - just take a bus, get down, take pictures, hop on again and move on to the next section...

But no... we HAD to take the less touristy and more scenic one! All 10 friggin km!!!

The whole trip costed us 350RMB. It includes the travelling, lunch, the 40RMB entrance fee for the Jinshanling section and 50RMB entrance fee for the Simatai section.

The bus journey took almost 4 hours. We had to wake up really early so it was okay that we got to sleep during the bus ride.

We had an English-speaking tour guide who sounded really weird like one of those computer translation thingy and the voice would translate and pronounce word by word and the emphasis is all over the place?

She warned us about locals... but we didn't know that they would be THAT irritating. She didn't join us for the hike but instead gave us 'directions', "remember to turn left at the so-and-so tower, otherwise you will get lost". Gee, thanks.

The map, not drawn to scale obviously, the wall is way longer than that. Try 32 watch towers...:

Here's a tip: If you are Chinese, do not let the locals know you can speak Chinese. Speak English, pretend to be ABCs or pretend you are Hongkies who speak only Canto.

Bottomline is, DO NOT befriend the locals and speak to them. Ignore them. Pretend you don't understand.

Why? Because they will stick with you during the beginning of the hike and irritate the hell out of you despite you telling them to buzz off. They will try to 'help' you out - take pictures, 'guide' you etc.... All this because, you know, they want you to buy souvenirs from them. It was so irritating then, I was really pissed off. But now, I have to admit, I do think they are really quite pitiful, having to climb the precarious walls every single day to ply their trade...

And me brushing them aside was really kind of mean... Hmmm...

Pestered by the locals from the very beginning. You can hear them telling other locals along the way who were their 'targets'.

Could finally see the Great Wall!:

We were such in a hurry to shake the locals off (unsuccessfully, of course), we were running up the beginning of the hike from the foot on the hill to the wall itself. We were almost out of breath. But of course, we couldn't shake off the locals. They were stuck to us like glue and every single one of us had a 'parasite'.

Finally on the wall!:

Half the people you see there are the 'parasitic' locals:

I was a bit annoyed because the locals were somehow always in my frame... They even offered to help us take our pictures, which we declined (cause we were more irritated than anything else).

Locals in the frame again:

Emo shot:

The initial parts of Jinshanling has been carefully restored like those in the Badaling section. Watch towers with tiled roofs can be found only in the 'restored' sections.

The locals again. Sticking to us like glue:

First of many many flights of stairs going up. No sweat...:

See this picture? The people of the right are the locals...:

Still can cam-whore... Its only been 3 watch towers. 29 more to go:

Nice:

Emo again:

Still a long long way to go, the towers are spaced 50 to 100m apart, depending on the need.

This is where the restored areas end and the 'original' ruins begin:

Yup, they were this bad:

"Damn you Mongolians!!!" - South Park

We were already getting dehyrated and tired:

And this section of the wall was getting more and more precarious. We managed to outrun the locals when after we 'merged' with a Caucasian group after us, we quickly flanked around the group and managed to outrun them without the locals realising. LOL. Who says NS isn't useful?

But only one had to follow us still and that is because Pam is too nice of a person to be ignoring her.

Pam and her 'bodyguard':

Still. Have. Energy. To. Cam-whore.

Pam and her 'Guardian Angel':

Pam and her 'God-ma' now:

The following section of the wall was getting more and more almost impossible to climb and walk on:

ARGH!!! Where are the steps???:

WDF???:

We were seriously on our hands and knees crawling up this particular impossibly steep flight of stairs:

Don't be fooled. The steps are so steep, you are always thinking it would be a drop-off:

Going down is just as hard as climbing up!:

See Part 2 for more pictures!

Great Wall of China: Part 2

2009-12-17T09:23:00.001-08:00

It was getting really really tiring... We were thinking we might be one of the last groups from our tour bus (which we were)...

Some of the towers were really difficult to climb in and out:

Sun Wukong:

Princess:

Bruce Lee:

Some towers, like this one, couldn't even be accessed. So what you have to do is walk around it:

A sectional detail of the wall:

Back on track:

Around this time, Yeow was having leg cramps (so was I...):

Like a golden dragon, no?

We decided to have a fun group shot. Of course, it had to be kung fu shots right?

Karate Kid:

Falling off the 'edge':

Nah.. Just steeps steps down:

Around this time, Pam's 'God-ma' had to bid us farewell (and of course, Pam bought something from her...).

Yeow was starting to be hurting...:

Karate Kid Part 2.
Have the face ready. Get into the mood:

Pose. And maintain the facial expression:

This was the Simatai Section where they will check for your tickets:

The 'walkway' has been restored:

STEEP:

SHAGGED:

Our end point was getting closer:

After 30 towers, and almost 5 hours later, we found the damn bridge. After crossing it, we had to climb up two more towers before we had to make our way to the rendezvous point:

Our final watch tower before we turned right and walk back down:

You have to pay 5RMB after you have crossed this bridge:

Goats and sheeps are really important in these parts. Even when the walls were being built many centuries ago, they had used the help of sheeps and goats to carry bricks and stones!:

There was a choice between walking down (25 minutes hike again) or an under a minute flying fox down!

Of course I took the flying fox down. So did Ashley and Pam. Yeow and Huiloh opted to walk down instead.

Only 35RMB, but the feeling was priceless:

Half dead:

Finally at the rendezvous point where a van picked us up to bring us to a restaurant for lunch:

Found a cat while waiting for the van.

And so we found out we took almost 6 hours and there were alot of teams already waiting for us... We were the second last group to reach the restaurant but hey, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

Beijing!

2009-12-17T03:37:00.000-08:00

So we left Shanghai for Beijing via train. While waiting for the train, we saw a lady quarreling with a cleaner who had unknowingly throw away her umbrella when that lady went to the toilet.

OMG. She was tiny, but boy, was the lady loud... Not to be outdone, the cleaner was screaming her head off too at the lady. And so was the manager when the lady demanded to talk to him. WDH rite?

That is the Shanghainese for you... They are forever quarrelling and loud.

But back to the train ride, it was firstly, very expensive! More expensive than a domestic flight from Shanghai to Beijing! But so worth it! Very the high class with comfortable beds and personal cable TVs (I watched Mr & Mrs Smith in Chinese, lol!).

The 5 of us were spilt cause it was a 4-person cabin - 3 and 2. Pam, Ashley and I had to share with this uncle who was snoring the roof off... ARGH. But I was too preoccupied clogging the toilet bowl with my ehem...

So we reached Beijing the next day at 7am and we took a subway to our lodge.
The lodge was actually a hutong siheyuan converted into a really cozy inn. A hutong is a type of narrow street commonly found and associated to Beijing. Siheyuan is a traditional courtyard house.:

The covered 'courtyard':

Our lodge, The Red Lantern, a siheyuan:

Hutongs:

The shopping district around our place at Jishuitan:

MacDonald's finally!!! Ahh... Filet-O-Fish!

Yummy Nestea drink!

We decided to look for a bank to exchange money. But we ended up getting really lost.

'Accidentally' found a mosque!:

Bank after bank rejected us ("sorry, we don't accept Singapore dollars"), we decided to give up and instead took the subway to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Park:

Near the subway station:

Beijing 2008 Olympic tower:

Baby-for-sale?:

Indoor stadium... boring...:

This is what we came all the way to see! The 'Bird Nest':

Designed by world famous Swiss architects, Herzog and de Meuron, the Bird Nest is really awesome!:

Even the lamps leading into the stadium looks like the bird nest!:

We paid S$5 to enter (half price for students):

Really cool!:

Looks smaller than I imagine:

Go team Singapore!:

WDF Team Singapore?:

The mesh of beams:

Dead snowmen:

Saw people skating around the park:

The mess under the roof:

Water Cube!:

The tensile cloth for the roof:

At the highest flight of stairs:

Huh?:

Again? Ook...:

Not many people might realise this but the stadium's walls are mostly red:

The Water Cube upclose... Boarded up... too bad...:

The whole Bird Nest:

We later had dinner somewhere near the campus of the 3 Beijing exchange students:

The Beijing exchange students - Keyang, Hancheng and Sam:

Back to Shanghai. And dying.

2009-12-16T09:55:00.000-08:00

Argh.. I was so terribly sick when we got back to Shanghai. So much so that I forgo dinner once we got back to our hotel (the same one we stayed at for the first few days in Shanghai).

*If you are easily disgusted by graphic description of anything and everything disgusting like vomit and faeces, I suggest you don't continue reading the entry*

Chunks of food (I remember one particular huge piece of mushroom getting stuck in the sink) and rice will be vomited out if I'm lucky. If I'm not so lucky, I would have to fly to the toilet to take a dump as soon as I eat anything. The food goes through undigested and out (some still in huge chunks) with nothing but water. Its like peeing through the ass.

And then the 'water' turned black. All thanks to the countless charcoal pills I took. And then green cause I took May's green diarrhea pills.

Oh my God, I remember crying myself to sleep that night cause I was so cold (damn heater wasn't working), hungry and in so much pain... My roommate for that day was Khai instead of Joshua cause Khai and I would not be staying there the next night (unlike the others, Joshua included, who were not travelling to Beijing and heading back to Singapore two days later).

Khai's flight was early the next morning. And I was supposed to head to May/Liangping/Wenhui's place to bunk in before taking the 7pm train to Beijing the next day, leaving me the whole day to travel around.

That was supposed to be the plan BUT although it was one of the best days we have seen in Shanghai (sunny and warm), I was too sick to even leave their place. So instead I rested on their sofa overlooking the 31st storey view of Shanghai. Like a cat doozing off under the summer sun, I tried to recuperate.

Then that night, Yeow, Huiloh, Ashley, Pamela and I, took a cab from their place to the train station.

Suzhou.

2009-12-15T23:58:00.000-08:00

After lunch we decided to visit the famous gardens of Suzhou. The gardens there can be traced as far back as the Spring and Autumn Period (770 BC - 476 BC). But it was during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties that the garden art of Suzhou was at its zenith. The one we went to was the Zhuozheng (Humble Administrator's) Garden:

The garden is so huge that there are sections. You enter through the east garden:

Moon gate to central garden:

Bamboo hall:

Getting into the mood at the 'Orange Pavilion':

Just going to let the pictures do the talking. To find out the names of each pavilion, see here. Some of the names are ridiculous like the 'Think Deep Aim High' pavilion.

'Mountain in View' tower:

Fagrant Isle:

Again, getting the mood right at the 'Flying Rainbow' bridge (hard to believe I was really sick, aye?):

The Princess and the Warrior:

The West Garden:

The name of this pavilion takes the cake - 'With Whom Shall I Sit?' pavilion:

This is the 'Hall of 36 Mandrian Ducks and 18 Camellias':

I wonder if the name would keep changing if the ducks keep dying...:

Floating Green Tower:

My favourite picture, the 'Pagoda Reflection' pavilion:

The East Garden:

House of Sweet Smelling Rice:

Celestial Spring tower:

And that's all. Had to board the bus again cause I was feeling sick again...

But not before taking a stroll through the shopping areas! Haha!

Suzhou.

2009-12-15T23:50:00.000-08:00

After leaving Hangzhou, we headed for Suzhou. Suzhou is just north of Hangzhou and west of Shanghai.

Had a 'free' performance for dinner.

Then some of us decided to go walk around Suzhou's shopping district:

Interesting place, had a temple in the middle:

Tourist traps:

Cool streets with cool street lamps. Suzhou definitely fits my stereotypical Chinese 'city' envision. Chinese architecture everywhere! From street lamps to bus stops.

One of the unique Chinese-styled bus stops!:

Next day, it was off to see Suzhou Museum.

The museum was right smack in a very Chinese old town of Suzhou, encircled by a moat that feeds a labyrinth of canals.

Designed by I.M. Pei, Suzhou Museum is able to blend in with the very traditional white-washed walls and gray-tiled roofs of Suzhou architecture surrounding it despite looking extremely contemporary. Its probably due to the colour sensitivity, its volume and dimensions, and the arrangement of gardens and courtyards.

It houses ancient Chinese art, calligrahies and paintings. Ceramics:

Bamboo pieces:

Ivory:

The museum also boasts a garden and 'lake':

The museum continues into a series of Chinese historic architectural complex of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom also known as the Zhong Wang Fu (Prince Zhong's mansion):

Very nice gardens:

Old Chinese Opera stage:

Costumes:

More exhibitions:

Zhong Wang Fu (Prince Zhong's Mansion):

His thrown:

His bust (possibly?):

While walking around the museum I was feeling really weak and sick... Probably because of what I ate the day(s) before... I had vomited a couple of times the night before and on that day, I was feeling really queasy.

And so we (Khai accompanied sick me) boarded the bus way ahead of the others as I tried to recover and rest. Then it was off for lunch but not before I popped in some charcoal pills. Felt better for a while. And fortunately, lunch was international buffet and not another salty Chinese-styled one...

Hangzhou.

2009-12-15T23:31:00.000-08:00

On the first night we reached Hangzhou, after dinner, some of decided to try a full body massage at the spa beside our place. Its really just good 'clean' massage... in case you are wondering...

So the guys and girls went into separate rooms. And coincidentally only the foreign exchange students went for the massage with me. So there we were, the five of us, two South Koreans, one Norwegian, one French and one moi, a Malay Singaporean. It was freaking hilarious as they depended on me to translate between Chinese and English cause the masseurs couldn't speak a word of English. I was 'max'-ing out my Mandarin... Never before have I spoken so much Mandarin before... It was very hilarious when I just gave up and kept quiet, listening to the chicken and ducks talking... Hahaha...

The next day we woke up to see more of Wang Shu's works in Hangzhou... Seriously, I was getting very sick of Wang Shu.

This is some university campus, the Architecture department:

I wish my school is as interesting as this:

Students' works:

Pardon our emo shots:

We then visited other departments like Industrial Design department:

Seriously, the maze of ramps outside will never work as fire escape routes... I rather go into the building and burn:

I was really disappointed cause not only were we really sick of looking at Wang Shu's works, there was also a delay and because of the rain too, so we missed out on cycling around Hangzhou's West Lake. We had to settle on lunch there instead.

Some of us decided to eat at Pizza Hut:

I had seafood pasta and hot chocolate and pizza... yummy...
Super cheezzzzy... (might have been the cause of my food poisoning but more on that later):

Just as we were about to board the bus, I realised that we were parked beside the famous Hangzhou West Lake pavilion. Had to take these few shots before leaving for Suzhou:

Hangzhou has other nice Chinese architecture and gardens but we didn't get to see any cause of the delays and rain... Sigh... But there is still Suzhou to look forward to.

Ning Bo... ring.

2009-12-15T09:04:00.000-08:00

The very next day we had to go to another city, Ningbo. So we left Shanghai, not before getting some breakfast from the street stalls near our hotel (the food in our hotel's restaurant SUCKS):

And so began our 4 hours plus drive to Ningbo. If you don't know where it is, its south of Shanghai, across the Hangzhou Bay. But thanks to the Hangzhou Bay bridge, time to travel to Ningbo has been more than halved... but it still took 4 long hours:First up, it was to Nottingham Ningbo University:

This was the building we came all the way to Ningbo just to see:

The Centre for Sustainable Energy Technologies:They use all kinds of passive energy and systems to run the building, from solar power and a wind turbine to generate electricity to even geothermal energy to warm the insides:

Fan-shaped and inspired by lanterns and a dancing (contortioning) lady:Has a glass floor too:Central light well that lights up the interior:The whole DTS track peeps:We finally settled into our hotel rooms.. Joshua and I had the second best room! Haha. I'm always lucky with hotel rooms... 2-storeys as opposed to the others' single...:

It feels like a loft:

We later had dinner and I finally got to try their famous hairy crabs!:

Later, some of us decided to shop around at Ningbo's shopping district. Look! TESCO!:

We bought cool 'South Park' hats! LOL:Next morning we went to travel around Ningbo some more. The nice stone houses of the hotel we were staying at:First up was Ningbo Art Museum designed by Wang Shu, a rather famous Chinese architect. His works are very 'zen' and controlled, a contemporary take on Chinese architecture with its courtyards and simplicity:

Haha.. More South Park pictures in the toilet...:

Building beside the museum looks like its trying too hard...:

Another cool building:

The 'Xintiandi' of Ningbo... Might be equally 'happening' at night:

This is totally candid... Right...:Some cathedral:

After that it was off to Ningbo Museum, again by Wang Shu:Really nice and cool. He reuses bricks and tiles for his walls:

He uses bamboo for the framework to his concrete, so you see the beautiful impressions?:

Cool historical stuff in the museum:

Of course we couldn't resist cam-whoring...:

The rooftop of the museum is really cool:

Then it was off to the Five Scattered Teahouses, designed by - you guessed it - Wang Shu:Teahouse number 1:Crazy German tutor Florian:Number 2:Number 3:

Number 4And number 5:We later drove on to Hangzhou where it was snowing!!! And where we went for dinner, there was a wedding!:

Shanghai Kiss.

2009-12-15T05:48:00.000-08:00

The next day we woke really really early to visit the Hunter Douglas factory somewhere out of the city area in some really ulu factory district. It took us over 2 hours to reach the place!
The current Hunter Douglas factory: It was really cold inside the factory area and these two girls, Ying Ying and Zheqing were freezing; Ashley had to share a bit of her body warmth:Next it was to an exhibition for the Shanghai 2010 Expo. Yes, there is such a thing as an exhibition for an exhibition! Held at some shopping centre:Singapore!:

Malaysia...:The mascot:Trying to look the part:

Our guide with his bad English (at least he was trying):The exhibition site:

That rice cooker is Singapore's pavilion:

The China pavilion:

Theme Pavilion:

Performance Centre:Exhibits from past World Expos:The first phone:

The first cash register and Ferris wheel (model):

Next it was to an art/painting gallery:

Next we went to 1933 - buildings which were former factories and abattoir (argh.. haram haram!):It really nice, the buildings have been converted into shopping centres with restaurants and bars:The inside of the slaughterhouse is a labyrinth of stairs, corridors and ramps:

You can go all the way up to walk on a glass floor:Khai:Yeow and Hui Loh:The outside is equally if not more labyrinth-like:

Unfortunately, because of its far location from the city centre, the shops are not fully leased out:We later met up with Liangping and my baobei, May, took the subway to see the Pearl of the Orient and the Bund from across the river:

It was crazy! The mist!:

After dinner at a restaurant at the shopping centre near the Pearl, we rushed over to the Bund because according to Liangping, they would turn the lights off at 9pm. So we ran in the rain from the Pearl to the Bund... Only to find out that they don't turn off the lights at 9pm sharp...:

Shanghai Night!

2009-12-15T04:56:00.000-08:00

We went to the Pudong area later that night. Pudong district is where the iconic skyscrapers are located (including the Oriental Pearl), across the Huangpu river from the Bund (a stretch of colonial buildings).

This is the pagoda-looking Jin Mao Tower (designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill):

And this is the skyscraper we went up, the Shanghai World Financial Center (SWFC):

The SWFC is the world's third tallest building after Burj Dubai and Taipei 101 (seen them both!) at 492m and 101 storey. It was originally designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox with a circular aperture but after some protests from some of the Chinese (because it resembles the rising sun on the Japanese flag), the hole was changed to a trapezoidal-shaped one. It now looks like a bottle opener - there is even a Shanghainese commercial for a soft drink using the building as one!

Up we go to visit the 3 observation decks (on the 94th, 97th and 100th storey):

The 97th storey's observation deck, called the 'Observatory Bridge'.

That's clear glass for the floor!

I really love the Jin Mao Tower.

Hate the Pearl.

But still take picture...

The other side of the deck:

CKM Studio!

DTS peeps!:

It was past 4pm and we were lingering around hoping they would turn on the Pearl's lights:

Didn't happen... It only happened when we were back down...

I like to ruin pictures for people:

We later had dinner at Xintiandi. Its a collection of conserved 'stone gate' (shikumen) houses on narrow streets and alleys, now serving as cafes, restaurants, bars and stores. Its really 'atas' and pricey. But really romantic and cool with nice relaxing ambience and vibrant nightlife. Most of the restaurants and bars there are owned by Singaporean and Hong Konger businessmen, so expect better service than the best that a Shanghainese venture can offer.

Shanghai Noon.

2009-12-14T09:28:00.000-08:00

The next day we woke bright and early for a whole day of touring around Shanghai.

Shanghai is very huge!!! Seriously, travelling around is such a bitch. We were staying at one of the hotels of hotel chain Motel 168 around the centre. Pretty decent. We could see the Pearl along the way to and fro our hotel.

Shanghai cityscape:

Let me introduce these two 'gatecrashers'. They are Liangping and my dearest baobei, May. They, along with Wenhui (not in picture), are in Shanghai on a school exchange programme and they decided to join us for the tour on that day (all expenses paid, of course):

First stop Shanghai Sculpture Space:

Pretty nice place... but it was quite chilly:

Ashley and her 'hadoogen':

Not to be outdone, me and the 'Karate Kid':

The 'Thinking Man' got fat:

My baobei has lesbian tendencies sometimes... lol:

I took a picture of this horse's dick but I shall spare you the realism of the penis:

Learned aye?:

The Sculpture Space is a collection of factory buildings abandoned since the glorious industrial days...

Interesting contemporary Chinese and Western-fusion art works:

Couldn't resist:

Couldn't resist this one either:

And I especially couldn't resist this one:

My baobei and I at Starbucks to warm our tummies...:

Next it was to the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall, beside the People's Square. Once again, travelling around is such a bitch:

Before we headed to the exhibition hall, we had dinner at this floating 'dragon' restaurant (under this huge*ss bridge)

I so love omelettes:

The Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall:

Yes, that says 'Capitaland', and guess what? That's Raffles City in Shanghai!:

Inside the exhibition hall, model of the Bund:

Huge model of Shanghai's iconic buildings:

There was also the Shanghai Expo 2010 exhibition:

Huge model of Shanghai city! See how big Shanghai really is!:

People's Square:

Communist posters in an exhibition at the highest floor:

They obviously hate(d) the Americans:

The other side of People's Square:

That vessel looking building is the Shanghai Museum:

More posters (I bought a pink 'Communist' tee shirt):

Shanghai Baby!

2009-12-14T09:16:00.000-08:00

By the time we reached Shanghai and settle into our hotel rooms, it was close to evening (technically, it was only 5pm but the sun sets early cause its winter). The groups that reached Shanghai before us had the whole day to see parts of Shanghai and they later joined us at the hotel to have dinner at this place:
I don't know if its Thai-influenced or some Chinese-tribal cuisine, but the food wasn't very nice...
Argh... I had to turn vegetarian once again for the trip.
There were some performance... so it wasn't that bad:
But it felt a bit 'primary school'-y:
After dinner we bought some small mandarin oranges and roasted chestnut to warm our insides... Oh, and I bought a cool lazer pointer (I didn't bargain... first day mah... so it was a bit pricey for 40RMB or S$8). But its damn kickass... I could point for miles and miles... seriously!

That's all for the night!

The start.

2009-12-14T09:09:00.000-08:00

Our trip to China started with a transit in Kuala Lumpur (we took Malaysian Airlines). Some took China Eastern airlines and the tutors took Singapore Airlines. So you can imagine that we were going there 'by batches'; some went to Shanghai earlier, some (myself included) went later.

Nicole, Rina and me:
First time in Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA). Really nice I have to admit, better than Singapore Airport.
With Joshua:
Ching Chong land, here we come!

Countdown.

2009-10-31T03:43:00.000-07:00

Countdown To China