Sunday, December 31, 2006
Shanghai, Suzhou and Wuxi
Haven't managed to continue the update as I've been quite busy over the past few days.
Anyway, we went to Song Qing Ling tomb, which was basically a nice garden with some tombs in it. They even had a tomb for their maid. We were then brought to a nearby shop where a fengshui master explained how the architecture of Shanghai's buildings is associated with fengshui. After a rather long talk, she tried to get us to buy some stuff which is supposed to bring us good luck for the new year. This kind of thing will be repeated quite often in the days ahead.
After lunch, we took the tour bus to Suzhou and went to see the Zhou residence. It was actually a little village and we toured a couple of the houses. The unique thing about this village is their easy access to water transport. One of the homes even has its own little harbour.
One of Suzhou's specialities is their crab. These are quite small and I found them hard to eat. Didn't seem worth the trouble for so little meat.
The next day, we went to see a few more tourist attractions. It seemed like the rich Chinese of the past were very very free. The women were confined at home while the men had all day to read books, write poems, make music and pass their time in idleness. They did make very nice homes and gardens for themselves though. The one we visited had a pond, lots of greenery and even a man made mountain.
Next was a visit to a silk factory. We saw how they unravelled the silk cocoons and made them into silk blankets. It seems to be all a big show. After we left the factory area, they all stopped working. It's all part of a sales pitch leading up to the showroom where we actually buy the stuff.
After lunch, we went onto Wuxi. Our first stop was at 三国城(san1 guo2 cheng2), which was where built mock ups of ancient Chinese buildings and warships for filming purposes. The best part of this attraction was the mock battle staged in a large sand arena. The stunts the actors did on horseback were quite exciting.
The last stop before dinner was a place where they make ceramic teapots. The material is unique and these teapots are only made in that part of the world. The workmanship is very nice and the teapots are well designed. However, none of us bought any and that seemed to annoy the local guide. He spent a long time after that explaining to us the difference between 逛街 and shopping. According to his definitions, when shopping, it is compulsory to buy something. Since he had brought us to a shopping stop, we were thus compelled to buy something. None of us really paid much attention to him. He was probably annoyed because he couldn't get any commission.
The next day, we went to yet another garden. It was quite nice and there is a view of a large lake. By this time the tour guide seemed to have lost all heart, and his explanations were robotic, with no passion in them. He even wanted to skip the visit to a pearl design centre, but in the end we went. This time the explanation was on how valuable pearls are and which types are the most valuable, after which we were free to look around and buy them. These things are very expensive, so the group as a whole only bought a few small trinkets, which can't have pleased the guide too much. Anyway, that was the last we would see of him, as we moved on to Nanjing after lunch.
Anyway, we went to Song Qing Ling tomb, which was basically a nice garden with some tombs in it. They even had a tomb for their maid. We were then brought to a nearby shop where a fengshui master explained how the architecture of Shanghai's buildings is associated with fengshui. After a rather long talk, she tried to get us to buy some stuff which is supposed to bring us good luck for the new year. This kind of thing will be repeated quite often in the days ahead.
After lunch, we took the tour bus to Suzhou and went to see the Zhou residence. It was actually a little village and we toured a couple of the houses. The unique thing about this village is their easy access to water transport. One of the homes even has its own little harbour.
One of Suzhou's specialities is their crab. These are quite small and I found them hard to eat. Didn't seem worth the trouble for so little meat.
The next day, we went to see a few more tourist attractions. It seemed like the rich Chinese of the past were very very free. The women were confined at home while the men had all day to read books, write poems, make music and pass their time in idleness. They did make very nice homes and gardens for themselves though. The one we visited had a pond, lots of greenery and even a man made mountain.
Next was a visit to a silk factory. We saw how they unravelled the silk cocoons and made them into silk blankets. It seems to be all a big show. After we left the factory area, they all stopped working. It's all part of a sales pitch leading up to the showroom where we actually buy the stuff.
After lunch, we went onto Wuxi. Our first stop was at 三国城(san1 guo2 cheng2), which was where built mock ups of ancient Chinese buildings and warships for filming purposes. The best part of this attraction was the mock battle staged in a large sand arena. The stunts the actors did on horseback were quite exciting.
The last stop before dinner was a place where they make ceramic teapots. The material is unique and these teapots are only made in that part of the world. The workmanship is very nice and the teapots are well designed. However, none of us bought any and that seemed to annoy the local guide. He spent a long time after that explaining to us the difference between 逛街 and shopping. According to his definitions, when shopping, it is compulsory to buy something. Since he had brought us to a shopping stop, we were thus compelled to buy something. None of us really paid much attention to him. He was probably annoyed because he couldn't get any commission.
The next day, we went to yet another garden. It was quite nice and there is a view of a large lake. By this time the tour guide seemed to have lost all heart, and his explanations were robotic, with no passion in them. He even wanted to skip the visit to a pearl design centre, but in the end we went. This time the explanation was on how valuable pearls are and which types are the most valuable, after which we were free to look around and buy them. These things are very expensive, so the group as a whole only bought a few small trinkets, which can't have pleased the guide too much. Anyway, that was the last we would see of him, as we moved on to Nanjing after lunch.
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Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Shanghai
I just got back from China a couple of days ago. My family went with a tour group to Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Wuxi and a couple more places. I'll blog about it here, the length of the posts will depend on how lazy I am, haha. There may be some Chinese words here and there. I'll include the hanyu pinyin for those whose computer can't display Chinese text.
We woke up very early to catch the SQ flight to Shanghai. The rest of the tour group took some other airline, but we had to take SQ because we booked too late and the other flight was full. As a result, we got there later than the rest.
The tour guide met us at the airport. She was holding up a little paper sign stating what tour group she's leading. We boarded the bus and went to 南京步行街。 (nanjing bu4 xing2 jie1) This is basically a pedestrian shopping street.
The way of life in a busy city like Shanghai is very different. Their level of courtesy makes Singapore look good in comparison. The people there don't queue, it seems like a foreign concept to them. We were buying some snacks at a little stall. They have a window for customers to buy food. In Singapore, there would be a nice orderly queue. Not so in Shanghai. Instead they have this mass of people crowding around the window, all clamouring for attention. To buy anything, you have to join the scrum and push your way to the front.
There is also no respect for personal space. At the airport, we had to hand in a health declaration form. Apparently you have to hand in different forms at difference counters, but I didn't know that, so I gave the guy at the first counter all the documents. He took some time to sort those out. Meanwhile, another Chinese guy who obviously knows the system was waiting directly behind him, instead of behind the line drawn on the ground like he should be doing.
Traffic is chaos as well. Traffic lights are guidelines rather than strict rules to be followed. It is very common to see vehicles driving nonchalantly past red lights. Zebra crossings exist, but don't expect vehicles to stop. You have to spot the gaps to cross the road. This is true at traffic lights too. Even when the lights are against them, they still have the audacity to horn at people crossing at the pedestrian crossings.
In Sg, turning vehicles have to give way to pedestrians. This isn't true in Shanghai, or any of the other parts of China I visited on this tour. The vehicles will actually just drive right through a crowd of pedestrians. Lonely Planet is right. You have to look in all directions when crossing roads.
As we're not really the shopping type, we just wandered up and down the street, waiting for the time when we were supposed to return and meet the tour guide and the rest of our group. Here's an idea of what the street looks like.
After dinner, we went to the Oriental Pearl Tower. It's very much like the Sydney Tower, a large tall structure with an observation deck. The observation deck of the Oriental Pearl Tower is 263m above the ground. The night view of Shanghai is spectacular, as many of their skyscrapers are very well lit. As this was a guided tour, we stopped there for a whirlwind photo session before moving on to the next item on the programme, a cruise down the Huangpu river.
Once again, the selfish mentality of the Chinese nationals showed. They talked loudly, push and shoved to get to the upper deck, smoked everywhere and insisted on hogging the good photo spots. All this only applies to those I've seen. I know many others who are very polite and courteous. Anyway, the skyline of Shanghai is beautiful. Here's a picture. That alien looking structure on the left with the pointy tip is the Oriental Pearl Tower. Ignoring the loud music and constant cigarette smoke, the view from the boat was very good. Finding a good smoke free spot to enjoy it was the main challenge.
This concludes the first day of our tour in China. More will be coming, hope I'm not boring you people.
We woke up very early to catch the SQ flight to Shanghai. The rest of the tour group took some other airline, but we had to take SQ because we booked too late and the other flight was full. As a result, we got there later than the rest.
The tour guide met us at the airport. She was holding up a little paper sign stating what tour group she's leading. We boarded the bus and went to 南京步行街。 (nanjing bu4 xing2 jie1) This is basically a pedestrian shopping street.
The way of life in a busy city like Shanghai is very different. Their level of courtesy makes Singapore look good in comparison. The people there don't queue, it seems like a foreign concept to them. We were buying some snacks at a little stall. They have a window for customers to buy food. In Singapore, there would be a nice orderly queue. Not so in Shanghai. Instead they have this mass of people crowding around the window, all clamouring for attention. To buy anything, you have to join the scrum and push your way to the front.
There is also no respect for personal space. At the airport, we had to hand in a health declaration form. Apparently you have to hand in different forms at difference counters, but I didn't know that, so I gave the guy at the first counter all the documents. He took some time to sort those out. Meanwhile, another Chinese guy who obviously knows the system was waiting directly behind him, instead of behind the line drawn on the ground like he should be doing.
Traffic is chaos as well. Traffic lights are guidelines rather than strict rules to be followed. It is very common to see vehicles driving nonchalantly past red lights. Zebra crossings exist, but don't expect vehicles to stop. You have to spot the gaps to cross the road. This is true at traffic lights too. Even when the lights are against them, they still have the audacity to horn at people crossing at the pedestrian crossings.
In Sg, turning vehicles have to give way to pedestrians. This isn't true in Shanghai, or any of the other parts of China I visited on this tour. The vehicles will actually just drive right through a crowd of pedestrians. Lonely Planet is right. You have to look in all directions when crossing roads.
As we're not really the shopping type, we just wandered up and down the street, waiting for the time when we were supposed to return and meet the tour guide and the rest of our group. Here's an idea of what the street looks like.
After dinner, we went to the Oriental Pearl Tower. It's very much like the Sydney Tower, a large tall structure with an observation deck. The observation deck of the Oriental Pearl Tower is 263m above the ground. The night view of Shanghai is spectacular, as many of their skyscrapers are very well lit. As this was a guided tour, we stopped there for a whirlwind photo session before moving on to the next item on the programme, a cruise down the Huangpu river.
Once again, the selfish mentality of the Chinese nationals showed. They talked loudly, push and shoved to get to the upper deck, smoked everywhere and insisted on hogging the good photo spots. All this only applies to those I've seen. I know many others who are very polite and courteous. Anyway, the skyline of Shanghai is beautiful. Here's a picture. That alien looking structure on the left with the pointy tip is the Oriental Pearl Tower. Ignoring the loud music and constant cigarette smoke, the view from the boat was very good. Finding a good smoke free spot to enjoy it was the main challenge.
This concludes the first day of our tour in China. More will be coming, hope I'm not boring you people.
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Sunday, December 17, 2006
Going away
Will be away for a week. Merry Christmas everyone.
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Saturday, December 16, 2006
Random thought
JY once said that he's always the last to know everything, even about himself. Sometimes I get that feeling.
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Thursday, December 14, 2006
Happy Feet
Watched happy feet on Tuesday with my platoon mates, jol, and her friend. The movie wasn't too bad, but I felt that it's not good enough to watch again. The cute little baby penguins were the main attraction of the show, but after awhile they grew up and weren't so cute anymore. However, the antics of the other species of penguin were hilarious.
Personally, I think it's worth watching from Monday to Wednesday, but there's not much point watching it again.
Personally, I think it's worth watching from Monday to Wednesday, but there's not much point watching it again.
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Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Church Camp
Got back from church camp on Monday, and I've been busy with a few other hall activities, so this is my first blog post in 10 days. Wow, seems very long, I hope I haven't lost all my faithful readers.
Due to various circumstances, I had to manage the camp on the 1st day. It went pretty smoothly, and I had more games than necessary to pass the time. The rest of the camp was quite fun and we really learnt a lot from the messages.
I've been going to school for the past 2 days. Yesterday for hockey training and today for photography for some hall event. There's more hockey training tomorrow. As a result, I've been in the sun a lot over the past week. There's this band on my left arm caused by my watch. It's becoming more prominent now.
Due to various circumstances, I had to manage the camp on the 1st day. It went pretty smoothly, and I had more games than necessary to pass the time. The rest of the camp was quite fun and we really learnt a lot from the messages.
I've been going to school for the past 2 days. Yesterday for hockey training and today for photography for some hall event. There's more hockey training tomorrow. As a result, I've been in the sun a lot over the past week. There's this band on my left arm caused by my watch. It's becoming more prominent now.
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Sunday, December 03, 2006
Exams are OVER
The countdown timer says it all, my exams are finally over!! Woohoo, now I have 7 more semesters of this to go. This one month holiday will be pretty busy, think I'll go crash hockey training. Results will be out on the 27th, no point worrying till then. To the rest who still have papers, good luck :)
