This is to backdate the happenings in China....

1st Day in China

Took the night flight to 上海浦东机场 on 27 May 07 with Mum & Dad. Reached Shanghai at 630am.

Our tour guide met us at the airport. Wonder how he knew we were from that tour group! Anyway, he told us to sit down first, while he waited for the rest of the group.

Our tour guide is from 杭州... He is 董焕荣, but he told us to call him 小董... He is jus 2 years older than me!! Anyway, after he met the rest of the group, he brought us to load our lugguages on their mini travel bus.

Then he brought us to take their super fast train 磁浮列车。 It was reali very fast...Running at 301KPH. Reali alot more faster than our NEL, which is only running ard 70-80KPH...The ride was jus 20mins to the other station, 磁浮龙阳路站。It was only 8am when we reached.

After taking their special super fast train, we took the bus and went to 上海东方明珠塔。。。Went up to 263Metres Sightseeing floor... The lifts are not labeled as 1st floor, 2nd floor, 3rd floor,... but differentiated by the distance from GRD, the height of the building, like, 90Metres, 259metres, 263Metres, 267 Metres & 350Metres... Restaurant was at 267metres, space module at 350metres...blah blah...haha...

The view was superb. U can almost see everything from that height! Except that the weather there was reali bad, very hazy and tat blocked most of the view. If we went at night, guess it would haf been even best. The glass even showed how much distance 东方明珠塔 to another place, like distance to 重庆 1632Km，江西 600Km，湖南 880Km，山东省济南市 740Km，黑龙江哈尔滨 1700Km...We went down the steps for jus 1 floor and we reached the 259metres 室外观光层. U can reali feel the air outside lor. So cooling.

After that, we walked over to 外滩观光遂道。。。 Took another smaller "LRT". Jus one loop, to see their 3D laser lights display. Nothing much though. Jus abit like underwater world, cos they showing something like underwater aquarium...Jus the 5 mins trip costs RMB $35. Quite ex, yet nothing to see. The tour guide din reali did his job, as the few of us went in, the train door closes automatically, leaving the rest behind. So we had to wait for them for the next ride.

Next, 小董 brought us the 豫园老街 which is oso called 城皇庙 for shopping. Its own time for 1hr. But it is reali not enuff lor. Cos the place is so big, and so crowded. 3 of us jus wandering ard. Bought some wooden chopsticks & a small mahjong set. There is a very nice "小笼包" shop, which is having long queues. Some of the rest of our tour members went to try and had very nicce compliments for the shop. Tink if it wasn't for the long queue, maybe we would haf tried, but then again, if there is any queue, that means it is not nice rite?? haha...
btw, their 庙 is not reali temple 庙, its jus like 庙街, shopping street....keke ;P

After the free 1hr, we met up at 11am. Then took almost an hour bus ride for our lunch. Funny, they served their rice in a huge pot full like a mountain. Dished were even served before diners were here. Beer and soft drinks was served. And everyday, every meal, 10 dished were served along wif a bottle of beer and a bottle of soft drinks.

After lunch, 小董 told us to take a rest while we shall travel to 苏州 to see our very 新加坡-苏州工业园。。。 The bus ride took us another 2hrs. Such a long ride, travelling on expressway most of the time while in China, and this is jus the beginning.

After that, he met up wif another fellow tour guide from 苏州 小张 。 She is the 当地导游, which they called 地陪。。。They brought us to 苏州 藕园 for sightseeing and took a boat ride there. They were saying, 苏州 haf alot of rivers, so lookout for alot of bridges 桥。。。
Story of 藕园 was abt a rich family who lives in a big hse with all the old folks and children. Each of the family members had a 'building' of their own, alot of living rooms, alot of bedrooms, alot of ponds,...blah blah blah.... Those house u would see in 古装戏 lor... Got 正房, 偏房, pavilions.... walked around for almost 1hr.

Anyway, we took a boat ride there and ended up on the other side if the river. The 柳树真的很美... After that took another bus ride to 寒山寺...Its the same story person as in the HongKong show 翡翠恋曲 inside 的 寒山& 和合... This time round, it was reali temple, with lots of very nice and unique pagodas... Dad, Mum & i even climb up to one and the view was very nice.

After that, we took the bus for our dinner, stopped by any of the rivers for photo taking. Had our dinner at 530pm. And our tour guide reckon we were tired, so ended our 1st day program after dinner.

Hotel was another 1hrs' ride again. At a very 偏僻 place, without any shopping centers nor shops ard. Everywer was dark, and expressway was even beside it. 苏州 . 春申湖度假酒店. So we ended the day at 7pm.

Well, it was much too early than i expected. Cos we are paying for the tour guide services and they were jus so slacking. Not up to the standards, for tour guide, for services, for hotels.

Hotels were said to be 5 stars, but in the end, it was jus so ulu...They even switched of the aircon in the middle of the night, hotels rooms were full of mosquitoes and dirty. Well, next time, i wont be travelling with "5stars travel" again, even if their prices are the cheapest! Cos i feel they are short-changing us, with all the poor quality things and service, and watever they promised, were not true!! What rubbish, 5 stars hotels??!! These happens for the rest of the tour and rest of the group.

Haha...Other than the complaing part, does the itinery sounds interesting?? Shall continue the rest if the days next time. So watch out for the next post!! ;p