in SQ.
The 8 of us met up with our group's personal tour guide cum driver and went to our first stop in ShangHai- Oriental Pearl Tower.
At 1535 feet high, the tower is one of the tallest structure in China. Its one of the symbolic buildings of Shanghai.
The tower looks pretty at night!
We took a lift up to the peak to view the city.
Everyone freak out when i stand on the transparent panel thinking that it would break anytime. Seriously, how stupid can adults be?
After lunch, did i mention the food taste like shit?, we went to the City god temple 'Cheng Huang Miao' and look around.
The temple was originally for visitors to pray to some god. But it reaches its large popularity and led to many small business opportunities since it has busy streets. Over time, the temple was transformed into a market place rather then a temple for worshipers.
And so, the gods was shifted away and the place became a popular landmark for shoppers and tourist.
Poor 'gods'... What kind of ironic shit is this? Why can't people understand a simple phenomenon?
A statue can't do anything!
Anyway, the streets are full of LV and Gucci imitations. I got bored after awhile because every shop is basically the same.
Saw this vending machine for formal shirts in the hotel. Cool stuff.
Next morning, the group went to 'Nan Jing' road the main shopping street of Shanghai. Seriously, I don't see what's so nice to shop in Shanghai. Low quality stuffs, imitations everywhere. Zzzz
I got bored even before noon so i went to a nearby cafe to rest...
and drank long island tea in the morning.
What people do when they are bored and alone.
The weather is kinda misty and hazy.
Every meal, there are bound to be a big bottle of beer on the table. However, there's nothing for me to be excited about because my mum stares at me when i drink a glass and starts keeping the bottle when i want to pour a 2nd glass. Booooo! On top of that, many of their beer there only have 2.7% of alcohol which is like half of what we drink in Singapore. Double boooo!
We went to a jade factory which is like a total waste of time. Seriously, who the hell still wears jade these days? Plus, judging on how the sales girl offer us the prices, I became fed up and shoot her right in her face saying her way of doing business is very dishonest and pulled my mum away. She just stood there with her mouth open, hand still holding the piece of jade looking at us walking off. LOL
Zhou Zhuang is one of the most famous water townships in China. To me its like a rundown, Chinese version of Venice aka Venice of the East. The place is full of its cultural background and customs, ancient houses, and its famous bridges across the river.
There are many stone bridges across the river. All have a meaning of its own.
In one of the houses build back in the era of the Ming dynasty or something like that.
Traveled down to Suzhou's Couple retreat garden, a famous classical garden which is one of the world's heritage.
In the olden days where they do not have refrigerators, they use this well as a cooling conductor to store fruits and stuffs.
The garden is huge and its surrounded by canal from 3 sides. Hence, to complete the journey, we took a boat ride out.
This Ah Ma is super strong! Can literally feel her muscles!
China is known for its silk and Suzhou is most famous place for its fine silk production. We took a tour around the factory witnessing how a product is made from a small little cocoon to a comforter. We bought over 1000sgd of silk product.
Up next is Hang Zhou. Hangzhou is well known for its beautiful scenery. And the best location for such scenery is the 'xi hu' aka west lake. There's a deep profound history of west lake but i can't be bothered to listen as i was already wandering off alone in my own world.
After touring around, we took a cruise ride on the lake to view the surroundings.
'Lei Feng Ta'-The pagoda that is famous for jailing the White snake for eternity.
In the past, due to a superstitions, people believe that bricks from the tower could repel illness and prevent miscarriage. Many started stealing bricks from the tower to grind into powder to keep themselves healthy until one fine day, the pagoda finally collapsed.
"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
-Albert.Einstein-
After dinner, we went to one of the performing theater.
I must say that the performers is really skillful! Can imagine how hard the performers trained.
China is the birthplace for tea with the longest history of tea culture. We went to the the tea plantation in HangZhou-'Mei Jia Wu'(house of Mei) for some tea tasting and knowledge.
Walking in, we saw a man frying tea leaves with his bare hands! According to the tour guide, the man have to master some iron hand skill to withstand the heat.
The highest quality tea leaves is called the dragon well tea ('long jing'). The Tea leaves are pan-dried immediately after picking to prevent oxidation and bacterial growth.
And so, after mastering the skill to endure ultimate heat, the man sit on a stool in front of a fan and fry tea leaves for the rest of his life till death do he rest. Awesome!
The premium tea leaves are quite pricey and can cost up to 150SGD for a box. That's crazy! I rather use the money to open a bottle of Martel in boatquay.
Some famous scholar.
Giant teapot.
Went to The Cool Docks in Shanghai for dinner. Its like the tiny version of clarkquay.
C for Cradle!
After dinner, we hopped on a cruise and sailed around the city to view the night lights of the tall buildings.
Some pictures of my favorite shots i took during the ride:
This is just because it resembles Fullerton Hotel
Now, to the place that has been the main reason for this trip. WORLD EXPO!
The theme of the exposition is "Better City – Better Life" which signifies Shanghai's new status in this very century as the next great world city.
More than 190 countries and more than 50 international organizations have registered to participate in the Shanghai World Expo, the largest ever! This event has gotta be the world's record.
Its really really crowded. The entry itself into the expo is already very long.
Entering the expo, I see lots of individual exhibitions with the USA being the most popular. The waiting time inline into USA is 4 freaking hours! That's 3 times worst then Disneyland.
Disappointed, we left to other exhibits. SIGH! I really wanted to go USA!
Glad to know Singapore is quite popular too... which also means the line is very long. Zzz
We decided to line up for those countries with waiting time less then an hour because we only got 1 day to spend there.
So, first stop is Brazil!
I'm pretty curious to learn bout Brazil because the only thing i know bout that place is that they play soccer alot. Turns out, i'm right. The only thing bout that place is soccer. Nothing else
Took a ride to tour around the expo. Its really huge! 1 day is definitely not enough to tour the whole site.
"Our hearts flying!"
A streamlined ribbon, linking people throughout the world with love, is proud to voice the volunteers wish.
Spelling fail!!!
Went to some park(forget the name) for a stroll and realize that the park is really super huge! Its more like a town itself. zzz Almost got lost inside the area.
-End of trip-
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