On 6 Aug late afternoon, I took off from home and landed in HK to meet up with my relatives before going to China. The following day 7 Aug, I took a flight onboard the China Eastern Airlines (which wasnt too bad actually) and landed in Nanjing Airport. The airport felt like a budget terminal lols, but at least it had 2 luggage belts, air-con and aerobridges.
Following that, we went straight to Tai Hu (太湖) to see how massive and marvellous the freshwater lake was. Try looking at it from Google Earth. I think it can swallow a few Singapores. My first impression of China was, hey its much more modern than i expected! The roads around Tai Hu are very well maintained! Probably because the whole place was recently renovated and many residential estates are being built. Even the city centre looks new. It was the first place i saw roads with electric bike paths on the sides.
It is followed by a dinner at a restaurant and finally back to the hotel. It was 3 star and yet WOW. The build quality of the hotels might not be good, but they did try to act posh. The ammenities provided was well above what i thought i would be getting. Maybe its because the tour was a little more expensive than what i expected.
Day 2 in china was spent visiting the 紫砂壶 (sand-fired teapot) factory, followed by lunch in Suzhou. We proceed to discover the old town of Suzhou, the houses on the banks of the rivers and their culture. Did you know that the big river through Suzhou was man made? A simple remark, to allow the emperor's ship to sail down Suzhou while inspecting the place and a lot of lives were paid to make it happen. But there are no longer sampans floating in the small channels of Suzhou due to pollution and blar blar. The local language sounds more niu ( nua, teh, whiny ). Suzhou girls are chio, but not totally in the physical aspect. In the past, it was due to their education and local culture that makes them more attractive than girls from other places. So don't expect a feast!
We also went to visit the a temple, 寒山寺 which had the 寺 word written differently from the first 2 words. Due to some stories. Yah, its an old building and you can knock on the bell 3 times for a fee. It has a long history too. But truth be told, this relics hold no importance or interest to my travels.
Day 4 started with, 狮子林 is a house which we went on a tour. Freaking hell cuz it was a weekend, it was 人山人海。The whole place looked as though it was the world expo. But the history of the place was really rather interesting. it was originally 师子林 named in honour of the owner's teacher. However, in subsequent changes of ownership, there was no point honouring the teacher already. There were other interesting aspects too, but thats for you to find out.
Suzhou ended with a trip to the silk factory. You might be interested to find out that oil from the silkworm's husks have natural cosmetic properties! It doesnt stink and it can protect your hands even if u soak it in water for long periods of time! Soon there will be silk worm creams and what not from loreal, nuskin and other companies if they discover this property and mass produce. I learnt how to differentiate real silk from fake silk too. Cuz silk has properties similar to that of hair, so you should wash it with hair shampoo. If burnt it will also smell like burnt hair.
After this silk factory, it was a visit to 周庄, which is rather similar to another suzhou. There are rivers, boatmen/women rowing the sampans and singing their folktune which sounds like 山歌。Visited the 2 homes, which were spectacular in the past, but rather boring to me now. Ending this, leads on to.. SHANGHAI!
Shanghai Expo is well described on facebook =) Pictures speak more than words.
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