Voices from within

China, Day 5 – Shanghai

[Click me for Day 3 and 4's post]

Date: 13-Aug-2010

We're back to Shanghai on Day 5 and oh boy, the weather got hotter and more humid. Starway Changyu Hotel was our selected hotel as it is not very expensive compared to other high-end hotels and also because it is located on the interchange of two metro lines, line 8 and 10.

We began our Shanghai walkabout at about 8:00AM after having our breakfast in the hotel. After an hour of walk, we were finally at The Bund (外滩). The sky was quite gloomy or, was it hazy that day due to the weather. We were standing in front of the famous, The Bund (began imagining the scenes in the legendary TVB drama, siong hoi tan :D)!

We spent 15 minutes at this side of the Pudong river and headed to The Bund Sightseeing Tunnel (外滩观光隧道). We could have walked or hired a cab to go to the other side of the river, but we decided to take the tram instead as we wanted to check out the lighting display in the tunnel. We were very satisfied with the journey although it was not the cheapest option. The two-way ticket was RMB50 but we paid RMB60 as the lady at the ticket counter suggested that we might as well get the pass to the Creatures of the Underwater exhibition at an additional of RMB10. The so-called Underwater World exhibition was not worth visiting at all. We stayed in the hall for less than 15 minutes!

As soon as we arrived at the other side of the river, we walked to the Pearl Oriental Tower. However, we did not enter the tower as we did not want to waste too much time there.

Next up was the Jin Mao Tower and the Shanghai World Financial Tower.

The weather was getting on my nerves, I was sweating a lot, my shirt was all wet! We ran to the nearest shopping mall and dashed to Hui Lao Shan (許留山) for some desserts. Hui Lao Shan is a famous franchise originated from Hong Kong, and is a recommended eatery. We ordered their famous mango pudding and glutinous rice balls with peanut topping. Both were very satisfactory. The bill totaled up to RMB48. I miss the mango pudding so much now :( Next, we returned to the sightseeing tunnel for our journey back to The Bund.

Upon arriving at The Bund, we walked to Nanjing Road and boarded the metro at Nanjing Road station (line 10) to Yu Garden (豫园). At Yu Garden, we went about searching for more must-eats. Our first target was the steamed buns at Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant (南翔馒头店). KC had to queue up for about 15 minutes for the steamed buns. And yup, there were true to their popularity. The soup was very tasty. When we first had siew long baos (steamed buns) at Din Tai Fung (鼎泰丰), KC had taught me how to eat them. He said, "You must make a tiny hole in the dumpling and then suck the soup out." I learned that when you do that, you get the most out of the soup first! The 6 pieces of steamed buns costed RMB20.

Next, we hunted for the Tang Bao (汤包) shop. Tang Bao is a large steamed bun filled with soup. You can say it is similar to the steamed buns we've had at Nanxiang but this is the giant-sized steamed bun. We bought one at RMB15. You will be given a straw to suck the soup out of the bun. We did not eat the bun as the bun was too thick.

After that, we rushed to Xin Tian Di (新天地) via metro line 10. Xin Tian Di is a place where you can find entertainment, cafes and stores. The whole area has western-style houses. Xin Tian Di is also known for its active nightlife activities. We walked around the area and stopped at the Starbucks cafe for some coffee.

Since our hotel is located on the same metro line (line 10), we decided to fall back to our hotel for an hour or two to have our rest before part two of the Shanghai walkabout. In the evening, we wanted to visit Qi Pu Road Market (七浦市场) and People's Square (人民广场). However, when we were at both areas, we could not find the way to both the places :(
Qi Pu Road Market is a shoppers' paradise, a place where you can easily bargain for cheap clothes, accessories and souvenirs while People's Square is the site of Shanghai's municipal government headquarter building.

We headed to Nanjing Road instead. Nanjing Road is also a place where you can dine and shop for goods. However, they are never as cheap as the ones at Qi Pu Road Market. The fashion retailers at Nanjing Road were more of the branded retailers.

After having our dinner at Nanjing Road, we returned to The Bund once again to enjoy the night view there. One thing really awed me. The flocks of people on the road, way to The Bund, was just spectacularly huge! It was even more frightening than the crowd of people I see at any major events in Singapore. It took us quite some time to reach The Bund due to the human traffic.

We stayed at The Bund, enjoying our last few hours at Shanghai, before returning to our hotel. I must say that we could have enjoyed the trip more if the weather at Shanghai was not as humid and hot as it was. However, it was a journey to be remembered as it was all planned and executed by us.

Lastly, to end this series, here is a remark from St. Augustine which I had previously came across. I personally think that this quote is very true but only if one knows the extent of his means and ability.

"The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page."

Discovering China 2010 series:-
Day 1 - Shanghai Expo 2010
Day 2 - Hongcun
Day 3 & 4 - Huangshan
Day 5 - Shanghai

China, Day 3 & 4 – Huangshan

[Click me for Day 2's post]

Date: 11-Aug-2010

I guess this was the day that both of us have been anxiously waiting for. With the information provided by the villagers, we departed from Hongcun to Tangkou (汤口) at approximately 6:30AM via a bus at the Hongcun entrance. The bus fare was RMB13 each.

We arrived at Tangkou at 7:45AM. We were advised to leave our luggage at a restaurant in Tangkou. The luggage storage service costs RMB5 per bag. Then, we had to board another bus from Tangkou to the Yungu Cableway (云谷索道). For the record, there are altogether two cable ways at the foot of the mountain and the other is Yuping Cableway (玉屏索道), which is on the west side. The bus fare from Tangkou to Yungu Cableway was RMB16.

When we arrived at Yungu Cableway, the queue at the ticket counter was already significantly long considering that it was still early. The entrance ticket to Huangshan was RMB230 but we paid RMB205 as we were entitled for a discount using our Shanghai Expo tickets! The picture on the bottom left shows that the Celestial Capital Peak (天都峰) was closed for maintenance. KC was very disappointed that we were unable to ascend the peak. He got to know that the Celestial Capital Peak takes turn with the Lotus Peak (莲花峰) to close in a 5-year cycle maintenance routine. How unfortunate!

First glimpse of Huangshan when we got down from the cable car.. Excitement all over us as we began our hiking journey..

We had earlier read from various blogs about one of the attractions on Huangshan - the lovers lock. We encountered more than one lovers lock chain along the journey. The lady at the stall told us that each chain represents different significance. The first lovers lock chain which is nearest to the foot of the mountain symbolizes immortal love and is mainly for young couples. The chains higher up on the mountain represent happiness and health. We bought a lock and affixed ours on the chain as well :-)

We arrived at Beihai Hotel at approximately 11AM and we spotted many camps in front of the hotel. Some travellers prefer to camp in front of the hotels up here. One, because the accommodation on the mountain could be fully-booked during peak periods. Two, because the hotel rooms are very expensive up here. A standard room would cost at least RMB550 and above. Three, for the experience or fun of it? Hehe. Our room at Beihai Hotel that comes with 2 single beds was at RMB660. The room did not have air-conditioner as the weather up there was cold enough to keep you comfortable.

After checking into the hotel and unloaded our bags, we continued to hike up. Our ultimate goal that day was Xihai Grand Canyon (西海大峡). I realised that we made the right choice by choosing Beihai Hotel when we decided to ascend from the east. The hotel is quite strategically located in the middle of everything. Our hiking route was Yungu Cableway - Beihai Hotel - Xihai Grand Canyon - Bright Top Summit (光明顶) - Beihai Hotel (via Xihai Hotel).

We managed to complete the hike and arrived at our hotel at about 6:30PM. I could still remember how hungry we were as we did not bring sufficient food in our bags for the hike. We had to rely on 2 bars of Kit Kat and few more energy bars during the whole 6-hour journey. We decided to treat ourselves to a lavish dinner at the hotel as it would be another tough day tomorrow. We went ahead with the buffet dinner at Beihai Hotel as it was probably our only option at that time. We did not want to walk any further. The buffet dinner costed RMB120 per-head and the food was just ordinary, nothing to shout about.

Date: 12-Aug-2010

We had to rise before the sun comes out this day as we did not want to miss the sunrise. However, the sunrise-watching mission failed in the end :(

We were already up by 4:00AM. We packed our gears and hiked up to Lion Peak (狮子). There was already a huge crowd when we arrived at 5:00AM. Our gears were all setup and ready by 5:10AM. We managed to find a spot, just nice for us to plant our tripod but it wasn't high enough to overshadow the crowd in front of us.

We walked back to the hotel, disappointed. No sunset, no sunrise from Huangshan :(
At 7:30AM, our bags were all packed and we were ready to descend Huangshan. For to-be hikers, please remember to pack a lot of food if you're hiking all the way. You will need them :-)
We bought 8 herbal eggs from the stall near our hotel and 3 more sausages along the way. The herbal eggs were our savior hehe.

In general, the journey down was quite tiring as there were many flights of steep steps, not just descending but ascending ones as well. The picture on the upper left and bottom left, for instance, is the One Hundred Ladders (百步云梯). I almost fainted when I saw what I would have to go through there :D
However, the scenery were very captivating and breath-taking compared to those at Xihai Grand Canyon! Hence, it was a very rewarding journey although very, very tiring.

This is the Celestial Capital Peak in front of us. Before reaching this point, we took the wrong turn and arrived at the Yuping Cableway. We wasted about one hour there.

We managed to reach the foot at about 2:00PM. I'd say that we were considerably fast although we took the wrong route earlier.

The Huangshan journey finally ended. As our flight from Huangshan to Shanghai was at 10:30PM, we decided to board a bus from the Tangkou bus station to Tunxi to check out Tunxi Old Street.

Tunxi Old Street is very popular for its wantan. Hence, we tried the wantans at two different stalls and both seemed alright for me. The wantans from the first stall had some crispy cubes in the soup but I wasn't sure what were they; meat or something else? The crispy cubes did add more points to the wantans from the first stall! After our stroll at Tunxi Old Street, we hired a cab to the Huangshan Airport for our flight to Shanghai.

[Click me for Day 5's post]

China, Day 2 – Hongcun

[Click me for Day 1's post]

We had originally planned to stop by Hangzhou to visit Xihu (西湖) before proceeding to Huangshan. However, we cancelled the plan and decided to head to Hongcun (红村) instead. And, I was glad we did. Hongcun is such an unspoiled habitation, where one can still find old architecture and beautiful landscape, similar to those you often see in traditional Chinese TV series or paintings. The people, for one, are very different from those we find in Shanghai on Day 1. The Hongcun villagers are very friendly. You can easily strike a conversation with them. Just tell them that the village is such a beauty, or ask them how did this area get its name, and they can chat with you for hours!

Date: 10-Aug-2010

We had earlier purchased the tickets when we arrived at Shanghai the day before. The bus fare from Shanghai South Long-Distance Bus Station to Yixian was RMB151. We began our journey to Yixian (黟县) at 7:28AM. It was a long, long journey. I could not recall how many times did we fall asleep and wake up along the way. There was nothing much to see during the first few hours of the journey as we were on the highway. We could see sights of old houses and villages, paddy fields, and rivers when we were less than 10KM from Huangshan City (黄山市).

We finally arrived at Yixian Bus Station at approximately 2PM. Our stomachs were already growling and there was only one eatery at the station. It was a pretty rundown shop but the food was delicious! We had a simple, kampung-styled lunch :-)
As soon as we were done with lunch, we rushed to the ticket counters and inquired for the bus to Hongcun. The bus ticket to Hongcun costed RMB2 each only (the mentioned bus is the blue van below)!

We arrived at Hongcun's entrance 20 minutes later. We paid RMB80 each for the entry to Hongcun. We were advised by the entrance guards to make a call to our Hostel's owner so that they could come and pick us up. I understood why later.. the whole village was like a maze. Every path and house looked the same to us.

Our Hostel's owner was a very kind and friendly lady. She briefly described how we would easily find our way back, introduced us to where we should get the best tea leaf, and happily upgraded our room from the original room, which we had earlier reserved at RMB180 to a RMB200 room, without extra cost. The photos on the bottom right are sections in the hostel. Ju Shan Tang (居善堂) is a highly recommended accommodation at Hongcun! Check out their website to find out more. After all, we were first attracted to the hostel by its website and we never looked into other hostels anymore!

These pictures were taken at the Moon Pond (月沼), an intriguing place for photography, which one cannot get enough of. The Moon Pond was also one of the shooting location in Ang Lee's Oscar-winning film, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

The photos below were taken from various well-preserved houses around the village. We spotted several tour guides with their traveller groups and we chipped in to listen as well. Each part of the houses bear significant meaning. There were beautiful carvings on the pillars and certain sections in the houses had its purposes. We found a house which had two very small rooms in the front court, one on the left and the other on the right. The room on the right had a movable shutter with holes in it. From our observation, each room could only house at most 3 person, without any space left to move around. Both rooms were facing each other and were about 4-5 metres apart. Later, we found out that they were entertainment rooms! The house owner would sit in the room on the left and he would then invite entertainers to sit in the room on the right, with the movable shutter closed. Now, when the entertainers begin playing their musical instruments, it would create high fidelity sound with minimal noise. Oh boy, the people in the olden days sure knows the meaning of enjoyment.

After that, we decided to call it a day and returned to our hostel. On our way back, we stopped by the tea seller's house which the hostel's owner had earlier recommended. Little did we know that a short visit to simply purchase some tea leaves for our moms turned out to be an hour long stay. The tea leaves seller and his wife were too friendly :D They served two different types of tea, mao feng (毛峰) and hou kui (猴魁), for our tasting pleasure. According to the seller, both were hand-plucked from Huangshan. Check out the two glasses of tea in the picture below. The glass on the left is hou kui and the other is mao feng. Can you guess which is the more expensive tea leaves from the look of it? Our visit to the tea house was indeed very beneficial. We learned how Hongcun got its name and how Yixian had its name, Hei Duo Xian (黑多县 - the first two Chinese characters were later combined to form the word, Yi) changed to Yixian (黟县).

After the tea session, we returned to our hostel for dinner. This meal was earlier suggested by our hostel's owner. She cooks fine local dishes :-) We were served with her best dish, a pot of steamed chicken and two other side dishes. The dinner costed RMB70. We went to bed early for the night in order to preserve energy for the hiking journey the next day.

Stay tuned for Day 3's post about our journey to Huangshan!

[Click me for Day 3 & 4's post]