Shanghai (day 1)

YEOH~ ~ ~, finally I get myself to blog about our yearly family trip 2012, 3 months late.

AA flew direct to Hangzhou and not Shanghai when we booked the ticket. So we landed in Hangzhou international airport on 29 Oct 2012. After immigration checkpoint, we took a bus to the train station. From there, we bought tickets for Bullet train to Shanghai.



View from the train. Nice looking houses.

That was our very first bullet train experience. It brought us to Shanghai in 45mins time, average speed of 300km/hr. We couldn't actually feel the speed. From Shanghai Hongqiao train station, we took the subway to downtown Shanghai. The Manhattan Jinling hotel is just across the street. Finally, at about 4pm, we were able to put our luggage down and rest for a while.

My first impression of Shanghai was a super big train station (there are 4 railway stations and 2 international airports!!), super busy subway station (there are 7 lines all together!) and a lot of grand looking buildings! Phew....talk about cosmopolitan city!

Not to waste any more precious time (time is extremely precious when we were on holidays!), we walked to Yu Garden. Yes, we walked. And that's the reason why my mum chose this hotel, doesn't she smart?!

Glamorous Yu Garden!

 Only a short distance, we were in Yu Garden in no time. It was only...like.. 5.30pm, and it was already dark. It was not even winter yet! Anyway, Yu Garden is beautiful at night! The Chinese buildings are all lighted up and they glowed! Needless to mention, we were busying posing for cameras!  We then had our dinner at one of the eatery. Had famous Shanghai dumpling and Xiao Long Pau. Errr...taste soso only!

 When we had enough of the place, we walked further down to the Shanghai Bund!! Wow...it was really glamorous! Across the river, colourful buildings have their reflections on the Huangpu river making the surface of the water so attractive. There, the Oriental Pearl Tower stood proudly among the commercial buldings! There were a couple of tourist boats and they too were nicely lighted.   

The magnificent Oriantal Pearl Tower (in globe shape).

  On the other hand, historical buildings (in early 1900s, they were the banks, trading houses, clubs etc) are all illuminated in Golden Yellow on this side of the river. The luxury Peace Hotel is also here. The stretch of the road here looked majestic!

Majestic old buildings along the Bund!

The night scene of the bund is really nice! Unfortunately, a short while after we arrived, it started to drizzle. The temperature dropped and it was COLDDD....Nevertheless, we had a lot of fun here. Mama tried very hard to capture the view with mini tripod. When all of us were starring at the camera on tripod, people were looking at us. Some walked by carrying the umbrella with their heads turned to look at us. I then imitated their action and their look and everyone ended up laughing like crazy people!!  

When the drizzling got heavy, we had no choice but to walk back to our hotel.

Our first day in Shanghai, not bad at all.




 

Chinese New Year 2013

CNY nails!

Year of SNAKE, water snake. *dramatic organ* haha. Hey guys, sorry for the late thingy, Chinese New Year was here, the year of the snake *dramatic organ* er.... right.... My family and I went back to Enggor, Kuala Kangsar, Perak, my father's hometown. It's a small kampung, but I like it. That's where we celebrate our CNY every year.

We left home at 5.00 IN THE MORNING -.- and it was so long, so heavy, so freaking annoying..... the jam. *dramatic organ* yeah.... we reached Ipoh at about 9 in the morning? 4 hours... it normally take us less than 2 hours to reach there, because of the STUPID JAM. ugh no hatred, no hatred. We checked in to our hotel, Ipoh Boutique Hotel, it's a really nice and cozy hotel, it may be small, but it's new, clean.

5.30am North South Highway just before Sungai Buloh.

We drove to K.Kangsar after our second breakfast of Wantan Mee which was terrible and we had to pay doubled the normal price. (Earlier we had McDonalds in the car when we started our journey. ) It was a 1 hour drive, no big deal.

Taiping temple.

When we arrived at my grandfather's house, we helped around with the worship of our ancestors in the house. After lunch at home, as usual we proceeded to the Temple in Taiping where my grandma rest :3 I never get to see her, she was long gone before I was born.  My dad said that her cooking was awesome, it's a pity that i will not have the chance to taste them. After simple worshipping, Pa drove to Taiping old pasar for some snacks which was not very nice. Then he drove to Taiping lake for me to take a look. Wow...it's beautiful!

Picturesque Taiping Lake.

We were then back to Enggor. And I played... with my iPad...for a while. Before the preparation of the reunion dinner started, my dad took me on a motorcycle ride. I have never been on a motorcycle ride before.. except that one time.  Pa told me that I was on a motorcycle ride when I was ....6, and I got really scared. This time I was a little scared, but I enjoyed the wind blowing at my face. Pa rode the motorcycle to the Victoria bridge just behind my grandfather's house. The bridge was a railway bridge and it lays across the Perak River. My dad said that it was built back in the WWII but it's not in used anymore. It is long and on one side of the bridge, there is a path built for motorcycles for the villages from the village across the river. I managed to step and stand in the middle of the track. It was scary because there were gaps between the sleepers on the tracks and when I looked down I could see the river. My dad took a few pics. We went back after we walked to and fro on the bridge.


A view with Perak river on the bridge. 

Almighty Victoria bridge!!

 The relatives decided to have the reunion dinner at home after 2 consecutive years of bad experience in the restaurants. So we were back to homecook style this year, well, potluck!  Pa cooked butter prawns and fried meehoon/rice. The rest of dishes were from the uncles and aunties. After the dinner, we played with the firecrackers grandpa bought while the men drank liqour and ate dried meat and the women chit chat. At about 11pm, we called it a night and went back to the hotel.



Fire works grandpa bought.

The feast!

The next day we had dimsum for breakfast in Ipoh. Then backed to grandpa's house. Grand auntie came with her family. We exchanged news and some catching ups. After lunch, we went for visiting to cousin's house and had our dinner at granduncle's house. At granduncle's house again Pa took me on a motorcycle ride and we also witnessed some lion dance performance.

 The following day, there were cousins came visiting and again "huha-ings" and hellos and finally goodbyes! After that we were backed to KL. Though it was short, I enjoyed a break away from school and away from all the usual stuff...... till next year!!