Hangzhou - Day 6

(Date travelled : 3/11/2012)

This is the last day of our trip. There is only one itinerary, the renowned West Lake which is within walking distance. Our flight is at 1135pm, so there's no need to rush, or so we thought!

We had our luggage stored at the hostel before we check out. Once we walked out of the hostel only we realized that the area is a very interesting place itself. We found ourselves in an old charming world!

We came upon McDonald in an old building and decided to have our breakfast there. Nice!

After that, we walked along the road and found ourselves in Hefeng street which is the shopping street of Hangzhou. Typical Chinese shopping street.

We continued to walk towards the lake. When we were at the junction opposite the bus stop, an old and kind looking woman started to talk to pa. She told Pa that the right way to tour the lake is to start from Jiuxi, then proceed ahead without turning back, tracing the path that was once been walked by the emperor, called the Dragon Path. We thanked her and along the way, there was a younger woman, she too told us that we have to start from Jiuxi.

So we took the bus as what the old woman suggested. About half an hour later, we reached the terminal. There we got down, hailed a taxi (she called it the Bread Car), about 15mins on, we reached Jiuxi.

There was a small pond and waterfall.  Then we noticed the path surrounded by trees and a stream by the side, we remembered what the old woman said, do not turn back, just walked along. Oh my, it was a long walk.....

We walked on and on, finally we reached a small village, and there came another old woman. She kept offering Pa to take a break at her house which is nearby. Pa did not has the heart to turn her down, even with protest from Mum, he accepted and 2 mins later, we were sitting in her house where she eagerly served us tea from her farm.

She also offered us her wash room which was exactly what we needed. She was telling us the tea leave from her farm is of high quality and of course we ended buying 2 packs which cost about RM40/pack from her.

After that, she helped us to get a private car to send us to a silk factory in the tea farm, the lake was nowhere to be seen. Mum was unhappy as she knew by now that something was not right. Pa quickly stopped a taxi by the road. When the lady driver heard our stories, immediately she said she always knew because no tourist would ended in the area. Thank God that we only bought 2 packs and nothing else!! 

Hangzhou is well known for it's fine Long Jin tea.

After about 20mins, the taxi finally arrived at the jetty of the very big West Lake. We took the boat ride to the island in the lake. 



The boats are very unique in beautiful oriental style.

Some of the popular spots, Willow Singing, Lotus Pond, etc

After the boat ride, we had our lunch at a restaurant facing the huge lake. The food served was delicious but the staff were very rude.

Great view of the lake.

Equally well known is the Pork Tong Por which is really tasty with the bun.

We continue to tour the lake after lunch. The weather was hot and the place was full with local tourists and heavy traffic.



Beautiful West Lake.

 

Along the way, we found out that the tomb of famous ancient tiger hero Wu Song is there.

 

And also found out was tomb of ancient war hero Yue Fei.

 

We skipped the Pagoda Leifung in the end because it was getting late. It was difficult to stop a taxi as the traffic was very busy and congested. Finally a small van which was already full stopped in front of us, the driver insisted he could accommodate us. So we were squeezed like sardine in the tiny van. Obviously it was seriously overloaded, but the best part was the driver sped all the way to the city center. Mum said she was so frighten that she squeezed her eyes shut and she hold so tight that her hands hurt. What a terror ride!!

Sunset at West Lake.

 Anyway, we were back to the He Fang shopping street this morning. It was there that we saw loads of tea packs being sold at the price of a mere few rmb, but of course there are different grades of Chinese tea, some even cost thousands!

It was another round of hassle when it was time to go to the airport. My heart was pounding hard when time was tickling away. We tried different spots and directions to get taxi, with mercy of god, I thought, finally a taxi stopped.

Hangzhou International Airport.

We had our dinner at the airport and had a peaceful flight home. This marks the end of our yearly family trip of 2012.

Phew! Finally finished the 2012 trip and that means I can start on 2013 trip to NZ which is much much more interesting!!

Nanjing - Hangzhou Day 5

(Date travelled: 2/11/2012)

This morning, after our breakfast in the hotel, we took a taxi to Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall.

The Massacre happened in 1937 when the Japanese occupied Nanjing which was the capital city of China then. In a short period of a few week, the Japanese massacred about 300,000 Chinese.

The extreme brutal act had marked a history which is not able to forget and forgive by the Chinese until today.

At the entrance, there are sculptures carries messages of stories which made us uncomfortable.

 



It says only death can wash away her filth.

The names of the victims.

 Then we reached the site of "the mass Grave of 10,000 Corpses". It's the actual mass buried site of about 10,000 corpses. I saw my mum's tearful eyes when she saw the bones of young children. And I also felt my mum's sweating and cold hands.

 

 

 

 

 

We were getting very uncomfortable as we proceeded further.  Next, we found ourselves in the exhibit hall where there were lots of photos and videos showing how brutal the Japanese really were. These images and stories really made us cringed and recoiled. Mum even covered my eyes at some scenes and I could feel her quicken steps. There was even competitions of killing Chinese being held. She just couldn't take it anymore and hurried me along and we were out of the hall. There we sat down and waited for Pa for a long time.

 

 

Learn from the past!

In order to shake off the uneasiness and to bring our spirit up, we went into a silk factory just opposite the hall. There we witness some world class woven master piece!

 

 



After that, we hailed a taxi to take us back to our hotel where we had our lunch before we went to the train station for our train to Hangzhou. 

 

A feel of Nanjing street! 

 

And so after we checked out from the hotel, with the help of the hotel , we took a taxi to the railway station hoping to catch the earliest train to Hangzhou. Unfortunately the tickets were sold out and the earliest train was in the evening!

 

With a few hours to kill, we took a short train ride to a shopping mall nearby as suggested by a local people. As usual, the train was very full and when we were there, the mall happened to be a of a high end mall selling high end stuffs. Moreover, someone had to keep an eye on the luggage as we couldn't be dragging the luggage in the mall.

 

Anyhow, no one was in the mood of shopping at that moment, especially after an unpleasant train ride. So we just sat by the road with the luggage, what a waste of time!

 

Yes, we love Red!

 

Finally, it was time to board the train to Hangzhou. When we reach Hangzhou, it was already late. The station was very crowded and the queue for taxi was long. We were forced to accept a private van offer.

 

 

The driver said that he knew the way when we told him the name of our accommodation that night. But once we were in the town area, he said he wasn't sure about the way. He was driving around and told us that we had to pay him more.  As it was getting really late by now, mum told pa to just pay and ask him drop us someway nearby.

 

 Finally, he stopped  the van and told us the direction to the hostel. It was dark and deserted as we dragged our luggage walking in the alley. It was only when we saw the signage of the hostel that we were able to let our guts down.

 

It was warm and welcoming!

It was mum's idea to stay in the youth hostel as we had not stayed in one before. The hostel is small and there was no lift. We had to take the luggage to the 3rd floor where our room was. We had a bath room attached room which is clean and quite comfortable but the room is extremely small. Along the way, we saw the shared bathroom at the first floor which is quite clean.

 

Anyway, we finally able to take the shower and settled down to rest.    

 

 

 

 

 



Nanjing - Day 4 (2) Zhongshan Ling

(Date travelled : 1/11/2012)

Next to The Ming Xioling tomb, it's the Mausoleum of Dr Sun Yat-Sen.

When I was about 9, we visited the Memorial Hall of  Dr Sun Yat-Sen in Taipei. We witnessed the process of changing of guards there which takes place every hour. He was really a great man and well respected in the Chinese world.

 Before that, we had some local eateries as lunch around the area. The weather was getting warm now and the place was flooded with local tourists.

The entrance.

After the entrance, this was awaiting..........
 

There  are 392 steps.
 

At the top of the stairs , the tablet hall.

 

It says that Dr Sun is buried here.

Further up, we reached the coffin chamber.

 

Inside, the alter with the statue of the great man.







Mi managed to capture a picture before the guard noticed. He was then then heard shouted at someone that photography is not allowed.

Beyond the door behind the alter...

It used to open to to public but not anymore.
 

 

View from the top.

 

Then we bought some souvenirs and took a rest before we took the steps down and continued to the next and final stop at the area, the Linggu temple. The area is really vast. We had to take a cart to get there.

 At the entrance....

 

 

We found that this area is a less visited area. It's not as popular as the previous two. It was quite quiet which suited us best.

 

Walking around, we came upon this structure.  The sign on top says "beamless hall".

 

 

When we walked in, the  plaque says the "The alter of the revolutionists". It is a memorial hall for the revolutionists.

 

The testament of Dr. Sun, The alter, thick wall and windows and the beamless roof.

We were not prepared to explore such a vast area.  As we wondered around, we realized that there were a lot to cover. We had to quicken our steps as the day was getting late. 

 

Finally at around 5pm, we hailed a taxi to bring us to Qinhuai river. The plan was to have dinner and  witness the night scene of the river.

 

 

Dinner was yummy at a restaurant by the river.



Beautiful river .

The area came alive at night. It was full of restaurants and shops to satisfy everyone. We bought some cheap souvenirs and then took a cab back to the Orange hotel.

 

 

 



Nanjing - Day 4 (1) Ming Xioling Tomb

(Date Travelled : 1/11/2012)

We checked in Hotel Orange when we arrived late yesterday evening. The hotel is new and clean. We had dinner at a small eatery nearby the hotel.

In the morning, we had breakfast in the hotel. We then hailed a cab to Ming Xiaoling, Tomb of emperor Chu Yuan Zhang, founder of Ming Dynasty! It's listed in the Unesco World Heritage sites and it's about 600++years old! Legend says that in order to prevent robbery of the tomb, 13 identical processions of funeral troops started from 13 gates to obscure the real burying site. (info courtesy from Wikipedia.)

This is the layout of the whole area. It's designed like a Chinese garden. I was wondering about where is the exact last resting spot. Pa then pointed to me that it's the large mound beyond the inner most structure. I still didn't get it. Let's check it out.

Before we entered the gate, we found ourselves in a path with 12 pairs of stone auspicious animals. This is served to safeguard the place.



The almighty Elephant path!

Kissing the ancient animal, the Unicorn!



The horses, but of course they are auspicious!

 

Xiezhi, another ancient sacred animal!

We all know that these animals or rather creatures are not real. They are fantasies. Created for the power of combination of a few animals.

After the Elephant path, we proceeded to the gate. When we entered, we found ourselves facing another path. At the end of it is the Tablet Hall.  The tablet hall contain a stele constructed by emperor kangxi as a homage to emperor Zhuyuanzhang who is his predecessor of 300 years.

  

 

 

This is the stele. It sits on a turtle which is often used as a sign of longevity. As you can see here, the front half of the turtle is facing the door where the second half of it is at the back of the wall. I   find this very interesting.



The front half...

The back half...



When we walked further in, we were at the second path as the layout. This path is beautifully lined with tall trees.

This place is really vast. We finally reached the inner most structure.

There is an arched entrance at the bottom of the big structure.

When we entered, we found ourselves in a tunnel with a flight of stairs upwards.

When we were out of the tunnel, there was just a wall.
But Pa, where is it? I asked. Where is the final resting spot? Pa pointed to the wall, he said "this it is". Where??   The huge mound beyond the wall!
What??  So big??   Yes, there are chambers after chambers in the mound, down there, chambers with tons of treasures!! And the chamber for the coffin!

The crafted words says "Emperor Ming is buried here"!

I was really dumbfounded. The mound is enormous! Complete with the garden and the paths!!
 

 

In the hall at the top, we read that there are lots of emperors' tomb around China and most of them like this one stayed untouched all these years. The designs are similar to each other. And the greatest among them, of course is the Emperor Qin Shi Huang with the priceless terracotta.  

 

 

View at the top of the structure.

 

Ancient gargoyles.

Sacred path.

 This is the first half of the day. To be continued to the second half of the day........