22 - 29 July 2004 8-days Package Trip Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou & Nanjing
22 - 29 July 2004 8-days Package Trip Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou & Nanjing
UNESCO garden Suzhou / Snacks local market
One of my fellow traveler came across a great offer on the standard 8 days package trip to Shanghai costing Rm1100 during one of the travel fairs. This would normall cost Rm1400 upwards. The cost of an FIT (individual) airticket alone would come to about Rm1100. So there were four of us, my friend and myself sharing one room and my wife and son sharing the other.
The trip had its up and downs and if not for the "cheap" package, I would not have gone. The trip had the many standard compulsory shopping stops, which I estimate took up about 40% of all the touring time. There was also the "optional" tour that we refuse to participate. All in all there were 100 pax in two buses. On the upside, on the few occasions we traveled about on own, we found that it was much more fun. We did so much inspite of the time constraints. On reflection, we should have simply used the tour transport to get from one place to another and of course the good hotels. As for touring, if ever I find myself on one of these cheap packages, I would do most of the touring myself or break off after the main visits.
Day 1 KLIA Xitang Hangzhou: We gathered at that airport for the morning flight to Shanghai Pudong International Airport, a very impressive setup rivaling our KLIA. We arrived in the afternoon and was bussed to Xitang Historic town, where we had dinner. After dinner, we walked about this quaint little town with interesting back alleys. We also had a short river cruise that went on late evening. It was almost 10pm by the time we reached our hotel.
Day 2 Hangzhou: We started the day at 7am and after breakfast, we visited the Lin Yin Temple. Then its lunch before the first of our "compulsory" shopping stops, a Longjing tea farm. We spent almost 2 hours being persuaded to buy "expensive" longjing tea. In the late afternoon, we cruised the famed West Lake before dinner. Today the guides collected Rm125 per person for optional tours but we opted out. This amounted to a ridiculous Rm5750 from 46 pax, additional takings to the guides and driver! The first optional tour was a visit to the town "pasar malam". They took the four of us along because it was more convenient than sending us back to the hotel. We arrived at the hotel a late 1030pm.
Old Xitang / Walmart in Nanjing
Day 3 Hangzhou to Suzhou: In the morning we visited Yue Fei Temple in Hangzhou before going on to Suzhou, UNESCO listed for its numerous ancient gardens. Our first stop here was the Tiger Hill followed by dinner. Once again we were allowed to join in the "optional" pasar malam trip as it was more convenient that way.
Day 4 Suzhou Nanjing: We started at Hanshan Temple that marks the southern end of the ancient man-made water channel starting in Beijing! Then its off to our second shopping stop, a silk worm factory that ate up another 3 hours. We then visited Lion Grove Garden, one of the many beautiful gardens of Suzhou. There are many more Suzhou gardens which one should see. After about 2hrs here, we went on to Nanjing and arrived early enough for a visit to the Nanjing bridge. After dinner, the tour guides were "forced" to send us back by taxis to our hotel. The rest adjorned to the "optional tour", that was a visit to another pasar malam. After we checked in at the hotel, we proceeded to board a taxi that brought us to town for a short shopping stop. We got back to the hotel at 930pm but heard that the tour group got in only at 11pm.
Yu Yuan Garden Shopping Complex / Small "fung shui"stones at Rm70
each
Day 5 Nanjing Wuxi: We visited Sun Yat Sen Mausoleum, then went on to a third shopping stop, a jade factory, which meant another 3hrs wasted. This time would be better spent visiting the Nanjing War Memorial. We lunched in Nanjing and drove to Wuxi to visit Ling Shan Da Fo mountain with its tall bronze Buddha statue.
Day 6 Wuxi Shanghai: We started at pretty Li Garden followed by no 4 shopping stop, a pearl factory. I "discovered" a local wet market next door and spent a wonderful hour browsing together with a few bored tourist. We especially enjoyed the snacks and one bought handfuls to share. The tour then took us to San Guo Outdoor Scene Park, where movies are made. Next was another pretty XiHui garden and no 5 shopping stop, a teapot shop, with exhorbitant priced teapots. We arrived late in Shanghai.
Day 7 Shanghai: We visited the Jade Buddha temple followed by no 6 shopping stop, a stone/jade lion shop, located 1hr out of Shanghai. We left the group after lunch to venture on our own. I later learned that they went for no 7 shopping stop at a chinese medicine shop. We crossed the Huangpu River by local ferry Rm1 to get to the famous Shanghai Bund. We spend hours browsing the streets and Xinhua bookshop. We moved about by the cheap efficient metro and spent the evening shopping at a big night market at Xiangyang Park. At night we spend more hours visiting huge shopping complexes near the Xujiahui Metro Station before returning to the hotel at 1030pm.
Day 8 Go Home: Again we went on own own and started the day early taking taxi and metro to Xintiandi, a collection of French and Art Deo buildings with the up-market tourist shops and cafes. A short taxi ride brought us to Yuyuan Garden, a popular shopping complex built in Old China-style. We thoroughly enjoyed this morning on our own. Late morning, we took the Metro to the Maglev (Magnetic Levitation) Station for a super fast train to the airport. This first in the world train hit a top speed of 431km/hr! Flight home left about 2pm.
Maglev super train / Shopping Complex Shanghai
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