Summary of My 6D5N Eastern China Trip - Hangzhou, Suzhou & Shanghai

Summary of My 6D5N Eastern China Trip
Day 1: Kota Kinabalu → Hangzhou
Day 2: Hangzhou
Day 3: Hangzhou → Suzhou
Day 4: Suzhou → Tongli Water Town → Suzhou → Shanghai
Day 5: Shanghai
Day 6: Shanghai → Kota Kinabalu

My Travelogues

• Hangzhou
• Suzhou
• Tongli Water Town
• Shanghai

My Travel Haul

Nothing much I shop from this trip. Probably due to the cold weather which causing us hard to do any shopping around and both of us are not fancy shopping at the mall. We prefer to venture and shop at street markets more, especially those night markets. But of course, souvenirs like magnets are hard to miss out from my shopping list. 

Besides magnets, I also bought luggage tag


Chinese New Year greeting cards 


Unhealthy snacks. My favourite flavour is the one in cucumber


TOTAL DAMAGE

NOTE: Unfortunately, I unable to trace most of the transportation as well as all the food and souvenirs I spent. I lost the note that I keep track all my expenses. So these are the few things I managed to keep and save in my list.    

PARTICULARS	AMOUNT
	CNY	RM
Airfare KK – Shanghai – KK via MAS KK – Hangzhou via AirAsia Accommodations Victoria Regal Hotel Zhejiang – 2 nights All Seasons Hotel Suzhou – 1 night Narada Boutique Hotel Shanghai – 2 nights Transportation High-speed train Suzhou to Shanghai Ground Transportation A Day Tour with Suzhou	- - - - - 39.50 288.00	999 179 196 100 309 20 144
TOTAL (RM)		1,947

My Trip Back To Kota Kinabalu From Shanghai Was A Disaster

Before I end this post, I would like to share something happened on the day we're about to fly from Shanghai to Kota Kinabalu. Just when my mom and I thought our trip are going to be smooth and manageable one, our trip ended with unfortunate events. Not one but two and it happened on the same day as well. Earlier on I did mention that I have two tickets departing from Kota Kinabalu - a round trip ticket with Malaysia Airlines to Shanghai but because we found the length of the trip was kind long, I booked another one-way ticket which was to Hangzhou with AirAsia. As for my return, we will stick with our first ticket which is to fly with Malaysia Airlines from Shanghai. Oh boy! It's totally wrong decision that we didn't fly with Malaysia Airlines at the first place. I wasn't aware that once you didn't show or fly, the whole ticket consider burn immediately. I only found out about this when I unable to do web check-in and called Malaysia Airlines call centre. They told me that my whole ticket was burnt and I need to book another new ticket. I have to be honest with you that this is the first time I experienced this in my life. I was absolutely confused and lost at the same time. What should we do now since we're no longer have any tickets back home? I was in state of shock when I search that one way ticket from Shanghai to Kota Kinabalu is about RM1,200. Just one-way! Another option which I could think of at that point of time is to take flight from Hangzhou but again, we need to take the train from Shanghai to Hangzhou in order to catch the flight.

After the long discussion with my mom, finally we agreed just to book another new flight with Malaysia Airlines. Luckily I brought along my credit cards to China. It was indeed pain in the ass to buy new tickets with such a hefty price but it's better than stranded at foreign place, right?

Now we have settled with our new tickets. What's next? Our flight was delayed for more than 2 hours. I bet none of you will enjoy the trip when experiencing any flight delay. Furthermore it's a red eye flight and we're stuck in the airport. Just when this morning I can't have peace of mind due to the airtickets thing, and right now I can't have adequate rest after long and tiring day. Maybe like what Twilight Man said, I should practice the floral bath ritual (mandi bunga) before going for any trip to avoid these unlucky things happen again in future.

On another note, finally I managed to complete all my 2014 travelogues. Now I need to speed up to complete the rest of my travelogues, especially those in 2015. 

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Shanghai, The Paris of The East

I would love to cover cities like Wuxi and Nanjing but due to time constraint, I can only narrow down my choices to visit Hangzhou, Suzhou and Shanghai only. So after 2 nights in Hangzhou and 1 night in Suzhou, both of my mom and I took train from Suzhou to Shanghai.

HOW TO GET TO SHANGHAI FROM SUZHOU

#1: High-speed train from Suzhou to Shanghai

There are four major train stations in Suzhou: Suzhou Station, Suzhou North Station (Bei Zhan), Suzhou Industrial Park Station (Yuanqu), and Suzhou New Area Station (Xinqu). Suzhou Station is located just north of the downtown on the northern ring-road (Beihuan Lu) and is on the Shanghai-Nanjing mainline. There are frequent high-speed trains to Shanghai, Wuxi, Changzhou, Zhenjiang and Nanjing. A high-speed train ride to Shanghai takes 25 to 30 minutes and the fare is about CNY20 - 39.5. We prefer the high-speed train as it is the faster way to reach Shanghai from Suzhou.

In Shanghai, there are two railways if you are taking train from Suzhou; Shanghai Railway Station and Hongqiao Railway Station. We prefer to drop off at the first one cause our hotel is more closer than the latter. 

OUR HOTEL IN SHANGHAI
Upon reaching Shanghai Railway Station, we took taxi instead of metro to our hotel. Just when we thought it will be convenient of taking taxi than metro, oh boy the queue for waiting the taxi was pretty long and it took more than an hour for us just to get a taxi. And the ride to our hotel - less than 20 minutes only. Should opt for metro next time.  

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Narada Boutique Hotel Shanghai Yu Garden
Date Stayed: 24 to 26 December 2014 (2 nights)
Room Rate: RM309 for a deluxe twin bed room (Booked via Agoda)

PLACES OF INTEREST IN SHANGHAI

1) Yuyuan Garden
This is the first place we went as it's very close to our hotel. Not just went once, but we went twice cause there are plenty of souvenirs shops around. Located in the northeast of the Old City of Shanghai, Yuyuan Garden is an extensive and delicately designed garden loaded with classical Chinese architecture. Yu Garden might be small in size, but it contains all elements that a classical Chinese garden should have. The pavilions, halls, rockeries, ponds and cloisters all have unique characteristics.

#5: Yuyuan Garden - one of the highlights of Shanghai


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#7: Yuyuan Bazaar

Outside of Yuyuan Garden is the bustling Yuyuan Bazaar where it consists of countless of small streets and lanes filled with plenty of restaurants, tea houses and shops. No surprise this place is always crowded with tourists where they are enjoying sampling some local snacks and purchase all kinds of souvenirs such as handicrafts, craftworks and jewelries. Some shops allow you to bargain.


#8: NanXiang Steamed Bun - must try this popular local delicacy when visiting Yuyuan Garden

How To Get To Yuyuan Garden: Metro Line 10 and get off at Yuyuan Station. Leave from Exit 1.
Opening Hours: 8:45am to 4:45pm (Closed on Monday, except national holidays)

2) Nanjing Road
Shop until you drop on China's premier shopping street of Nanjing Road. It's one long street stretches from The Bund east towards Hongqiao, with Shanghai's centerpoint People's Square in the middle. This pedestrian street is always packed with people on weekend and holidays, so beware with your belongings when visiting here.


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How To Get To Nanjing Road: Metro Line 2 runs under Nanjing Road for much of the way, intersecting with Line 1 and line 8 at People's Square.

3) Xintiandi
Situated in the center of Shanghai City and south of Middle Huaihai Road, Xintiandi is a fashionable pedestrian street comprised of old-style Shikumen residences with modern architecture. It retains the antique walls, tiles and exterior of the Shikumen residences of old Shanghai while embodies a totally modern world in its interior. Wandering here, you will get experience and explore of both Shanghai in the 1920s and the modern lifestyle of urbanites of the 21st century. This is absolutely an ideal spot if you are looking for the sake of the "Gram".


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How To Get To Xintiandi:
1) Metro Line 10/ Line 13 to Xintiandi Station. Get out from Exit 6 to Madang Road, then walk a bit to the north; OR
2) Metro Line 1 and get off at South Huangpi Rd. Station. Get out from Exit 3 and walk southwards along South Huangpi Road.

4) The Bund
No introduction needed for this place. Like they said, if you haven't been to The Bund, then your trip to Shanghai is definitely incomplete. Whether it's day or night, I will recommend you to come here at least twice for different kind of experience and exposure.


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#17: Western-style architectures along the Bund


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How To Get To The Bund: Metro Line 2 or Line 10 to East Nanjing Road Station. Then walk along East Nanjing Road for about 10 minutes.

HOW TO TRAVEL AROUND SHANGHAI
Due to language barrier, I prefer to take the metro which is fast, cheap, air conditioned and most importantly, fairly user-friendly with most signs and station arrival announcements bilingual in Mandarin and English. The trains can get packed during rush hour and be mindful of pickpockets who may use this rush to their advantage. You can even catch metro on Line 2 to Shanghai Pudong International Airport.


#20: Shanghai Pudong International Airport 

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2014 X'Mas Holiday in China (Sneak Peek)

Although my family and I don't celebrate Christmas, but I do love the Christmas feelings and celebrate it abroad always part of my wishlist. In 2010, I celebrated Christmas in Taiwan, 2011 in Indonesia and 2012 in Singapore. As for this year, I tagged my mom along to China for the joyful Christmas holiday cum my year end trip as well. This is the fourth trip I sponsored my mom, after Indonesia, Japan and South Korea (from airfare, accommodation, transportation, foods, shopping & etc). Wondering, how many of you sponsored your parents a trip abroad actually?

We started our trip by flying in into Hangzhou first (we burnt our Shanghai tickets actually) and one of ultimate place to go in Hangzhou is none other than mesmerising and awe-inspiring freshwater lake, West Lake itself.

#1: Three Pools Mirroring The Moon, the largest island of the West Lake of Hangzhou.

#3: Ended our night by strolling in Hefang Ancient Street of Hangzhou before leaving to Suzhou

From Hangzhou, we proceeded to Suzhou where we booked 1 day Suzhou ground tour and out from the 24 tourists of this tour, only two of us are Malaysians whereas the rest are the Mainland Chinese.  

#4: Besides few pagodas and temples and not forgetting, we also visited The Lion Forest Garden, one of the four great gardens of Suzhou.

In one of the temples, we were requested to see the fortune teller. Normally I don't believe these but the first thing fortune teller said to me was, "You are the type that don't sit still at home one. Always travel around here & there." How's true is that?

#6: The ancient architectures along the canal in Tongli Water Town. 

Before we move to Shanghai, we managed to go Tongli Water Town, a thousand year ancient town with a long history and the typical style of water town located an hour away from Suzhou. 

#8: Meanwhile in Shanghai, the first place we went was Yu Garden, an extensive Chinese garden located in the heart of bustling Shanghai

#9: We tried the Nanxiang Steamed Bun but turned out to be so so only. Kinda disappointed

#10: Kill our time in Nanjing Road for window shopping. Seriously, just window shopping cause everything was so expensive there.


#11: Last but not least, a view of Pudong from The Bund is a must when visit Shanghai. Oh boy! Shanghai is so amazing and breathtaking especially at night. 

Frankly speaking, my trip to China with my mom is like roller coaster ride with lots of ups and downs. We started off with a pretty good start not until the day I woke up on the Christmas day itself, we were told by Malaysia Airlines of an unpleasant news when I unable to do web check-in. Kinda piss off with the T&C promotion fare. And the next day again, received another bad news stated our flight back to Kota Kinabalu from Shanghai will be delayed. From the original ETD of 1.30 am to 4am. Although we were compensated with food vouchers, but all I want is hotel vouchers instead. 

#12: First time in my life I have such an early flight

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