Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Trip To China (Day Three – 08/06/2010)

Breakfast served in China is rather disappointing.

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They served green veg early in the morning. That’s fine with me. But why do they serve xiao bai cai every single meal in China?? From breakfast to lunch and then dinner. Don’t they have other veg in China?

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Xiao bai cai. (The veg I hated the most)

Who on earth eats xiao bai cai in the morning??

I decided to try their porridge and some preserved veg to go along with the porridge.

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It was HORRIBLE!!! My face had this minor cramp when I tasted the veg. Ew! =(

We checked out of the hotel after breakfast and headed to Hangzhou! =)

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Dad, posing with the street just outside of the hotel while carrying his luggage.

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Spotted this bridge just behind the hotel. It looks a lot like the one is San Francisco. But made in China though. :P

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Took photo with a security guard while waiting for the others to arrive. =)

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Here’s our driver, Mr. Zhou. Great driving skills. Great scolding skills at irresponsible drivers too. Haha.

It took us two hours to reach Hangzhou by bus.

First stop of the day: Wuzhen Water Town (乌镇).

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It is a historic scenic town where the original ancient features of the town have been preserved exactly the way it was before.

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I was really excited when I was there. It was really an eye opening experience for me.

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I only got to see all these buildings and river on channel Wa Lai Toi on Astro before this.

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The famous bridge, which name I had forgotten. :P

Boys are supposed to walk on the left side of the bridge while girls are to walk on the right side (Nan Zuo Nv You). It brings you luck I supposed.

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The street in the water town.

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The buildings are really old.

I was quite amazed to learn that there are still families staying in the town, where their daily lives still go on despite the presence of thousands of tourist just outside their houses.

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Here’s a family having their lunch in their comfy wooden house.

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Shops are still doing business, both for tourist and also the citizens of the town.

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Dad and Mom posing in front of some old shops.

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Dad and Mom in an old shop selling Chinese liquor.

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Spotted a middle-aged lady having a nap by the road. Look at how she dressed. I was like living in the past again.

We entered one of the houses in the town which had been turned into a museum.

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The architectures were magnificent! Wood carvings were seen at almost every corner of the house.

There were also displays of traditional Chinese beds. I lost count of them.

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One of my favourite bed of all. Such a complicated design. I wonder why do the people from the past wanted to spend so much time to design a bed? It’s just a bed. Just put a mattress on the floor will do!

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The water town is also famous for its printing and dying of blue printed fabrics.

We spotted this garden which is planted with hundreds of bamboos. Dad and I couldn’t stop thinking photos with them!

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Me, day dreaming.

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Dad in his Tai Chi move.

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Dad was trying to imagine himself being in the movie, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (卧虎藏龙). Hahahaa…

I was really tired after that visit. Lack of sleep and having a cold just made me really lethargic. But still, the adrenaline and excitement inside me just couldn’t be contained anymore. Everything seems so new and exciting to me!! WOO!!

Next stop: Fei Lai Feng.

It is a Buddhist temple and there are a lot of stone cravings of Buddha's. It is believed that the peak of the mountain had flown from India to this particular location.

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The English name for it: Peak Flying from Afar. Kinda funny. Haha..

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The ticket. =)

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Dad, mom and I, posing in front of the entrance of “Peak Flying from Afar”

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Buddha statues on the caves.

Next stop is Lingyin Temple, which is located just next to Fei Lai Feng.

Again, we were not allowed to take photos of the Buddha statues in the temples.

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Notice the monk behind me? There were a few of them walking around the temple, holding a wood plank that they will knock after approximately every 11 steps they took.

It was raining that day but it didn’t stop us from enjoying the trip. =)

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Dad and mom looking sweet here while taking shelter from the rain.  (look at dad’s hand, Wu ying shou!)

Next we headed to a tea plantation in Hang Zhou.

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It was still raining and it was COLD.

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My dad is not a great photographer. =.= This is Meng Hao, one of the younger members of the trip. :P

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We were asked to gathered in a room. The air was really refreshing after the rain.

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Tea being prepared by this young lady.

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Tea being prepared using freshly harvested tea leaves.

I never tasted this kind of tea. The tea I used to have were prepared with dried tea leaves. Verdict? NICE. =)

The restaurant where we had our dinner was really nice.

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But the food? There were xiao bai cai again. =.=

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Woo~ Super fattening Poh Lok Yok. I never touched that. Not even a single bite.

After dinner, we headed to the Song Dynasty Town which is a theme park dedicated to Song dynasty culture.

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We were there to watch a famous cultural show about Song Dynasty.

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The ticket. =)

It was said that there were more than a hundred of dancers and actors involved in the show.

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The bridge heading to the theme park.

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Edmund (the tour manager) and I, posing while waiting for Xiao Tian to purchase the VIP tickets.

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I don’t know why but I just couldn’t resist taking photos with this toilet sign. :P

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I was really amazed by the design of the toilets. Cool. :)

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The other side of the theme park. Really ancient.

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The crowd waiting for to get into the hall.

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It was a full house that night. We were really lucky to be given the privilege to sit at the first row.

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Opening act.

Here are some photos of the cultural show.

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Hunters.

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Monks.

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Emperors’ concubines entering the stage. 

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Concubines.

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Belly dancers. Sexy~

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The emperor.

Some war scenes:

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Love this pic a lot. =)

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That’s Yue Fei. Kononnya.

The effects of the cultural show was unbelievable!

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There was snow.

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Rain and lake.

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Moving bridges.

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And after that scence the stage went pitch dark.

And when the light was switch on again, there was a huge water fall in front of us all of a sudden! The whole crowd was like WOOOOOOOHHHH…

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The water was real! The lense of my camera was even wet.

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Zhu Yin Tai and Liang San Boh.

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Tea plantation.

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Not sure what story is this…

The cultural show was really superb. Thumbs up!

The rain didn’t stop even until the night. It was really cold. It’s so weird to have rain in a summer day. I could even see smoke coming out of my mouth when I spoke. Haha..

We checked into another hotel later that night. The room was nice.

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Check out the wall beside the bed. That’s the toilet. What a nice design, isn’t it? :)

But it was too transparent to be a wall of a toilet where people will be naked while taking their bath!

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Look at my dad! I could see everything through that wall!!!

Dad was too shy to show anything when he was taking his bath. So he chose to sit on the bath tub the whole time he was taking his shower. Hahaha..

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Arh~ Time to chill and rest for the next day!

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