HP bought me this today.
Its Japanese truffle. So sweet. I remembered I only mention like once that I like Japanese chocolate.
Well, bcoz Japanese choco are smooth and yummy!
I just realised I have like one yr supply of chocolate in my fridge bcoz my sis got back from Australia buying me almost 400AUD worth of nougart and choco.
I might finish them up within a week. *muahahahaha* Nope. I not afraid of fattening stuff bcoz what's life w/o all these stuffs.
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Hangzhou
Very bored with Shanghai and alone here, my friend and I decided to go on trip to Hangzhou. We wanted to take the train but decided not to as we want to take thing SLOW so we ended up getting a one day tour.
In case you didn't know, there is this Shanghai tour centre opposite of my apartment which is situated at the Shanghai Stadium. They had different kinda short tours around Shanghai e.g. Suzhou, Zhujiajiao... (tried to book the tour 3days in advance) I've been to hangzhou twice but I have nv seen westlake in winter.
The bus trip takes about 2.5hours and will not stop for toilet break so it's best not to take too much drink before the bus trip.
Getting ready for the bus trip, waking up at 7am, of course I need my caffeine. I packed a lot of snack along as well.
After 2.5hours, first stop at Hangzhou was lunch at a restaurant.
The food was yuckie *arghhhh*, I didn't have any (thank god! I packed snack!!) but the Chinese old uncle keep urging us to have some and kept guessing what country we were from. When he knew we were from Spore, he got all excited for like no reason and so we quickly excused ourselves to the toilet.
The cubicle doors were like a disaster, it was like when I was in my primary school, small doors and you could peep in there so that the teacher could make sure you are all right. That really freak me out, I do not like to be seen peeing. I had grown up.
After the yuckie lunch was to tour Westlake.
We walked quite a distance to the destination and the tour guide just kept rushing us and hence we do not even have time to stop and snap a picture. So much for wanting to take thing slow, we ended up rushing to every destinations.
Finally we gotten to our destination, thanks to the uncle for spoiling my photo.
After the tour guide purchased the tix, we got on to the boat and I was really excited. Nothing really much changed the last time I was here, just that it is full of smog, maybe its due to winter.
You wun believe that the staff who operate the boat looks like Bruce Lee!! I am not kidding, I am amazed as well. I wanted to take a photo of him but I did not dare do it, what if he knows Kungfu like Bruce Lee and we might be thrown off the boat.
This is 断桥, a bridge where Xu xian and Bai Su Su met; The tales of the white snake demon.
The boat ride turned out to be disappointing, it just kept going and going and we dun even have time for any photo. The tour guide just kept blabbering about the history of this place in lightning speed, we couldn't catch anything and we sorta given up.
Finally, he stopped the boat for us to take some photos. And I found this scene very familiar.
I realised it was the picture of the back of their $1 note.
Yes it is.
Just that I not that observant, actually the tour guide told us. *teehee*
The pagoda at the background is the pagoda that is supposed to capture Bai Su Su in the story. I got the perfect shot by having the old school boat sailed by.
Next stop took us to a place where Kangxi emperor had been to and he wrote 4 words 花港观鱼 and since then it became one of the tourist attractions in Westlake.
Its was crowded everywhere and the tour guide kept urging us to stay together which is quite a hard work bcoz he was walking in lightning speed or was he running...
Westlake is really beautiful but we really do not have much time to stop by and take some nice scenery photos. That's the bad thing about tour isn't it.
(Pink scarf fr C&A, Windbreaker fr Uniqlo, cartoony jacket fr Taipei, denim pants fr Mango, sneakers fr Le Cor Sportif)
The only photo I managed to have myself in, well, not that I wanna complain but I wasn't even looking at the camera.
Since it's touring, I reckon I dress down and simple. My friend commented I look like secondary school student. Yah! Thanks!! The weather is nice enough so I can just do with my windbreaker.
After our quick tour of Westlake, we were back to the coach and the tour guide started to brief us on our next stop on the itinerary. It is supposed to be extraordinary crowded bcoz we were going to visit the most famous temple in Hangzhou and since it is CNY, many Chinese from all over China will be coming and hence the extraordinary crowd.
Since it's touring, I reckon I dress down and simple. My friend commented I look like secondary school student. Yah! Thanks!! The weather is nice enough so I can just do with my windbreaker.
After our quick tour of Westlake, we were back to the coach and the tour guide started to brief us on our next stop on the itinerary. It is supposed to be extraordinary crowded bcoz we were going to visit the most famous temple in Hangzhou and since it is CNY, many Chinese from all over China will be coming and hence the extraordinary crowd.
Siblings in white.
We were told that there was a massive jam near the temple so we have to walk there instead.
As we walked, I saw many nice houses but I was wondering to myself wun it be a tad too noisy to live nearby the temple if it is always so crowded.
We are at 天竺路, the name seems like we are going to heaven. The 弄 is actually the meaning of Lorong and street.
Before we reached the temple, the tour guide took us to a joss stick store where they sell expensive joss stick and he started to explain what different joss sticks are meant for. I didn't get any bcoz I dun believe in more expensive joss stick and we all know that the tour guide will get his commission later.
It became extraordinary crowded as we were approaching the temple.
Just outside of the temple, it was really crowded and the tour guide tried to explain what's the meaning of the 4words as if we could hear him.
That man still can smile at my camera. Give credit to him man.
Look at amount of pple. Well, the tour guide wasn't kidding after all.
The entrance of Lin Yin Shi.
First stop of Lin yin shi is 飞来峰.
Oh I like this name, something very cool about it.
There is a legend about this place, the story goes like this; there was once a monk who could foreseen future and thus he knew that this place will be hit my some disasters therefore he urged the pple who is living there to fled. But like all stories, no one believe him and chase him away. And soon the place is hit with some disasters and the pple started to believe the monk and asked him for suggestion on how to avoid more disasters in the future.
Before we reached the temple, the tour guide took us to a joss stick store where they sell expensive joss stick and he started to explain what different joss sticks are meant for. I didn't get any bcoz I dun believe in more expensive joss stick and we all know that the tour guide will get his commission later.
It became extraordinary crowded as we were approaching the temple.
Just outside of the temple, it was really crowded and the tour guide tried to explain what's the meaning of the 4words as if we could hear him.
That man still can smile at my camera. Give credit to him man.
Look at amount of pple. Well, the tour guide wasn't kidding after all.
The entrance of Lin Yin Shi.
First stop of Lin yin shi is 飞来峰.
Oh I like this name, something very cool about it.
There is a legend about this place, the story goes like this; there was once a monk who could foreseen future and thus he knew that this place will be hit my some disasters therefore he urged the pple who is living there to fled. But like all stories, no one believe him and chase him away. And soon the place is hit with some disasters and the pple started to believe the monk and asked him for suggestion on how to avoid more disasters in the future.
The very li hai monk told them to start carving about 110 (I forgot the exact number) of Buddha sculpture on to the stone wall.
Craving all over the stone. Its was like "wow", how did they do it? So it seems that it is not only the name of the place is cool but the whole place is.
The highlight is the carving of the Laughing Buddha.
It is huge.
Craving all over the stone. Its was like "wow", how did they do it? So it seems that it is not only the name of the place is cool but the whole place is.
The highlight is the carving of the Laughing Buddha.
It is huge.
China temple is a bit different from our own sunny island bcoz when you visit the temple there, you have to buy a tix which usually cost like $4SGD. The case for lin yin shi is that you purchase a ticket to 飞来峰 and you gotta purchase another tix at $6SGD to enter the real Lin Yin Shi.
And so we bought another tix since we were there already.
But judging by the amount of pple, how much do you reckon they will be earning.
Our tour guide briefing us about the regulation there. We didn't know that we have to walk in from the right door and leave by the left door until he told us so.
After praying, throw the joss stick into the pot of fire. Japanese also does that.
We moved on to the 2nd floor and along the stairs there was carving of the 心经. The Chinese were carrying their kids on their shoulder so that they could have a touch of the wordings at the top. Pardon me, but I think that is really absurd.
Beautifully carved in gold. The Chinese are known for their excellent handicraft.
On the third floor is an exhibition of the ancient Buddhist sutra, I was actually thinking about Journey to the west where sun wu kong and tang san zang travelled to India to get the sutra. *teehee*
We left after a brief visit of the temple bcoz we were only given 30mins to tour around the huge temple which is obviously not sufficient enough. Then, we walked like a freaking 45mins journey to find the coach bcoz it is so crowded that the coach couldn't get a parking space nearby, omg, thank god it is winter. And we spent another 15mins on the coach waiting for the old uncles to finish walking. Poor uncles, who came here for tour ended up walking for so long.
The fourth stop was to the silk museum of Hangzhou.
I was fascinated by the statue outside of the museum. The museum is not exactly a museum, it is actually a place where they brought tourist to buy silk blanket then the tour guide get to spilt some commission. Yah lah. Just to sell you something lah.
After the sale pitch, the staffs ushered us up to the second floor for more silk products which I wouldn't even buy for my grandma. When we finally left, we had to go thru a sorta supermarket where they tried to sell tourist some local delicacies. I cant help but think that they are really good at earning tourist money. So for their hard work, I bought some biscuit, we had some on the coach and it was awful!
Last stop, we arrived at the tea plantation place.
Again, to sell us some Longjin tea leaves.
I love Longjin tea and it is hard to come by in our sunny island. Thus, I was saving my money for the tea leaves. I bought 4 cans at $120SGD and the staffs started surrounding me and told me they have even better grade tea leaves so I ended up buying another 2 bottles of grade AAA for dunno how much (I forgot).
We quickly get out of the place, well it was horrible, and we had to go thru the 'supermarket thing' again, this time we were actually running. Yes, We were very traumatized.
Finally that ended our Hangzhou trip, we changed to the other coach and headed back to Shanghai.
This bridge is very special, on the upper lane, there were car travelling and the bottom lane was for the train.
2.5hours later, we finally reached Shanghai and for once I was glad to be back to Shanghai and that is where I realised I belonged to the cosmopolitian city, developing cities seem to traumatized me too much.
And so we bought another tix since we were there already.
But judging by the amount of pple, how much do you reckon they will be earning.
Our tour guide briefing us about the regulation there. We didn't know that we have to walk in from the right door and leave by the left door until he told us so.
Anw, thru out the whole trip, he didn't zip his pants and no one told him. Poor thing.
Da Siong Bao Dian
If you are a Buddhist, you know what it means lah.
Da Siong Bao Dian
If you are a Buddhist, you know what it means lah.
After praying, throw the joss stick into the pot of fire. Japanese also does that.
We moved on to the 2nd floor and along the stairs there was carving of the 心经. The Chinese were carrying their kids on their shoulder so that they could have a touch of the wordings at the top. Pardon me, but I think that is really absurd.
Beautifully carved in gold. The Chinese are known for their excellent handicraft.
On the third floor is an exhibition of the ancient Buddhist sutra, I was actually thinking about Journey to the west where sun wu kong and tang san zang travelled to India to get the sutra. *teehee*
We left after a brief visit of the temple bcoz we were only given 30mins to tour around the huge temple which is obviously not sufficient enough. Then, we walked like a freaking 45mins journey to find the coach bcoz it is so crowded that the coach couldn't get a parking space nearby, omg, thank god it is winter. And we spent another 15mins on the coach waiting for the old uncles to finish walking. Poor uncles, who came here for tour ended up walking for so long.
The fourth stop was to the silk museum of Hangzhou.
I was fascinated by the statue outside of the museum. The museum is not exactly a museum, it is actually a place where they brought tourist to buy silk blanket then the tour guide get to spilt some commission. Yah lah. Just to sell you something lah.
After the sale pitch, the staffs ushered us up to the second floor for more silk products which I wouldn't even buy for my grandma. When we finally left, we had to go thru a sorta supermarket where they tried to sell tourist some local delicacies. I cant help but think that they are really good at earning tourist money. So for their hard work, I bought some biscuit, we had some on the coach and it was awful!
Last stop, we arrived at the tea plantation place.
Again, to sell us some Longjin tea leaves.
I love Longjin tea and it is hard to come by in our sunny island. Thus, I was saving my money for the tea leaves. I bought 4 cans at $120SGD and the staffs started surrounding me and told me they have even better grade tea leaves so I ended up buying another 2 bottles of grade AAA for dunno how much (I forgot).
We quickly get out of the place, well it was horrible, and we had to go thru the 'supermarket thing' again, this time we were actually running. Yes, We were very traumatized.
Finally that ended our Hangzhou trip, we changed to the other coach and headed back to Shanghai.
This bridge is very special, on the upper lane, there were car travelling and the bottom lane was for the train.
2.5hours later, we finally reached Shanghai and for once I was glad to be back to Shanghai and that is where I realised I belonged to the cosmopolitian city, developing cities seem to traumatized me too much.
It was already 8.30pm when we reached SH so we ended up having fake western food at the Shanghai Stadium. I miss Singapore already, what you called awful food in Singapore doesn't seem awful anymore. I need to book my return tix soon.
