One Night in Beijing

Labour Day Holidays

My Labour Day Holidays is 9-day long. (羡慕吧? haha)
I packed my bag off to spend the Chinese' golden week at Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Zhouzhuang and finally at Nanjing.

1st May - Monday (Shanghai)
Shanghai is damn hot and humid, compared to Beijing of course. And then Shanghai is bloody packed to the brim ... super xian on the first day loh. Somemore I was still quite shagged from the sleepless night before the trip, by the time we battled it out of the Xiangyang Market and the Bund, I was already quite 'hin' liaoz. So after dinner with GM boy and girl, I gave the night Bund a miss and went back to the hotel to rest.
The sardine-fied Nanjing Pedestrian Walkway.

But I still gotta kancheong for my passage home; I cancelled my Friday flight's air ticket home last minute, so I can add Nanjing to the back of my itineary. I got news from Shilun who was at Nanjing at that time that there was no more decent train tickets back to Beijing liaoz *gasp, so bobian ... I paid full air fare from Nanjing back to Beijing.The Pudong river bank.

2nd May - Tuesday (Hangzhou)
We left for Hangzhou early in the morning. Even worsed than Shanghai, Hangzhou is jitao super duper packed loh ... 人头is xibei xibei多! The weather is much more cooling than Shanghai but foggy. Haiz ... dunno what 朦胧的美. Reminds me of the Wubai song though. In short, Hangzhou was too packed to be appreciated. I was already damn tired just by squeezing past the crowd from places to places.
难得清静on西湖，Hangzhou.

After settling my air ticket home from Nanjing, I still gotta gaodim my lodgings and my way to Nanjing. Turned out that the hostel I originally wanted to stay in has ran out of beds for me, and the person did not want to promise me any places for the coming Friday night. Panic xia ... gotta mafan Baoling back in Beijing to help me check out on the Fuzimiao hostel which I eventually stayed on for two days while in Nanjing.

3rd May - Weds (Suzhou)
Today we've got a chummy chubby chio guide! Though she's a bit slack compared to the slave driver on Tuesday, but I like her more. We've got more time on our hands anyway. It was sunny but the winds were still cooling. Suzhou is comparably less packed than Hangzhou, and that made touring more pleasant and memorable than Hangzhou. Personally, I think Suzhou is more beautiful as well.Me, 寒山峙，Suzhou.
Boat ladies, Suzhou.

At night when we returned from Suzhou, I popped over to the Bund to take photos of the Pudong river bank. And I've finally bought the train tickets to Nanjing. So now I can relax liaoz, I can make my way to Nanjing, I've got my temp place of rest, and I've got my transport back home to Beijing liaoz.Night shot of the Pudong river bank, Shanghai.

4th May - Thursday (Zhou Zhuang)
Zhou Zhuang is also another crazily packed place. And today's guide is the slackest, although she had the most regurgitated narration. At night, I went over to Pudong and took photos of the Bund at night. Unfortunately, none of them turned out decent. I could not get the panaromic shot I wanted to do.Zhouzhuang.

5th May - Friday (Shanghai/Nanjing)
Early this morning Pris and Kev checked out and went shopping while I stayed to meet the Shanghai GIP friends in the afternoon and then scoot off to Nanjing in the evening. Unfortunately, Pris n Kev packed my t-shirt into their luggage. I was left with just one polo tee for the next 3 days. Gotta try to make do with it liaoz ...
After breakfast I went to Xintiandi - Uber cool place! It's like Clarke Quay and Holland Village in one place. Took quite a lot of photos and then went to meet Jingyi, Chunjie and Shilun. Starbucks, Xintiandi.
Va Bene, Xintiandi

We wanted to go find the HRC in Shanghai, but we first heard it was closed already, and then we called to find out; it was really closed. The world is really a small small place; I actually met Adrian and cal at the MRT station where I wanted to meet Jingyi and gang. Turned out that they were meeting other friends from GIP Shanghai as well haha. So the whole gang of us met up instead. And we had choc/hawaiian/banana prata at a roadside stall and dimsim lunch as well. After lunch we popped over to Shilun's place and he gave me the best thing I would ever need; a city map of Nanjing. Had a good time with them but I wonder why they keep kajiao me with funny questions haa. But well, it was quite an honor to have the whole lot of them seeing me off to Nanjing =P And that starts my 2 day solo to Nanjing ...

The soft seats on the train are quite shiok, much more comfy and more leg space than airplane seats, in my opinion. The girl beside me is quite pretty and pretty 'dao' as well. It rained on the way, from SZ to HZ then to 常州, the ground were visibly wet and whenever there were roads, I could see people carrying umbrellas; a sight I have yet to see in the 3 months I've been in China.

The rain carried on shittily to Nanjing also, and I was down to my last piece of shirt! Jitao xian 1/2 loh ... Somemore, I have no idea where the hostel is, I only have the address .. gotta keep asking for directions in the stupid rain. The receptionist at the hostel was right about the room I asked for; it was pretty lousy as well. It's simply a comforter, a window, a light, and a nail on the wall. But I can't be bothered liaoz ... I was drenched in perspiration and rain .. I just want to bath and sleep and get ready to tour Nanjing the next morning. So I showered in the bath with the faulty heater where the people queueing didn't want to bath in. Fought off the mozzies which talked to me at night and then bit me through the night and then it was Saturday.
My 'cell', Fuzimiao International Youth Hostel, Nanjing.
Me in my 'cell', Fuzimiao International Youth Hostel, Nanjing.

6th May - Saturday (Nanjing)
Woke up earlier than I planned to; the 隔音 was 'superb'. I am beginning to suspect that the room is actually converted from a store room. So i went over to 夫子庙 for breakfast and then tried unsuccessfully for empty rooms nearby. So I gotta stay on for another night and went sightseeing.
中山陵, Sun Yat Sen's Mausoleum, Nanjing.

明孝陵，Nanjing.

I could have finish Nanjing in a day, but I 总得 leave something to do on Sunday right? Nanjing is pretty small (as compared to the megalomaniac cities like Beijing and Shanghai), one end to another is only a 45 minute bus ride. It has also much lesser tourists than the few spots I've been to a few days before.
夫子庙夜景, Nanjing.
View from my Hostel balcony , Nanjing.

And I felt lonely, esp at night. I haven't talked to anybody and nothing meaningful; I only asked for directions and to make purchases.

7th May - Sunday (Nanjing/Beijing)
Went 总统府 and the 大屠杀纪念馆 and furthur convinced me the importance of field trips for history lessons. Shilun is right about Nanjing cabs.
大屠杀纪念馆, Nanjing
总统府, Nanjing.


They are damn expensive. Luckily I only need to take it once to the airport. Then I realised that when I have nothing better to do, I spend money ... And I think of food all the time =P.

Conclusion:
- The Shanghai MRT is very much like SG, so are the commuters -> shitty and inconsiderate haha. Everybody dun wanna move into the centre of the cabin, and people would rather wait for the next train. Beijing is the other way round, everybody wanna move into the centre and would always try to squeeze up the train, pretty civic minded although they are always grumbling.

- In Shanghai, I saw quite a few of old-man-couple-with-young-chio-bu case, something seldom seen in Beijing. Maybe when you have $, you have love. In Beijing, I thought that it really is 真爱是不用外貌和身家的.

- They should ban kids below the age of 12 from golden week tours. Parents who spoil their kids or have kids who demand and shout for attention should never bring their kids out unless they can behave. They should make it a law or something that other people who kanna noisy kids to have the right to knock the kid's head or order the family off the vehicle. Kids that cry should be slapped until they stop crying, then they will fear to cry when they are touring outside hehe *evil grin. Besides, they dun even appreciate the scenery and the architecture of whatever attractions mah ... why waste money, time and effort, end up not enjoying and annoy every other people?

- I enjoyed myself =)

posted by taxi taker @ 11:53 PM