JUST TO SHARE (Lau Tai Onn): A Mid-Summer Tour to Shanghai & HuaDong Cities

For the first time in my life, I took my family for an oversea tour to Shanghai, Wuzhen, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Nanjing and Wuxi of CHINA, aka “HuaDong (i.e. East China) cities”, from May 30 to June 6, 2009 (7D6N) in conjunction with the 1st week of the mid-year school holiday.

This tour was organized by M/s. Z.G. Nan Fang Holidays (M) S/B (tour leader: Chua Poh Ming) and the all-in tour fare I paid was RM 2,048.00 per pax. In the end, the total expenditure (including shopping and etc) turned out to be a whoping RM 14,767.60 for my entire family of five persons, but it sure was an enjoyable, memorable and worthwhile traveling experience for all of us.

I brought along my wife Soh Ai, sons Wai Kit, Wai Jen and Wai Kei (while Wai Yu couldn’t join as his UTAR Foundation study was due to commence during that period) for the trip.

The other members of the tour included: Mdm Jenny Chai Shuk Ha, Mdm Chen Moi & their friends Mdm Lee Ngua Tai, Ms Lee Siew Moi, Ms Lee Kian Lan (group of 5), Mdm Lee Siew Fong & 10-year old son Ah B, Mdm Khor Eng Poh, 13-year old son Cheah Ing Khang & 2 daughters & others (group of 8), Mr Kerk Leong Yit, wife Pang Sok Yin & Kerk’s parents-in-law & others (group of 6), Mr Loo Yoo Si & 2 daughters Loo Siow Ching & another (group of 3) AND Mdm Go Siew Giok & Go Siew Moi (group of 2). There were all together 29 members (20 female and 9 male). The local tourist guide was Wu Jun from Suzhou Younger Travel.

A detailed report with photos of this tour entitled "2009年仲夏华东五市之游全记录" or "The Complete Record of Mid-Summer 2009 Tour of HuaDong 5 Cities" can be found in my Chinese blog http://lautaionn.blogspot.com for those who can read Chinese and are interested to browse.

DAY 1 SHANGHAI

Me taken in Yuyuan ("pleasure garden") Mall where shops of hundred years of history stand side by side. The specialized style of the shops exhibits the special business style of the Old City. This is the first place of interest we visited and it turned out to be the most remarkable one in Shanghai as far as I am concerned. We tasted the very popular Nanxiang steamed buns here.

A pose of the whole family, from right: Wai Kit, me, Soh Ai, Wai Kei and Wai Jen in Yuyuan.

Tourist guide Wu taking us to lunch.
The hotel we stayed in Shanghai on the first day of our arrival and on the eve of our departure in Shanghai.

A glance at the streets of Shanghai which is an open city on the coast and is a famous historical and cultural city, a gate to the Yangtze River delta.
Visiting the amazing underground tunnel at the Bund across the HuangPu River. A 647m voyage with entertainment from budget effects, garish lighting and surreal props, the Bund Sightseeing Tunnel is one of the transport modes (especially for tourists) to Pudong area of Shanghai.
Oriental Pearl Tower, a 468m-tall poured-concrete shocker of a tripod tower that has become a symbol of Pudong and of Shanghai's renaissance.

Shanghai History Museum at the ground floor of the Oriental Pearl Tower.

DAY 2 WUZHEN / HANGZHOU

The luxurious coach that took us around throughout the 7D6N trip to East China cities.

A very talkative Wu Jun from Suzhou Youth Travel Company is indeed an excellent and competent guide who spoke tirelessly in the coach and his talks on places, history, health tips and many other topics rendered the entire journey a very pleasant and educational one.

Visiting Wuzhen Water Village, a very scenic ancient town.

The atmosphere of the traditional cultures and the original ancient features of this ancient town that have been preserved intact is quite an enjoyable experience.

My family photo taken in the famous "Fish-watching Flower Harbour" of Hangzhou.

Boat ride on West Lake.

JengHuan Temple

Taken in QingHeFang Cultural Street, a shopping street with ancient buildings all around.

Watched a stunning musical, cultural cum acrobatic show entitled "The Night of the West Lake" that expresses the local culture and history.

DAY 3 HANGZHOU / SUZHOU
A glimpse of Hangzhou in the morning. It is a city famous for its natural beauty and historical and cultural heritages.
Liulangwenying Garden.

Visiting Leifeng Pagoda. There are escalators and elevators for tourists to ascend to the top of the pagoda to enjoy the view of the Hangzhou city skyline.

Arrived at Suzhou in the afternoon and the first stop was the Suzhou Museum, designed by the renowned Architect I.M. Pei.

The Lion Forrest Garden is the only garden having survived since the Yuan Dynasty. It is also known as "the Kingdom of Rockeries", admired for its incredible collection of pitted, eroded rocks, labyrinthine man-made limestone mountains with winding pathways and caverns as well as pavilions, terraces and towers.

A group photo of ladies (who shared the same table with us during meal-time throughout the trip) taken with Soh Ai (3rd from right). Pic 2nd from left is Mdm Jenny Chai and 3rd from left is Chen Moi. The other ladies are Lee sisters and their nephew.

Wai Kei (pic left) and his newly found buddies.

A family photo snapped in the The Lion Forrest Garden.

A night stroll down the Guan Qian Street.

DAY 4 SUZHOU / NANJING

A visit to the silk quilt factory.

The Hanshan Temple.

Arrived at Nanjing in the afternoon and visited the Mausoleum of Dr. Sun Yat-sen (leader of the 1911 revolution and founder of The Republic of China), including the Stele Pavilion and Sacrificial Hall.

An evening walk in the area around the Nanjing Confucius Temple which has a lot of shopping especially clothing and tourist items.

DAY 5 NANJING / WUXI

The Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge. This 6km bridge over the Yangtze has sculptures that are classics of Chinese socialist art; with workers and farmers carrying tools, soldiers carrying weapons, and all of them holding The Little Red Book. The bridge was built after Soviet advisors left China during the Sino-Soviet Split of the 1960's, and is therefore the first major project built entirely by Chinese, without foreign help.

Arrived at Wuxi in the afternoon and visited the
Lingshan Buddha. This 88-meter tall bronze Buddha statue is undoubted a great appeal to visitors.

DAY 6 WUXI / SHANGHAI

I always admire the streets of many China cities very much. They are usually wide, beautifully landscaped and generously provided with side-lanes for the motorcyclists/cyclists and footpaths for the pedestrians.

Visited The Three Kingdom City, a movie-making CCTV site.

An ancient warship ride on Lake Taihu, a famous scenic spot in China.

A night stroll at the Nanjing Street.

DAY 7 SHANGHAI / K.L.

Visited the Mausoleum of Madame Song Qingling (wife of Dr. Sun Yat-sen)

A group photo of the entire tour members for remembrance sake. Squatted in front right is our tour leader Chua who was detained on the first day of arrival in Shanghai by the Chinese medical officials for having been detected exceptionally high body temperature but subsequently cleared of Influenza A (H1N1) case, but that caused the entire passengers of that flight a delay of 2 hours before being allowed to alight from the plane!