China Trip: Shanghai

Once a city girl, always a city girl.

Among all the destinations I planned in my trip, I never thought that Shanghai will be my ultimate favourite. I've heard so many people say,"Shanghai is just another city." It's a city, it's boring, you can tour it around for 2 days and you're done with it. I get that.

For me, the experience of being in Shanghai was simply amazing. Here are several
reasons why:

The Metro
Shanghai has the world's largest metro network. It's a well-connected city. Trains run at super high frequencies, so less crowd in trains, less waiting as well. With the metro, there's little need for environmentally-unfriendly buses and cars. Furthermore, train tickets are incredibly cheap (as compared to Singapore).

The Architecture
The city amazes me with unique, jaw-droppingly awesome building architecture. Some buildings arouse curiosity and wonder, others display elegance and grandeur. Just walking along the streets admiring these buildings make my day.

The Bund
It probably wasn't as fancy before, but recent renovations to improve Shanghai's image for the World Expo event have made the Bund a comfortable place for a nice evening stroll, complete with fresh air and stunning views.

Eat, Shop, Play
I loved TaoBao City for the wholesale shopping. Nearby, along East Nanjing Road, plenty of shopping malls with big brand names line the path. Xintiandi, which resides in the French Concession incorporates upscale bars and restaurants into French colonial architecture. It's old meets new. Nostalgic yet refreshing.

China Trip: Hangzhou

It's Day 2 of our 17-day trip. Our legs are aching like crazy. Yesterday at Shanghai, we walked nearly 15 hours, hopping from sight to sight, and found a hidden treasure while we were at it.

Today, at Hangzhou, was not a very good day though it has its perks too. For a start, we had a late start in the morning as the only bullet train to Hangzhou arrives at 9.05am. We did a mad rush to Wu Zhen, which was 2 hours away. Our cabbie had advised us against it as it was too late in the day to try to do it as a half-day trip. Kh's parents and sister had gone there before and they loved that place. I knew Kh wanted very much to see it for himself too, and i didn't want him to regret not having been there, so i said we should go anyway, even if it means missing a few sights in Hangzhou.

True enough, it was too late for a half-day trip. By the time we got back to Hangzhou, it was almost 6pm and most of the attractions are already closed. Thankfully, QingHeFang was opened, as informed by our illegal cabbie (kena scammed), who kindly dropped us off there at the pre-negotiated price though it was much further than our intended destination.

Later on, it got too cold for me to be walking around in a fleece jacket (probably around 0-5 degrees), so we decided to go back to our hotel for me to change into my down jacket and also pick up my tripod for some night-shooting at the West Lake.

***
Several people asked us where we were from, and we when we say, "Singapore", they'll be like,"Zhe Men Yuan?!" At the back of my head, I'm thinking, "that's only 5 hours away.-_-" " They think we're from Hong Kong or Guangdong, from the way we speak.

It's funny how they can't even tell the difference between their own people and a Chinese foreigner. To them, even a local from another state is also considered a foreigner. That's how big their country is, that different states can have vastly difference cultures. I'm happy with this newfound "tiong" status though, as it means that they are not treating us differently from the locals.
***

Rapunzel/Easy A/Megamind

Rapunzel: A Tangled Tale
I'm glad Mandy Moore did the voice over for Rapunzel. I think she did a great job and her singing was nice. This Rapunzel story is a spin-off from the classic fairy-tale. I thought, Magic Hair? What a stupid plot. It is actually much more entertaining than I thought and the story unfolded quite nicely which made the magic hair storyline sounds more acceptable. Plus, the Rapunzel in this story is so gorgeous. Definitely prettier than Snow White/Cinderella/Jasmine/Pocahontas??? Great animated film. Definitely a must-watch.

4 stars

Easy A
This movie is about how a small, innocent lie became a rumour that was hugely blown out of proportion. The victim enjoys the new-found infamy, but soon realises that things are not quite going the way she expected. She sets out to set the record straight, and also found love along the way.

This is a very average movie. There was nothing particularly funny about it, and halfway through it gets really boring.

2.5 stars

Megamind
Megamind is about a villain turned hero. I thought the start of the movie, which was featured in most part of the trailer, was quite funny and interesting. Then it got a bit boring from there. The whole show feels quite cliche. Boy likes girl, girl does not like boy, boy does something heroic, girl falls in love with boy, happily ever after.

3 stars

1 more week!

Next week, at this time, I will be in Shanghai already. Anticipating! Checked the weather forecast this morning and it was pretty insane!

-14 Degrees on a midday!

Route Map!

13 more nights to my long awaited backpacking trip! 

Meanwhile, our itinerary is almost 95% done. It has been a long 4 months of planning. As Lonely Planet (China) wrote so rightly, "Knowing where to begin travelling around China can be a headache and knowing where to end is equally tough. And that's even before you've begun to think of the stuff in between."

So in the end, we decided on the Golden Triangle. a.k.a, Beijing-Xian-Shanghai route, with some extra stops around them.

Singapore
>Shanghai
>Hangzhou
>Huangshan
>Tunxi
>Suzhou
>Zhujiajiao
>Shanghai
>Xian
>Huashan
>Beijing
>Tianjin
>Chengde
>Beijing
>Shanghai
>Singapore

This is our 3rd official backpacking trip (5th if unofficial), Kh has pointed out something interesting. In every single trip, we do something different.

Vietnam> Beginner's package.
Got to see a bit of everything; city, mountain, sea, ruins, beach. Very easy to travel in. A great place for a backpacker to start off.

Laos+Cambodia> Rough and tough.
Many border crossings. Sharp increase in difficulty level.  Information is scarce and scams are common. Poverty is rampant. Overall a much more authentic experience. Even Vietnam by comparison is touristy.

China> Wintery landscape.
Winter definitely brings about its own set of challenges. An early sunset means we don't have as much time to travel as we normally would. I also have to make many changes to my default packing list. And there are many minor details to take into consideration. This will also be the first time my DSLR is experiencing winter, and that brings about another set of challenges.