Sunday, November 05, 2006

Finally found another internet connection at my grandmother's house... Have being running all over for the past few days but the lousy hotels do not have a single internet apart from the first one at Su Zhou... Anw let me do a bit of catching up...

After the last post I went to visit the silk factory in Su Zhou and bought silk blankets... Hope they are really as good as the saleswoman says... In the early afternoon went to the water village of Wu Zhen, took a little walk in the streets before taking a boat down the river... Quite nice trip, rocking away in the little boat... Later the day went to Hang Zhou and of course must visit the famous Xi Hu or West lake... The scenery there is fantistic, and we were just in time to catch the sunset at Lei Feng Tower... Beautiful beyond words... And just as I snapped a few shots on the camera, the sun set...

Day 3 I went to visit the west lake again, this time I took a ride on a boat around the lake... Saw the Su Bund, the Bai Bund and the islands in the middle of the lake... The city of Hang Zhou is also very nice. With a combination of concrete and greenery, a lack of heavy industries in the city centre, and the proximity to one of the most beautiful lakes in the world made me fall in love with the city almost immidiately... Later in the morning went to the tea farm where the famous Long Jing tea is grown... And the result, of course, is and exchange of money and goods... Great tea though...

The trip to Nan Jing took about five hours, and on the way I saw a very interesting accident... A lorry exceed the height limit when it went under a sign board on an expressway, and tore the entire signboard off its base onto the road... Imagine the force and the work done and deduce the speed of the lorry... Ok whatever...

After reaching Nan Jing it was almost dark so I had dinner before visiting the night market... Bought lots of things to eat... Growing fatter by the day...

Day 4 I saw the famous Chang Jiang Bridge at Nan Jing, built completely by the Chinese themselves, using funds donated by the people of China... It was a huge project, taking eight years and countless lives before it was completed... The Chinese achieved what many westerners considered mission impossible, and the bridge won great glory for the Chinese people in a time when westerners were considered far superior to the Chinese... The other famous attraction, the Nan Jing Massacre Museum, was closed though, due new bones discovered near the site... Disappointing... It will be nice to visit the place and know the extent of the atrocities committed by the Japanese... I also realised that tNan Jing people hated the Japanese to the core, and one way of getting back at the Japanese is to bring them straight to the Massacre Museum once they get off the plane, before bringing them to lunch... Interesting idea... In the afternoon went to Wu Xi, visited the Tai Hu, and saw mosquitoes flying above my head like swarms of bees... Only Lim Chu Kang beat that, coz the mosquitoes in LCK really bite, while the mosquitoes there dun really bother to suck your blood...

Day 6 went to the Filming site of CCTV at Wu Xi, where the TV series of Romance of the Three Kingdoms were shot... Also visited a live performance of fighting on horseback, and a Guan Yu with a yellow face and a Zhang Fei with a yellow face also... Ok... No comments.. Later the day was trips to the pearl factory and the tea pot factory... Kena cheated again... More exchanging of money and goods... Finally finished the tour and reached Shanghai in late afternoon... Now for house warming and treating of relatives to dinner, and just in time to celebrate my grandpa's 80th birthday...

P.S. I can only post but not view my blog in China coz its blocked... For photos pls wait till I am back in Singapore...