I have to admit that I forgot the existence of this blog until I read one of the blogs. Yes! That's how busy I am (audit life, haih).

Life was pretty challenging, as usual. I told this to one of my friends once,










I, once, stopped halfway when I was on my way up because I saw a small bridge in front of me covered with mist and I did not dare to go further. I looked back and saw the other couples were so determined to go further, I gathered my courage and continue. That's the proudest and happiest moments.

   

and how can I forget my Sunway friends =P

GENTING was our last outing this summer. Went there to release stress since my results will be coming out the day after that. Nothing really special there. The only thing I like about that place is the weather. So nice and cooling. Stayed overnight at First World Hotel.

My dad and bro were so eager to play bowling there. And they drag me there even though they know that I didn't know how to play. Now, I'm addicted to it. I only realised it was so fun that day.

Went karaoke at night. It's just so fun that I almost lost my voice. LOL!! Should try to sing out loud when you're in a stress mode. It really works.

This is the second overseas trip with my family this year. They love traveling and so do I. I guess it is in our gene.

This time there is no plane for us. Bus is our transport to the small island for 3 days 2 nights trip. 5 and a half hour in the bus is tiring. But all the tiredness is nothing when you get to travel.

On 13th August, 8.30am, we board the bus at Bukit Jalil Bus Terminal. But it only started its journey at 10.00am. This lousy bus wasted our time and spoilt our day. Learn a lesson: I'm more than willing to pay more for good quality rather than choosing this lousy bus. My bad luck continues during immigration. Just because I wear contact lens, it doesn't mean that I'm not the same as the one in the passport. Do I look totally different, stupid officer? The officer asked me how long I have not been here and check my IC. It's only 2 years and I don't think I change that much.

MRT was our main transport there. It's so convenient. Since I went there before and with the help of MRT route map, I'm the tour guide for the whole trip. Of course, I can't do it alone. My brother helped me a lot.

Our hotel was in Chinatown. We walked for half an hour just to find the hotel but to no avail. We gave up and chose another hotel since we hadn't pay yet. After checked in and settled everything, it's time for dinner. There's a lot of choices at the hawker center in Chinatown. Food was okay. Not bad.






Marina Bay was our next journey. I fell in love with that place as soon as I reached there. It was so beautiful. There's a casino there and all of them went in leaving me alone wandering outside. Luckily, they just went in to look around. Just across the street was Marina Bay Sands Hotel. The design inside the building was amazing. I wished I can stay there. We got the chance to go to the top of the building. Admission fee to Skypark was $20. It was expensive but it worth. Standing at 56th floor of the building was awesome. We can see the whole Singapore but not Sentosa. The skyscrapers with all the lights were so beautiful. There's a swimming pool there but only for hotel guests. Swimming at the top of the building will be awesome.





On our way to Esplanade, we saw a stage at Olympic Park. They were having rehearsal for the opening ceremony of Youth Olympic 2010. Walked around at the Esplanade. We planned to continue walking to The Merlion. But because everyone was so tired and can't really walk anymore, we took MRT and went back to Chinatown.




Supper at Food Street in Chinatown. And there goes our Day 1.





Day 2

We took our brunch before heading to Sentosa. No cable car this time. Express train to Sentosa will do. First stop was the Resort World. Planned to go to Universal Studio but tickets were sold out. Disappointed. =( Again, they went to casino leaving me outside. Many of the building there were still under construction. Sentosa was quite bored. Maybe because I went to Underwater World, watched dolphin show and Song of the Sea show before this. There's not much to play and see. My only regret was Universal Studio. I wanted to go in so badly.






Since Sentosa was so bored, we left. We went to Orchard Road. Walked around. No shopping. After that, we went to People's Park at Chinatown to take a walk. Met with my cousin's friend to have dinner nearby.

Heard from my mum's cousin that there will be fireworks that night for the opening ceremony of Youth Olympic 2010. So, after our dinner, we went to Esplanade to join the crowd there. Everyone set their camera and wait for the fireworks. There's fireworks at the start of the ceremony. Nice. After raising the flag, there's another fireworks. And the last fireworks was after lighting up the 'obor'. It was so grand. Cannot compare to the one in KL. I just can't describe my feelings on that night. It was so nice. There's fireworks everywhere. I have to turn 360 degree to watch all the fireworks. All my tiredness on that day was gone. It was superb. I won't forget this night for the rest of my life.








We had to rush back to avoid jam. There's lots of people leaving and heading to MRT station. And supper again at the same place. My dad fell in love with the food there.


Day 3

Met with my mum's cousin and family. They brought us to eat dim sum. No idea where it is. No MRT. No walking. After our breakfast, we went back to hotel and checked out. And they brought us to their house at Bukit Timah. Their house was big with a garden. I shall call it a bungalow. It worth SG6m now. It takes years for me to earn that money.

'Har mee' was our lunch at Beach Road before we left. It was nice and not spicy at all. And it's time to bid farewell to the small island.

We got an early morning flight and I kinda liked it. Our flight supposed to be at 1.40am but it delayed until 2.30am. We need to wander around the airport for almost three and a half hour. Luckily, I'm at KLIA and not LCCT. At least, there's a lot of shop there. But I'm too sleepy to walk around.

We scheduled to reach Shanghai Pudong International Airport at 7.00am but because of the delay, we reached there at 8.00am. After the immigration and luggage collection, it was already 9.30am. The tour guide suggested to let go our breakfast since our lunch will be at 11.00am (early huh?!?!).

Then, we board the fastest train, Maglev Train as our bus was waiting us at another stop. The train went so fast to 431km/h. Our first destination was Oriental Pearl Tower. We had our buffet lunch at the tower and the restaurant was turning while we were eating. After our lunch, we went one floor down to see the view of Shanghai. It's so terrifying as what we were stepping on was a glass. We can see what's below our feet. I don't even dare to look down.

Then we went across the river through underground train to reach the other side called Puxi. All the buildings there were more to British type. We walked around the Nanjing Road. All those shops there sold branded goods.

It's only 6.00pm and we were having dinner. (China ppl ate earlier) Our dinner that night will be steamboat. Each person has one own pot. They don't have an area for us to choose our dishes. Instead, they served the dishes on the table. It's nice but I'm not full.

At last, they sent us to hotel.



We got 6.30am morning call as we had to leave at 8.30am. We had to pack all our things again as we were not staying in the same hotel. We had to sit 2 hour bus to another city, Jiaxin. On the way there, it suddenly rained. All of us prayed that it will stop when we reached. But it didn't. He had our lunch at Jiaxin and we saw a lot of wooden shop there. Quite traditional.

After that, we had to sit another 1 hour bus to another city, Hangzhou. It was raining there too. Hangzhou was a beautiful city and everyone rode their bicycle there. There's a special lane just for the cyclist and motorist. Our first stop was Pagoda of Six Harmonies. We went to the top and saw west lake around there. We got the chance to ride the boat at the west lake. But because it was raining, all the buildings were covered by mist. We hardly see anything. There's a love story about the west lake.

After our dinner, we went to see a show which talk about the love story. It was called 'The Romance of Song Dynasty'. It was super nice. But because the show start at 9.00pm, we walked around nearby there. There's a Buddha there and also a small street which sold a lot of foods. There's a lot of weird houses along the street. It was called the 'Weird Street'.

We stayed overnight at Hangzhou.



Same wake up time and leaving time. Again, we had to pack our things. Our last stop in Hangzhou was tea plantation. They introduced to us their green tea. And we had our lunch there.

Our next city was Dongyang. Another 2 hour bus. It started to rain again. We were bought to Dong Yang Fine Craftwork Hall. There's an exhibition on wooden crafting and bamboo plaiting.

Hengdian was our next city. Another 1 hour bus. The rain never stop. It followed us wherever we went. We went to Hengdian World Studios. This was the scene for all those movies which involve emperors. Eg. Hero. They act here. Because the bus driver lost his way , he missed a show.

Then, we went to a theme park beside the world studios. It's not really a theme park. I rather called it a small version of Disneyland. There's not much to play there. We had our dinner there and we watched 2 shows. One of them was just a normal show and the other was the most exciting. After a 15-minute show, there will be water falling from the top of the hill. Many of them wore raincoat and brought a bucket to play with the water. Those who did not play like us will sit at another end so that we won't get wet.

We had to sit 1 hour bus to get to our hotel in Yiwu.



We woke up half an hour later since they planned to leave at 9.00am. Packing again. It rained early in the morning.

We were in Yiwu's biggest shopping centre. It's more to retailer. Those retailers won't sell their things if we were to buy only one. They didn't even care to talk to you if you're not going to buy at least 10. They didn't do small business. They preferred large business. That's why we didn't buy anything from there.

We had our lunch there before heading to Suzhou. Another 3 hour bus. So tiring. We were so happy that it was not raining at Suzhou. Instead, it was windy and not sunny at all.

Our first stop at Suzhou was The Garden of Couple's Retreat. We rode the boat there and someone will sing for us while rowing the boat. After that, we went to a Hanshan Temple.

We had our dinner at somewhere like Petaling Street. The only difference was that there's no stall there. Only shops. Lots of shop there. We walked around after that.

Then, we went to see night view. We were brought to Suzhou Science and Cultural Centre. The building there was almost the same as Bird Nest in Beijing. It was so nice with all the lights around the building. We didn't go in. Our last stop of the day was Times Square. We were there to see the lights decorated on the building and not shopping.

We stayed in Suzhou that night.



Glad that we woke up half an hour later 2 days in a row. After our breakfast, we went straight to a factory which made and sold silk. They sold blanket and pillow which according to them will improve our health. Not sure whether they were boasting to encourage us to buy. There's a lot of shirts made of silk.

We had our lunch there. Our last city before heading back to Shanghai was Wuxi. 4 hour bus was super tiring. But luckily we stopped by half way to buy chrysanthemum. I think it was located at the middle of the highway.

Surprisingly, it didn't rain the whole day. After we reached Wuxi, we were brought to Wuxi Lingshan Buddhist. It was huge and we need to ride small bus from one spot to another. There's a huge Buddha standing at the top, Buddha's hand and also Buddha's children. There's a 15-minute show showing little Buddha was bathing.

Then, we went to a shopping centre at Wuxi before heading back to hotel to have our dinner. It was the first time I went back to hotel so early.



Our morning call was at 6.00am. Super early. My eye bag getting deeper and deeper. We had to leave early so that we can walk around the lake before the sun rise. After that, we went to a shop which sold pearl. They showed us where and how they got the pearl. They cut the oyster there and then to show us the pearl inside it.

Our last stop was teapot factory. There's so many types of teapot. Those who are interested can buy there. It started to rain when we left.

At last, we were heading to Shanghai after our lunch. 4 hour bus again. But we reached earlier. We were brought to a shop which sold jade. None of us were interested. And there's a big difference in their services compared to those who worked at pearl shop. Shanghai's people were quite arrogant. They hardly smile.

Then, we went to a place where all the traditional shops were located. I'm not sure what that place called. We bought a luggage there. The bag originally cost 300 Renmimbi but we cut till 50 Renmimbi. We bargained till the girl gave up and she was not that satisfied with us.

Our last grand dinner started at 8.00pm. It was a buffet style with many seafood. Awesome. Before that, we went to see Shanghai night view by ship. But too bad, it was raining. When we were on the ship, it was only 6.00pm. All the lights hadn't light up yet. The ship went one round for one hour. At 7.00pm, all the lights were lighted up. But we were nearing the dock. Luckily, the ship went slower so that we can take photos of the night view. Beautiful. I just love it.

After our grand dinner, we checked in to our hotel at Shanghai.



The day we all waited for so long arrived. We were going to EXPO. 6.30am morning call and we left at 8.30am. EXPO only opened at 9.00am. Dark clouds were seen everywhere. We were worried that it might rain. When we arrived, there's tons of buses there. Lots of people. All of us had to line up to get in there. Luckily, the tour guide was fast enough to get the ticket and all of us run to the entrance.

We were on our own until 6.30pm. Even our lunch and dinner were on our own. There's two sides and we need to take MRT to get from one side to the other. One side had all the country's pavilion and the other side had all the industry's pavilion. We were at the industry side so we had to get to the other side. We spent the whole day there and we didn't have the time to look around the industry's pavilion.

We went to Zone B first and it started to rain. Zone B consists of Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia pavilions and many more. Then we proceed to Zone C which consists mainly of Europe, Africa and America pavilions. The biggest zone of all and it's so tiring. We only went to Denmark and Chile which took only 30 minutes to go in, Czech Republic and Africa no need to line up at all. Most of them need to line up for few hours. We planned not to line up so that we can go to all the three zones to see all the pavilions. We had our lunch at Malaysia pavilion. They sold bak kut teh, laksa, nyonya chicken rice and many more. Not bad.

After Zone B and C, we proceed to Zone A which consists of China, Hong Kong and mostly Asian countries. It's far to walk from Zone C to A, so we took a free shuttle bus. And we just have enough time to visit all the pavilions.

We had our dinner there before travel back to the industry side and it's already 6.20pm. We didn't have the chance to walk around there. It rained and quite windy the whole day. I wondered why the rain won't stop.

After we left EXPO, we went to see Era show. It's like a circus. And that's it. My last night at China.

We went back to the same hotel.



The very last day in China. We woke up at 6.30am like usual. We went to Bao Shu Tang. We got a free leg massage there. Then, we had our lunch.

And off we go to the airport. Our flight was at 3.30pm. Once we got into the airplane, the captain told us we were going to delay our flight for 1 hour. Our plane can't take off because there's a lot of plane coming in.

We only reached KLIA at 9.30pm.