千里之行 始于足下

For your convenience, please refer to The Journey for the itinerary and the latest updates.

Weather: Hazy

We left the hostel early for our train to Paris of the East: Shanghai.

Train number: CRH D5658
Depart: Hangzhou 10:07
Arrive: Shanghai South 11:25 (Non-stop)
Time taken: 1h18m
Distance traveled: 173km
Cost: 54RMB (2nd Class)

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I love sitting on trains. The train that we took was a China Railway High-speed (CRH) one between Hangzhou and Shanghai. There was no stop between the two stations and it took only 78 minutes to cover the 173km between them.

To my amazement there were actually standing passengers for the train. Apparently you could just turn up at the station and buy standing tickets (no discount though).

I was kinda excited to take train in China. It would be the seventh country where I had traveled by rail (after Malaysia, Thailand, India, Turkey, Bulgaria and Britain). We reached Shanghai South station on time and soon were on our way to Blue Mountain Youth Hostel.

Shanghai was definitely more urbane and bustling. At the metro stations, everyone was pushing everybody else away to get to the ticket machines. Before passengers could alight from the train other passengers were rushing in. It’s the survival of the fittest in this urban jungle.

Metro ride between Shanghai South Station and Lu Ban Rd Station (where our hostel is located)

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On arrival we had some difficulties locating the hostel but we managed to sort that out. We were given 6 bed dorm instead of the 4 bed one which we booked; there weren’t any other vacancies and we had to make do with that. Turned out that two of our roommates were snorers and we were in for two long nights.

Alan had arranged to visit his friend Kee Yeh who was doing a job attachment in Suzhou the next day so we went to Shanghai station (different from the Shanghai South Station where we arrived from Hangzhou) to get our train tickets.

During our long leisurely lunch and dessert, we took a train to People’s Square . We would walk from down Shanghai’s premier shopping street Nanjing East Road and then onwards to the Bund along Huangpu river.

We decided to escape the cold by venturing inside Shanghai’s Raffles City. It is one of the top end malls in Shanghai and the prices attest to that. I realize that malls all over the world are identical; I might as well be at Singapore’s Raffles City:(.

However, we weren’t really disappointed as there were performances for the shoppers.

Back outside…

..onto Nanjing East Road.

We knew that we were reaching the Bund when we saw Peace Hotel (still under construction).

The Bund was closed for renovation and it was difficult walking on the potholed pavement. It certainly wasn’t the best time to visit as there were many constructions going on in anticipation for the World Expo 2010.

Then we decided to walk back to Nanjing Lu and take the metro to Lujiazui (in Pudong, the other side of Huangpu River).

Once at Lujiazui, we tried to take the river cruise but it won’t be operating until 2010. Neither did we go up the Oriental Pearl Tower due to poor visibility.

After failing in our numerous attempts to take good photos, we decided to have a good meal for Christmas Eve at a fancy shopping mall in Lujiazui . Most of the restaurants are packed and the one that we chose was quite crowded as well. We had to wait a while before being served and the staff actually ushered a couple who arrived after us to a table first. I wasn’t too pleased and told the staff about it. She could only offer a weak sorry and I was really thinking of taking my business elsewhere. Besides the incompetent staff, the couple who took the table was very rude. They knew that we were ahead of them but decided to treat us as invisible instead.

Over dinner Alan and I were ranting over what had happened. I didn’t want to bash China for sake of bashing it but everything in Shanghai culminated in our frustration. Most people were rude; it is a free-for-all in almost everything and no one is willing to concede any space. The huge population in China creates an intense amount of competition for everything; it isn’t surprising that everyone care only for themselves and to hell with the rest. The Chinese nationals in Singapore are also products of the same system and therefore behave accordingly.

It was cold on Christmas’ eve and we headed back to the hostel after dinner. Sadly our Christmas’ Eve was spent trying to sleep under loud snores of our roommates.

For your convenience, please refer to The Journey for the itinerary and the latest updates.

Weather: Great for cycling:)

The day was spent cycling around Hangzhou. First up was of course the West Lake.

Leifeng Pagoda , the restored version, priced us out out. I didn’t think 40 RMB would be worth while. So just photos from the outside.

We then cycled further west to the southern end of the Su Causeway (苏堤). It was a series of bridges across West Lake and named after Su Dongpo, a famous poet/former governor of Hangzhou during the Song dynasty.

We saw many tourists on the Su Causeway. I could easily tell one group of them are Malaysians from their accents.

We headed away from the city and into the mountains towards Longjing. Legend has it that Qianlong was so enamored with this place and visited it several times during his reign. Before the steep climb up, we visited the tea museum. Part of the museum was under renovation and no photography was allowed within the exhibition halls.

The climb up to Longjing was tough but we were rewarded with fantastic views.

Looking at the map, we decided that we could cycle to Lingyin Temple. We had to cycle through several tunnels along the way. Imagine the amount of pollution that we inhaled inside.

Lingyin Temple was another place that we decided to skip upon learning about the entrance fees. Oh well I wasn’t feeling particularly religious that day. We cycled in the general direction of the city and found a restaurant in one of the alleys. We had a plate of fried rice each, river fish and a vegetable dish. Total damage was less than 30 RMB (~6 SGD) for both of us and we couldn’t even finish the food. While eating, Alan mused about why fried rice taste the same around the world, be it in Singapore, Guilin or Hangzhou. Anyone can help us with this?

We decided that we should get back our deposits for the bike rental cards that day as our train to Shanghai was rather early the following day. As the kiosk for refunding would be closed before dark, we sorta had to race against time. It wasn’t quite easy navigating the roads with the map but we did make it in time.

Upon returning our bikes, we got back the 200 RMB deposit plus whatever value that was left after the usage. As there were kiosks located near the various tourist attractions, we hardly exceeded the first hour of complimentary ride. I think that our two day bicycle rental cost us less than 10 RMB per person, an amount so insignificant that I forgot to record it down in my expenses.

We escaped indoors to the West Lake Museum after getting our refunds.

We thought that the museum might be closed already considering that the sun was setting. It actually stayed open till 7pm. The exhibits was pretty informative but I was kind of suffering from information overload. The exhibits that stood out was the opera (recorded) which told the two famous Chinese legends: Butterfly Lovers and Legend of the White Snake.

Inside the museum:

It was still early for dinner so we headed to Starbucks to chill and relax. The Starbucks is located in Xihu Tiandi, an gentrified area along the lake with plenty of cafes and fancy restaurants which wouldn’t look out of place in Orchard Road at all. It was definitely modeled after Shanghai’s Xintiandi.

Alan and I then made a purposeful visit to the pharmacy where I got my lip balm and him his moisturizer. I was quite convinced that the salesperson took a liking to Alan and gave him her name and phone number (of course on the pretext of “just in care if you have any more queries on the product”). Alan didn’t seem to get the hint and I was quite bemused.

We realized that we had new roommates when we got back to our dorm room after dinner. It turned out that one of new roommates was a Turkish guy on business in China. I’m sorry to say that I forgot his name but it was really interesting chatting with him. He was born in Erzurum and his family was from Gumuşhane (I passed by both places during my travel in Turkey) and they had since relocated to Istanbul. They were in the automotive business and he was in China for some car expo.

More interestingly, he was the first AKP supporter whom I spoke to. Knowing that I spent some time in Turkey, he started to ask me what I thought about Turkey. Of course, I said all the niceties but I also told him about how I could not reconcile with the demigod status accorded to Ataturk. To my surprise he agreed with me and shared with me his opinion. Ataturk was a hero which kept Turkey free from foreign invaders but his method of top-down westernization was wrong.

I don’t know what’s the typical profile of an AKP supporter but he was definitely more cosmopolitan than most of them. He did his masters in the UK and was exposed to the different type of democracy there. He thought that AKP was doing a good job in trying to create a pluralistic society no longer dominated by the secular nationalists.

He disagreed with the nationalists (I know friends who are nationalists and despise the AKP government) over issue such as headscarf ban in universities and civil service. If Turkey were to become a true democracy like the west, the nationalists should allow citizens to exercise their freedom of choice and express differing views. He got more excited as he went on and his passion was contagious.

Honestly I could not disagree with him. The headscarf ban was ridiculous to me. Women are denied education because of a piece of garment which they wear. The reverse was happening in Iran. Women could not go outside of their homes without covering their heads. Where is the freedom of choice? However, being an outsider, I would probably not be able to grasp fully the actual reality behind the politics.

I could recall a story told by my International Marketing professor in Sabanci University. Although he’s a Turk, he has spent most of his adult life in the United States. Over a family dinner, he and his sister got into argument over the headscarf issue. He felt that everyone is entitled to choose his or her attire and that is none of the state’s business. She thought that allowing headscarves in state apparatus would be a slippery slope to a takeover by the Islamists and Turkey would be like Iran in no time. It appears that these two views are almost impossible to reconcile.

Sorry I should stop ranting. Mr Turkey excused himself because he needed to pack for his trip to Ningbo next morning. The other roommate was also a nameless Caucasian who came back only to sleep. The night was ended the same as the previous; Alan beat me in Chinese chess again.

For your convenience, please refer to The Journey for the itinerary and the latest updates.

Weather: Excellent

I will write about the 5-day trip to Jiangnan (Hangzhou, Suzhou & Shanghai) from Day 7 to Day 11. I’ll try to be as detailed as possible regarding the travel arrangements and places that we visited in the report.

Alan and I woke up really early in order to catch the first shuttle bus to the airport at 5.30am. We would have to take a cab to New Pearl River Hotel (新珠江大酒店), the nearest shuttle stop. The shuttle would cost 23 RMB, not too expensive for covering almost 45km.

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We had some difficulties figuring out where our check in row was and queued up at the wrong counter. Luckily we managed to sort it out and even found the time to say good morning to Aaron.

Our flight was Deer Jet flight JD5619 scheduled to depart CAN at 7.45am and arrive HGZ at 9.50am. To be honest I had no idea that this airline exists before booking the flight but the first impression wasn’t too bad. The aircraft cabin was clean and one of the cabin crews looked like some celebrity (exactly which Alan and I couldn’t agree on that).

Distance traveled CAN – HGZ: 1038 km

We arrived earlier than expected (proved that Chinese airlines pad their schedules) and found the shuttle bus　to Wulin Square (武林小广场). The shuttle bus attendant pitched some travel products (hotels mainly) as soon as the bus started to move. Along the way:

Upon reaching the bus station at Wulin Squre, we were swarmed by tour agents giving us their pamphlets. Escaping them, we managed to hail a cab to West Lake Youth Hostel, our abode for the next two days. I didn’t take a picture of the hostel entrance and I’ll post one that I found on sinohotel instead.

Hangzhou Xiaoshan Airport to Wulin Square (Shuttle bus 20 RMB) to West Lake Youth Hostel (Cab 16 RMB)

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We got a four-bed dorm (with attached bathroom) at 55 RMB　per person per night. Luckily for us, we were the only occupants for the first night. After settling down and making the necessary research, we headed out to explore Hangzhou.

The first thing that we did was to find the kiosk where we could get a bike rental card (more information here). Hangzhou’s Municipal Government had installed many kiosks around the city where one would rental these public bikes. It costs nothing for the first hour, 2 RMB for the second one and 3 RMB per hour from the third hour onwards. It would be our main mode of transportation in the city.

Our hostel was by Hangzhou’s famous West Lake. Naturally we took photos there.

With our new ride we made our way to Qinghefang, a well-preserved (or well-restored?) historic street. The wares sold in the street were mainly Chinese crafts and aimed mainly at the tourists.

The outdoors became too cold for us and we escaped into the Treasury Museum. The good thing about Hangzhou museums is that they charge no admission at all. Despite that, we were the only visitors.

Some of the exhibits:

Portrait of one of Qing’s greatest statesman

ROC founding father

After touring the museum, we cycled to the train station to buy our train ticket to Shanghai. It was rather scary as I had no prior experience cycling on roads before. Furthermore, China drives on the opposite side of Singapore which only added to the confusion. The saving grace was that most main roads in Hangzhou had a lane for cyclists.

Dinner was at a restaurant near Hefang Street. The waitresses in every restaurant that we walked past would try to usher us into theirs. We decided that there were little differences between them and we settled for a random one.

As the public bike rental system closed its operation by 8.30pm, we decided to walk back to our hostel to work away the calories. Along the way, taxi drivers would approach us and asked whether we would like to visit the bar street. We declined and Alan remarked that the taxi drivers had to resort to touting because of the less business brought about by the efficient bike rental system.

Instead of the bar street, Alan enjoyed himself by beating me in consecutive games of Chinese chess at the hostel.