We took Hainan Airlines there, and it was a really nice airline. I would highly recommend it in the future. Individual entertainment systems, decent food, and comfortable reclining seats. I had just watched 非诚勿扰 (If You Are The One), in which Shu Qi (see below) plays a flight attendant on Hainan Airlines. I joked with a couple of friends here, before I left, that I hoped that "笑笑" (her character's name in the movie) would be my flight attendant, but unfortunately, that did not turn out to be the case =( =(
In any case, we checked into our hostel once we arrived, and it, too, exceeded expectations. Paying $26 USD for four nights is a good deal in my book. We set out to find the 城隍庙 (Temple of the City God) and the 豫园 (YuYuan Gardens), and it was a great day to enjoy the gardens. I really enjoyed the different shapes of each of the doorways and all the greenery and flowers that were blooming in the garden.
After visiting the temple, we ate some 小笼包 (xiaolongbao) at 南翔馒头店's takeout window, but they weren't that great. I was a little disappointed.
I also ate some stinky tofu from the street...very tasty!
At night, we walked around Nanjing Lu (expensive shopping area) and then along the Bund (along the Huangpu River) at night, to enjoy the nighttime skyline, which reminded me a little of Hong Kong's.
On Friday, we originally had planned on going to Suzhou, but all the train tickets for that day and Saturday were sold out (in retrospect, this was due to the Saturday holiday). So we bought tickets for Sunday, as well as buying tickets to join a tour group to Hangzhou on Saturday (the only way we could get train tickets for Hangzhou). We spent the rest of the day walking around the French Concession area, which was the part of the city that used to be controlled by France during China's . We visited the former house of 宋庆龄 (Soong Ching-ling, Madame Sun Yat-sen), where she lived for many years. She is the Soong sister who "loved China" (the three Soong sisters were often described as "一个爱钱、一个爱权、一个爱国" [One loves money, one loves power, and one loves the nation], because one married a banker, one married Chiang Kai-shek, and one married Sun Yat-sen and later did a lot of work herself in building the nation). It was really inspiring to see the museum exhibit on all her work and achievements in trying to build a strong nation with the Communist government early in China's republic existence.
After that, we leisurely strolled through the French Concession and some parks until we reached Taikang Road, which is a relatively newer art studio section of Shanghai. We visited a lot of shops and checked out some artwork, most of which was pretty neat. There were a lot of traditional paintings/photograph stores, but I saw a few paintings that were pretty neat (no photos allowed, unfortunately, otherwise I would have taken a few!). Similar to the previous day, there were lots of flowers blooming along the streets and in the parks:
And we ate noodles and 生煎包 (pan-fried buns) for lunch! =D
We stopped by Dr. Sun Yat-sen's former residence as our walk continued, but they were just closing. The security guard was nice enough to let us in to use the restroom and take a picture outside, though.
We also visited XinTianDi, which is a small area near the former site of the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China that has a lot of touristy (and expensive!) boutique shops. We tried to find a restaurant that I had read about that supposedly had really good xiaolongbao, but once we found the address, we were told that it had been torn down a long time ago. =( =( Major FAIL. In the future, don't look for 佳家汤包 on 河南南路, because it's not there.
Saturday was the QingMing Festival and also the date of our trip to Hangzhou. Before I left Beijing, I had read a poem by the Tang poet 杜牧 (Du Mu), simply called 清明 (QingMing) (look up "QingMing Festival on Wikipedia for the English translation):
清明时节雨纷纷
路上行人欲断魂
借问酒家何处有
牧童遥指杏花村
I thought this poem was apropos for our trip, especially the first line, as it was misty/raining lightly as we arrived at Hangzhou. A few of my friends from China were saying that it was actually good for it to be raining during our trip there, since 西湖 (West Lake) would be more romantic in the rain. Too bad I couldn't take advantage of that. In any case, our first stop was West Lake, and the scenery and foliage were breathtaking. Lots of green, pink, and yellow, and barely-visible pagodas on distant islands in the mist surrounded us as we walked along the shore and on one of the islands.
I can see why people would think it would be a romantic place to go (excepting all the tourists...)
I really enjoyed the idyllic atmosphere that surrounded us, too. This particular scene made me feel like we were there 1000 years ago.
Our next stop on the tour was the Temple of Yue Fei (岳王庙). Yue Fei was a general during the Southern Song Dynasty who fought against the Jurchens from the north. The emperor executed him and his son, on the advice of an evil couple in his court, and as Yue Fei voluntarily returned to the capital for his execution, despite being on the brink of defeating the Jurchens, he is seen as a model of loyalty in Chinese culture. He also had a famous tattoo on his back, that was done by his mother, that reads, 盡忠報國, which means "Serve the country with the utmost loyalty." We learned on our tour that the uppermost dot in the word for "country" was left out in the tattoo, and that his mother said that she would finish the tattoo once he had reclaimed the lost Chinese territory, but it was never done. The tour guide also said (in a totally serious manner) that the dot also was not in the painting on the wall of the temple, because "Taiwan has not returned to us yet."
The tour group then took us to a couple of classic tourist traps, i.e. a silk market to buy silks, and also a tea-tasting place to buy 龙井茶 (LongJing tea), for which the area is famous.
We also went to a village built in a Song Dynasty fashion, as it was the capital during the Southern Song dynasty. It was pretty interesting, as they had lots of handicrafts and local food for sale, as well as people dressed in Song Dynasty-era clothes, but it was definitely built for tourists. I did get an awesome picture that a cariacturist drew...all I have to say is that if I were a Jurchen, I would be terrified to see a 7'6" Yao Ming bearing down on me with a sword or a spear:
The last couple of stops were famous temples in Hangzhou, but by then, I was too tired, wet, and cold to really enjoy them, which was a little too bad. Although the day was pretty fun, I reminded myself why I hate large tour groups.
Sunday was our Suzhou trip. I ate a 饭团 (rice roll) for breakfast =D
Anyway, Suzhou is famous for its silks and private gardens, and although we didn't take a look at any silks, I have to say that the gardens did not disappoint. We visited the 拙政园 (Humble Administrator's Garden), considered to be the best garden in Southern China. I think a couple of pictures will demonstrate why. I only wish I had the $$ and land to build a garden like this:
In my future yard, though, I am definitely planting plum blossom trees, cherry blossoms, and magnolias, as well as a myriad of ground flowers. I have become inspired. We met up with my roommate Peter, who's originally from Suzhou, and we had lunch, then went to his grandparents' house for tea. We visited 盘门 (PanMen), the old city gate or Suzhou, that was both a land and a water gate (the only one in the world). Pretty awesome to see the strategic fortifications of old. We also went to 虎丘 (Tiger Hill), which is another nice scenic area. We got in for free, because Peter's cousin works there. Pretty awesome. At night, we went to the Jin Mao Tower (金茂大廈), which was formerly the tallest building in China (until the World Financial Center was built right next door), and which houses the Grand Hyatt on floors 54-88. We went up to Floor 88 to go to the highest bar in the world and to enjoy the night view. It was fun, though pricey.
Jin Mao Tower:
Shanghai World Financial Center:
A view of the Bund from the bar:
The Oriental Pearl Tower from the bar:
So in recap, it was a really fun trip, but exhausting. I am definitely not travelling very much more until the end of my trip. I still need to explore more places in Beijing, anyway!
No comments:
Post a Comment