My Trip to China – Hangzhou, Shanghai, Suzhou and Wuzi

 

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China trip in September 2019

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I was in China recently from 20th – 25th September 2019 and stayed 1 night at Sama Sama Hotel Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) for 1 night. It was a 5-star hotel costing about $700 per night. The most affordable voucher to China was $750 for 2 pax, covering hotel stay of at least 3 stars and ground tour. The tour guide and local guide was a separate charge. From Penang International Airport, we caught the 6:20 am boarding time flight from Air Asia to KL and took a Grab car to Sama Sama Hotel, where we booked online.

The flight by Air Asia to Hangzhou International Airport took about 5 hours from KLIA. Upon reaching the airport in China, we met up with our tour guide Meng Siao Lee where we waited about 30 minutes for the rest of the tourists from Malaysia to disembark. There were a total of 30 people from Malaysia.

Without the tour guide, we would have been lost, considering China is big and so many places of interest to see. However, what I did not enjoy was that the whole trip was in Mandarin, which was Greek to me. And my spouse did not do much job of translating to me other than occasionally, but I missed out on the jokes, etc. This, of course, was hard to explain, I guess, for him.

That’s me in navy blue wind-breaker or jacket with my partner. The scenic places were an experience to behold, especially Shanghai, with the kinetic lights all across the entire street of buildings in a row. It is a pity we missed the Shanghai Disneyland, which was not part of the itinerary, but I had been to Disneyland in California many years back. So, instead of buying things, I rather pay for the experience that is rich in culture, food, and architecture.

Oh Shanghai!

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Kinetic lights on mega buildings in Hangzhou

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I was in Shanghai from 20th to 25th September 2019 and still feel the lethargy of waking up early every morning just to catch the guided tour. We flew from KLIA to Hangzhou International Airport and waiting for the rest of the group to arrive from Malaysia. There was a mix of tourists from Penang, Ipoh to JB. Above is a short movie of the kinetic lights that span mega buildings in a straight row of the long road.

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Surround beautiful kinetic lights, Hangzhou

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Here is another video that I shot during the tour in Shanghai, touted to be the next world financial center. I was amazed at the moving lights depicting Disney’s cartoons, as they have a Disneyland there in Shanghai, with flying birds and fancy colors of animations with music for a long time to entertain foreign tourists.

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Rainbow kinetic lights at Hangzhou

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Above is the famous Bund, where revelers dine and watch the river or mouth of the sea with rainbow animated lights, as shown above. The experience was just intriguing. Well, I guess the money was worth it, and this is my second time in Shanghai. The first time, I met my second sister, who was then the head of the English Business Department working in Suzhou. Well, she is now happily married armed with a PhD in English Literature from Southampton University. I’m proud of her.

Was in China

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Tour to China #shanghai #suzhou #hangzhou #wuzi

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I was in China from 19th to 25th September 2019 where we stayed at Sama Sama hotel in KLIA for 1 night with take away breakfast since we had to skip the buffet breakfast to catch the early morning flight from Air Asia to Hangzhou International Airport, which requires 5-hour flight. The above was the tour group that followed in this particular tour.

We went to Hangzhou, Suzhou, SHanghai and Wuzi. Shanghai was beautiful with the fancy lights by the river showing Singapore’s DBS and UOB buildings as well. We took a boat trip to see the mega lights and I also snapped some videos of the trip. Due to privacy, I shall not put too much information here, but suffice to say that we went to West Lake in Hangzhou where I previuosly saw a live performance by the lake entitled, “Lady White Snake”, where tickets were bought by 2nd sister’s colleague, Miki. That was before 2nd sis was married in Southampton and was working in Suzhou for 5 longs years to save up for her PhD studies in the UK.

She is settle down there and very happy, apparently not coming back, despite the chaos of Brexit in the UK and anti-China sentiments in Hong Kong.