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Zhouzhuang: Explore The Ancient Water Town

China Trip – Zhouzhuang: Explore The Ancient Water Town 周庄 (Day 2) – After 1.5+ hours of ride from Shanghai, finally we reached outside-of-Zhouzhuang. Zhouzhuang is 30km away from Suzhou, you can say that Zhouzhuang is under the prefecture city of Suzhou. I tell you what, the first thing I felt when arriving at Zhouzhuang is cold! It’s 7 degree celcius there, 2 degree lower than Shanghai. The wind and the dryness were really cold.

Very funny thing is that when the bus was stopping, the “private” cab drivers started moving close to the bus, offering a ride to Zhouzhuang. It’s not one or two person, but 6-7 persons together.

There’s no official cab at Zhouzhuang. It’s all these “private” cab, charging you for only 10RMB, and they will drive you to Zhouzhuang water town area. We did not the ride as we had someone to fetch us, it’s arranged by our hotel – Long Xing Inn. The bus station to Zhouzhuang is very near only, about less than 10 minutes and I was starting to feel excited already.

“Private” taxi driver.

We met with the owner of Long Xing Inn outside of Zhouzhuang ancient water town and she brought us to the ticket counter to buy our entrance ticket. You need to buy tickets to go into Zhouzhuang ancient water town, it costs 100RMB per person for two days or visit. You must always keep your ticket well as you can’t go in again without the ticket, you also need to show the ticket when visiting some of the attractions in the water town too.

Canal at Zhouzhuang.

This is where you buy ticket to go into Zhouzhuang.

Brother booked the hotel through a Chinese website and the owner told us that we were the only one who used English name to book. Haha. The room was not bad, only 140RMB/night with attached bathroom. They also have Chinese-ancient-themed room which is more expensive.

We put our stuff in the hotel, rest a while, then we went to explore the ancient water town. The sky wasn’t really blue enough for me to take nice photos. It’s very dull and cold afternoon.

Zhouzhuang is a very famous and popular water townships in China and it’s also known as “Venice of the East”. It has over thousand years of history. Although it’s not as big as Venice, it’s still pretty with authentic Chinese architecture house. Though, many of them are upgraded with better building materials.

There’s no road in Zhouzhuang, it’s all water canal that connects to different parts of the town. Though you can tour Zhouzhuang by foot.

There’s so many water townships near to Shanghai and the reason we chose Zhouzhuang was because that it’s the most famous and has the longest history. I realised that we should have visited more water townships as Shanghai was pretty boring after then. Haha.

Zhouzhuang was kinda quiet in the afternoon. Most tourists come in the morning. I’ve met people spending a few days at there as Zhouzhuang is very relaxing. It’s the opposite of the Shanghai’s busy city. It’s very calm and there’s no pollution. People at there are very friendly too, but I don’t really understand their dialect. There’s some attractions to visit in Zhouzhuang like ancient house of famous people, temple, but we only did the visit the next day during the morning. We just walked around Zhouzhuang.

This is public toilet at Zhouzhuang.

Sunset at Zhouzhuang.

Cute dog at Zhouzhuang!

Be sure to get a map with you as it’s easy to get lost at there. We did get lost and ended asking people for direction to go back where we came from. Haha. It gets even quieter when the night falls at about 5pm. Many shops started closing and the temperature drops even lower to 5 degree celcius! It’s my first time experiencing cold weather.

Wan Shan’s Hock 万山蹄, pork leg named after the richest man in the late Yuan and early Ming Dynasty in Jiangnan – Shen Wanan.

Cheap beer! It’s only 3RMB/bottle and with 3% of alcohol only.

We went back to the inn for a rest, then headed for dinner. Food at there was not really nice, it’s different and it’s weird. It’s different from Southern Chinese food. I don’t really know what’s good to eat at there, appetite haven’t came back at that time.

After dinner, we went to buy some beer at the mini-market and also some sweets to bite. Slept early that night because we wanted to check out the sunrise at about 7am.

March 4, 2012
Shanghai: Shanghai South Long-Distance Bus Station

China Trip – Shanghai: Shanghai South Long-Distance Bus Station 上海长途客运南站 (Day 2) – Good morning! It’s second day at Shanghai. I was not feeling well the day before due to lack of sleep and sudden cold, but then I was so much better on the second day. I was craving for some McDonald’s to bring up my appetite.

The second day of my China Trip was to a very famous ancient water town – Zhouzhuang, which is located near to Suzhou. After getting direction from the hostel’s front desk, we started our journey.

How to go to Zhouzhuang? – Go to Shanghai South Long-Distance Bus Station and take a 1.5 hours bus ride to Zhouzhuang.

The morning was OK-cold, it’s about 9 degree celcius. It’s my first time experiencing Shanghai, but the main point of day 2 was not Shanghai, but Zhouzhuang, so I didn’t bother to see Shanghai yet. Shanghai South-Long Distance Bus Station is kinda far, we have to change two lines in Shanghai Metro. We took Line 2 train at Nanjing Lu Station to People’s Square, then change to Line 1 to Shanghai South Station.

Walking towards the Shanghai Metro.

Wet morning, but not heavy rain.

11 Lines in Shanghai Metro. Not easy reading the Metro’s map.

Look! Chinese people queuing up to board the Metro! That’s so cool man.

The bus station is not located right beside the Metro or above, it takes another 10 minutes walk from the metro station to the bus station. We were hungry, but we wanted to go buy ticket first.

There’s two bus going to Zhouzhuang daily, one at 8:15am, another at 1.20pm. We bought the 1.20pm tickets, and as usual, we need to produce our ID document while buying the ticket. It’s only 35RMB to Zhouzhuang. Then we went to buy food for lunch – McDonald’s!

How am I gonna shit here? Imagine you see other people’s poo floating pass you.

Cold duck wing. Yums.

Checking ticket.

Spicy Chicken Fillet Burger is awesome!

Spotted a ferries wheel while on the way to Zhouzhuang.

The bus station is really high tech. There’s a waiting hall and ticket check point gate. We boarded the bus at about 1.10pm. The driver wanted us to finish the McDonald’s burger as he said that the burger smells weird. Haha. Chinese driver doesn’t like McDonald’s. The ride to Zhouzhuang takes about 1.5-2 hours depends on traffic. I looked out of the bus window to see Shanghai and I found some stupid thing. A driver parked his car by the highway’s road side, went down of his car, then pee by the road, then get back into his car and drive. DA FUQ is the Chinese doing?

March 4, 2012
Hangzhou: 1-Hour Train To Shanghai Hong Qiao Station

China Trip – Hangzhou: 1-Hour Train To Shanghai Hong Qiao Station 搭快速火车到上海虹桥 (Day 1) – It’s almost 6pm at Hangzhou, I was tired and not feeling very well. I wanted to go to Shanghai, checked in the hostel and sleep so badly. Brother and I went to take our luggage back, checked that everything was still there and we went to buy the train ticket to Shanghai.

Very stupid thing is that train ticket counter was about 10 minutes walk from the platform. It’s just far away from the boarding platform. There’s super many counter at the ticketing area, but it’s easy to buy at ticket. We need to show our ID document (passport) to buy the ticket, it costs 78Yuan one-way to Shanghai Hong Qiao station. After buying ticket, we realised we only have less than 15 minutes until the train starts moving.

I hate that the platform is so far away, and with a 12kg backpack on my bag. We ran. We ran towards the platform as fast as we can, together with the backpack, I was panting away. Phewwwww. What a relief that we still have about 4 minutes before the train started moving. Train in China is very on schedule, they won’t wait for anyone who is late.

The train was pretty cool and was very clean in it. It’s a very long train, with about 15 coaches. We found our seats and rest ourselves. I think I’d a little fever, so I sleep all the way to Shanghai. The train was so smooth and calm as it’s electric train. It’s fast and takes about an hour to reach Shanghai. There’s people selling coffee and food on board too.

We reached Shanghai Hong Qiao Station, which is a train station, and also a domestic airport. I asked brother to take the cab because we did not know how long it takes for MRT to reach our hotel – Blue Mountain Bund Youth Hostel. I couldn’t really feel the outside temperature because we were indoor. The bad thing was, we waited the cab for about 1 hour! It’s a super duper long queue at the cab area. WOW. Cab driver in Shanghai doesn’t really speak English well, it’s better to have the address print in Chinese for him to refer.

In Shanghai already, so excited!

Felt so good after boarding the cab, it takes about half an hour to reach Blue Mountain Bund Youth Hostel on Shaan Xi Nan Lu 陕西南路. Actually, we should have take the Shanghai Metro, it seems faster. We did not do homework about the Metro station and hotel distance so we went for cab which cost us 70RMB.

About the Blue Mountain Bund Youth Hostel, it’s cheap, 130RMB/room but no attached bathroom, it’s troublesome a bit but it’s cold when taking a shit as the bathroom somehow connected to the outdoor balcony! The people at there are very friendly too, most of visitors are young travelers like us, you can mingle around with them and get social. There’s a bar with free Internet usage and free-wifi. Every Wednesday night, there’s a movie night at the bar. Besides, there’s also washing machine and dryer. Room is very small, but I don’t think you will spend many time in room. Opposite the hostel, you will find a convenience store. It’s about 10 minutes walk to famous Nanjing Lu and 15 minutes walk to the nearest Shanghai Metro, Line 2 and Line 3.

Guess what I did after check-in into the hostel? Slept until the next day! I skipped dinner. =D Wasted my first night? Not really, I have plenty of time in Shanghai. I needed to charge up for the coming days.

March 4, 2012
Hangzhou: Zhi Wei Guan & Xi Hu West Lake

Click here to read more about my China Trip.

China Trip – Hangzhou 杭州: Zhi Wei Guan & Xi Hu West Lake 知味馆，西湖 (Day 1) – After exploring Qing He Fang Cultural Street which has not much thing to see, without wasting time, we headed to the famous Xi Hu West Lake next. However, we have to eat something first because brother did not eat anything for lunch. I didn’t have much appetite though.

We get to know about Zhiweiguan Restaurant has good Dong Po Rou 东波肉, so we hopped on a motorcycle-tuk-tuk style vehicle which brought us to Zhiweiguan near to Xi Hu West Lake.

Dong Po Rou.

Xiao Long Bao.

Zhiweiguan is a famous restaurant in Hangzhou. I’ve head that Dong Po Rou is pork with fatty belly that must not be missed in Hangzhou. After trying out, it’s awesome, but not that wonderful as people said afterall. Perhaps we went to a wrong shop? Since Hangzhou was just tour-for-fun, we didn’t bother to look for the best Dong Po Rou. We also ordered Xiao Long Bao to try out. One sad and funny thing is that the restaurant does not serves Chinese tea. OMG! Chinese restaurant with no Chinese tea. I wonder why? We’ve to buy mineral water from convenience store nearby.

So, this is Xi Hu, the West Lake, what do you think?

After a little bit of food, we walked to the famous Xi Hu West Lake. Everybody say Xi Hu (West Lake) is a must-go attractions in Hangzhou. It’s a very big lake, standing by the lake side feels super duper cold because of the wind. I read that you can hop on the boat which brings you to a garden on the other side of the lake. Unfortunately, it’s raining, the weather was no good, the scenery was not really nice also. So Xi Hu did not leave a good impression to us.

What’s cool by the Xi Hu is that there’s many branded shop, designer’s brands located across the street at Xi Hu. It’s like a luxurious shopping street along the lake which is pretty cool.

Cool bus with wooden interior.

Since, it’s cold, nothing much to see in the blur rainy weather, we went to look for cab to bring us back to the train station to go to Shanghai. Sadly, it’s very hard to find a cab at there. Then local thought us to take the bus which will bring us to the train station for only 2RMB. Cool and cheap! =D

Click here to read more about my China Trip.

March 3, 2012
Nice Nasi Kandar At Cargas Cafe, Bayan Lepas

Nice Nasi Kandar & Fried Chicken At Cargas Cafe, Bayan Lepas – Somewhere after the Penang International Airport, on Jalan Bayan Lepas, there is a mamak shop named Cargas Cafe which serves good Nasi Kandar. I went to try it out a few days ago during lunch time. It was so crowded with people, queuing up to take the self-service food. People of all races, Chinese, Indian, Malay were all having lunch at there.

I’ve get to know that the fried chicken at there is good, as well as brinjal eggplant and fish. As typical Nasi Kandar, I get a plate of white rice, then I pick my own dish. I’ve got myself some curry beef, a fried chicken drum stick, an boiled egg with curry sauce, eggplant and some ladies finger. It costs me RM7.50 for these, not bad price for so many dishes.

The curry sauce was good and I like the crunchy fried chicken, the aroma is very good with the spices hidden in the chicken. The beef was however a little bit hard to bite. Overall, they’re nice. It’s something different from town’s nasi kandar which has more taste of coconut milk in the curry.

Cargas Cafe Mamak

978, Jalan Bayan Lepas, 11900 Penang,

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March 3, 2012
Hangzhou: Explore Qing He Fang Cultural Street

Click here to read more about my China Trip.

China Trip – Hangzhou: Explore Qing He Fang Cultural Street 清河坊文化街 (Day 1) – Finally I’ve touched down in Hangzhou after 6 hours of flight from LCCT, Kuala Lumpur. What a long flight, it was. I went to the WC to dressed up my winter wear and meet my brother who was waiting outside the airport.

I didn’t get a chance to take photo as my camera was in my big backpacker’s bag. My backpack was really heavy at 12kg! How wish I can find a place to drop my bag to lighten up myself. I wonder why people like backpacking. Haha.

Near to train’s station.

We went to buy ticket to Hangzhou’s train station outside the airport. There’s actually an AirAsia counter that sells bus ticket traveling to Shanghai (3 hours bus ride) for only 75 Yuan. but I recommend you to take the fast train to Shanghai, it’s only an hour ride from Hangzhou. To take the train, you have to go to the Hangzhou’s train station in city. This is where we were heading to.

Hangzhou’s alley.

At there, we found luggage drop service to drop our backpack. It’s 15Yuan per piece of big luggage for one day. It’s safe, but it’s better to get all the valuable with you like cash, passport, and electronics. I felt so relief after dropping the luggage there. We then asked for direction to go our first stop – Qing He Fang Cultural Street, about 4km away. I realised not many people know about this place, we have to show them photo only then they know about it.

Very cool thing in Hangzhou that they have bicycle rental service where citizen can rent a bike to ride, then park at another station.

Buying umbrella.

The weather was not really good, drizzling and temperature was about 11 degree Celcius, we bought umbrellas along the way. It took us about 20 minutes from the train station to Qing He Fang.

Lonely Planet introduced Qing He Fang to us. Qing He Fang Cultural Street is a street that has old Chinese shop but tourist centric, selling gift, food, sweets, and more. It’s not very wonderful because it’s raining and nothing much interesting to capture. I think it’s better to visit during fall or autumn. Wanted to find food at there, but failed, so we moved on to Xi Hu lake.

Buying Long Xu Tang, a kind of sweet.

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Click here to read more about my China Trip.

March 3, 2012
China Trip: Overnight At KLIA LCCT Terminal

China Trip: Overnight At KLIA LCCT Terminal (To Hangzhou/Day 0) – Last December, I went to a 13 days-long China semi-backpacking trip. My travel destinations were Hangzhou, Shanghai, Shenzhen and lastly Hong Kong. For the flight, I took the Air Asia to Hangzhou, only then take the fast train to Shanghai, it costs me about RM500 for one-way ticket to Hangzhou.

Since it’s Air Asia, my flight departs at LCCT (Low Cost Carrier Terminal), Kuala Lumpur International Airport. It’s my first time at the LCCT and I’ve to spend my night at there because I actually flew from Penang to there and wait for about 8 hours, only then I get to board the flight to Hangzhou.

I was actually very excited of “transiting” at LCCT, overnight at the airport like other travelers do, but then it’s not really a good experience. Sleeping on the hard and cold tiles flooring was really bad and uncomfortable. In fact, I didn’t get any sleep on there. I think I did successfully fall asleep for about 30 minutes on the bench outside the LCCT. Hahaha.

You can’t really get a good sleep after 3.30am when the announcement of flight started going on the loudspeaker. Another thing is, don’t bother to tour around the LCCT at night, I was curious so I did not settle down at first when I touched down at LCCT about 12.30am, I toured around the airport for half an hour only then I was busy finding an empty power socket. Luckily, I found one but it’s not really working well. I have to readjust the plug to make it works. My phone battery was running low and I need charge badly for the next day usage at Hangzhou. Phew, I got 75% charge after-all.

The night was really long. 6.30am was when I started moving around again, look for a sandwich, toilet, brush and enter to the departure hall. I was started for not feeling well because I didn’t get a good sleep. My body was tired and head was heavy. When I got the board the plane, the plane was so far away and I have to walk. At the plane, sleep wasn’t pleasant too, I have no idea why. It was a long way, and luckily I’ve got chicken rice. =D Despite the tired-ness, I was still able to tour Hangzhou on the first day. =D Let’s get ready for my China trip.

There’s many restaurant at LCCT like McDonald’s, KFC, OldTown and more, but not all of them are 24 hours.

There’s not many water fountain at there and they were not working well.

Found a good spot, to lie down.

Lousy power socket. Sucks.

Flight to Hangzhou is located at the end of the parking way. LOL

Although it’s HOT SEAT, it’s very uncomfortable to sleep.

Chicken rice, not nice already. I prefer nasi lemak.

In Hangzhou already.

March 2, 2012
Beautiful Sunset At Batu Ferringhi, Penang

Beautiful Sunset At Batu Ferringhi, Penang – Have been looking for some good sunset viewing spot in Penang lately. Batu Ferringhi is not the best place to see sunset but still not bad. You can see the sun set until the hill of the national park area. The best sunset spot I think is at Balik Pulau area where you can see the sunset below the horizon.

Recently, I went to Batu Ferringhi, at the beach outside Hard Rock Hotel to enjoy the sunset with Hueisean, as well as to photograph it. It’s so calm during that time when there’s less people at the beach. The beach outside Hard Rock Hotel is also cleaner too!

Horse riding at the beach.

The ivory sandy beach.

无边无际, sea with no boundary.

Hueisean was chasing the birds happily.

The sun was getting down.

Half-way down.

Me. HAHAHA

March 2, 2012
Lover’s Isle, Batu Ferringhi

Lover’s Isle, Batu Ferringhi – Lovers’ Isle is actually a batu (rock) outcrop near to Batu Ferringhi. Long long time ago, this little isle is the landmark for seafarers of old to stopover for a fresh supply of water from the nearby river. Local Malays called the seafarers ferringi, and later then because of this rock, Batu Ferringhi is now Batu Ferringhi.

I’ve no idea why Lover’s Isle is named, but then Lover’s Isle is actually another name for Batu Ferringhi. Yesterday, I passed by the place while on the way to the national park, curiously stopped by to take a few photograph of Lover’s Isle. The place is very rocky and dirty.

There’s name of lovers on the rock.

Beach near to Lover’s Isle.

March 2, 2012
Tomyam Mee Near Kwang Hwa Primary School, Raja Uda

Tomyam Mee Near Guang Hua Primary School, Raja Uda – Raja Uda, Butterworth has two famous tomyam mee stall, one is Joo Heng tomyam mee, and another one is a no-name tomyam mee stall that locates near to Kwang Hua Primary School. People normally calls it the “Tomyam Mee Besides Kwang Hua Primary School”.

I have been to Joo Heng Tomyam Mee before and now it’s time to try this one. Some said this one is better, some said it’s cheaper, some said I’ve to wait longer.

I was there at about 7.30pm, I get to pick my own ingredient for the tomyam noodle. I picked minced pork, abalone slice, Taiwanese sausage, fried fish fillet and an egg. Yes, an egg is added into the tomyam soup. I felt weird at first because I did not know that how it’d taste like but Hueisean dear assure me that it’ll be nice.

Turn out, the taste of the soup was pretty good, especially the additional egg with turned it into something different, something special, and I couldn’t stop drinking the soup. The soup was not overly sour, it blends between sour and sweet, salty a bit because of MSG, so I have to drink more water after that.

The best part of all, it’s not expensive! Two bowl of them costs less than RM15 which I like. Although the tomyam is not authentically Thai-style, yet the bowl-ful of ingredient and the affordable costs make me wanna come back.

Tomyam Mee Besides SMJK Kwang Hwa

Jalan Raja Uda, 12300 Butterworth, Penang.

Telephone: +6012-4790283

Business Hours: 6.00pm-12.00am+ (Closed on Wednesday)

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March 2, 2012

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