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Published: June 22nd 2005
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8:00am Pudong International Airport.
My sister left to KL. I saw her off. I'm all alone
10:00am Xintiandi
I couldn't go back to bed. Despite having only slept for 3 hours (since i was writing and planning till late last night and my sister needed me to see her off), China was waiting to be explored. I thought i had everything well planned out. I made my way to Huai Hai road and wanted to get the subway to Pudong and visit the aquarium, observatory, museaum and zoo. But hey, museaums?? aquariums?? zoos!!?? Somethings not right. I made my way back to Xintiandi and asked Ms Grace for assistance. Ms Grace is the receptionist at Xintiandi Lobby. I told her "I want to go to village". She quickly scribbled something in chinese and told me to give this to a cab driver. But as usual, me being the egoistical bad navigation me, i opted to FIND the place by myself. 'A' leads to 'X' and 'X' leads to 'E' but i couldn't find 'B'. And so after getting lost yet again the cabby took me to The Shanghai Stadium which i already passed before but didn't notice that the tourist
agency was INSIDE the stadium parking lot. Who would have thought. Anyway, i looked at brochures and decided to head to Zhou Zhuang under the recommendations of the book i had with me, 'Frommers Guide to China'. I bought a ticket and boarded a bus. I did all this without uttering a single word of neither english nor chinese. OBSERVE!!! THE POWER OF POINTING!!!
12:10pm Coming out of Shanghai Stadium
Yay! We're off. I had a window seat. The chinaman next to me was digging his nose to no end. I wanted to take a picture but i knew it was impossible to do it without him realizing it so i didn't. We were going up a high spiral ramp when i noticed a beautiful statue in the middle. KL should have more of these statues la. Seriously. Check out the photo.
1:30pm On the way to Zhou Zhuang
Are we there yet? Saw a few snooker tables tepi jalan. Nope, they were not selling it. People were playing snooker tepi jalan. I swear! But i didnt get a photo of it. Tak sempat. Another wierd thing i saw was THE LONGEST BILLDBOARD IN THE WORLD. I mean
like really. This billboard was at least 500 meters long. Check out the photo.
2:00pm The Watertown of Zhou Zhuang
When we first got there i was so disappointed. It didnt look like anything i saw in the photos. I paid 2 yuan for a map and sat down under a tree for orientation. This old lady came up to me and asked if i wanted to buy the postcards she was selling. She looked kinda cute in an old lady cute kinda way. When she smiled she revealed no teeth at all. So i decided, yeah all right... heres your 5 yuan and so i bought those postcards. I walked deeper into the village and noticed that the village area is so much cleaner than shanghai. People do not spit. They actually have proper brooms here and its so quiet too. I walked deeper and i saw the most intoxicating sight i have ever seen.
2:30pm Zhou Zhuang
Zhou Zhuangs history can be dated back to over 900 years old. It is the home to many famous chinese writers, poets and painters. Over the rivers are 14 bridges built during the dynasties of yuan, mind and qing
respectively. I highly recommend anyone that ever visits shanghai to MAKE the trip to Zhou Zhuang. It has a unique scenery which is formed by lanes, alleys, surreal streams, stone bridges and old residences with black tiles and white walls. Its just so hard to describe. The only drawback is that they hang their spenders over the streams. EEEEEEEEUUUUUUCH!! Besides that, its great. I bought two chinese paintings that costed me altogether 50 ringgit, a straw hat and a big coca cola. I didnt buy the coca cola on purpose. I asked for a mineral water bottle but i did so AFTER paying and the hassle of telling her that this coca cola is not what i wanted would be a waste of time. The truth is, i tried but i couldn't understand a word she was saying and neither could she understand me. Anyway.. I walked and i walked and i walked. The view was.. alamak.. LOOK AT THE PHOTOS LAH!. I went on the gondola. Macam kat venice sikit.
4:15pm Lost again in Zhou Zhuang
I was so into this little village that i couldnt stop walking and taking snapshots. Then i realized that it was 4:15pm
and my bus leaves at 4:30pm. God! I RAN AND I RAN AND I RAN. I didnt know where i was!!! It all looks the same!!!!!! And in order for me to get to the other side i had to cross bridges and so i made multiple U's. I got to the bus at 4:33pm and the bus was already moving so i slammmed my hands on the bus door and thank god, there was only one seat left. I sat down and immediately fell asleep and woke up at...
7:30pm Shanghai Stadium
Took a subway back to Huai Hai, walked to Xintiandi and had dinner. Its now 9:32pm. Tomorrow i plan to get body pouch and purchase tickets to Beijing. And hopefully leave Shanghai the day after. Till next time. Enjoy the photos.
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Farah
non-member comment
Just Lovely
MAn its freaking beautiful!! Way cool Ail, travellin alone all. Honestly thats the best way..no distractions. Downside is when you're pissed off that nobody understands what the gajeebaz u r talking about (n vice versa) there are no ears to bitch too.. It certainly looks fantastic dear.. :)