XuJia

14：50抵达苏州汽车南站，叫了部出租车，到人民路的广场酒店。经过杭州的旅游经验，不敢再参加一日游了。苏州最著名的就是园林了，可是我们没兴趣看人造园景。以前读书时曾念过枫桥夜泊这首诗，这次来苏州主要就是去诗上所写的寒山寺及枫桥。我们也参观了盘门景区，看看春秋时期遗留下来的城门古迹。 My other blogs on the same trip: ... read more

上海给我的印象是。。。人很多，车很多，奇形怪状的摩天大楼很多，旧楼很多，吊秤车和建筑工地到处都是。5月31日晚上抵达上海浦东机场，下榻于天瞳路的新亚大酒店。天瞳路与苏州河平行, 酒店地点不错，集邮博物馆就在对街。　从酒店可以步行大约20分钟到外滩，沿途经过咋浦路，吃海鲜。也可以从酒店步行大约20分钟到南京路步行街及地铁站。不过，酒店处在比较旧的城区，虽然能看到上海繁华的背后，可是夜间行走也不免有点战战兢兢。 抵达上海的第二天，就前往离上海不远的水乡古镇朱家角玩了一天。第三天游上海。一早从酒店出发，沿天瞳路步行到外滩。途经有百多年历史横跨苏州河的外白渡桥，过了桥就是外滩了。在外滩黄浦江边欣赏对岸的陆家 咀金融区的高楼大厦。可惜雾气太重，看不到金茂大厦的屋顶。然后乘观光隧道列车过去浦东的滨江大道公园，近距离看看东方明珠，国际会议中心等等。过后又乘同样的观光隧道列车返回外滩，参观那各式各样欧陆风格的万国建筑，回顾上海昔日的风采。午餐后，续程步行到福州路的书城“采购”图书。中国的书真是太便宜了，种类也很多，只可惜都是中文的。傍晚，到咋浦路用晚餐，再到外滩去拍夜景。可惜天不作美，下起雨来，夜景拍得不好。不过，外滩那迷蒙的夜景，也蛮浪漫的。 第四天，在上海火车站乘搭火车到杭州。第五天从杭州乘搭大巴(coach) 到苏州。第六天，从苏州火车站乘搭电动火车和协号（车厢跟日本的新干线子弹火车一模一样）回上海，车程只37分钟。 回到上海，本来打算到豫园上海老街及新天地。可是想到那阻塞的交通和拥挤的地铁，便不想去了。我想，这就是自助旅行的好处，想去就去，不想去就不去。我们临时编排的行程（全步行）是这样的：新亚大酒店－逛南京路步行街，买些土产及手信给亲戚朋友－福州路上海书城“采购”更多的图书－新加坡CapitaLand开的莱佛士城用晚餐－外滩拍夜景。幸好，天气还算不错，没那么多雾，终于亲睹外滩非常漂亮，由五颜六色电灯编制的夜景，总算不虚此行。灯光下的那排万国建筑，也异常壮观。 第七天，早饭后到酒店旁的四川北路走走。四川北路虽然没有南京路繁华，但也商店林立，听说是平民购... read more

I was in Colorado from 9 - 12 Apr 07 for a business trip. It was a whirlwind trip really. We flew direct from Singapore to Los Angeles, 14+ hours on Singapore Airlines' Airbus 340-500, which was the most comfortable flight I had as the plane comes with spacious seats and leg room (executive economy). After waiting for a couple of hours in LAX for our flight to Denver, we were told that the flight was cancelled. We spent the night at the Westin Airport hotel. We arrived in Denver noon the next day. There was a traffic jam from the Airport to Downtown, and we finally arrived at the Ramada Inn Downtown around half past two. We cancelled the meeting for the day and went Downtown. Because of the one-day delay, you can imagine how ... read more

The conference is over! We have a free day in London and had our programme all lined up. It was too early for the Changing of Guards ceremony at Buckingham Palace. So we went to St James Park. There was an old man feeding the squirrels. No wonder they are so fat. We waited outside the Palace gate for quite a while before the guards came marching in. The joke is that we did not even get to see the ceremony within the gate after the guards marched in. It was sooo crowded. Nevertheless, the music was nice, folk songs. After a long lunch at Hard Rock Cafe (we waited quite a while for the food), we went to The Tower of London. We have 50 mins to tour the tower before it closed and we ... read more

I woke up this morning to a white London. Surprised, surprised, and thrilled as I thought it uncommon to snow in London. Later I learnt from Nian Nian that it was the first snow this winter. I also read in the papers that the two inches of snow was the most to hit the capital since 2003. Londoners might not like it, but for us, who live at the equator, we totally love it. We never had a chance to see snow in our country. ... read more