Sunday, July 30, 2006
HangZhou trip
Getting up at 315am, I literally had to drag myself to the bathroom. After washing up, we met up with the guys and took a cab to Shanghai Train Station. When we were there, we saw pp sleeping on the floor, not 1 or 2 , but hundreds of pp , sleeping everywhere, surrounding the compound.Was taken aback for a moment, but came to accept it after a while. Then we boarded the train. Lucky for us, the train was not fully packed and we managed to secure seats. As we bought the tickets late, we were only able to buy the standing tickets.ha, so we were suppose to stand thoughtout the 2hrs trip.As I was very tired, I slept at every chance I had, so think if I had to stand, I would still sleep.
Anyway, after 2hrs of train ride, we reached Hang Zhou. When we came out from the train station, the guys "pointed" to us to the roof of one building. Initially we don't know what it was all about until they told us that the pp sitting there r looking for targets. They are pickpockets looking for pp whom they can attack on. Humm, it was a bit scary but all we can do is just to take more precaution. As the guys were very hungry, we went to an eatery to have breakfast. As alot of stuff in China have beef, I don't have much choice. So i ordered sunny side up noodles. Guess what, when i ate it, I realise the egg was salty.Then i was informed that the eggs they used here are salted eggs. So ended up, only eating the noodles which wasn't very fantastic. After that we went to buy Tang Bao before boarding bus K07 to Ling Ying Si. It took us about 25 mins to get to that place.The scenery along the way was excellent. Think because the government is trying to convert the whole place to a tourist attraction, the place looks like an enlarge Sentosa. Roads are clean and organised, and there are trees and flowers all around, a nice place to walk if not for the high heat.(It was 37 degree celsius all the way till night, drink litres n litres of water, think I went with 1 bottle and came back with 6, That's how bad the weather is)
Ling Ying Si is a nice place to visit. The temples are nice and they have Buddhas that are carved out of huge stones. They even have those where the Buddhas are carved onto hills. And at every stop, they have boards to explain to us the meaning of every structure. There is one very interesting cave where we were suppose to see this while line "Yi Sian Dong", but no matter how we angle ourselves, we just can't see it. The other one is a huge stone that is high up in the air, its outline shows Guan Ying with a baby in the hand and we heard that pp who wants a son will come here to pray. Then we proceed to the temple to pray. As the temples are all high up, we had to climb flights and flights of stairs before getting there. Given the temperature, my whole shirt was wet, no space left to absorb more perspiration. AFter which, we decided to conqure this hill, it was really challenging and by the time we were up there, all of us were dehydrated.*hot!hot!very hot, perspire was like running water* Took pictures on top and decided that we had enough. We descended the hill and when for lunch at Yue Wang Miao.
Humm, it took us about 45 mins before getting a place KFC. Sounds ridiculous, but think of the heat and it was one of the place with air con. And we experience the China culture there. While getting our seats, we realise that you can't be polite because even when we put out bags there, pp will just come and seat. We were stunned by their action but it seems that everyone does it here. So we just got to learn and accept.After that, we went to replenish our water supply and made our way to Yue Wang Miao. It is the place that Yue Fei's tomb is situated and where the statue of baddies Qin Hui and his wife is located. We heard that pp would still hit the statue when they visit the place.It is a quiet place with a garden surrounding his temple and tomb. There is also a small museum about his life. Some of my fren found that place a bit boring but I found that quite enriching.
After that, we were told by locals that there is a waterfall that we must go. We took K27 to Long Jing Cha Yuan (Jiu Xi Shi Ba Jian) where we have to cross 9 creeks before reaching the waterfall. It was more like trekking(Weiting you should know what I mean), and the hot weather made every step very difficult. And when we finally reached there, humm, the waterfall is not as fantastic as I thought it would be. They made is sound so nice but in fact, it was just a small waterfall. So next time when you guys are thinking of coming to Hang Zhou, guess you can skip the waterfall. But you guys should walk through the tea plantation , the pictureques scenery is worth is tedious walk. Because you don't get to see them in S'pore, however, you can see similar views in Taiwan.
Then we took a mini van to Liu He Ta. It is a thirteen level pagoda. Humm, the place is alright la
The scenery is pretty normal but the pagoda looks very different. It is not as grand as I expect it to be but the scenery when you are up there, it is quite breathtaking. However, the steps within the pagoda is very steep so it took some effort to climb up.
After which, we went to the famous West Lake. The view there is spectacular. Just to let you know, West lake itself is actually bigger than S'pore. How cool is that ha. It is a very big lake so we only manage to visit Duan Qiao.It is a bridge that connects the main island to a smaller one. When you stand on top of Lie Feng Ta(Where White and Green Snake are trapped) at certain angle, the bridge will look broken , thus given that name. We took quite alot of photos there but miss the chance to take one with the bridge because the guys were tired. Can you imagine, guys feeling tired? Haiz.
Anyway, the most exciting part of the whole was the trip back. When we taking the train home, we were stop at the ticketing area because we tickets showed 9am, which is the morning train. 4 of our frens manage to get through (same ticket but they can go through, this reflects how efficient and good the system is ), and the rest of us got stuck outside. I have never run soo fast in my life because we only have 15 mins before the train left. We argued with the ticketing officer that they printed the wrong ticket for us and wanted them to give us the next train out. Luckily there are guys around because they did not want to change the tickets for us, the guys actually just insisted.(Because if not, we can only be back in Shanghai on Mon). We were really all awaken by that event (if not, everyone looks sleepy and tired)
At the end, we manage to reach home at 12am. Though I was really really tired, I had to bath before i sleep (Imagine, my shirt was wet and dried , and the cycle when on for like 5 times). And most importantly, I have to check a very important e mail that I was looking forward too. My eye lids were heavy but still tried to read it before i sleep. And to listen to a song that I was anticipating. Was really satisfied after listening to it after which it accompanied me to sleep.Only woke up at 130pm today.(30th July 2006)