2012 - Shanghai & Jiagnan Tour

8 Days Shanghai & Jiangnan Tour

24/11/2012 - 01/12/2012

This is a incentive tour organized by Standard Financial Planner (SFP) for the Elite Club qualifiers. The Glamorous Shanghai & Jiangnan tour is a Five Star tour organized by Apple Vacations, where the accommodation is either International Five Star or local China Five Star standard. Being a Five Star tour the meals are also specially arranged for us. The tour is immediately preceding the inaugural SFP Convention held at Holiday Inn Kuala Lumpur Glenmarie on 23rd Nov 2012. After the Gala Dinner we stayed overnight at hotel since we will be departing early the next morning by chartered bus to KLIA. The all-in tour package is valued at RM3.600.

 

Day 1 - 24th Nov 2013

We departed from Holiday Inn Kuala Lumpur Glenmarie at 6:25am and arrived at KLIA at 7:00AM. Due to the early morning departure we were provided packed breakfast by the hotel. Our flight MH388 departed from KLIA at 9:30am and arrived at Shanghai Pudong Airport at 2:15pm. We left Shanghai Pudong Airport at 4:00PM and arrived at Suzhou at 6:30pm, in time for our hairy crab dinner.

 

Our sumptuous dinner with hairy crabs as the main attraction

The hairy crabs, supposedly from Yang Cheng Lake, were very tasty. Have never eaten so many hairy crabs in my life!

 

 

After dinner we went to downtown Suzhou and took a stroll along Guan Qian Street. The street is famous for eating, shopping and entertaining. There are hundreds of shops, restaurants, bars, stores and clubs in its old fashioned structures surrounded by colorful signs and neon lights along the street at night.



Guan Qian Street at night





Another section of Guan Qian Street at night

 

 We then checked into Su Yuan Hotel where we will be staying for two nights in Suzhou.

 

Day 2 - 25th Nov 2013

 

After breakfast in the hotel we visited the Master Nets Garden. Located at the southeast of downtown Suzhou, The Master Nets Garden is one of the four famous classic gardens in Suzhou, which has also won the title of world cultural heritage site, a scenic spot of national 4A level and historical and cultural relics under state protection.

 

It is a typical Suzhou private garden, and also a piece of representative work of middle and small-sized classic gardens in the south region of the Yangtze River. The garden is first constructed in the Southern Song Dynasty with an original name "Fisher's Shelter". It was inspired by the simple and solitary life of a Chinese fisherman. Then in the Qing Dynasty, during the middle reign of Emperor Qianlong, an official named Song Zong Yuan redesigned the garden and added multiple buildings. He retained the humble spirit of the site and renamed it the Master Net Garden. During the late years of the reign of Emperor Qianlong, the garden was repaired and added more pavilions and houses, and called Qu Garden. The present layout of the Master of the Nets Garden is the relics of the Qu Garden, and is well preserved.

 

 



Pool in the centre of the garden

The pavilions and houses around the pool are exquisite

 



Reflection of buildings in the pool

 



Small bridge spanning a small river at the end of the pool



Creeper plants on the wall of one of the building in the garden

 

 

Our next stop is the silk factory where we watched how the silk blanket is made, beside other silk products. 

 

Silkworms cocoons are being boiled to soften it 

 

 The dead silkworms are removed form the cocoons 

 

The dried cocoons are the stretched into layers to make silk comforters.

 

We had lunch at City Plaza in Suzhou followed by leisure shopping in the plaza.

 

Later we visited the Pingyang Ancient Road which is a stone route running parallel to Pingjiang River.. Bridges are built across the river. Houses with white walls and black roofs are built along the stone road. Here the locals, especially the old walking leisurely, show casing traditional Suzhou local life.  For many centuries, Pingjiang Road has been a center of Suzhou's cultural life. The street is lined with bookshops and local opera theaters. There are also many teahouses, where people gather for performances.

 

One of many bridges spanning the river along Ancient Pingyang Road

 One of many side lanes along Pingjiang Road

Met two Suzhou girls promoting their opera show 

For dinner we had International buffet dinner at Rhine Café, which according to the tour guide is one of the most expensive buffet dinner in Suzhou (RMB300 per pax). The menu include a hairy crap each, beside a wide spread of local and western dishes and deserts.

Starfish was also on the menu



Day 3 - 26th Nov 2013

Our hotel in Suzhou, Su Yuan Hotel has a lake in the centre



View of the lake from our hotel room

 

After breakfast we checked out from Su Yuan Hotel and depart for Hangzhou. We had lunch in Suzhou at a restaurant beside the West Lake.

 



Right after lunch we are all ready for our tour of West Lake.

After lunch we walked about a 1 km to board our boat for a cruise of West Lake. Along the way we enjoyed the beautiful late Autumn scenery of the surrounding area.

 





One of the tourist boat waiting at West Lake



View of  a section West Lake during late Autumn

 



 





Our boat ride in West Lake

View of a pagoda from our boat ride

 

 

Upon arriving at the other side of West Lake we took a walking tour of Huogang Guanyu Garden. 

The garden, located west of the South Su Causeway, is the center for viewing the fish in Flower Harbor Park, and is one of the famous "Ten Views of West Lake"

 



Colorful autumn scenery

 

 One for the album

 

In SFP we work had and play hard too!

 

  

After an hour of walking we reached the West Lake Museum.

 



One of many exhibits in West Lake Museum.

 

 

 

Lili in the company of SFP's angels

 



 

 

We continued our walk to the other side of West Lake where we waited for our bus to pick us up for dinner

Beautiful sunset at West Lake

 

Beautiful willow trees beside the lake

Walkway beside the West Lake

After dinner we went to the Hangzhou Song Dynasty City to watch the famous Song City Show with its elaborate costumes and lighting effects. Today is also Lili's birthday and the group was kind enough to arrange a birthday cake to celebrate her birthday. It was Lili's first overseas birthday celebration and a memorable one too. 

Happy birthday to Lili!

The Romance of the Song Dynasty (sòng chéng qiān gǔ qíng 宋城千古情) is a large stereoscopic musical drama which was wholeheartedly made by Song Dynasty City. The drama adopted the old stories and legends in Hangzhou City, integrated the world music with acrobatic art, applied the latest technology to create a dreamy poetic imagery.

Scenery on the way to the theatre

The crowd after the show

Day 4 - 27th Nov 2013

After breakfast we checked from the hotel and depart for Wuzhen, the water tour. On the way we visited the Xixi National Wetlake Park and enjoyed the Fishermen's Tour. We were taken on a water rafting of of the wetland and enjoyed the beautiful and unique scenery on the way to out lunch place.

 

For our lunch we have to harvest our own vegetables and catch our own fish!

Beautiful scenery of the wetland

 



We have enough vegetables for our lunch



Part of our harvest

We were captivated by many of such sceneries during our rafting around the wetland.

Our boat after arriving at the place we have our lunch where we enjoyed our freshly plucked vegetables beside other dishes



After lunch we took a tour of the traditional sample villagers' houses on the way to board our boat

Entrance to one of the traditional villagers houses

Rows of the traditional villagers' houses

 



Waiting area for our boat ride.

 

Our next stop after lunch is the Longjing Tea plantation, we sampled the famous Longjing Tea and learned some tea making techniques.



 



We then travelled to Wuzhen Water Village and checked into the Five Star Wuzhen Zhen Sui Hotel for the night.

Wuzhen Water Town is one of six ancient water towns south of Yangtze River with 1200-year-old history, the residential houses are built beside rivers, while on both sides of streets, abundant ancient architectures of Ming and Qing Dy-nasties still remain as they were. Strolling along the ancient slab stoned-paved streets, looking at its black tiled, tung oil painted timber framework houses, it seems you are walking into a traditional Chinese wash painting and experiencing an atmosphere of antiquity.

 

Lobby  of the Zhen Sui Hotel

After we have checked into the hotel it is free time for us to venture out and enjoy the beautiful night scenery of Wuzhen Water Town with its colorful lights.

 

 

Day 5 - 28th Nov 2013 

 

The scenery of Wuzhen Water Town is equally enchanting during the day with its numerous water ways and small boats which are the main mode of transportation here beside walking. After breakfast it is free and easy for us to discover the water town till 11am where we group tour of the Three Inch Lotus Feet Museum and the Zhaoyang College till lunch time.

The  Three Inch Lotus Feet museum where hundreds of miniature shoes were on display.

 

 

 

The Zhaoyang College



Balcony of restaurant where wehad our lunch before we depart from Wuzhen Water Town

Boat ride from Wuzhen Water Town to our bus for our transfer to Shanghai

 

 

Upon arrival in Shnaghai we had our dinner before watching the famous ERA Show, which is Shanghai's world famous acrobatic show, also known as cirque of the East.Unfortunately no photo taking is allowed.

 

 

 

After the show we checked into the Five Star Regal Shanghai East Asia Hotel for our three nights stay in Shanghai.

 

 

Day 6 - 29th Nov 2013 

 

 

After breakfast we visited the Chenghuang Temple or City God Temple. This temple is a must visit place for tourist who travel to Shanghai. Chenghuang Temple not only refers to the large temple complex, but also the traditional district of commerce in the city, surrounding the temple. There are over a hundred stores and shops in this area, and most of these store buildings are nearly a century old.

 

 



We tried the famous Nan Xiang buns.

Entrance to Yuyuan Garden

 



After lunch we visited the Oriental Tower Observation Deck.

Pudong Skyline during the day.

It was scary walking on the glass flooring at such a height

 



 

 

We then proceeded to the Shanghai History Museum or Old Shanghai Wax Museum at the base of Oriental Tower

 

Pudong skyline at night

Base of Oriental Pearl Tower at night

Night scenery at are around Oriental Pearl Tower

 



Oriental Pearl Tower at night

 

After dinner on our own at Zheng Da Shopping Mall we departed from Oriental Pearl Tower for our Huangpu Night River Cruise. It is one of the best ways to see both old and new Shang-hai. As you sail down the river towards the East Sea you will enjoy the views of the full sweep of The Bund and the 21st century cityscape of Pudong.



 

 

Our last stop for the night os Xin Tian Di. Shanghai Xin Tian Di is an urban tourist attraction that holds the historical and cultural legacies of the city. It is a fashionable pedestrian street composed of Shikumen and modern architecture style. Shanghai Xin Tian Di is unique because of its concept of construction. It retains the antique walls, tiles and exterior of the Shikumen housing of old Shanghai. On the other hand, its interior embodies a totally different world of international gallery, bars and cafes, boutiques or theme restaurants. When you walk into Xin Tian Di, you will get the taste both of Shanghai in the 1920's and the sonic modern lifestyle of urbanites of the 21st century.

  

Day 7 - 30th Nov 2013 

 

After breakfast we visited the  Bao Shu Tang which is famous for its ointment. Some of us enjoyed the free foot massage.

After lunch we visited the  Tao Bao Market. Also known as The Fake Market, it is also one of the best-known bargain markets in Shanghai. Here you can find various imitation products as well as Chinese souvenirs.

 Our next stop is The Bund where we took our group photo. We the walked to the famous Nanjing Road pedestrian street for some shopping.



 

 

 

 

 

 

We had dinner at a restaurant where there was a face changing performance.

The face was changed in a twinkling of the eye

After dinner we visited Tianzifang which has transformed itself from legacy residential architectures

and factories into an artsy area housing bars, cafes, crafts shops, design studios, galleries and boutiques. It is ardently supported by crowds of yuppies, trend setters, designers and expatriates, who fall for temptation of old Shikumen (stone-framed-door) houses and lanes with infinite novelties.

 

Day 8 - 1st Nov 2013 

Today is the last day of the tour. The group will be visiting Shanghai Old Street and thereafter for lunch before transferring to the airport for the flight home. For us we will be extending our stay for seven more nights in Shanghai.

 

This is the lobby of Regal Shanghai East Asia Hotel. Christmas is a popular holiday that is celebrated in China, especially in a big city like Shanghai. 

 

After breakfast we checked out and took a taxi to FX Hotel @ East Nanjing Road which we have booked online prior to the trip.