Day 6: Highlight in SuZhou and return to Shanghai Tuesday, September 28, 2010 2:35 AM
The 2nd and the last day for us at Su Zhou. We start of to tour The Garden of the Master of the Nets. A garden way back in time which is so oriental and peaceful, we learnt more about the past perspectives and believes, such as the plank of wood at the entrance for people to cross over when getting in, the higher it is, the higher the rank of the owner, and if your guest is of higher rank of you, it is rightfully that you remove the plank of wood in a form of respect.
We move on to visit Su Zhou No.1 Silk Factory, where we learnt about the production of silk and the evolution of the silk worms. Little did we know that silk worm actually evolves into moths and their faeces are used as medical purposes.We also had the chance to learn how to identify genuine silk and fake silk, get to touch the silk worms (all the evolution) and witness the process of the silk in the making.
And the most enjoyable moment of all, we visit Su Zhou Tourism & Finance Institute and had some really engaging and fun exchange of knowledge, in summary; we really had a really good time there. How I wish the time spent there is much longer.
Next went to Su Zhou Singapore Industries Park and have our trip debrief there. We shared what we have learn from this trip and suggest improvement before heading for our dinner.
Followed up the dinner is a 2 hour trip back to Shanghai where we will spend our final night in China here. We will be returning to Singapore in a 2pm flight tomorrow. This trip is a meaningful 1 for us. We have enjoy the moment we spend with each other and make some very good friends. Nonetheless, I guess we start to feel a little home sick. Can’t wait to head back to Singapore =)
Day 5 - Local Tour Operation Office Tour, Suzhou, Shanghai International Conference Centre & Guan Qiao Street Sunday, September 26, 2010 11:33 PM
Early morning, heavy rain, we're off for a local tour operation operation office - Shanghai Ba-Shi International Travel Service Co, Lte. Our first impression is that the office is like any other typical office, just that it is more spacious, each department has their own room (office). They deal with inbound, outbound and domestic travel services so as to mitigate their risk during crisis such as the financial turmoil. The trend of e-booking in China is picking up, and hence, the company has a department specifically for it. Most travel service company rent coaches and cruises to provide services while this company actually owns their own coaches and cruises, they allow them to better manage their returns and profits.
Shanghai International Conference Centre, the speaker speaks really soft....so soft..so damn soft, but nonetheless we learnt something new. The speaker is only in-charge of the registration procedures, so he knows nothing about other things. His company is employed by a big company just for the registragtion, we are told that the expected audience is around 3k for the exhibition they are preparing. What they do is that they will e-mail the details and invitation to those that previously attended and if they RSVP, they will email them a letter with barcode, all the need to do is to scan the barcode on the spot and print out the namebadge for them, what takes longer is those that turn up on the spot, where they have no details of them, hence they will need to ask for details, especially in China, there's a lot with common surname and the Chinese characters varies, so it takes time. We are told that they will need to wait for an average of 10-15mins from the point of stepping in to the point of registration process done. That's about it for the Shanghai International Conference Centre!!! =)
Next it's Suzhou, the land of flawless skin!!! (This is claim by our tourguide -Sam!!!) According to awesome funny Sam, he said people say Suzhou has beautiful people as their weather allows them to have smooth fair flawless skin, they might not have beautiful features but the complexion will be good. We settled our dinner at Suzhou, they are pretty blur and one waitress actually took away our bottle of Coca Cola without any reason, and she actually poured a cup for herself over at the counter.
After dinner, we get to shop AGAIN, this time round it's at Guan Qian street! Sam brought us to buy some local snacks such as plum, dates pan-cake, nuts and many other snacks and sweets. And then it's free and easy, AWESOMESS yeah?
We stayed at Nanlin Hotel for the night, it's really oriental where the room's decor and furnishing is filled with Chinese vibe, the exterior and surroundings brings us back in time, the typical Chinese house, it's indeed something different, even compared to our previous hotel.
This post is filled with =), because Suzhou is <3! Whoots! Adios, and till then!
Day 4: Moving On from EXPO & embracing the French Concession 12:03 AM
Finally it is our turn to be treated as V.I.P and had a thorough look and understanding of our very own Singapore Pavilion and get to know more about the Singapore Pavilion's mascot: Xiao Xing, the pavilion, the video, and many others. During the video we get to seat at the V.I.P seat, where people like Lee Hsien Yang seat at them. The video showcase the current and future look at Singapore and it also features the great voices from Singapore singers namely, Ah Du. Stephanie Sun, Tanya Chua, JJ Lin.
The Sky garden at the top of Singapore pavilions gave us a in-depth look at some of the rarest and exotic orchids out there, we were also introduced to the new species specially created for this Wolrd Expo by Singapore, this is all done just to signifies the intimate relationship Singapore has with Shanghai. There's a type of orchid that keeps the mosquitoes away, now this is something INTERESTING!
Last but not least, we are proud to say that Singapore won the Most Civilised Pavilion Award, as all the people give good guide tours to the V.I.P and all attends any visitors with great smiles and warm welcome.
Next, we received 5 hours of free and easy, as we take a look at some of the pavilion we are keen to visit. We had a look at the European Union Pavilion, Africa Pavilion, Australia Pavilion, Philippine Pavilion, Cambodia Pavilion & Pacific Joint Pavilion.
Over at the Africa Pavilion, I (Lim Qing En) played as one of the volunteer/ worker at the Pavilion as I sat at the counter of Zimbabwe, people start to approach me to get their expo passport stamped, I told them there isn't any stamping available as I hand them brochures on Zimbabwe.
As for the Australia Pavilion, the theater has really interactive screen display, as 3 screens take turns to show up by going up and down, making the story line that much more exciting.
And it's DINNER time!!! We had our dinner at a really nicely designed restaurant yet it is really dirty and dusty, our seats were stained and the cutlery were dusty, not to mention rusty ice bucket. And as always, there's high tendency that we will witness customer and the waiter arguing over something, it's so common that we didn't bother about it anymore. Nonetheless, we had our hungry tummy filled and head out for the French Concession.
Current Xin Tian Di (used to be French Concession), the place is full of vibrant night life which is really expensive as they targets those westerners that works there. The ambiance there is really dreamy and nostalgic, lot's of nice little alleys that are really good for a photo shoot or two. The place filled with posh restaurants, cafes and countless of bars and clubs, it is like the Shanghai's Clarke Quay (Singapore vibrant riverside for night life).
Day 3: ''Shopaholic'' you and me Saturday, September 25, 2010 12:25 AM
First and foremost, we get to experienced the local train system, we took the train for 5 station, the door closes really fast and they literally push you aside if they spot a seat, though no one is snatching from them. We took the train at Areospace Museum Station and alighted at Lu Pu Jie. The interior of the train is somewhat similar as our Singapore's MRT (Mass Railway Transit) system.
Next stop we visited the prestigious Gallery Suites, the first and only boutique hotel in Shanghai\ which is managed by CTC. Gallery Suite received several awards such as 17th Asia Pacific Interior Design Awards 2009 (Hotel Category-Gold Award) and the TimeOut Shanghai "Best Boutique Hotels of 2010" to name a few.The Gallery Suites has a total of 39 suites, and each is in different theme and design that combine the romantic and timeless look of early-century western decor with a fusion of old-fashioned Chinese furniture.
(To get more information on the one and only gallery boutique in Shanghai, visit www.artgalleryhotels.com)
The next comes the main event of the day, SHOPPING TIME at Taobao city . It's time to test our bargaining skills! We are proud to say we got it in us! 1 of the most obvious result of our skills is we manage to cut 3 bag from $930 to $300!
We proceed to Chen Huang Miao (Chen Huang Temple) to continue our shopping experience. Some of us were fascinated by the magic performance. Some of us brought the magic set and realize the trick of magic is very "Lame".
After our dinner at Yu shanghai, We watch a show at the restaurant theater where many of us were being entertain. The performance includes WuShu, Chinese dance and by the past history videos.
We ended our day by going to the famous Shanghai tan and take lots of photo.
Thank you and till the next time =)
Day 2: China Pavilion Friday, September 24, 2010 12:39 AM
FINALLY!!! We visited the China pavilion today, even though we have special pass that could enter the the pavilion through the group entrance, however we still waited for approximately 3 hours, and we have to deal with the locals top notch skills of cutting their way through, we have learn the art of defense (preventing the locals from cutting queue), they have fully exploit their kids to cut the queues, having their kids to slip through the queue pole and the parents will then join them like there is nothing wrong about it. Some seat on the little stool with their kids and pretended that they are tired, and as expected, they did that just to cut the queue.
The China pavilion is really prominent, and hence the queue is super duper long, the locals are really proud of their pavilion. One of the interesting attraction of the China pavilion is the one where we take turn to seat through a train ride as we learn more about China prominent structures such as their bridges. Another highlight is the area where they showcase their local kids perspective of China, we are really fascinated by their artwork as some are as young as 6 years old to 15 years old.
After the China pavilion, we visited the Singapore pavilion as we are briefed by the crews members on the set up of the pavilion, we learnt more about the pre-preparation of the pavilion. We also witness the Singapore pavilion mascot, which is really cute!!! There is mini-fan in the mascot head to cool down the person who will be wearing the mascot.
Next, we had the opportunity to visit the NanJing shopping district, which our tour guide said that it will be something like Singapore's orchard. We had the opportunity to roam the place by our own, and we had a really good time and settled our dinner there. Each of our member have quite a different dinner experience. Some lucky one were able to have a enjoyable dinner while some were not.
The streets of Nanjing Lu is not safe to walk as they have trains and bike driving through without any WARNING. When we were leaving, we wanted to take picture of a hawker roasting meat, but his reaction upon spotting us was "Oi, mei kan guo arh?!!!!!!!!!!" (Hey! Never see before is it!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Overall the whole day was enjoyable and at the same time, it was dramatic and hilarious. :)
Day 1 12:00 AM
Upon reaching the World Expo 2010 at Shanghai, my team is overwhelm with excitement, because we travelled all the way to Shanghai and it nicely clashed with the locals’ public holiday i.e., Mid Autumn Festival. The World Expo is huge, so massive we are so dead tired walking from one pavilion to another, and not to mention the waiting time for everything due to the crazy amount of people at the World Expo. We received a good amount of cultural shock, seeing how the locals rushed and squeeze past us, and all of them are all equipped for the Expo with little stools that are easily available everywhere at RMB10.
One of today’s pavilion, the Coca Cola Pavilion, our team’s very first pavilion and it’s pretty exciting as we are intrigued by the fact that a bottle Coca Cola is able to turn ice, when we go through some steps according to the people there that taught us, some of us managed to do it, some did not. We did not know Coca Cola is able to do that!
Some behaviour by the locals were so alien to us and some were pretty funny, one will be a auntie that fell down into the ‘pool’ at the Denmark pavilion as they squeeze and push.
Final Countdown... Monday, September 20, 2010 5:02 PM
It’s finally here! We are a counting down a day away from the Shanghai trip!
*** YES…I am feeling the excitement***
To me, this trip is a very special and meaningful one. Being the very first time going for a study trip, I seriously don’t know what to expect. It’ll be different from a leisure trip (that’s for sure). But I am positive that a study trip will have its own unique (fun) aspect.
Leader: Kaijie
Team 1
Team 2
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