Trip to China!

Alright, I'm gonna make this one a "quickie", alright?
I'm honestly not in the mood for typing long posts now...
My family went for a trip to China for 5 days ( 10th - 14th March ).

The four main places that we visited were Nanjing, Suzhou, Shanghai, and Hangzhou...

We also had a host: My mum's good friend, Aunt Jennifer. She was our guide during our visits to Nanjing and Suzhou. She was very friendly and we really appreciate her hospitality...
Right, firstly, our flight ( AirAsia X ) touched-down at Xiaoshan International Airport, Hangzhou. There, a driver, Mr Xia, was waiting for us. We had a brief lunch at McDonalds before he sent us to Nanjing.

At Nanjing, we met Aunt Jennifer at her house. She took us out for dinner, and later she brought us to Confucius Square...
After a bit of sight-seeing, she brought us back home and we hit the sack...

Okay, I'm just gonna roughly blog about the itinerary for each location of the China trip in point form...
Yes, it's gonna be quick and simple! I already I told you I'm not in the mood for writing long essays! [ smiles ]

NANJING

1. Went to Mount Xijin ( Purple Mountain ) and headed to the Sun Yat-Sen Mausoleum.
2. Lunch at Wanda Plaza.
3. Visited the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall.
4. Went to Zhonghua Gate and walked along the top of the City Wall of Nanjing.
5. Went back to Confucius Square for some more sightseeing.

SUZHOU

1. Our trip to Suzhou was centered mainly around our visit to a historic Chinese "Water Village". The scenery was very authentic and peaceful and the waterways in the village were absolutely beautiful...
We strolled around before taking a high-speed bullet train to Shanghai.

SHANGHAI

1. Arrived in Shanghai Zhabei district and had lunch.
2. Made our way to Holiday Inn Express hotel and settled in.
3. Took Shanghai MRT and visited Yuyuan Garden.
4. Made our way to the Huangpu river and walked along the Shanghai Bund.
5. Headed to Nanjing Road for dinner.

6. Took MRT back to hotel.

HANGZHOU

1. Took high-speed bullet train from Shanghai Hongqiao to Hangzhou railway station.

2. Took a taxi to Crystal Orange Hotel.

3. Strolled along the scenic West Lake.

4. Had dinner at the famous Zhiweiguan restaurant at Renhe Road.

5. Went back to West Lake to see the "Musical Fountain" performance.

6. Walked along West Lake back to Crystal Orange Hotel.

Did I forget to mention that it was unbelievably COLD in China?!
It was actually spring time. Actually, it's like the period of transition from winter to spring, so the temperature was still quite low...
Well, it's okay in the afternoon, but it's really cold in the morning and at night!
Hmmm, for example, at Zhabei District, Shanghai, it was so cold in the morning that when you breathe out from your mouth, the water vapour condenses right in front of you, so you can actually see the vapour cloud in front of your face! It's quite fun to do that, to be frank! Haha!

Uhhh, at the Shanghai Bund, there was a relatively strong wind blowing, so the "wind-chill" factor kicked in! ( The wind actually "blows" away the natural blanket of warm air surrounding your body, making you feel much, much colder! )

Okay, moving on...
On the last day, we had a morning stroll along the West Lake. Then we had breakfast at a roadside noodle shop. We met a guy in the noodle shop who was willing to bring us on a tour around the perimeter of West Lake, AND bring us to the Xiaoshan International Airport later. For a price, of course!
Well, that meant we didn't have to go through the trouble of hailing a taxi!

He brought us to many iconic places, including the Tomb of General Yue Fei, a Dragon Tea plantation, and the "Broken Bridge". We even got to get close-up with an old Chinese Type-62 Battle Tank!

After that, he took us to the Xiaoshan International Airport, so we could catch our flight back to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. After we boarded the plane, the captain announced that the flight was delayed for another half an hour... And during the flight, we experienced turbulence and some bad weather!
Luckily something "terrible" didn't happen...

At around 8pm, we were finally back on Malaysian soil. I've got to admit, KL looks awesome from the plane at night! The intricate network of lights criss-crossing one another was truly a sight to behold!

I took many pictures during the trip to China. I uploaded them on Facebook. You can check them out at this link:

Pictures of trip to China

Oh, and the earthquake that hit of the coast of Japan was horrible! I was shocked when I heard the news! A magnitude of 8.9 on the Richter scale?! That's insane!
And the ensuing tsunami seriously wreaked a lot of havoc and destruction. I feel sorry towards the people of Japan and I honestly hope their recovery from this unprecedented disaster will be okay.

And then there's the damaged nuclear reactor thingy...
Apparently, a leakage has occured at one of Japan's nuclear reactors, and according to forecasts and predictions, South East Asian countries are in serious danger from the nuclear debris...
Well, I just wanna tell everyone to be careful and stay safe!

I guess that's it for now.

May the Force be with you...