Family Trip To Eastern China

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It has been 10 years since I last went on an overseas trip with my entire family. I was looking forward to this trip as it has been so long since I last took a complete break from my work. I am proud to say that I had planned the whole trip on my own, with some advice from my cousin, who visited the same cities as me in April this year.

During this trip, I lost my beloved Olympus camera charger. It was most likely lost in the hotel room by my brother on the 3rd day of the trip. It was fortunate that I managed to get a replacement charger at Taobao in Shanghai on the 7th day of the trip.

1st Day – Singapore – Ningbo – Shanghai

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I was travelling from Singapore to Ningbo by plane, then from Ningbo, we took a train to Shanghai before reaching my hotel at 12.30am the following day. Mum was complaining that the hotel that I booked had no wardrobe in her room to put her and dad’s clothes and it was 15 minutes car ride from Pudong International Airport, and not as listed on Agoda website that it was located within the airport.

Day 2 – Shanghai

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Dad, brother and I went to Madame Tussads Museum as my mum had went to search for the missing hotel keycard that my brother had lost at the Shanghai MRT station near our hotel. I would say the entrance fee of RMB 150 (about SGD 30) per person can be a little steep for some people, and I actually finished the tour in 2.5 hours. The souvenirs were a little expensive as well, so I decided to get something that is cheap, useful & practical for my friends.

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In the afternoon, we paid a visit to the Museum which was within walking distance from the Madame Tussads museum. On our way there, we saw a Singapore-themed Shopping centre named Raffles City set up by Capitalland. Apparently, I saw some of the familiar names that you can find in Singapore.

The museum visit was really about the history of China coins, texiles and so on. It was so big, filled with 4 levels of exhibits, which we did not manage to finish when the museum closed at 5pm.

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We went for an acrobatics performance in Shanghai at night. I really got to thank my cousin for helping us book the tickets. I thought the show was fantastic, but it is too bad that due to restrictions, I am not allowed to take photos of the performance as according to the tour guide, this performance is also performed overseas to others as well.

Day 2: Shanghai & Hangzhou

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We joined up with the day tour group at Pudong Airport and continued our Shanghai exploration.

1st stop was the Shanghai World Financial Centre, which at 95 storeys high is the tallest building in Shanghai

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We were at Chenghuang Temple next. On hearing the name, all of you must have thought it’s a temple, but you guys are wrong. It’s a place that sells food and other mini stuff.

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I was at Wansong Shu Yuan in Hangzhou, the place where Liang Shanbo & Zhu Yingtai met before heading to the Westlake for dinner and enjoyed the Westlake show at night

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Day 3: Hangzhou & Wuzhen

We visited a Longjing Tea factory, where we were taught how to appreciate Longjing Tea, which is Chinese Green Tea. I bought some tea back for my bosses and manager to enjoy here. I must say the tea is good but you must be willing to pay for it.

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We were at Wuzhen, a water village where we got to see how the people actually lead their lives by the river, before we headed for Wuxi.

Day 4: Wuxi & Suzhou

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We visited the Tai Lake, the 3rd longest lake in China before heading to the Pearl factory to study how pearl is extracted.

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 We reached Suzhou in the afternoon and visited a historical place.

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In the evening, we visited the Suzhou Industrial Park and spent the night there. I did not expect the Chinese have so much respect for our former PM, Lee Kuan Yew that they named a bridge in Suzhou in his honour.

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Day 5: Suzhou & Shanghai

We were ushered to the silk factory to see the production of silk and asked to buy silk before we headed back to Shanghai for a visit to the jade factory and some shopping.

Day 6: Shanghai & Ningbo

We were ushered to a Chinese Medicine college to learn about Chinese medicine before we parted with the group and headed to Ningbo

Day 7: Ningbo

 As the time we spent in Ningbo was a little short, we toured around the city centre before we headed to the airport.

Overall, it was a good trip.

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