8 Days in China

你好!!! (must write in Mandarin since I just came back from China!) So sorry guys for being absent for so long!! Been away with my dad and when we came back, I was so caught up with other things that I didn't have time to edit my photos.

This trip was conceived last year when my cousin was here in Singapore. He raved about the food, especially the hairy crabs, and said he would take us on a gastronomical tour of Shanghai and nearby Hangzhou and Wuxi! He said the right time to go would be Oct/Nov. My dad was really keen to visit his 'old home' (he used to stay in Shanghai in his teens) and with this invitation, we jumped at the chance!

Nov 08, 2006 We saw this very apt advertisement while cruising along the travellator in Shanghai Pudong Int'l Airport :


Outside, we were enthusiastically met by my cousin, his daughter and her husband. They piled us into their Citroën Xsara Picasso and off we go.

First impressions :


In the car, they whipped out mineral water and food. I was grateful for the water but the KFC salmon wraps had me blinking for a bit!! LMAO... Ok ok... that was just to tide us over until we could get better food elsewhere. The drive to our hotel was long and tedious and we get our first taste of Shanghainese driving - cutting into other people's lanes when it seems impossible and tooting at other cars every chance you get, especially when they cut into your lane.

Oh yeah! We were expecting 12°C - 17°C but we were surprised to find that it was much much warmer (23°C). Was kind of regretting lugging our heavy coats along and kept consoling myself that it was better to be overly prepared than to freeze in the cold.

This travel log (in Chinese) was sent to me by my cousin after our return to Singapore. Really appreciate what he has done :