Free & Easy Travel to Shanghai (Wuzhen & Nanjing), Hangzhou (Thousand-Islet Lake & Shaoxing) from 9th to 15th December 2009

Photograph taken at one of China's most beautiful and scenic West Lake, Hangzhou
Left: My niece, Wan Pik Ki, myself, H. K. Wan, Younger Brother, Wan Heng Wan & my elder sister, Wan Lai Meng

Date of Travel: 9th December 2009 until 15th December 2009
Via Air Asia Flight No. D 72602 leaving on 9th December 2009 from 8.10 AM until 1.10 PM
Return Flight via Air Asia Flight Nos. D 72605 leaving on 15th December 2009 @ 11.25pm and arriving on 16th December 2009 @ 04.25 AM (Next Day)
No. of Travellers: 5 (Five), i.e. Elder Sister, Wan Lai Meng, Younger Brother, Wan Heng Wan, Younger Sister, Wan Lai Ling, Niece, Wan Pik Ki and myself, Wan Heng Kei.
Return Airfare: MYR 709.40 per person.

On arrival at Hangzhou Airport, we took the Airport feeder bus @ RMB 20/person (in Sept 2009, we paid RMB 15/person or an increase of 33.33%) to Hangzhou Railway Station and booked the 5.01 PM D Train @ RMB 54/person to Shanghai. However, the journey took 1 1/2 hours (instead of the usual 78 minutes) as the train also stopped at Haining & Jiaxing stations prior to Shanghai South Railway Station. As usual, we stayed in the same hotel, The Shanghai OK Hotel (www.okhotel.cn) located about 500 Metres from the Shanghai South Station.

The next morning, we took Shanghai South Station Metro ( line 1 & 2) to Lujiazui Metro Station and arrived at Pudong. Touring Pudong is easy and convenient as The Pudong Tour Bus was available at RMB 15/person (including a cup of not-so-delicious coffee). The tour-bus takes about 30 minutes to visit all the major landmarks within Pudong such as The Oriental Pearl TV Tower, Shanghai World Financial Center, Jinmao Tower, Shanghai International Convention Center, Pudong Shangri la Hotel, etc.
After our tour, we went for shopping at one of the shopping center and then walked to the ferry point to take a river ferry crossing from Pudong to Puxi. The cost of the river crossing was an unbelievable 5 jiao per person or about 7 US cents. In about 5 minutes, we were over the West bank of the Huangpu River at Puxi. From there, it was a 5 to 10 minutes walk to Shanghai Old City at Yu Yuan or Yu Garden commercial and tourist area and the Shanghai's famous Yu Yuan Garden. We spend almost 3 hours here sightseeing and having delicious Siu Loong pau @ RMB 20/16 pieces for lunch, shopping and visiting Yu Yuan garden. Thereafter, we walked over to The Bund to view Old Shanghai's famous colonial buildings but unfortunately, it was closed for renovations and upgrading in preparations for Shanghai Expo 2010. We then went window shopping along Shanghai's most popular shopping street, i.e. Nanjing East Road Pedestrian Mall until The People's Square Metro. From here, we boarded the Metro to Xujiahui Commercial Area for another shopping session and night sightseeing before returning to our Shanghai OK hotel.























Photograph taken just outside Lujiazui Metro Station, Pudong (Line 2) with The Pudong Tour Bus in the background.

The next morning on 11 December 2009, we joined a local tour to Wuzhen Dongzha Tourist Scenic Area - an ancient watertown in Jhejiang Province with its ancient stone bridges, water canals and ancient buildings. The cost of the local full-day tour was RMB 150/person (including a reasonably lunch).
Photograph taken at one of the scenic sights within Wuzhen Dongzha & Xizha Districts

On 12 December 2009, we went for another full day tour to Nanjing and it cost us RMB 300/person (including lunch). With China's newly designed D Trains, it is now possible to tour Nanjing (from Shanghai) and return on the same day. Previously, you need to put a night at Nanjing.
We left by the 7.35 AM train from Shanghai Main Railway Station with stopovers at Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou and taking about 2 1/2 hours to reach Nanjing Railway Station. On arrival, our group was met by the tour agent and we immediately commence our sightseeing tours to the following places.
1) Nanjing Bridge over Yangtze River which divides North China and South China.
2) Mocha Lake Scenic Area
3) Zhonghua Gate and old City Walls
4) Old Nanjing's Qin Huai River Scenic Attraction
5) Egret Isle Park
6) Orchid Pavilion
7) Sun Yat Sen Mausoleum.

By the time we reached Sun Yat Sen Mausoleum, it was almost 5 pm and dark (as it was winter time) and main entrance was already closed for visitors.
Notes on Nanjing Tours
1) Although Lunch is included but it is rather simple and cheapskate.
2) Be careful of tourist trap especially when visiting a famous temple/pagoda at Nanjing. You will end up paying RMB 10 for an amulet and later for predictions on your fortunes (or misfortunes), you will have to pay an extra of approx. RMB 200.
3) The return trip from Nanjing to Shanghai was by ordinary train departing at 6.30pm. We were informed by the tour agent that the train will reach Shanghai by 10.30pm but in reality, the train reached Shanghai Railway Station almost Midnight. The journey took slightly more than 5 hours. To upgrade to D Train, you have to pay an additional RMB 50/person.
Photograph of my elder sister, Lai Meng, my niece, Pik Ki, younger brother, Heng Wan, myself, HK Wan and my younger sister, Lai Ling taken at Qin Huai River Tourist Zone, Nanjing.
Photograph taken at the main entrance of Sun Yat Seng Mausoleum, Nanjing.

The next day, we checked out of Shanghai OK hotel at 8.00am and took the 9.30AM D Train to Hangzhou. On arrival at Hangzhou Railway Station, we were pestered by a lady tour agent who was so persistent and followed us like a leech. We informed her that we already had a pre-hotel booking with Motel 168, Jiefang Road thru www.ctrip.com - about 10 to 15 minutes walk from here. As she was very helpful and friendly, we follow her to her office opposite the Railway station and booked 2 (tw0) reasonable tour bookings to One Thousand-Islet Lake @ RMB 300/person and Shaoxing Scenic Area @ RMB 150/person, both exclusive of lunch. We also booked a return taxi to Hangzhou airport for 5 persons at RMB 120/van. Thereafter, she volunteered to take us to the our pre-booked Motel 168 nearby. Upon arrival at Motel 168, the reception informed us that our booking could not be traced but was willing to accept us at spot rates which were much higher than our pre-booking. We refused and decided to cancel the original booking. The lady tour agent then introduced us to another budget hotel, Hangzhou Du Jinsheng Bin Guan @ RMB 120/double room and RMB 150/triple room with free internet access. She even volunteered to take us there free-of-charge. On arrival, we inspected the room and found them satisfactory. Moreover, the hotel location around the north east corner of West Lake (about 5 to 10 minutes away) was superb with lots of food stalls around. We intent to stay here if we are back in Hangzhou as we are looking forward to come again to Hangzhou and tour Huangshan in the nearby Anhui Province.

After checking-in, we had a rest and later walked to West Lake for photographic sessions in one of the world's most beautiful lakes. This was followed with shopping sessions until late at night.
Photograph of myself taken at Qiandao Lake (1000 Islet Lake)
The expensive set lunch (for 5 Adults) available at the Thousand-Islet Lake cost RMB 262/set. The food was not tasty and too salty. Also, you have to be very careful eating the fish (with its numerous tiny bones). Lunch at Qiandao Lake was a tourist trap - too expensive and I would recommend that you bring your own lunch.


For authentic Hangzhou Food, you have to try the outlet next door to our Hotel, Hangzhou Du Jinsheng Bin Guan (located near the north-east corner of the West Lake). You have to queque up to get a seat as the waiting time can be a long as 30 minutes.
We ordered 6 dishes comprising of 2 bowls of Dongpo pork, pork cutlets, chicken wings, vegetables, Gong Xi Fa Cai Soup consisting of fish meat, fatt cai, etc and the most delicious steam and boneless fish we tasted in Hangzhou. The cost for the 5 (five) our us was RMB 123.00 - what a bargain.

We visited The Thousand-Islet Lake or Qiandao Hu on 14 December 2009 leaving at 7.00 am and returning at about 5pm. The Thousand-islet lake is one of China's national AAAA tourist attractions and it the largest forest park in China. It covers an area of 573 sq. kilometers (almost the size of Singaore) and its name comes from the 1078 islets spotted on the man-made lake. The tour took us to the 5 dragon islets, the bird islet, the stone islet, dragon mountain islet, luck & scholar bridge, the memorial of Hai Rui, etc. It was the best place for sightseeing, ecological tourism and leisure holidays.

Group Photograph taken at Luxun Native Place, Shaoxing, Jhejiang

On 15 December 2009, our flight back to LCCT Kuala Lumpur was 11.25 PM. We checked out of the hotel at 6.45 am but kept our baggage there (without any charges). At about 7.00am, we joined the Shaoxing sightseeing tour which ended at about 5.00pm. The tour at Shaoxing includes Luxun Native Place, Shaoxing's Donghu Lake Scenic Area, etc. We had a reasonably lunch whereby we paid RMB 20/person. Thereafter, a last minute shopping nearby until 6.30pm and then at 7.00pm, we had our best dinner at Hangzhou next door - see above.

At 8.00pm sharp, our taxi arrived and we were off to Hangzhou airport for our flight back to LCCT. We were supposed to take off at 11.25pm but due to some minor problems on the cabin pressure within the aircraft, the take-off flight was delayed to approx. 1.00am. By the time we arrived at LCCT, it was at approx. 6.00am the next morning.

Posted by HK Wan (Email: hengkei@gmail.com)