It was a ten days trip - fully maximising the 2-to-fly promo from Singapore Airline as they only allowed a maximum of ten days for the promo flight. Good enough for me since I do not have enough annual leaves to blow anyway! I traveled with my gran ~ my fav person in the world! Both the to and fro flights were red eye flights ~ flying off past mid night and arriving in early wee hours. What to do? The promo flight means the return ticket per pax is less than $500! Nothing to complain abt further at that price for SQ!
We were to stay with my uncle who had been working at Su Zhou for years. Staying with a working relative plus super cold weather means not everyday is jam packed with activities. But I love it that way! Enjoying cool weather while taking a break from the harsh Singapore lifestyle with no 101 items to be done like my typical holiday! I didn't plan anything for the trip, basically going with the flow on wherever my uncle suggested! It felt like a school holiday that I do not have to shoulder responsibility for. The only drawback was I'm afraid of cold temperature and had to wrap myself in several layers of clothing during the trip.
First on Su Zhou. We arrived at Shanghai Pudong airport and went straight to Su Zhou to find my uncle via a 1.5 hour car ride. Since my last trip to Su Zhou more than a decade back, the city has changed a lot. It now contains many mega malls much like those in Singapore. They also have international restaurant chains like those in Singapore. Industralisation really changes places. The speed of development appear much faster than Singapore's neighboring countries. During my stay, I visited some pretty "atas" malls much like that in Sg's Orchard Road, went for karaoke, dined at classy restaurants, ate hong kong and taiwanese desserts and tasted some of the sweetest strawberries I ever had (bought from a supermarket) and took their MRT for $2 RMB. Overall my impression of Su Zhou was pretty good except for the air pollution that happened at the time of my visit. Some snap shots of Su Zhou:
The shopping area surrounding a beautiful river:
This area has the world longest "corridor screen" which is something like a meandering tv screen used to air major events like the olympics. I didnt have the chance to see it light up at night. But guess what I found here? - Ya Kun Coffee & Toast from Singapore! Haha!
Some food galore at various malls ( You get the idea. Wonderful food with 2 thumbs up! Except some local dishes properly require some adapting to.)
Of course, I'm not saying every inch of Su Zhou has been replaced by modern facades, there are of course pockets that reminded us of the past. And these are in fact the more memorable areas I'm more interested in. The following shot shows a small stretch of preserved land in Su Zhou called "San Tang Street". It is more like a tourist spot but hey don't you agree it is beautiful? They still have delivery boats running through the area.
Next up - Yang Zhou. We visited Yang Zhou during a weekend. It was a quick trip after visiting a city called "Dan Yang" which is something like a capital for all the spectacle shops in China. Everywhere in Dan Yang is occupied by spectacle shops! According to my uncle, spectacle lenses in China are all mostly made in Dan Yang. They take orders from other major cities and courier over the finished products. We went there because my gran needs to make a new spects and the cost to make it in Singapore was abt $400 for her prescriptions (My gawd!!). The cost of making her two pairs of spectacles (took them less than an hour to make em at the shop itself!) was only about $100 SGD. I'm impressed. However, Dan Yang is much more polluted than Su Zhou and Shang Hai and you will basically be breathing in dust. We hopped in one random restaurant at Dan Yang and the food was great. Especially the dish "Dong Buo Rou" - braised pork that has simmered for hours until the fats are supposedly melted. This is a famous dish so I recommend trying it in China!
We dropped by Yang Zhou to visit a popular tourist attraction surrounding a lake called "Shou Xi Hu". Due to the lack of time, we didn't get to spend long hours at the attraction. Mainly took a boat ride from one end to the other end. It was a beautiful area that was owned by a group of wealthy salt merchants in the past. According to the boat guide, the place was a must visit by previous emperor when ever he step out of the palace to visit his lands. And they even have a mini version of the place built at the ex-capital for the empress since she can't travel out from the palace. And when the emperor wishes to fish here, the salt merchants will ensure there is a catch by sending divers down the lake to hook big fishes on the emperor's hook. Funny. The place was scenic. But entry fee was not cheap! I think it was $200 RMB. The place was pretty but I think the entry price is too high?
(To be continued in the next post cuz I'm tired!)
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