part two of china (huangshan-shanghai) trip!day four: (night)
massage!
it's so much cheaper at huangshan than at bangkok!
RMB125 (approx S$25) total for one hr of leg massage (fr calf to toes with soaking in herbal tonic) and one hr of full body massage.
cheap and painful.
lol
but it sure felt good after the massage.so first picture: my skyline view of my knee. lol. the guy massaging my leg was shocked, he had to blink away for awhile.
second pic: my aunt, mom and my gutless cousin. lol. they are in total agony. and it was only the beginning. of course, laughter was provided by my cousin, he's very ticklelish. not a very good pic.
day five: the visit to ancient village of ancient people of ancient life (the hong village) psst, i'm not being mean, i merely quoted from the notices they have over there. lol
so, first pic: ancient school hall. i think it's a remain fr the qing/ming dynasty. actually, the entire village is. lol.
second: ancient stall with very recent lighting.
third: people drying food in the centre of the village. now, the weather is so cold there, there's hardly any flies. hence, no preservatives. like my uncle likes to say, everything there is totally organic. well, i don't really think so, i'm not true believer of organic stuff. sorry
fourth: my fave pic! ancient lake/pond in the middle of the village. well, apparrently, the hong village has very good drainage system and it was designed by a famed fengshui master in ancient times to protect the village fr fires (the village had moved fr another place to here cos their previous village had burnt down three times) and it was shaped like the anatomy of the ox!
the lake/pond in the middle of the village is the stomach of the ox. y
es, my cousin would say, i clearly have an obsession with anything that has anything to do with the stomach. lolfifth: another ancient store with a little outback feel.
sixth: ancient village view of the mountains
seventh: ancient outlet of water drainage into the intestines of the ox.
after the ancient village trip, we went back to the city. and on the way, we found out there were strawberry plantations along the side of the road, with people selling them at a super cheap price of RMB15 for 1 kg! that's like S$3 for 1 kg! and it's fresh! just plucked!
our tour guide (native fr huanghan) bargained for us the price and got the farmer to let us into the plantation to pluck strawberries ourselves. and so we braved the mud and entered!
first pic: roadside strawberry store. note the white hemispheres thingy. those are the strawberries plantations.
second pic: farmer and his pyramid of strawberries.
third: the other roadside strawberry stores. (all the red umbrellas)
fourth: strawberry in the plantation waiting to be plucked!
fifth: our reward! yums!
finally, we reached the city and the first stop, my unlcel's idea, was to visit the local fruitstore.
so first pic: red apples. but note the chinese translation. lol. i credit it to Adam and Eve. lol.
then, it was to the traditional tea selling houses. to buy tea of course! local product: maofeng tea.
second pic: store owner making nice warm tea.
third: my warm tea.
day six/five (losing count):
visit town/village by the river. another huangshan tourist site and ancient village. the story of the village is that it once was a flourishing trade area with it's water dams and stuff. and there was a place where li bai (that famous poet) came and asked for directions to another poet's place. apparently, he asked the person he asked was that poet he was looking for and that poet hinted to him who he was but li bai being slow, didn't get it and missed him. and so they never meet. anyways, back to the place, the village had depended on the river for trade and survival and since technology had moved us way beyond the river, the rich had left them and in the end, it had been reduced to an ancient site seeing destination.
first pic: people washing clothes at the river in winter. if it had not hit you yet, water is freezing cold.
second: river side town that once had flourished. taken on a boat ride that i sweared i could have die from. i am not a fan of boat rides cos the centre of gravity shifts.
after the river side village, it's off to the 36 grotters (caves in mountains once covered in mud. only dugged out recently. explains why only 2 were dugged out out of 36.) anyways, the grotters are still a mystery cos they are still digging the mud out and the reason they are dugged by the real ancient people are not found yet.
first pic: river view from the peak of the grotter no. 35.
so, after dinner and too lazy to move around. i did say, huangshan is place with absolutely no night life at all. we hang out at the train station till our train came. which i totally regretted. it was freezing cold (again, no snow) and the heater didn't worked (lousy train station). and the train station people were quite rude.
anyways, finally, train arrived, and after pushing our way around among the ugly side of the chinese people, we made it to our train cabin! small but warm.
and after eleven long hours of train ride, we reached shanghai! yay!
the first day in shanghai was a haze, i didn't really remember where we went except the place where known as their major handphone shopping area. apprently, it is the place to get your handphones in shanghai. well, me and my cousin walked passed it while waiting for my aunt and we termed the entire area the sim lim of shanghai or the akihabara of shanghai. whichever you prefer.
then after some shopping and getting bugged by weird people who start petting you and following you around, (of course, we freaked out) at the ren min kuan chang, the orchard road of shanghai, we decided to retire back to our hotel. seriously, it was a spoiler cos it was only 6 pm! and we were in a city that supposededly never sleeps!
last day:
we woke up in an unearthly hour of 5 am plus to go to qi pu road. the wholesalers of shanghai. aapparently, everything there is super duper cheap if you buy it before 7am. anything after 7, it's like the usual price outside. oh yah, one catch, whole sale place means buy in bulk! and remember it's in season. hence, now: WINTER WEARS!
our plans were to go and eat the hairy crabs! and we made it after a one and half hour car ride fr the city. and it isn't cheap: RMB1000 for the car and petrol so RMB200 for one person and so S$40 for one person. ouch! but for the crabs we must spend!
first pic: the crab eating district, only place in kun shan. with it's rows of crab eating restuarants.
well, the restuarants are build on boats but are stable. and are all connected to their crab farms behind. it's a lake behind it but it sure looked like a kelong. the folks in the restuarant and our shanghainese tour guide say it's a must that we enjoy a boat tour around. well, i have a fear of this centre of gravity shifting machines and high speeds. in short, i have a fear of drowning too, especially in unclean, murky and chemical polluted areas. and of course in winter, where the waters are cold.
anyways, after being scared and scarred for life about boats, our crabs have arrived. of course after all the rest of the cooked food too.
one male and female for each. larger one is the male. duh.
and so much roe in them. yummy. but it doesn't justify the freaking boat ride.
okay, so just by looking at the pictures, you should know, i have no interest in winter wear, or shanghai. but i love the mountains! and i totally recommend you guys to go there. but remember to specify to the tour guide what you eat. they like to eat wild animals there...
unforgettable memories deep inside me.
wish that it would never be erased
as i would like to keep our memories
with our happy moments forever.