dormant blog

well.. i hv pple complaining abt my blog being dormant... so here's a quick entry abt my trip to China 11 - 18 Aug...

Well, pple kept asking me "how was the trip?" I'm glad I had clear objective before the trip (yeah, teaching does help in making you write SIOs): To spend time with my parents. If not for a clearly stated objective, i'll have died of boredom and the lack of freedom.

My answer typically includes the following points:
1. boring
2. i hv a strange grp
3. packaged tours really aint my cup of tea
4. its not easy being with my parents 24-7 (the only break i got was the 3 hrs when they joined the grp for massage which i opted out of)
5. tho it hadn't been easy, tho not 'enjoyable' i neva regretted the trip because the objective was fulfilled (oh... still stuck in the system): i spent time with my parents. :)

Ok... why do i not like packaged tours?
1. you spend more time travelling to a place than getting to noe the place.
Here's a quick run of the itinerary i've recorded for the first few days (i gave up after the first couple of days) *hardly names given cos i cant rem, we move too quickly. i dun even noe the names of the hotels i stay in or how the exteriors look like.D1
- 5 hrs flight to Shanghai. 1 hr ride to the hotel. SLEEP
D2
- 1 hr ride to some pasar malam. (see, i cant even rem the name of the place. Spent only 45 mins there. Nothing to buy. Ended up with a mint freeze.
- 2 hrs ride to Wu Zhen. Followed by 1.5hrs tour along the river settlement.
- 3.5 hrs ride to Heng dian.
D3
- 1.5 hrs ride to a mockup version of the Qing Dynasty's palace, and spent 1 hr there.
- 1.5 hr ride to YiWu. 1 hr walk in the China's largest international export center. (which i read abt in national geographic, so its kewl, tho cant buy anything cos 1. not suitable, 2. urm... who's gonna buy wholesale millions of the same item?)
- 2 hrs ride to the lei dian ta (the one that trapped mdm white snake apparently) and spent 1.5 hrs at the tower.
- 25 mins walking ard the lake
- dinner followed by a very decent acrobat show.
D4
- 1 hr ride for a boat ride in Xi Hu, boat ride tt lasts 30mins
- walk ard the garden followed by 20 mins in a museum. (TWENYY mins in museum? i spent 5 hrs in the one in india!! no wonder i hardly learn anything abt this place)
- 30 mins ride to some chinese medicine talk and hard sell place. We spent more than an hour there. finally right? why? because they are trying to sell stuff to us, in which the tour company will get a cut of the commission.
- 3.5 hrs ride to Wuxi and 1 hr to shop along a street.
D5
- 30mins ride to the mock up of the palace of the Han dynasty they used to film 'three kingdoms' and 1 hr there.
- walk ard the tai lake. Btw, because the tai lake is one that cultivates loads of sea food and pearl, the water u drink from wuxi ACTUALLY HAS A FISHY TASTE! I'm not kidding!eeks... bottled water... oh.. and eutrophication is quite evident there.
- visit to the pearl center. more talks/demonstrations and hard sell.
- visit to the tea pot center. more talks and hard sell.
- 3 hrs ride to Nanjing, 1 hr spent at pasar malam ( i can't even rem how its like except for the pasar malam being recorded in my pda)
D6
- Visited teh song qing ling mansion
- visit to jade shop. more talks and hard sell.
- visit to a China's impt bridge. den an art shop. more talk and hard sell.
- 3.5 hrs ride to suzhou. followed by a 10 mins boat ride.
No more records.. get the picture right?

2. its rush rush rush. Did i mention that we wake up at 6am EVERY morn? including sat? (worse than sch days) and retire at 11pm on the average.

3. in packaged tours in China (cant speak for other destinations as this is my first packaged tour ever), they put you thro talks of products and HARD SELL (ref above) u stuff (at exorbidant prices)... and its PART of the PLANNED ITINERARY!! we spent more time for the hard sell for pearl, jade, art pieces, some chinese dragon fengshui thing, silk, chinese medicine than 'free and easy', tea (refer #4)

4. the definition of "free and easy" is 1.5 hrs of 'shopping' in a shopping centre / street they drop you on. Doesn't matter if you are interested in the stuff in the centre / street. Just come back in 1.5 hrs.

5. Weird characters in the group.
we have an old couple who claims to be bro and sis (dun lie lah...) who are smoking like ALL the time, attention seeking, think very 'havoc and kewl'.. but i see as 'lao wan tong'. came back late for one 'free and easy'. y? not because they got lost.. but cos they were DRINKING. they look really red when they came back. and it wasn't apologies when they were back but 'bu yao jing'. sigh.
another very very lao shi and blur old lady who keeps asking pple to take pics for her using OUR cameras and later SEND (SNAIL MAIL) of the processed pics to her?!?! my mom says she's happy go lucky. i say.. yeah she blur blur happy, but the poor travel companion will be totally stressed. my mom din get the meaning of my statment until on the last day, she got really lost one day for 30 mins in a super crowded tourist attraction place... and my tour guide's heart nearly popped out.

Did i regret going therefore? I neva believe in regretting. I believe in learning from watever experiences. I got to spend time with my parents.. and i have a taste of packaged tours and can say confidently that its not my cup of tea (unless i change 40 yrs later, who can tell...) meanwhile, no more 'follow the flag'.... nuts...