Day 5: Suzhou

Suzhou 苏州

One day trip to Suzhou was a wrong decision. Buying the return train ticket to depart as early as 18:02 was a wrong-er decision.

Lesson 5: If you're on a vacation and you're to travel to another place that you've never been for a one day trip, buying an early return train ticket is not a wise choice. In fact, should have just forget about traveling to that place. And again, proper planning is required.

Gaotie train ticket to Suzhou, one way RMB41 per head.

 Traveling at 286 km/h (and increasing), reaching Suzhou in less than 1 hour (precisely 32 minutes) is definitely possible.

Reaching Suzhou train station there was tonnes of tourist agents approaching us offering "great deals" to tour around city. Ignoring them, we proceeded to the bus stop. The public transport system in Suzhou was not much different to Hangzhou, so we didn't have much trouble finding our way.

The Tiger Hill 虎丘 was the first stop - and one of the only two stops - we made.

Entrance to The Tiger Hill, RMB60 per head. To me, that was way too expensive.

 吴中第一山, which means "the best hill in Suzhou".

There were many tourists with tour guides entering The Tiger Hill with us. We just followed one of the tour guides to listen to her explanation of all the legends behind this historical place, which I think were mostly made-up.

There was a story about this well and the frog-like-stone which I forgot. The frog was waiting for something then it turned into a stone.

 

Sword testing rock.

 

Anyone believe a sword done this?

 

A tomb of some lady.

 

千人坐 Seat for a thousand people - it is a rock that could fit 1 thousand people on it.

 

虎丘剑池 The Swords Pond.

 

There was a story about this lake. Once upon a time, there was this calligrapher named 王曦之 Wang Yizhi, he came upon this lake and saw that there were a couple of geese swimming in it. The geese belonged to a monk. The calligrapher then asked the monk if he can have them (what a greedy fella). The monk told him, he can if he write a couple of words for him. So he did, as shown in the pictures, and he got his geese.

Mr. Chin said this story was total bullshit. He said he would've heard of it if it were true.

 

 The words were suppose to show how the water flow when the geese were swimming in it.

These holes were on the bridge. The monks used this to fetch water from the river below.

 

This was the leaning tower of Pisa in Suzhou.

 

It is leaning towards the right.

 

Written by the Emperor of China.

Mr. Chin being a kid.

 

I can also do it!

 

Hundred steps reach. It was a stair with a hundred and eight steps. It's true and precise - I counted.

 

A hundred and eight steps.

 

It seemed as if Chow Yunfatt and Michelle Yeoh from Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon would suddenly appear out of nowhere.

Leaving the Tiger Hill, we found ourselves at a different exit from the entrance which we came in, far from the bus stop. We didn't have any choice but to take a cab to the our next planned stop. Due to the limited time we had we only can choose another destination - 盘门 Panmen City Gate, entrance ticket RMB40 per head.

I particularly like this picture that I took.

 

The Panmen City Gate was one of the most famous scenery area in Suzhou. It was first built during the Wu Kingdom of Spring and Autumn Period and it is the only well preserved water-and-land city gate in the world now. It was a place with utmost importance for the army in ancient times. The double water city gate is a pioneering work in architectural history. There is a sluice on the gate which can be closed and open by a stone gate at any time to control the water as well as resist aggression. Upon the gate, there is a city tower. There are many ancient weapons on display on the first floor of the tower. And the city wall is 300 meters long and 5 meters high. (Reference site: Travel China Guide)

Check out the scenery. This could never be seen in Malaysia.

 

The fish in China were really aggressive. They would swim real close to the surface and open their mouths so big you could literally throw bread crumbs into them.

 

Evening was already approaching by the time we were done. So we took the bus back to the train station and then back to Shanghai.

Shanghai, again

Back in Shanghai, we took a stroll along Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street, bought McD sundae and ate it in the cold. =)

A huge aquarium in one of the shops.

 

Then we took the MRT back and called it a night.

Scammers, you can go to hell.

I received this email a moment ago. It said that my Maybank account has been flagged for security reasons and therefore I should verify my account details to avoid service suspension. It attached a link for me to continue with this action.

 

 My account has been flagged, it seems. (Click photo to enlarge)

When I clicked on the link it led me to a website which looks exactly like the real maybank2u, except that the URL was NOT maybank2u.com and it wasn't with a "https://". Websites with a "https://" was supposed to mean that it is a secured website and you're safe to give banking or credit card or any personal details.

A forged maybank2u.com. (Click photo to enlarge)

I immediately went to the real maybank2u website and send them a report to inform them of the scam.

Yup, it's a scam. The stupid fraud was hoping that some people could be innocent enough to give him their Maybank username and password. What an asshole.

Alerting the public with this blog post to be careful of this kind of scam. Always don't trust these emails. Think twice before you act. And consult other people before you do anything stupid and regretful.

Aliens Invade Earth - Ultimate Escape Plan

1. When we get to know that the aliens are coming, I would call Mr. Chin and my mom to make sure that they're safe. I'll then leave whatever I'm doing and go back home to pack. On the way I'll drop by Giant to buy (or grab, because everyone will be running for their lives and there won't be any cashier to collect my money even if I want to pay) some supplies.
2. The whole idea is to avoid places of high population. Because if aliens were to invade Earth, they'll probably pick high-density area. So it should be the safest to go hiding in Mr. Chin's hometown, Kelantan, and even better in his house situated in Kok Lanas, somewhere I've never heard before until I know him. Mr. Chin will drive to my house to meet me and my mom. And we'll together head for the destination of hope.
3. Meanwhile I'll call my two sisters to make sure that they're safe. Big sister and her family in Kepong can come with us if they want. Second sister in Port Dickson can stay there and head for smaller towns, as Port Dickson itself is a small town already.
4. When we reach Kok Lanas we'll gather with Mr. Chin's family and head for the rural area, preferably the jungle. We can set up camps near the river and live for a few weeks avoiding the aliens. For the mean time we will be hoping that the government or whoever fighting the aliens will discover their weaknesses and defeat them and claim back Mother Earth.

I often get paranoid after watching movies about ghosts, alien invasion, serial killers, judgment day etc. I'd ask Mr. Chin, what if alien invade Earth? What would become of us? Where would we go? He would assure me those things won't happen. But I get even more scared when he said that. How can he be so sure? The above was the "perfect" escape plan that he came up with just to entertain and comfort me after we have watched Skyline.

I just watched Vacancy 2: The First Cut. I've yet to ask him, what if we were chased by a serial killer? ;)

Day 4: Tongli - Shanghai (Part II)

Tongli 同里

Continued walks around the famous water town.

Houses beside the stream.

 

Meaningful thought of the day: We've always been walking and forget to stop. Hundreds tastes of life, all in the "tea house".

 

Time for lunch! There were many restaurants beside the stream. The menu was displayed near the entrance of each restaurant. We compared the price and found that they were all the same. And strangely enough, even the tablecloths were all the same, so were the utensils. So we simply picked one.

Of course we had to order this famous dish in Tongli - pork knuckle 猪脚. Tasted as good as my mom's cooking. Not bad.

 

Still freezing cold even after lunch.

 

Chocolate flavoured peral milk tea 珍珠奶茶.

 

Leaving Tongli.

 

Sitting at the back of the electric car.

We slept like pigs again on the way back.

Xintiandi 新天地

Reaching Shanghai my brother's home in the evening feeling less exhausted compared to the previous nights. As we spent some of our time merely sitting on the bus or in the restaurants. As promised by brother, we were taken out to dinner in Xintiandi 新天地. This place was the angmo's favourite hangout - it was filled with expensive restaurants, bars, pubs, clubs, saloons etc. Places that those who earn USD or Euro could afford. We had the most expensive dinner I could imagine.

A bar called Luna in Xintiandi.

 

First up, the appetizer or so-called 冷菜 (cold dish). This was supposed to come before all the main courses. It was pre-cooked and they don't reheat it or anything. It was simply taken out from the fridge and directly served. That's the way Shanghainese eat.

 

Check out the expensive menu. Of course it was my brother's treat.

 

We ordered the 蟹粉豆腐 Crab Meat with Bean Curd.

辣子鸡 & 虾  Fried chicken & prawn with dried chili.

 

蟹粉豆腐 Crab Meat with Bean Curd.

Potatoes and long beans. Strangely enough, this tasted very much like my mom's cooking. Very Malaysian indeed.

 

Close up of the crab meat with bean curd. This dish was, to me, super expensive. Not worth its price.

 

梅子酱蒸鱼 Sour plum sauce steam fish. Before ordering this my brother was consulting the waiter whether the fish would have small bones which made it difficult for us to eat. The waiter assured him that it wouldn't. When he served the fish we were quite pleased with how it looked. He then cut the fish in half, and took out its backbone, leaving it totally bone-less. Hmmm... so this was how it felt to dine in a high class restaurant. Lolz.

 

葱油面 Noodles with onions.

 

东坡肉 Dongpo pork. Super, super oily. I told my brother mom's pork was way better than this. He couldn't agree more.

 

Vidal Sassoon in Xintiandi. My sister-in-law said a haircut costs RMB1k here. Madness.

Shanghai World Financial Centre 上海环球金融中心观光厅

The night was still young!!! And we were well on schedule. We asked brother to drop us off at the Shanghai World Financial Centre and continued our eventful night.

There were 3 levels of observatory deck, and to go to each you have to pay a different price:

94F - RMB100

94F + 97F - RMB110

94F + 97F + 100F - RMB150

That was day light robbery, but what to do. We bought 2 tickets to the highest floor.

In the elevator.

 

430 m above ground!

 

 

We first went to the highest floor - Skywalk 100, located at 474m above ground. 

The world's highest observatory.

 

Couldn't look.

 

The Shanghai World Expo monster.

 

The elevator indicating that we were on the 100th floor.

 

Yup there were transparent glass-made tiles on the floor which permitted you to look through it as if you were walking on sky, thus the "Skywalk 100".

 

The whole skywalk thing was really nothing impressive because it wasn't like all the floor tiles were transparent, but only part of them were. Thus we didn't really get the skywalk feeling. And also, the building itself was actually shaped like a handbag and the 100th floor lies on the strap of the handbag (referring to picture below). So can you imagine that when we look through the transparent floor tiles, we were actually looking partly at the 97th floor below us (the body of the handbag), which was kind of a spoil-spot.

Handbag-shaped building.

Mr. Chin was pretty disappointed that he couldn't take any good night scenes due to some reasons:
1. It was too misty.
2. The bright light on one of the tall buildings had basically blocked the lights of other buildings. So all the pictures had a big patch of bright yellowish light, which didn't look very nice.
3. The glass showed reflection of the person taking the picture.

Mr. Chin was complaining that pictures took at the bund look better than these.

Going down.

Mr. Chin looking happy.

 

Not-worth-the-money-tickets.

 

This was the building with a bright light bulb that I was talking about. It looked better on the 97th floor.

 

TV showing Jackie Chan singing on the 94th floor.

 

Pale face due to acrophobia.

 

Yup, we had to walk all the way back. Discovered this sef-service library on the way back.

 

Very useful device. Promote reading among citizens. And very user-friendly too.

Passed by the police station on the way back.

People, stop working OT!!!

Some people work OT for the extra money. They do not finish their assignments on purpose during the normal working hours thus automatically they're entitled to work overtime to get the job done.

Some people work OT because they really can't finish their work on time. Thus they're forced to work extra hours. These people are classified under "inefficient" and they may or may not charge their OT.

Some people work OT because they have no choice. They're given tonnes of work and their workload is twice that they can handle. These people are most probably in a very high position earning God-knows-how-much - either that, or they're working for a China man company.

Some people work OT out of sincerity and diligence. They not only want to get the job done, but they want them done perfectly. And they want to spend their extra (read: personal) time at work to improve their technical knowledge (read: speed up their climb in the career ladder). These people - to me - they have no life.

In the eyes of an employer / boss, those who work OT are those who possess the potential and who will strive for success, regardless of which category they fall under.

How does one impress the boss? Is working extra time the only way?

I look forward to a work-life balance life. Every working day I reach my office at 8:30 am plus minus and I start work after breakfast. I leave office at 6:00 pm plus minus (occasionally at 7:00 pm if I feel like it). I reach home at 6:30 pm provided if the traffic is clear. After dinner and everything it will be about 7:30 pm. I usually get sleepy starting at 10:00 pm, which means, I would have 2.5 hours (or less) of personal time every day (which explains why I've been blogging of "often" nowadays).

No matter how pathetic it sounds, that's life - life of a working adult.