Si Chuan, China Trip 2012 - Part 2

Day 3 - 19th Dec 2012

Jiu Zhai Gou

Today is a day tour to Jiu Zhai Gou (九寨沟),so we all wake up early to have our breakfast at the hotel. It was buffet style, but the food served are meat and vegetables,like having lunch/dinner. It was oily too,it really turned off our appetite.So we just get some light food and went to board the bus to set off to Jiu Zhai Gou.We reached the car park and we needed to walk a distance to the main gate.We reached around 9 am,and the tour guide went to help to get us our tickets.Our group had also booked a private bus but as the bus can only accommodate 21 people but our group consists of 27 people.So 6 of us needs to volunteer out to take the public buses.And so,i volunteered out, together with 5 others and my friend went with the private bus.Luckily it was our tour leader, Steve to bring us around instead of bus B tour guide.Anyway the group in bus B didn't book a private bus.There was wi-fi there too.Ahh..It started to snow too..First time see snow fall down from the sky...After getting the tixs,the tour guide leaded us to the entrance and we queued to get in.From there no, we went separate ways with the main group. They went on to get on the private bus and Steve took us to catch the public bus.Once on the bus,there was a tour member who was also alone. So i sat with her,and she said since we both are alone,can walk together. Her name is Annie.Another who had volunteered out was a family of 4, Christina and Jason and their 2 sons.Steve first brought us to Chang Hai (长海),the scenery was very beautiful.We took some photos and there are some vendors selling stuffs around there. After that, we went on to take the public bus again for our next stop.The bus was clean and there was not many people, actually the ride was quite ok (not like the tour guide had told us that it was super packed with people and we had to squeeze our way in. But again,it was during Spring time. Since it is winter period,there were not so many people visiting).

五彩池

Our next stop is Wu Cai Chi (五彩池). The water was very clear and beautiful (There supposed to have 5 colours in the lake). We spent some time there and had some photos taken. After that, we made our way down to the bus stop and saw bus B group too at the bus.We went for a short toilet break and walked down to bus stop.When we boarded the bus,Steve asked the lady guide on bus where the bus is heading. She told us that it was going to a Zhan Zu (藏族) village instead of the lunch place we are going.So we went ahead and got off at the village.It was a small village, there was shop selling their local stuffs.There were alot of colourful flags around the village and the local had written their scriptures on the flags. It was said that when the wind blows the flags,it will be counted as 1 time that the scriptures are being read (It was done cos the locals are getting more busier now).After that,we walked our way slowly to our lunch place.We reached earlier than the other group and our lunch vouchers are with the tour guide, so we had to wait for them to arrive before we can have our lunch.So Steve let us to walk around the place first while waiting. There was a performance at the stage too. Finally the other group arrived,and we finally can have our lunch.I met up with my friend and had lunch together. The lunch was buffet style..but...everyone had to take a tray (like those in campus/camp) then we had to queue to take our food. There wasn't much selection and the rice was out when i went to take. Actually some of the food was already gone and the staffs were slow in bringing out the refills.And i had to finished my lunch 15 mins earlier than the other group..sad...

珍珠滩瀑布

After lunch,my group went off first and we went to take the bus down to our next stop. Our next stop was Panda Lake (熊猫海),there was a small part of the lake got frozen.There was a small waterfall at the opposite side which got really frozen...white white...After spending some time here, we made our way to the next stop.Next Stop: 五花海.....it was very big lake with mountains surrounding it...All the water in the lakes are super clear, you can see what is underneath the water and it can show the reflections of the mountains clearly. After that, we went down to Pear Shoal (珍珠滩). It was a huge waterfall, we walked from the top down to the below of the waterfall by the stairs...We caught up with Bus B group too. So we just walked slowly down to our next stop after taking photos here. Our next stop is another waterfall, Nuorilang Falls (诺日朗瀑布). It was super huge too...and all the water were gushing down...After this, Steve took us to take the bus to the next stop..Tiger Lake (老虎海). And from here (after taking photos here), we walked down to another waterfall called SuZheng Waterfall (树正瀑布). Then we walked slowly down back to bus stop..to get back to the entrance. At the entrance, the tour guide took us to a fast food restaurant, called Dico's. So we had some food there, and i tabao back for my friend, who was already back to the hotel. Hohoho...we even took cab back to our hotel. Later i got to know that my friend had befriend with Annie's partner during the tour too. Hohoho..new friends made...and we too got to know who are in our bus, had got to know them during mealtimes too. Hahaha..everyone was asking us on SingTel mobile plans and whether there are any Christmas promotions coming out once they got to know where we are working. We all rested in our hotel room before dinner, tonight we are going for a show by 藏族 after dinner...(Skipped dinner part).It was a few mins ride from our hotel to the theatre. During the ride to the theatre,the tour guide was telling us that how 藏族人 will greet us when we arrive and what we need to say when they greet us (扎西德勒....). When we arrived, there was a group of people lining up to welcome us and gave us a white scarf (I lost mine after the show...sad). Anyway the show started with a marriage of the King and Queen and later followed by a few dances performance and there were 2 singers singing their 藏族 songs. There was a flute performance from Qiang Zu (羌族),the performer was blowing a whole melody without changing his breath (Quite amazing..). Then the host was asking for 4 males volunteers from the audience and to go up stage to perform a small tug of war match, and the winner can 'win' himself a wife back (provided the lady agreed). It was quite a funny scene, after that, the show ended with a performance by their boys band group. (You can purchase their CD with their autographs outside too). Bad about during the performance was people smoking in the theatre and there is no heater (We got super cold during midst of the show...lol). After the show, the tour guide gave us instructions for the next day during the ride back to the hotel and we went back to our hotel,which ended our day.

To be cont'd..........

Hotel Stayed:
New JiuZhai Hotel

Places Visited:
Jiu Zhai Gou

Si Chuan, China Trip 2012 - Part 1

Uhoo!! Finally a long trip..this time i went Si Chuan with my friend. We had booked a tour package for 8 days with Chan Brothers. It was a 1 for 1 deal and we had also extended our trip for another 3 days. The 8 days package plus our extension costs around $1134. I went for a briefing too, given by Chan Brothers as what to expect when we are in China. Our total group is 48 people, and there is a group lead who is going with us. His name is Steve Soh and there are 2 tour guides coming with us when we reach Chengdu. So as planned, our journey started from 17th Dec 2012 to 28th Dec 2012.

Day 1 - 17th Dec 2012
Our flight was 5.45 pm, so the tour leader had told us to meet at Terminal 2 at 3.30 pm. When we reached, we waited for awhile for the tour leader. He came and passed us some documents and informed us that there will be 2 buses allocated for us. Based on the envelope given, we are allocated to the bus and dining table. We were also given instructions where to meet once we pass the China customs. After that, we went to check-in our luggage and went in for some light shopping while waiting for our flight. I was abit hungry, so i went to buy egg tarts. While queuing, there was 2 foreigners standing in front of me, thinking what to get. Then finally when they wanted to order, one of the guy said his order to the staff in quite rude manner. Then they tried to pay in US currency, but was rejected by the staff. I waited for at least 10 mins just to get my egg tarts...arghhh...
Finally we boarded our plane, sadly there is no entertainment on plane (by Silkair)....the plane was not able take off due to heavy traffic..so the plane was late in taking off. But we still landed Chengdu at 11 plus (which is the original landing time). After we passed the customs, we went to collect our luggage and waited for the tour lead to come meet us. He told us that we need to walk a short distance to the buses outside. With everyone ready, we walked to our buses. Mi and my friend, we are on bus A. Once we all got onto the bus, our tour guide introduced himself. His name is He Zhou Xian and he welcomed us and told us what to do be done for the next day. The first hotel we went is Wyndham Grand Hotel. The room was super big and the toilet...wahhhh!!...we got really excited...there was a glass separating the bathtub and the beds...there is even tv volume control in the toilet...and there  was 2 pillows for us but we were only staying in this hotel for 1 nite..sad.....we ended up sleeping at 2 plus...but i was unable to sleep well.

Day 2 - 18th Dec 2012

Statue of Zhu Geng Liang

We woke at 6 am and prepared for the 1 day of our package tour. After we got ready, we put our luggage and placed them outside our room. So sad..have to leave the nice hotel...then we went down for our breakfast. After that, we went on board the bus. As there was still empty seats, we went to sit at the last row of the bus. I sat on the right side and my friend sat on the left side....In our bus, there are 5 families and 1 made up of 2 friends (same like us...). In bus B, there was a family of 14 people and they had another tour guide with them.We set off at 8am, for the start, our tour guide told us that we are going to Dujiangyan Irrigation System (都江堰）for a visit and he gave us a short description on the system. When we arrived, the tour guide let us go for toilet break. Then the tour guide from Bus B was giving us a brief introduction on the irrigation system (but he wasn't using any mic, so those at back, was not able to catch what he was saying). Forget to mention his name, his name is Fan Fan. Then the guides gave us our admission tickets and went in to have a look. Fan Fan was shouting to us as to give us introduction, when other tour groups are around (and he was only using his voice without mic and was fighting with other tour guides who are using mic). After awhile, i gave up listening..cannot hear too. My friend was walking very front, luckily our tour guide saw that our group was too big and some of the people can't even hear what was said..he told Fan Fan that to split the group back in Bus A and Bus B. So i was able to listen to what the guide was trying to intro us to and i was able to walk and enjoyed the walk too. There was a path from the entrance in, where there were some status of famous people like Zhu Geng Liang and Ding Bao Zhen. Then we walked to
Baopingkou or Bottle-Neck Channel of the system. After that, the guide brought to Fulonguan or Dragon-Taming Temple to have a look. After the visit to Du Jiang Yan, it was a long ride up to Jiu Zhai Gou. During the ride, our tour guide was telling us some stories to help pass the time and he also gave us 2 boxes of Hong Jing Tian for each person. He told us to drink 2 bottles after every meal so that we won't faint or get sick when we are at Jiu Zhai Gou or Er Mei due to high altitude. Each box costs RMB$100, anyway everyone on bus bought. The road up was passing through tunnels in between mountains, the guide told us the new roads are built due to the earthquake in 2008. So now the journey will be slightly shorter. By noon, we reached a 'restaurant' in the middle of our ride and had our lunch. There were at least 10 dishes, all except the rice was cold and there was no heater in the restaurant. So everyone was wearing their cold wear to have lunch. And the toilet....best...it was just outside the restaurant, and there was a guy collecting $ to 'visit' the toilet. It costs RMB$1 to go in, but we are only having $100 bill. Luckily, the guy was able to find change for us. Ok..so we went in. There was no door for the 1st 2 cubicles...hahaha....everyone was like 'ok,don't look at others' and the smell was stinky too (Better to hold your breath when inside and get out quickly..lol). After lunch, we continued our ride again. 

We rode for about 2 hours, we stopped a stop-point where the bus was getting a bath. There were some aunties selling fruits and nuts, opposite the road, there was a fluffy cow (Yak). It was having a nice scenery view too. We went down for a walk, took some photos of the cow and scenery view. We also bought some nuts back, the auntie gave us some oranges to try. It was sweet....we decided to buy the oranges when we are coming down the mountain 2 days later.
After that, was a 3 hrs ride again to our hotel - New JiuZhai Hotel. In between, we made a stop at Songpan Village for toilet break. Again we need to pay to go in and the cubicles are without no doors. It was just a drain at the bottom, hahaha..So everyone just went in down do their own business and went out. We reached around 5 plus and we went for our dinner (provided by the hotel). It was cold in the restaurant itself when we were having our dinner. It was a 10 course dinner, at least the food was not so cold, as compared to our lunch. After dinner, we went to our hotel room to rest. It was alot smaller, compared to the 1st hotel we went. Kind of sad...but still ok....ohh...the hotel here was a bit funny too. The tour guide told us that by 12 midnight, the hotel will turn off all their power, as to save electricity, which means after 12 midnight, the heater will also be off, so it might be cold after the power trip unless we wake up ourselves to on the heater. Hohohoo...anyway we just went to bed for the next day....but i still cannot sleep well.... :(

To be cont'd..........

Hotel Stayed:
Wyndham Grand Hotel
New JiuZhai Hotel

Places visited:
Dujiangyan Irrigation System

LegoLand Again!!

View from our room

Went Legoland again from 24th Nov to 25th Nov. This time, mi and my friends bought tickets from Gamrket. It was a 2D1N package with coach and legoland admission included and we paid $118 for each person. We all met at the pick-up point, which was at near Ang Mo Kio MRT station. Then the bus left for Woodlands Checkpoint. There was abit of jam from Woodlands Checkpoint to JB Checkpoint, but we still managed to reach the hotel at around 4pm. The hotel we stayed was KSL Resort, it was stated as 5-star hotel but it wasn't that fantastic. The lifts are super slow, although there are 4 lifts running. We didn't managed to get connecting rooms for our stay though. Anyway, we went to the shopping mall beside the hotel and bought our movie tickets for the night - Rise of the Guardians 3D (It costs only RM$18 each, for a 3d movie).

 Then we walked around to look for some snacks, as i am started to feel hungry. We got durian puffs, which is not so nice to eat and pizza in a cone, which is nicer and ice-cream. After that, we got some taiwan snacks, which is also not so tasty. Then we went for a walk around in the mall, and back to the hotel to rest for awhile before our dinner - Chez Papa Restaurant. Later, we took cab down to the restaurant. Ohh!! It was a cozy place (looks like those European restaurants, though there are lizards sound), where they had put 3 Christmas trees inside and cute stuffed toys are hang on the trees. Then when we sat down, the waitress took their daily specials white chalk board menu and placed beside our table and placed another small size menu on our table.

Creme Brulee (Ymmy!)

We ordered Escargots, Mushroom soups, Mussels, Goose liver (Foie Gras), Codfish and Seafood Baked Rice. For the desserts, we ordered Cream Brulee and Faming banana. The mussels dish is not nice, it kind of got over-cooked. The best we liked are the Escargots, Goose meant and Cream Brulee (Yummy Yummy!). The waitress also kept forgetting our plain water, we had to ask for it 3 or 4 times. I almost died of thirst! lol....but overall, the experience is good. Will go back for the Escargots and Creme Brulee again if got the chance. ^_^
After the nice dinner, we got a cab back to our hotel and we rested while waiting for our night movie to start. We saw lightning flashing down from our hotel room, and so we spent about 15 to 20 mins standing at the window, to try taking lightning photos...hahhaa...the photo didn't work out well, but we did saw some cool lightning flashing down. After which, we went for our movie. It was a nice movie..and i enjoyed it.

Next morning came, and we went down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. It was packed with people and there wasn't any available table. We had to wait for it, luckily we managed to get hold of a table and had our breakfast. It wasn't that wahh for their breakfast...but anyway, we had and prepare to check-out the hotel and make our way down to Legoland.

Queue in LegoLand

We reached Legoland at around 10am, and we saw a super long queue of people waiting to get in. We went for the queue and we went in. We went to deposit our bags and went to look around in the lego shop.Next, we went to Lego City and went into a playground, where we played there for a while.
We took the fire engine ride, where we need to 'exercise' to make the vehicle to move and 'pump' the water out to put out the fire.lol....tiring sia....Next, we walked down to Adventureland, where mi and 1 of my friend went for the water roller coaster. My other 2 friends said wanted to help us take photos, so we went to queue for the ride. When mi and my friend were on the ride, i was asking my friend y cannot see my the other 2 friends. Hahaha....We saw them only after we had done with the roller coaster ride.They 2 were so stunned that we had actually finished the ride, they had went to buy some drinks and missed our photo-taking. The ride really got mi and my friend wet, my pants was so wet when i came out of the ride.lol....

After that, we walked to the 4D movie, where we caught one of the lego shows - Clutch Power. It was fun sitting inside and watching it. It was also cooling inside with all the effects. hohoho.....
After that, we went in to build and test. It was a place where you can build your own car and buildings and test it out. We spent some time inside, to play with the lego and to enjoy the aircon.
Then, we walked down to the game stalls, where we played some games. My friend got an angry bird home.hohoho...Then, we went for the dragon roller coaster ride..Hahhahaha....After that, we went to have our lunch.

Singapore Flyer (Lego Form)

After lunch, we went to take the lego express train ride. We waited for awhile, and we got abit sleepy while waiting.lol...it started to drizzle too. Finally, we got aboard. It was a super bored ride, which really can make you sleep. After that, we walked down to Miniland to see their miniatures. My friends took out the 'plastic bags' raincoats and wore (really looks like having a super big plastic bags covered on them...hahaha). After walking around, we decided that to go catch another 4D show as our last stop but it was super queue when we got there. So we decided to go do our lego shopping instead. We each bought a Lego Christmas choo choo train (RM$29.90) back to play. After that, we went to wait for our bus to pick us up to go back to Singapore.


Places went:
KSL Shopping Mall
Chez Papa Restaurant

Hotel Stayed:
KSL Resort 

LegoLand Trip

Legoland

Finally, i get to travel out of Singapore again. This time, me and my friends went to Legoland which we had been saying since it is out. We managed to get everyone agreed and went for it. We had bought the coach tixs from WTS Travel for $20 (2-way) for each pax. And we got the legoland tixs from its main website for RM$105 per pax.

We gathered at the Singapore Flyer at 9.00 am, and went to the WTS agency to do our 'check-in'. It was a super small shop and there was already a super long queue of people trying to collect their tixs.
After we had collected our tixs, we went to have our breakfast. By 9.45am, we went to find our coach. We boarded the bus and waited until 10am for the bus to leave. It was quite annoying when some people is not considerate enough to settle in the coach and let the coach leave on time. There was a Japanese mother and son who were the last to board the coach. Then the mother went down to toliet, leaving the son alone in the bus and he was like only 4 or 5 years old. And he was crying for his mother after 2 mins later. Then there was another group of Philippinese, who also went down to get some drinks. So we had to wait for about 15 mins for them to return to the bus. Finally they came back, and suddenly there was a couple who went down to go to the toliets just after everyone was back. Ahh..why they can't just go earlier? Then we had to wait for another 15 mins for the couple to come back. The bus driver quickly told his colleagues that he better start driving before another says want to go toliet again. lol....

So we finally got to start our journey at around 10.30 am..and we reached Singapore customs at around 11 am. There we had to wait for the Japanese mother and son again, as they were caught in the customs. 2 coaches had left before us, and they came later than us! Then we continued our journey to JB. Finally we reached Legoland at 12 pm. We alighted and walked a distance to Legoland entrance. There were alot of people at the main entrance trying to take photo with the lego entrance. I can't even take a clear photo with no one near it. Anyway, we went and start our day inside the Legoland.

StoryBook made of Lego

All the rides we saw were at least 120 mins of waiting time. So we just walked down from the entrance to the Kingdom area and saw 2 dragons roller coasters side by side. 1 for kids and 1 for adults. My friend was targeting the bigger dragon roller coaster...hohoho..but we got hungry. So we bought some food at the kingdom area and we decided to take the dragon roller coaster as the 1st ride after meal. After meal, we went and queued for the roller coaster. We waited for at least 1 hr before our turn. It was fun and the ride was just like 1 or 2 mins. My friend was laughing all the way throughout the whole ride.hohohoo...After the ride, we shopped around at the souvenirs shop. My hands were shaking after the ride and were shaking even when i tried to pay for my wizard lego keychain..lol...


After that, we walked down to Imagination. Along the way, there are some game stalls that you can pay to play the games to win big stuffed toys. We played a fishing game that requires to add up all the numbers and a certain number will get you a different size stuffed toy. We paid for 4 picks which cost RM$25 and it added up to 8 which got us a lion stuffed toy. It was cute... :)

Lego Towers

Then we went to queue for the lego towers, which requires to pull yourself up and let yourself down. We queued for half an hour for this. Then we walked down to the next area, which is the land of adventure. Then my friend went and buy popcorn, it was too sweet...then we went to find another ride to play, Lost Kingdom Adventure. We didn't know what the ride was but we just went to queue for it. The queue was super long and it was another half an hour queue. Until we reached the entrance, we know what the ride is. It was a ride with laser shooting,my friend got disappointed when she saw that it was not a roller coaster ride. kekeke.....

After the ride, it was almost 4 plus. So we walked down to Miniland, to see the mini buidings made of lego. We walked around it, it was a good place for photography. There were some professional photographers going around to help you take photos. We then went to the lego shop to shop shop. All the stuffs are not cheap, so we only buy 1 or 2 items. The lego mascot also came out for a walk and alot of people went up to queue to take photo with the mascot. There were also some lego displays around the whole legoland, which you can take photos with.

We then left legoland and made our way down to JPO for shopping. We took a cab down to JPO, which caused us RM$60 from legoland to JPO. Expensive ride. It started to rain heavily on the way there, it was still raining when we reached. Then we went to the food court there to eat dinner, there was a few people around..After that, we went to walk around the shops. There were nothing interested to buy too. My friend bought a coach sling bag for her hubby. Then we went to the bus stop to wait for the bus. Finally the bus came and we boarded to go to City Square. It was long journey ride, we took a nap on the bus. Then we reached City Square, my friend went and bought breads. I saw some snacks stalls..i bought chicken wings...it was nice and yummy!! Next time i will go eat again. :)

Then we made our way down to Woodlands Custom and made our way back to Singapore. That ended our day trip to Legoland. There are so many rides we didn't manage to take. Will be going back again!! :p

Nature Parks Walk - Labrador Nature Reserve

Labrador Nature Park

11th Feb 2012 - Went to Labrador Park today with my friend. We met at Labrador MRT station and had BK breakfast. Then we started off our morning walk, we walked from the mrt station but we still need to walk a long distance up to the park entrance. It was super hot too and we were starting to sweat.

After about half an hour or more, we managed to reach the park's entrance. We walked around the park, there are war relics left behind during the WWII and some information on WWII too. I wanted to go to the secret tunnels left behind during WWII times but it was closed for maintenance. Such a pity. We walked through the nature paths to get around the park.

Later we walked along the sea coast, which we can see the dragon's gate stone, Yatch Club and the beautiful condos built there. So we just walked along the path and back to Harbourfront Station. We did saw a big lizard (didn't managed to take a photot of it cos it was hiding inside the bushes) when we were out to the road...lol....

Nevertheless, it was a nice walk although it was hot. But you should try it some day, go around Singapore's Nature Parks and walk around, enjoy the nature, views and you may find surprises too.
:)

Click here for the complete walking trail from National Parks, Singapore

A Living Legend - Song Dynasty

24th Feb 2012 - Went to Expo to see the animated moving painting, 清明上河图. It was a famous painting from the Song Dynasty by a painter named Zhang Ze Duan. The painting was drawn to show the everyday life of the people during the Song Dynasty. The painting was magnified 30 times its original size, immersing in 128m x 6.5m of living art and animation was added to the characters and objects in the painting, about thousands of it. It's like bringing life out of the painting. It can even change from day time to night time.

There are 5 mini-section to show the different life and objects, using the 5 elements as the centre (Fire, Wood, Earth, Gold and Water) in the Pre-Hall. It was quite boring but still it is educational...then after, came to a main hall, with the drawing displayed inside (which is the main objective of the exhibit..lol). Audio guide was also provided to guide you through the whole exhibit. It was magnificent to see a drawing that big and can actually see animation on it (Not so bad)...The only bad thing is why the admission is so expensive...$20 for a adult (without any discount). Don't understand...lol....

Anyway, it is my first to see a painting that big and with animation too..Quite an experience and will remember it....

Wicked Musical, SIngapore

28th Jan 2012: Went to watch Wicked Musical in Marina Bay Sands (MBS), Grand Theater with my friends. We had purchased the $151 category tickets (including booking fees). It was a awards-winning musical and it was very popular in other countries. It is a play about the 2 witches in the Wizard of Oz before Dorothy dropped in Oz land. The play was also telling how the 2 witches met each other and become best friends and falling in love with the same guy and how they fell out with each other. There was also a mech dragon built on the stage, i was expected it to be used often but was disappointed when it was only operated 2 times throughout the whole play.The conversation between the characters was also quite funny in the play.

Read Wicked synopis

But I prefer Lion King Musical more than Wicked Musical, as Lion king used more props whereas Wicked used more lighting effects. And i also prefer the music in Lion King over Wicked...but it is still worth watching....hehehe....