It's counting down time again, not just counting down to the end of 2007 but also the amount of things to be thankful. Thank God for 2007 has been a wonderful year in which The Lord has kept my family members well and safe, carried me through the lows and bringing me to soar with Him in the highs, most of all, a year in which my thirst for travel had been nearly quenched with a pesonal record high of 5 memorable trips....each with beautiful memories...
Trip 1 : Shanghai & Jiangnan Jan 07
This was a package tour covering in a very shallow manner: Shanghai,Hangzhou, Suzhou, Wuxi and Nanjing,offered at a discounted rate, that kind of tempting cheap offers where most of the time you find yourself being herded around like sheep and spending more time at designated tourists shops than sightseeing. i was prepared for such as we had a pre-departure briefing. Though i've always shunned such package style trips especially to a place i could easily have gone on my own, the offer which was cheaper than the fare of a flight ticket alone was too tempting for me. i, being the typical 'yau-gui' Singaporean that i am, how could i resist? For, i was targeting the free and easy day thrown in where i can visit NF and family and maybe even P & J who had all been in Shanghai for several years and whom i've yet to visit.
Thank God despite the returning flight being delayed for almost 8hours,the trip turned out to be much more enjoyable than i had thought, mostly because we had a rather good combination of people -a professional,smart, thinking and relativley responsible China guide who is quite accustomed to the idiosyncrasies of Singaporeans, who did not hard sell his commisioned items nor even sounded persuasive but did well blending his selling tactics in his interesting introductions and explanations at the various places of interests we visited and this apparently scored well with most of the group members except for one or two; an adorable and ever so happy spirited 'auntie'-Xiuxiu who's overwhelmingly warm and helpful,frank in her speeches and always an enlivening source of the group. She provided much entertainment with her stories as ex-mamasan and her conversion to Christianity, her extravganza ways of shopping and her 'flirtations' with our guide; then the very friendly and responsible bus captain, Sam Shen who would wait at the side of the bus to help the senior passengers up and down the steps each time; and not to forget our very own boyish and good natured tour leader David who had to juggle with all the problems and complaints of 2 bus loads of people, with an injured senior passenger and with his own upcoming wedding preparations the week after...yet remaining patient and good natured throughout.
A big group travelling for more than a week together has to get along at least amiably; a tour group, especially with senior citizens in a foreign land has to have a responsible guide or leader. Thank God we had more than both factors that contributed to a laughter filled time throughout.
i had forgottn to bring along my camera charger and had to make do with the most i can make with the available camera battey life. Most of the pics i took were of the beautiful scenery but retained in my memory shall be the happy laughing face of dear free spirited Xiuxiu, the kind expression of her neighbours- the generous elderly 'Ah Rong-ge' & wife, their very quiet in-laws,the beautiful and charismatic Chinese lady(Kelly) and her husband Lawrence and the youthful Indonesian couple(Ah Yang & wife)
Shanghai-
separated into east and west by the River Pu is nonetheless, a confluence of western and eastern cultures,the modern and the old, the affluent and the poor, a unique place that just somehow evokes nostalgia and entices you to visit it again. Is it a wonder then that it is featured in so many films and stories both from the east and west?
Trip 1 : Shanghai & Jiangnan Jan 07
This was a package tour covering in a very shallow manner: Shanghai,Hangzhou, Suzhou, Wuxi and Nanjing,offered at a discounted rate, that kind of tempting cheap offers where most of the time you find yourself being herded around like sheep and spending more time at designated tourists shops than sightseeing. i was prepared for such as we had a pre-departure briefing. Though i've always shunned such package style trips especially to a place i could easily have gone on my own, the offer which was cheaper than the fare of a flight ticket alone was too tempting for me. i, being the typical 'yau-gui' Singaporean that i am, how could i resist? For, i was targeting the free and easy day thrown in where i can visit NF and family and maybe even P & J who had all been in Shanghai for several years and whom i've yet to visit.
Thank God despite the returning flight being delayed for almost 8hours,the trip turned out to be much more enjoyable than i had thought, mostly because we had a rather good combination of people -a professional,smart, thinking and relativley responsible China guide who is quite accustomed to the idiosyncrasies of Singaporeans, who did not hard sell his commisioned items nor even sounded persuasive but did well blending his selling tactics in his interesting introductions and explanations at the various places of interests we visited and this apparently scored well with most of the group members except for one or two; an adorable and ever so happy spirited 'auntie'-Xiuxiu who's overwhelmingly warm and helpful,frank in her speeches and always an enlivening source of the group. She provided much entertainment with her stories as ex-mamasan and her conversion to Christianity, her extravganza ways of shopping and her 'flirtations' with our guide; then the very friendly and responsible bus captain, Sam Shen who would wait at the side of the bus to help the senior passengers up and down the steps each time; and not to forget our very own boyish and good natured tour leader David who had to juggle with all the problems and complaints of 2 bus loads of people, with an injured senior passenger and with his own upcoming wedding preparations the week after...yet remaining patient and good natured throughout.
A big group travelling for more than a week together has to get along at least amiably; a tour group, especially with senior citizens in a foreign land has to have a responsible guide or leader. Thank God we had more than both factors that contributed to a laughter filled time throughout.
i had forgottn to bring along my camera charger and had to make do with the most i can make with the available camera battey life. Most of the pics i took were of the beautiful scenery but retained in my memory shall be the happy laughing face of dear free spirited Xiuxiu, the kind expression of her neighbours- the generous elderly 'Ah Rong-ge' & wife, their very quiet in-laws,the beautiful and charismatic Chinese lady(Kelly) and her husband Lawrence and the youthful Indonesian couple(Ah Yang & wife)
Shanghai-
separated into east and west by the River Pu is nonetheless, a confluence of western and eastern cultures,the modern and the old, the affluent and the poor, a unique place that just somehow evokes nostalgia and entices you to visit it again. Is it a wonder then that it is featured in so many films and stories both from the east and west?
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