Oriental Express (The I-Was-There touristy version)
沪
Camwhored at 陆家嘴东方明珠塔 (The Oriental Pearl Tower at Lujiazui)
人民公园 (People's Park at People's Square)
董家渡上海老街城隍庙前 (The Town God's Temple of Shanghai Old Street at Dongjiadu)*****
皖
黄山国家公园 (The Huangshan Geopark) - So many pine trees, grotesque rocks and clouds! Couldn't see the significant sunrise and sunset due to bad weather cos it rains 360 days a year averagely on the peaks of Huangshan kononnya. Too bad.
黄山翡翠谷 (Jade Valley at Huangshan Geopark) - Some parts of the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (卧虎藏龙）was filmed here. (note : blurriness credit to my sister, i don't think i have any decent photo of me being sharply focused under her hands)
Still like to act cute at her age. Haih sisters nowadays...but my sister is an exception cos I can't thank her enough for everything muacks!
There were snow storm and frozen rain on the second day of us at Huangshan (the ugly "trash bag" raincoat explains it all) so the cable car system shut down and we had to trail all the way down which took us a good 4 hours and a foot massage session in Shanghai courtesy of my sister :)*****
京
北京大学西门 (The west entrance of Peking University) - We went in to explore a bit by chance. Quite conducive to studies since part of it is built within the limits of many ancient gardens and palaces including Summer Palace/圆明园 (Old Summer Palace) cos the interior is way too historical and beautiful for a university. Beijing is very beautiful and its population density is way lower than Shanghai. Furthermore, most of the people in Beijing are very friendly and polite unlike Shanghai but somehow they still spit like nobody's business despite the geographical discrepancy :(
颐和园十七孔桥 (17-Arches Bridge in The Summer Palace) - This place is effing huge, I think the compound size is almost equivalent to whole Bandar Sunway (if that doesn't sound too big to you then it's ok cos I could have sensed wrongly haha).
金山岭长城 ( Jinshanling segment of the Great Wall) - I was being forced to travel with a bunch of ethnocentric Europeans through out this day tour which I don't know how many times I had to roll my eyes for enough but fortunately I had Gan (my Aus. expat. travel buddy from Sg. on an around the world stint whom I met in Happy Dragon). We traveled 3-4 hours by van from Beijing city to the Jinshanling segment (not the typical 八达岭/Badaling segment which is only 90km away from Beijing city) somewhere around 河北省 (Hebei province) and when we were at it, we walked a further 4 hours along the wall all the way to another segment called 司马台(Simatai). Not to forget, we also have to pay entrance ticket for each segment and a cable car ride ticket. All about $.*****
藏
藏
布达拉宫 (Potala Palace) - Kononnya the highest (not tallest) building in the world but I really don't fancy Lhasa cos it's just like any other cities in the mainland with excessive luxuries of entertainment outlets. My land tour guide brought me to a club in Lhasa and I thought it was sinful if I ever enjoyed myself inside. It just didn't feel right when I saw so many Han Chinese patronize the place instead of the natives. And don't expect to find any eatery shops that serve authentic Tibetan food at ease unless you are 100 km away from the city. For some reasons, I had been eating mostly 川菜 (Sichuan dishes) rather than 藏餐 (Tibetan meal). However still, kudos to the Chinese government for developing the place all these years so that our fellow Zang minorities are at least provided with basic amenities to counter inconvenience at high altitude and slowly liberate them from poverty. This place has been part (it still is) of China before the United States of America is called a "country" so what do you think?
雅鲁藏布江 (The Brahmaputra) - Holy river and one of the icons that represents the Tibetans. It was on my way to 日喀则 (Shigatse) via 三一八国道 (318 National Highway - longest highway in China that stretched from Shanghai all the way to Nepalese border where the road condition on the segment we traveled was ok, not too bumpy but we drove along/across/between/within canyons and the Brahmaputra so I had got nothing to complain except for we spent almost 8 hours for a good 300 km land cruiser ride.
纳木错湖 (Nam-tso Lake) - One of the three holiest lakes within the Tibet Autonomous Region. 4718m above sea level makes it the highest salt lake in the world. Very holy as you can see from those prayer flags behind me. The surrounding sceneries look very surreal as if I was somewhere around the polar extreme. Windchill factor was around -30+ centigrade but thank god I had the oversize cashmere around my neck but barely able to open my eyes due to the wind and sunlight.
雪古拉山口 (Mount Xuegu-La Pass) - My awesome land cruiser driver wanted to bring me to 羊八井地热温泉 (Yangpachen Geothermal Hotspring) from 日喀则 (Shigatse) via gravel roads and onwards towards the highest point I ever traveled on earth, Mount Xuegu-La Pass at 5438m. To reach the summit we climbed the steep pass through a number of hairpins and arrived at the top where typically lotsa prayer flags adorned the hillside. View of surrounding mountains were breathtaking but the air pressure was even more breathtaking than the view. Fortunately, I didn't suffer from apparent altitude sickness from the trip, miraculously, all thanks to 红景天/rhodiola (a kind of Tibetan remedy that prevents hypoxia). Thus, my canned oxygen laid untouched until the officer at Lhasa train station confiscated it. But well one thing I had learned, pure oxygen doesn't smell very pleasant, it's something between dried cuttle fish or polystyrene board. 
那根拉山口 (Nagen-La Pass) - The last mountain pass we encountered in the Nam-tso National Park before the Nam-tso Lake. 5190m equally breathtaking (pun intended). The wind was extremely strong and the thermometer in our land cruiser recorded around -20 centigrade here. Can die as I wasn't wearing very thick long johns and with only 2 layers + my down jacket!p/s : i have to seriously thank my personal land tour guide and driver for maximizing my time in Tibet with so many fantastic sites. shifu purposely took the pebbly route that less traveled by the mainstream just so that i could enjoy an eye-opening journey. nonetheless he brought home the bacon albeit his 4WD ran over a sheep along the way but i have to say luckily it wasn't a yak or else i won't be sitting here typing all these shits. besides, i thought i was gonna die when our 4WD lost control almost overturned and then flung away from the precipice at the frozen pathway to Nam-tso lake. god blessed our 4WD worked smoothly all the way without even the typical tyre puncture at extreme road condition. i think those Gautama Buddha 开光 (light introduced) talismans and ornaments that i carried along did work on us :) however, there is a little disappointment when my guide told me that i couldn't get passed with the permit for access to Mt. Everest Base Camp (5200m, unknown to some people that winter is the best season to travel in such places cos the sky will be crystal clear to catch glimpse at the Everest/Qomolangma peak!) due to strict enforcement this season (unbecoming statistics thanks to some reckless drivers and terrible road condition) as my request came quite spontaneous. probably the most potong stim ever in this trip but i saved myself a 3 days 2 nights torturous on-road journey under -30 centigrade on average weather temperature for a visit to a higher mountain pass unknown to most (Xuegu-La - 5438m) en route to Yangpachen town. don't really need to punch my chest that hard after all.
*****
Flow of my entire journey :
Flight to Pudong Airport ex KLIA (approx. 5 hours) - Flight to Chengdu Shuangliu Airport ex Pudong (approx. 3 hours and my flight delayed 5 hours due to massive fog formed at Chengdu outskirt) - Flight to Lhasa Gongga Airport ex Shuangliu (approx. 2 hours) - Train via Qinghai-Tibet railway ex Lhasa to Beijing took 3 days 2 nights or around 48 hours (with sleeper berth, phew) - Train ex Beijing to Shanghai took 13 hours (was stupid enough to opt for the hardseat due to huge price disparity with sleeper and gotten a real hard lesson and backbone after the ride) - 5 hours car ride ex Shanghai to Huangshan and another 5 hours fro - Flight to KLIA ex PVG
Force fed myself with sooooooo many food (major spending) so much so that I was too lazy to lug my bulky camera around whilst looking for food cos not like you xenophilic Malaysians wanna see anyway, thus the absence of foodie on prowl with monitor-lickable food photos! From deep fried scorpios to multinational buffets, after everything, I thought I was gonna see exponential horizontal growth in me but after reassuring myself with the credibility of 4 different weighing machines, I mysteriously lost 2 kg! Best of the best! It's just that somehow the physical result is not obvious enough to convince people but screw you like I care.
Also brought home with luggages full of harvest from retail therapy that has already overweight by an acceptable amount + some still left with my sister. Couldn't resist the Xmas/New Year sales hoohaas when all we have back home is 10%-30% markdown for the riches. Let me give you an example or two, a pair of Energie jean on 70% discount, a pair of Ben Sherman denim on 50% discount...and when you buy in grand total of let's say 800 CNY they will give you further markdown of 200-300 CNY off the bill. Sales on sales. That's the way! And the most thrilling part of all is to further divide all the price on bills by about 2 on forex! *faints*
Well and also...
There goes a month of my holiday and savings! :(
Next up is to plan for my 4 months hiatus before leaving for the States. Gosh, again gotta crack my little brain again in order not to waste time, and roll up my sleeves to slog for studies and $.
Organic Chemistry, I am so gonna you in the most brutal manner, EVER!
More to come. Bye.
Flight to Pudong Airport ex KLIA (approx. 5 hours) - Flight to Chengdu Shuangliu Airport ex Pudong (approx. 3 hours and my flight delayed 5 hours due to massive fog formed at Chengdu outskirt) - Flight to Lhasa Gongga Airport ex Shuangliu (approx. 2 hours) - Train via Qinghai-Tibet railway ex Lhasa to Beijing took 3 days 2 nights or around 48 hours (with sleeper berth, phew) - Train ex Beijing to Shanghai took 13 hours (was stupid enough to opt for the hardseat due to huge price disparity with sleeper and gotten a real hard lesson and backbone after the ride) - 5 hours car ride ex Shanghai to Huangshan and another 5 hours fro - Flight to KLIA ex PVG
Force fed myself with sooooooo many food (major spending) so much so that I was too lazy to lug my bulky camera around whilst looking for food cos not like you xenophilic Malaysians wanna see anyway, thus the absence of foodie on prowl with monitor-lickable food photos! From deep fried scorpios to multinational buffets, after everything, I thought I was gonna see exponential horizontal growth in me but after reassuring myself with the credibility of 4 different weighing machines, I mysteriously lost 2 kg! Best of the best! It's just that somehow the physical result is not obvious enough to convince people but screw you like I care.
Also brought home with luggages full of harvest from retail therapy that has already overweight by an acceptable amount + some still left with my sister. Couldn't resist the Xmas/New Year sales hoohaas when all we have back home is 10%-30% markdown for the riches. Let me give you an example or two, a pair of Energie jean on 70% discount, a pair of Ben Sherman denim on 50% discount...and when you buy in grand total of let's say 800 CNY they will give you further markdown of 200-300 CNY off the bill. Sales on sales. That's the way! And the most thrilling part of all is to further divide all the price on bills by about 2 on forex! *faints*
Well and also...
There goes a month of my holiday and savings! :(
Next up is to plan for my 4 months hiatus before leaving for the States. Gosh, again gotta crack my little brain again in order not to waste time, and roll up my sleeves to slog for studies and $.
Organic Chemistry, I am so gonna you in the most brutal manner, EVER!
More to come. Bye.
