Zhejiang to Yunnan Province

We started our adventure out of the apartment in the evening of 23 March.....

Rozi acted as my special sherpa..... before heading to the railway station...one of the items in the bag.....dried beef rendang and rice cube...LOL....

Waiting for our D109 fast train to Changsha

Rozi insisted that I took the photo to show the train speed...that was at 199km/hour....

We reached Changsha Railway early morning of 24th March....the ticket for early morning train to Kunming was sold out...we gotta wait for 8:30am train and camped out at the McD next to railway station for nearly 7 hours......however, there a a few motels and hotels within minutes walking distance nearby but we decided to wait instead since there were not many people around the station (that was truly backpacking experience!!).....

We managed to get soft bed shared with a local couple from Suzhou......so I have to put on my hijab while sleeping....my first experience but I slept comfortably may be too tired to think of other things!!.......Rozi was on upper deck and it was quite funny since we were chatting in Bahasa Malaysia talking about the couple doing lovveeyy dooveyyy stuffs until both of us fell asleep.........it was a very memorable 22 hours train ride from Changsha to Kunming city........

These are some of the photos taken from the train ride.......some mountainous scenery near Guizhou...

Somewhere near Kunming.....

TBC...........

Good bye Hangzhou...

These are my final photos before I bid farewell to Hangzhou on 1st April 2009........

A view from underneath a willow tree at West Lake

Very common view of West Lake, Hangzhou

Me and the spring flowers .....

Will write on my backpacking adventure to Lijiang, Shangri La and Kunming in Yunnan soon.....

AirAsia oooo AirAsia...now everyone can fly??

An experience to remember.........

I was travelling via Airasia flying back from KUL to Hangzhou. I had to changed my flight schedule from 05th Jan to 09th Jan due to my sickness and the children was not feeling well.

Goosshhh ...never came across in my mind that journey will be my first bad experience in 2009. I woke up 4:30am that Friday morning and got ready to catch my morning flight. After kissing the kids goodbye while they were still asleep, I woke Yong up to say goodbye and as usual say a few words to her. She send me off at the gate and this time Rozi drove me to the airport instead of my regular cab driver Rahim.

All went smoothly during checking in except the person at the gate of the departure hall stopped me because I have an extra 3 kgs (which are all books and some companies documents!!). So I made a u turn to check in the luggage and pay RM 120. I am not worried of the money since I can raise a claim for that, but I don't really like the way the AirAsia personnel stopped me at the gate (a bit hush and he made some kind of face after I explain to him that its just books.....). Anyway, the guy at the counter, Syed Mahathir (see I make sure I get his name since he treated me well) was very nice to me and he serve me gently. In fact, he was a bit concern that I have to pay for the extra kgs. But, I said its ok to pay since my company will reimburse me for that. He is definately fit to work for Customer Service.

Then, I went through all the safety procedure before reaching the waiting area. We started to board the plane about 750am and the flight took off approximately at the schedule departure. As usual, I started reciting the prayer right before I set foot in the plane until it safely took off..The plane was ready to take off at the runway when Capt Mazlan, suddenly pull the brake (I guess...) and the all of us a bit jerking upfront......my goddness....I was really scared and started to pray harder.....all I can see was all the children faces at that time!!. Then, Capt Mazlan made an announcement that one of the engine was having a technical problem. So, made a u turn and all of us were asked to disembark. We we asked to wait until further notice.

Then, we went down and walked back to the terminal building. It was announced that the flight will be delay for 4 hours. I started to figure out by the time I reach Hangzhou it was already at night. So I switch on my laptop started to book the hotel online. I can't get the internet connection on my laptop. Goosshhh......Then, I called Rozi and explained, asked him to book the hotel for me. Airasia compensated us by serving a piece of Burger (from McDonald Breakfast Menu with a bottle of mineral water). Then, waited again before I noticed something burning nearby. Suddenly I can see the smoke at the construction area nearby the waiting area. Having been working in the manufacturing industry before, I was being trained to be alert whenever you smell smoke or something burning....I grabbed my laptop and straight away to an AirAsia personnel asked where is the evacuation assembly point. I was shocked NOT to hear any FIRE ALARM sound at all........and the way the airport personnel faced the situation.....they did not even asked the passenger to move out of the building until all the passengers realised by themselves. All of us were then ask to evacuate at the tarmac outside the building. A few minutes later, the fire brigade came with a few MAB personnel..........it was a bit chaotic.....all the passengers scattered everywhere, busy taking pictures........I wonder whether these people (Airasia/airport employees) were really trained to face such an emergency situation......in reality, no one really in charge of controlling the scattered passenger let alone our safety well being as we are a few meters away from parked aircraft and some moving airports transports........

I managed to snap a few pictures on that day.....

The spot which was on fire

09 th Jan 2009

The passengers outside the fire assembly area.....

The Airasia personnel started to ask the passenger to assemble by destination. Since maybe it was during an emergency and they do not have hailer to organize the passenger, I can see them shouting here and there calling for destination (sound familiar in Malaysia if you took cab at the taxi station...LOL). So lesson learnt from this incident, Airasia should have a dry run in case of emergency like this, ensure that hailer is available to managed the situation or at least there is a place card for the staff to carry so that passenger knows which direction to go (Mr Tony Fernandes - I hope you take this as a positive input!!)....all in all I think the AirAsia staffs are not really prepared for such situation, however, some of them remained very calm and try their best to managed the situation.

I was already hungry by then and the worst part was we were not allowed to come into the building. Furthermore, all the shops were asked to close due to the fire. At about 1pm we were allowed to board the same airplane. My heart really pounding so hard, all the mixed feeling came into my mind....you just imagine flying in the same airplane which you already know that it has been detected earlier having some technical problem. At first I wanted to reschedule my trip back, but knowing that I need to be in the office by Monday, I got to assured myself to be calm and keep on praying for good thing to come. Then, the kapten made an announcement that we are ready to fly. It was Capt Fong or Foo (I guess that was the 2nd or 3rd time I took the flight navigated by him during my flight back and forth between KUL-Hzhou). I remember the last trip back he made a smooth touched down which impressed me (that was why I still remember his name!!). I made a point whenever I took a flight to remember the Captain and the chief steward/stewardess. So that when something good happen I can write about them. I try to tell myself that I am at a good hand!!. As we took off, the ride was a bit bumpy I guess due to the strong wind. But it was all ok once we reach the right mode of flying.

We reached Hangzhou about 6pm, the touched down was smooth and I had no problem as usual at the immigration check point. I met a family of 5 who came for a tour on their own and was not prepared at all for the misfortunate. I offered my help and took them to the hotel so that they can have the same rate as I do. En Sideli and his family asked me to take them to Shanghai to show them around, I felt bad that I can't really join them since I need to be back to Jinhua. However, I promised to take them around Hangzhou and took the last bas at 7pm to Jinhua. I believe its my obligation to help since I have been getting lots of helps from strangers mainly Chinese here in China. Then, I briefed them how to get to Shanghai via train from Hanzghou. Which subway line to take as soon as they reach Shanghai South Station. I also booked them the hotel in Shanghai. I was a bit worried when I board my last bus, thinking about them so much...whether they managed to get the train ticket and boarded the train safely. I was relieved when I called them that they managed to get through smoothly. I told them to make sure to call me in case they need my help while in Shanghai. I made a call again to ensure that they had reached the hotel safely with the direction that I gave them. Sometimes I felt that I worried too much.......but thankfully, they have returned safety to Malaysia now....

I was really dissapointed that we were not being serve for food we ordered online, reason given was the flight was delayed. However, we can purchased the food if we want to but the food supply was limited. OMG....that means I wont be able to eat anything until 8pm (approximate time of reaching my hotel!). I bought 2 bread earlier at the shop near the waiting area, so I took a piece and went to have a nap. Having been flying with AirAsia before, I never had a very bad experience except this one. I hope the next trip back I will get a cleaner aircraft with all the toilet are in working condition and most importantly no bad smell from the working toilet. I guess that's what you get if you pay peanuts! (No more complaints!). Being a regular AirAsia passenger, this is the common smell on flight between KUL-HZ-KUL (I had asked a few of my colleagues who always travel on AirAsia and he agreed with my observation - Mr Tony please take note to improve this!!)

I will be travelling back again on 24th January to KL for Spring holidays. I had my bad experience stranded at Hangzhou last year for 4 days due to the winter blizzard. That was the most frightening experience I ever had throughout my travelling alone, miss my flight to Guangzhou , overnight at the airport for one night with crowded passenger all over places at the airport at the rush hour of Spring holidays in China, running out of prepaid on my mobile phone and there were no shop selling prepaid card, no taxi willing to take me back to the city, making last minute hotel reservation with almost dead battery on my lap top (just because I had forgotten my plug in coverter), admitted to the hospital for a day care treatment, treated by a doctor and nurses who can't even speak one single English word..........my goodness that was really an experienced!!!! For the past few days, I have been checking 10 days weather forecast ....it looks ok ...cross my finger that the travelling will be smooth......less worry this time around since there will be 4 more guys travelling along.....so in case I am stranded again....there are some people I know accompanying me.....

Gotta go...will have an update on my stitching soon.... (hopefully!!). Thanks for reading.

Hugs

//siti

I was in Shanghai meeting some Singaporean friends for Mid Autumn Holidays. Almost missed my early morning bus to Shanghai on Saturday. Woke up at 7am to catch 7:30am bus......I just grab whatever I can reached and leave the apartment at once. I even asked the cab driver to speed up to the bus station (LOL...)

Reached Shanghai South Bus Station at noon, took subway Line 1 to People Square and change to Line 8 headed to Liujabang Lu Metro Station to meet my friend Nora from Suzhou. We took cab to the Fabric Market at Liujabang Lu. I wanted to find a tailor for my winter coat, also some fabrics for my "baju kurung" and Nora wanted to buy some fabrics for her blouse. We were there for about 2 hours then heaaded to ShiLiuPu Cloth Market to get Nora's tailored pants. This market is more less the same as the one at Liujabang Lu but with lesser shoppers especially foreigners. Then we took a cab to Amilia's house. She invited us to stay a night at her place. She served us with curry fish, crab and some vegetable :) ..thanks Amilia!! She is a fulltime mom with 3 kids...move in to Shanghai from Hong Kong a few months ago......I like her town house setting....located in a beautiful housing estate with a small garden at her backyard.....how nice she has a pot of lemon grass at her garden .....hhhmmm....lucky lady!...

The second day Amilia drove us to the children market near Shanghai Times Square. She wanted to buy shoes for her children, while I am also looking for a pair for Wawa and Ueya. But did not managed to find one that suits the girls taste (yeaahh they had given the shopping list to Rozi on his last trip here). But I settled for 2 pairs of L*vi's jean for the girls and a pair of O**k*sh pants for Adam (off course all are from over run production I guess)...went into this market makes me of wanting to pregnant for another baby...all the baby and children clothing are nice and pretty...lots of selection for branded clothing......

Then Amilia dropped us at the us at Line 3 metro station a block away from the children market. We took the subway to our hotel at Nanjing Lu. Checked in rest for awhile and went out again to Yuyuan Market for window shopping. We did not buy much things but on the way back I found a market selling all the sewing supplies. But the market was about to close so we just looked around. There are lots of sewing stuff and I found a shop selling my stitching thread (tonne of thread and buttons)....I bought a few colors for my stash....If you are in Shanghai and wanted to visit this market, it is located a few minutes walk from the Yuyuan Garden (unfortunatley I can't remember the name of the road :( ....

These are the photos at the shops ..most thread are made of cotton and hand dyed (I guess...) ......some are DMC, local brand also Russian brand (judging from the packaging...)

Then in the evening we went to AP Plaza at Shanghai Science & Technology Museum to shop for Nora's handbags (off course we're looking for original imitation LOL....). But most of the shops closed early due to Mid Autumn Holidays. We just walk around for a while and went to Nanjing Lu wondering around for nothing.

On the third day, I went out early for strolling at the Nanjing Lu pedestrian mall. Unexpectedly I found a shop specialize in selling scissors....waited for a while for the shop to open. If you are a scissor collector like me and happen to be in Shanghai, the shop is located opposite the Sofitel Hotel in Nanjing Lu pedestrian mall and also there is another shop in Wushan Market at Hangzhou (walk toward the end of the market).

These are photos from the dispay window....chopstick, set of folk & sppons....and beautifully crafted special edition scissors (very expensive!!) but nice....I think this is special edition for the mooncake festival (forgot to ask the shop assistant since all the writing on the banner were in Chinese....)

An array of different shapes of scissors...

Special tools for seafood lover....you definately need this if you enjoyed eating crab....brilliant!!

Surprisingly the shop is very busy with people buying scissors and other products made of steel and metals...

Finally, my hunt for the day......a few thread and a pair of beautiful scissors to add into my collection (Darl! if you are reading my entry.........I do not wish to listen to your another "nice" comments......LOL :-) .......

From this picture, you can tell I think I have more than enough scissors to cover each day of the week........this is my collection for the past 5 years....it's ok you can say I am crazy.....I am use to that when people seeing my collection at home.....

I have not been stitching and crafting for 3 days....that is too long for me!! Gotta go....thanks for taking time reading my entry and to my fellow stitchers........sit back, play your favorite music, prepare a cup of fruit tea and start your crosses....Happy Stitching!!!!

Cheers!
Siti

My Trip to Terracota Warriors, Xi'an

Rozi came for a visit last month and I made last minute decision to visit Xian. Rozi had wanted so much to visit the Terracota Warriors. Since all the trains tickets was sold out, it leave me no choice other than taking the flight. I was very lucky since managed to booked discounted tickets via www.ctrip.com ......Rozi was flying to Hangzhou so I scheduled the trip out of Hangzhou and fly direct to Xian.


The trip was very smooth. The flight ticket was issued at the airport and I directly picked it up while waiting for Rozi there. The flight took 2 hours to reach Xian. We took a bus from Xian airport to the city. It is quite easy...at the airport you exit gate no 2 and there is someone outside seeling the bus ticket for RMB 27 per person. The bus will take you straight to the city and stop in front of Harmony Hotel (there are rows of other hotels too...and some shopping complex in the vicinity). The bus ride was very comfortable and it took an hour to reach the city.



These are some of pictures of our visit:

View of Xian from the flight.

This is the Beiyuan Men Muslim Street located a walking distance from our hotel

Our first meal in Xi'an at one of the Muslim Coffeshops at the Muslim Pedestrian Street

The most beautiful experience and will never forget was trying my fingers on Chinese Embroidery using 100% silk thread........the lady patiently guided me step by step and carefully show me the right way of stitching Chinese Embroidery........actually already thinking of spending my Mid Autumn Public holidays in Suzhou to register for this class but have to put off the plan since my friend said it is too expensive and the class cater mainly for European expats....hhhhmmmm..........

The entrance to the Grand Mosque.....sorrounded by beautiful and serene garden....I thank Allah for giving me the privielage to visit one of the oldest mosque in the world..........

The entrance at the main door to the mosque

Rozi had his silent moment citing praying........

Our entrance ticket to the Terracota Warrior and the main entrance of Pit No 1

The images of the human size warriors

The view of the Xi'an City Wall from the South Gate

We rent the bicyle and cyle on top of the wall....in a rainy day ...soaking all over....the raincoat definately did not gave us much help!!...bear in mind, if you are cycling on top of this wall...make sure do not speeding as the road is uneven and you may end up with flat tyre.........I helped two American tourist made an SOS call to the rental centre it is because they have too much fun riding (LOL..)...nevertheless, me and my other half had good time riding our double bicyle on top of this wall.....................back to our memory lane during our childhood days....

The view on top of the wall.....

The plenty of food choices at the Muslim Pedestrian Street. If you are visiting this place do not forget to dine at Jia's Brothers Restaurant...they serve a selection of dumpling....the shop located at the right side just a couple of doors from the main entrance.....I find it very unique the way they organize the dumpling in the bamboo steamer...since they are with the same shape but with different flavor, each flavor is organize with different pattern, ie. in a round pattern, straight line etc.

And you should not miss this porridge.....very tasteful...made out of rice, flour and some other ingredients...a bit sweet...and very nice to eat with your dumpling breakfast......gotta figure it out how to make them......

And some of the street food sell by the Muslim community which I am not able to taste at any other places in China........

That's about it........I hope you enjoy reading my travel journal to Xi'an...thanks for visiting me.

Hugs

Siti