Shanghai - Hangzhou - Suzhou

On last December 2007, I had the chance to join the 4th Leadership Overseas Vacation of Elken (LOVE 4) to Shanghai, Hangzhou & Suzhou (5 days 4 nights). This is a free VVIP trip to the Elkenians who have worked to qualify themselves within the 6-month qualification period. Overall, around 1685 people has qualified for this trip and in order to take everyone there with the limited flights during the peak season, the overall duration of this campaign was from 3rd - 18th December 2007 with everyday flights checking in and checking out using 4 airlines companies.

As for my group, our flight was on 8th December evening leaving for Bangkok first and transitted to Shanghai. It was my first time using the Royal Orchid Thai Airways & I can say that the food was quite ok (Halal of course) and I really like the purple color haha. However, the service was not as good as MAS - slow skit menghantar makanan and agak not well coordinated. The most interesting part of Elken trip was that the pilot would specially welcome all the Elken qualifiers on board. You would definitely not going to get this treat by joining the normal trip. Haha...owh yaaa, and the Travel Agency appointed by Elken was Diners World Travel - most of friends said this is a first class corporate travel agency and from my oberservations, seems like it's true....hehe

The transit at Bangkok to Shanghai took approximately 3 hours and we arrived at Pudong Airport, Shanghai at roughly 6.15am (Lebih kurang mcm waktu 7.15am in Malaysia dah cerah dah). At the airport, we were greeted by the locals,specially organized by Elken and later introduced to our local tour guide named Kenneth despite our tour leader Kak Liza from Diners.

After some refreshments, we were taken for breakfast at a local Muslim restaurant in Shanghai suburbs before continuing our journey to Hangzhou which took around 2-3 hours to reach.

(With my upline Simpson after breakfast)

After the arrival to Hangzhou, we were straight away taken for lunch and had our Zuhur + Asar (jamak) prayer at the restaurant. In China, food would be quite an issue to Muslims, but for us, everything was well taken care of and we had a very lavish meal every time (more than 10 dishes per meal time).

Spent 2 days & 1 nite in Hangzhou. After the lunch, we went to Qianghe Road for shopping. The road is full souvenirs at a very2 cheap price. Bought the traditional shirt for Gala Dinner later at only RM50 (in KL mostly over RM200).

(At Qinghe Road)

Then, we visited Lei Fong Pagoda which is famous for White Snake Legend story. Already forgot what's the story about..haha..

( The famous West Lake from the top of Lei Fong Pagoda)

(The beautiful architecture at the top floor of the Lei Fong Pagoda)



(Jagung hitam yg dibeli kat bawah Pagoda...Tak sedap langsung..tawar!)

Later on, we were taken to watch a Song Dynasty show with a very fantastic perfomance and yet to see the same kind of show in Malaysia. To me it's even better than Phuket Fantasea although the place is not as grand as Fantasea. There were cultural show, music, acrobatic, real cannon shots and real rain & waterfall falling from the ceiling down to the stage! The VIP seats in front also keep on changing from the middle to the side etc. It's really2 interesting. If I can recall, our local tour guide said that the tickect was around Rm100++...

After the show, we had our dinner at a local muslim restaurant (different from the restaurant where we had our lunch) and then we were taken to Braim International Hotel Hangzhou for our first nite in China. Our luggages were already inside our rooms and on the bed, we can find some chocolates as a welcoming gift....

The next day, had our breakfast at the hotel,and then straight away checked out to proceed for a boat ride at the famous West Lake. The man made lake is really vast and the scenery of the gardens were really2 breathtaking...

(Posing on the boat hehe)



(With Kak Lara - a mother of 9 children!)



(At the beautiful West Lake Garden with Abg ???..hmm forgot his name already :P)

Then, visited the Tea Garden some where not too far from the West Lake. It was said that this place is the best quality of tea plantations in the world and most world prominent figures have come to visit this Tea Garden such as Queen Elizabeth and our Tun Dr Mahathir. We had a traditional tea ceremony and were explained on how the high quality of tea is produced. The best quality of tea here is the Grade A Green Tea which I bought for RM150 for the size of the biggest can of sardine! But, the quality difference is obvious and it's absolutely value of the money that we spent...

We then proceed to have our lunch at the same restaurant previous day and later on continued our journey to Suzhou, the city which is famous for the silk. Hangzhou is famous for it's breathtaking scenery of nature while Guangzhou is famous for the food. (I need to visit Guangzhou one day). The journey also took about 2-3 hours and when we reached Suzhou, the bus stopped at Shantang Water Village where we shopped shortly for sourvenirs while waiting for the Gala Dinner at the biggest Muslim restaurant in Suzhou. The Gala Dinner combined around 400 people of Elkenians at one time and we had to wear a Chinese Traditional Costume and perform a small group show during the dinner.

(At Gala Dinner - the middle front is Dr Amir (one of the top Pakar Bius in Malaysia)

Stayed in Suzhou for 2 nights at Holiday Inn Youlian Suzhou. Bukan duduk kat hotel2 biasa tau..hehe

On the next day, we went to the Silk Factory which Suzhou is famous for. The company however belongs to the communist party and Kenneth told us in order to know if a shop belongs to the communist, the salesgirls would not even smile at you. This is as eventhought they manage to close up a lot of sales, their pay would also be the same. So kalau nak, buy, kalau x, buybuy laa...hehe...The highly sold product here is the silk quilt where u can get around 450 RMB - 800 RMB here around RM200++ - RM400++. In Malaysia, the quilt would be sold almost RM1000 or more...The uniqueness of the silk quilt is that it would warm u up during the cold and vice versa during the hot season.

(At the Silk Factory...people bz shopping)

We then visited the Lion Forest Garden which is one of the preserved garden in the world. The garden used to be a house for a very rich family. Mmg mcm rumah bangsawan dlm cerita2 Cina lama dlm TV. It's very2 big and u can even get lost inside the house. It was said that the Emperor of China had came to this place 5 times and never managed to find a way out exploring the garden. The landscape are mostly built using river stones which were brought over from far far away...

(With Dr Murad)

(Group photo at the Lion Forest Garden)



(The amazing landscape inside the Garden)

(With Abg Harun, my sideline from JB)

At night, we were taken for a short shopping at Quangqian Road. One bad thing about China to me is the TOILET. Most of the toilet are yuckss... If u need to go, I would suggest u to look for McD or KFC and use their toilet. But, do bring your mineral water with you....hahaha...the toilets normally do not have water nor toilet paper!!!

(At Quangqian Road)

(Chinese Massage..It's good but I would still prefer the Thai Massage..hehe)

On the 3rd day at Suzhou, we went to a pearl factory before returning back to Shanghai. We were shown on how the pearls are cultivated and then shopped for pearls to bring back to friends and families in Malaysia. All the ladies and even men were busy buying pearls from less than RM100 up to thousands of ringgit. After all, all the Elkenians only had to use our money for shopping!!!

Back in Shanghai, we continued shopping at Tongyang Market (place to buy fake products) and Chenghuang Bazaar while waiting for the nightfall to have our Huangpu River Cruise. On the last night in China, we stayed at Best Western New Century Hotel Shanghai.

(With the friendly Kak Deebah & Dato' Daud)

(Posing in front of the Starbucks at Chenghuang Bazaar)

(At Chenghuang Bazaar)

(Huangpu River Cruise seeing the Shanghai old & modern buildings view)

(With Kenneth - our China local tour guide)

(At Shanghai International Airport)

(At Bangkok International Airport)

The uniqueness of Elkenians as compared to others, we are always like a family although not knowing each other. We sang, clapped and screamed inside the bus despite our background differences or from different groups of leaders. Even Kak Liza, our tour leader thought that everyone of us had known each other long before this trip when most of us met each other for the first time! That's the spirit of sharing and it never stops even though during the long hours of flight or while waiting for the transit - the spirit to learn from the top leaders never stops...

See u all in the next coming overseas trip to KunMing in middle 2008!!