blues..

blues..
::every cloud has a silver lining:: @ ::天無絕人之路 ~:~ 明天會更好:: @ ::tiān wú jué rén zhīlù ~:~ míngtiān huì gènghǎo:: @ ::天無絕人之路 ~:~ 明天會更好:: @ ::tiān wú jué rén zhīlù ~:~ míngtiān huì gènghǎo:: @ ::every cloud has a silver lining::

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Aug 5, 2014

இ First time flying..

Heard quite a lot of the good, bad & ugly of this popular 'Everyone Can..' airline. Finally Bananaz's very first time on board an 'AAX' flight for a 5 days due diligence trip. The last and my best holiday trip was Egypt, a couple of years ago. So far so good nothing much to complain about this no-frills aircraft. ETD/ETA was on time, no hiccups, a pleasant journey all the way to Pudong, Shanghai. Please do not have high expectation of picturesque views or food as they are not in my area.



Shanghai Pudong International Airport



Great choice of Kempinski Hotel in Suzhou for the Convention.



Yunyansi Pagoda *云岩寺塔* also called Tiger Hill Pagoda by the locals of Jinchang District and ranked #5 of 304 attractions in Suzhou by tripadvisor. Built in the year 959A.D. and was completed in Song Dynasty 961A.D. It is a seven-storey brick building designed in wood structure with a height of 47.7 meters, which is also the earliest octagon-shaped pagoda now known to be extant. It leans towards north east with a lean of 3.59 degrees. In 1961, this landmark in the Suzhou section of the Grand Canal was enlisted as a major cultural heritage protect at the national Level. 


No prize for guessing the name of the trees (know the pixz is too small). Missed out on one pixz of a huge 390 year old gingko biloba tree as Bananaz was too engrossed with the technical details surrounding the tree than the whole tree itself. Try to see if the fruits or leaves below could give you some clues...

...its ginkgo fruits 


Mango posing in front of the Suzhou train station en route to Shanghai. The wordings are made from some nice fine grown grasses, in Mandarin it says 'Suzhou Welcomes You' *Suzhou huān yíng nǐ*.

The famous must eat 'little dragon pao' when in Shanghai. Kinda tough to suck the hot steamy juice using a straw will need lots of special skill. Try sucking a cuppa of hot coffee/tea with a straw to assimilate the burning effect?


This is the driver seat of all taxis in Shanghai which are all fully protected for safety reasons. Impossible to stab or gag the driver from behind.


Cute little 'silent' electric motor bikes.


Very common to see these dragon-turtle in City God Temple of Shanghai. Sorry no idea on the names of the two cute animals on the left and right of the elephants


o.O a huge Chinese abacus hanging on top of the ceiling in 'City God Temple of Shanghai' *上海城隍廟 Cheng Huang Miao*, a good tip from blogger Rurousha to look up for nice stuff above eye level when entering temple. Abacus is closely associated with counting and also a popular feng shui cure for wealth. The abacus has an upper deck with two beads (5 units per bead) on each rod and the lower deck with five beads (1 unit per bead). Based on the placement of the beads it shows the number  9736720123568. Any experts in numerology to decode the numbers? Bananaz googled and discovered the 13 numbers are linked to Daoism and the answer is HERE.


These converted containers are looking good C&G *Cheap & Good* merely from RMB6 per night sleeping on double decker beds.   


The other side of Shanghai


Peddlers in action right at the front of the 'you know what' building along the famous Nanjing East Road. Opening offer price for a pair of clipped-on roller skates with lights at RMB80 but later rolled down to RMB50. When luck was not on her side its a final RMB50 for two pairs. Sure its final?  


If you have not visited The Bund they say you have not been to Shanghai. That's Mango at The Bund, by day & by night. The last trip to Shanghai was in the 90s we sort of  missed out The Bund or most likely Bananaz could suffer from an  early stage of STML *Short Term Memory Lost*.


The changing of lights and words intermittently. A pretty nice place to enjoy the evening and the walk. After Shanghai what's next?

 
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