Saturday, 6th December 2008 (Kuala Lumpur-Shenzhen-Changsha)
I was supposed to wake up at 4.15am. Oddly, due to excitement, I woke up at 3 in the morning and laid still in anticipation of the following hours. This is the first time I managed to wake up early because of excitement. Okay, well, so I lied. In fact, I actually woke up at 1.30 in the morning. After figuring how early it was, I went back to sleep. Or more precisely, I drifted in and out of sleep. On the previous day, Friday, I had insisted on eating an early dinner, at 6.30. In my confused sleepy state, I realised what a terrible mistake that was. You see, I haven't been feasting myself on McDonald's for a terribly long time [excluding the previous week when I sent my aunt to the airport]. And I knew that whenever I go to the airport, my family's first choice would be McDonald's. My subconscious mind also detected that I wasn't sleeping peacefully and searched frantically through my brain to see if I had consumed any coffee within the past few days (not like that'll help). So there I was, drifting in and out of sleep, dreaming about Egg McMuffin and thinking about Starbucks up 'till 3 am.
Once I was fully awake, my stomach was crying of hunger. I changed quickly and decided to wear my long john pants just in case the weather in Shenzhen, our transition point, was too cold to bear with. When everyone was ready, we waited for Mr Chong, my father's friend, to fetch us to the airport. He reached our house at 5.15 although he was supposed to be here by 5. We were to meet my aunts and a friend of theirs at the airport by 6 as that was our luggage check-in time. It was a surprise that we reached the airport at 5.45 and that we were the first from out tour to be there since it normally takes a 45-minute drive to the KLIA. Looks like we beat the tour guide. =). We saw someone who looked like my funny aunt but wasn't. Luckily my mother didn't slap her back with a cheery sister-to-sister greeting, otherwise we would be mistaken as psychotic beings. If you don't get it, it's because my aunt's nickname is "Small Prawn". Saying that to someone else wouldn't end up in a pretty sight.
At last, everyone from our tour arrived. I scanned through all of them to see if there were anyone my age. At first glance, this was what I got : 2 goody-two-shoes (or so it seems), a little boy who looks really obedient and a goody two-shoes boy [who came with a goody two-shoes sister]. Geez, there should be more talkative people around like last year's Hui Qian. Looks like there will be no kiddy entertainment this year, unless you consider someone laughing hysterically almost every minute to be a good form of entertainment (that would be me). Let's hope these people throw up some surprises to laugh at. There were 28 people in my tour, more than any other tours I've been to. There should be more unexpected pleasant surprises.
We ate at McDonald's (FINALLY!) and after that, listened to a "lecture" about rules, regulations and certain procedures from our guide. Soon after, we were making our way to the gates before we boarded the plane. It was 3 hours to Shenzhen and I managed to get 2 hours of precious sleep within 8-11 o'clock. We transfered to another terminal and I got a glance at the tour members. There was this guy who wore slippers (in a winter country?!). After that, we went for lunch. The temperature was roughly 15 degrees Celsius.
I was surprised to find that we were all divided into 3 fixed tables. This means we have to sit with the same people during every meal throughout the whole tour. At that moment, I hoped we would be sitting with good people who talk a lot and don't rush for food. These traits and my hope coincided with the Tan family, comprising of 4 people [2 parents, 2 teens]. Thanks to my aunt's friend, Katherine, we found out their kids' age quickly. The girl was 2 years my senior while the boy was my age. Smart people just had to point that one out, which I bet would eventually lead to education and behavioural comparisons.
After lunch, the ladies got their sweet dose of a shopping spree for 45 minutes. At first, 6 of us, my family, my 2 aunts and their friend went into an indoor shopping complex [for 15 minutes]. After that, I stuck with my father and went looking for exotic Chinese food. We walked the whole shopping street back and forth in 15 minutes. Ironically, we found Starbucks and discovered an exotic ice-blended flavour not found in my country, Taffee Nut Ice-Blended. We tried that out and it was seventh heaven. After killing off 15 minutes in Starbucks, we headed for the spot we were supposed to wait at. There, the tour guide told us to get free shopping bags. My father and I rushed off to get the free stuff. My father got the last free bag and those who went after him were required to show their receipts before being eligible to get the bag. Locals had more problem getting the bags while tourists got them easier. Heck, they must have thought I was a local and absolutely refused to give me a bag eventhough I was waving the Starbucks ice-blended drink like a cartoon clown in front of them. Right, maybe that doesn't qualify as a purchase and maybe I DON'T qualify as "normal".....But my mum and my aunts got the bag without even showing the officials their purchases. Hey, how can anyone possibly consider shopaholics to be "normal"??!?!?!? Oh well, at least the remaining 15 minutes were successfully murdered.We went back to Shenzhen International Airport and waited anxiously for time to pass. The plane took off around 7.15 and we reached Changsha about 8.20-8.30 and was introduced to our Chinese tour guide, Xiao Zhu. Dinner was served about 9.15. After that, we checked in to our hotel and I had a good night's rest with my second aunt.
Sunday, 7th Dec (Changsha-Zhangjiajie)
I woke up 15 minutes before the morning call at 7. My aunt and I were the second to go for breakfast in the whole hotel. The firsts were the youngest boy and his relatives. When my parents came for breakfast, I was already done. I took our new camera for some snapshots of the hotel. In the middle of my photo-snapping spree, the camera battery died. So much for a good camera. I think the battery's capacity wasn't high and the way we charged it (which was supposed to be correct) was not enough for it to get charged up. Sadistic batteries. They should get some sense into themselves for making 
We visited Mao Zhe Dong's former residence. If you didn't know this, Mao Zhe Dong was China's Communist leader. He was the one who shut China out from the world. But the Chinese people there hold high reverence in him because he united all of them. After that, we went to Bronze Statue Square. There, we saw a statue of Mao Zhe Dong with his right hand raised up. Several people have tried to imitate him in a comical manner. I wonder if Mao Zhe Dong visited them at night......
After that, we went for lunch. Today, our table loosened up a bit and started talking more. We shared table with the Tan family and figured that they travel a lot. I also figured that there are many drunkards on my table. Three of them have not come of age yet. 2 drink casually like it was nothing to them. That's half the table gone with [mild] alcoholics. From today onwards 3 people have been mixing 7 Up and beer to form shandy, while 2 others drink beer at almost every meal. That's something you don't get on the other tables.We then went on to see more of Mao Zhe Dong's famous buildings. Unfortunately, I had left the camera in the bus and could not take pictures of the place. So only my aunt has the pictures. This was followed by a 5-hour drive to Zhangjiajie. While everyone was fast asleep [darn lucky they were], I was busy laughing like a......erm.....animal? Really, whoever who was faking their sleep had better not say anything. I laughed like a mad cow during the 5 hours, thanks to a book I was reading about my fellow compatriots. Some points in the book include how we LOVE to eat. I've never seen it that way before, but come to think of it, we DO love eating. On the way out for a toilet break, [it was real cold]....my first aunt and I saw that the boy same age as me brought along a baby bolster. She suddenly became mean and started teasing him. Harsh.
At night, we all went out to some mini supplies store. Bought some noodles and yoghurt.
Monday, 8th Dec (Zhangjiajie) Yay!! This is it!! The day of scenic explorations!! We'll be going to those forest reserves kind of place. During breakfast, my father said high chance the camera would be working, since he adopted a different method to charge the batteries. This is also the day I have successfully abandoned my brain in the hotel room today. Apparently, we were warned about having to face spine-chilling cold temperature. Having being forewarned and knowing the fact that I was the family cameraman, I thought I should wear the thickest internal layers possible so that wearing a windbreaker wouldn't be necessary. This, I thought, would allow me the agility and ease when moving about. So, I ended up wearing 5 layers of internal protection. I couldn't have been more wrong than that!! Goodness, the
weather was inextricably HOT. I could've sworn I was nearly roasted alive if it weren't for the wind. The worst thing was that ALL my layers excluding the topmost layer didn't have zips!! Because of that, removing my other layers would have been deemed immoral and equivalent to stripping. Not really nice to see a roasted grey chicken shedding "feathers" at any point in your lives, you know? I just ended up praying fervently for the wind to save me, which, didn't really help out since I didn't give any 
offerings. Luckily I found something to do to get my mind off the heatwave, that is taking pictures!! Anyway, there was a terrible age problem in the beginning. You see, before we can enter Zhangjiajie, we needed to buy those pass of admittance. Those who were under 16 (deemed as kids) pay half the price. There were, quite apparently, 3 kids in the tour. However, Xiao Zhu bought 2 kids tickets only. The 2 tickets were passed to the 2 boys in the tour, whereas I was made to suffer the bearing of the "title" adult. Well, of course, after knowing his mistake (and losing some money), Xiao Zhu bought kids tickets for me for the other stuff within the reserve (which, in the long term would create more chaos). Back to the point....so we entered the reserve and took a mini van to ascend the mountains. At first, we all thought there was no way the van could fit 30 people. But then, my father found out this 
extendable seat we all nicknamed "baby chair". In the end, we were all comfortably seated (or maybe not) and ready to get lost in the forest reserve. When we reached our destination, everyone went for a toilet break. I've noticed that everyone's favourite haunt is the toilet. No matter how closely timed our break was, everyone always took the trip to the loo. Must be some kind of drug added to the air.....
After the loo trip, we all went to take a cable car up to Tianzi Mountain. Now this is where the ticket problem earlier came back to tick me. Now, to board the cable car, we needed another ticket. Again, there were 2 types of tickets : Under 16 and Adults. This time, I got my rightful ticket--which caused an age crisis. Because I was waiting for my parents, I turned out to be the last kid in line. The first kid was Zhi Yeung, the guy my age. Apparently, he also had an age crisis but got through anyway since the earlier ticket had successfully proven he was a "kid". The second boy, being only 11, passed without any confusion. When it came to my 
turn however....the 2 ticketing people totally lost it. They must have thought they had been duped over my age. The earlier ticket was an adult ticket and now I have a kid's ticket, how outrageous was that? The lady there started shouting at us and demanded to have a look at my passport. Oh goodness....our tour guides had to go over and explain everything to them. Gosh...I blame it partly on the locals...I was taller than 60-70% of the girls there. Geez, I was taller than that ticketing lady herself. I'll leave out the details on that arguement and just say I passed as a kid.
We reached Tianzi Mountain and were all greeted with a breathtaking panorama. We were taken to a certain spot to see some rocks. Darn, I make it sound boring!! Let me paraphrase that. We were all taken to see fairies and a giant lady throwing flowers that were immortalized by oxygen, silica and other chemical substances. Yup. It was that interesting. We were allowed to hang around for a while near the pagoda. My aunts made their way to the pagoda while my parents and I were busy utilizing our time for once-in-a-lifetime pictures. After taking a 
fair amount of photos, we headed to the shops nearby. My aunts came back and told us about their not so pleasant experience in the pagoda. When they entered the pagoda, they had already given donations to the monks. Several times. Then, they were made to enter a room and were...well...forced to give more money. It seems that the monks pulled them from going away just to get cash. I don't know how they did it, but they sure got away unscathed. Then, we went to Helong Park. Very scenic spots there were. Everyone dawdled there and took endless strings of 
pictures. ~~The pic on the left depicts the profile of the lady throwing flowers. When we were leaving, we passed many fruit sellers screaming like mice at you to get your attention. A particular couple in my tour gave notice and started to inquire about a fruit and it's price. They, unfortunately, made the unforgiving mistake of accusing the lady of changing the fresh fruit to a spoilt one. In a split second, the lady who seemed so sweet when giving out the price and the description of thte fruit turned into Tarzan's soulmate. Let's leave out Jane for this matter, she's too soft. While none of us expected the sudden evolution, we all stood still and watched the free circus. The lady jumped onto the table and started screaming with her hands 
waving packets of the fruit in the couple's faces. She kept repeating that she could change the packet again and again. To anyone who doesn't know Chinese, they'll probably think she's a nutcase. Luckily, she didn't lose her dignity with us since we all got the message she was trying to convey. Pic on the right shows the salesladies on the left~~We then headed our way to take the mini van to lead us to our next attraction.
My father spotted a very unique bird with "2 tails" while we were queueing up for the van. I identified it as the bird of paradise, since I have been "nerdifying" myself about this last time. Thanks to the fast camera, I caught the bird's picture, only to realise that there were at least 3 in the bushes.In the mini van, on the way to the proclaimed First Bridge in the World, we had a Near Death Experience. Chinamen, I've noticed, tend to have really atrocious driving habits. During a sharp turn, we nearly collided heads on with a car from the opposite direction. My spot very nearly got hit. Goodness knows what could've happened if it weren't for fate.
After that, we amused ourselves by visiting the proclaimed "first bridge in the world".
credibility of the claim, but we WERE amazed by the number of locks on the hand railings. It was as if the handrailings themselves were made of locks. Actually, people BOUGHT the locks from the locals and locked it anywhere they wanted around that area for good luck. Some creative souls hung their luck on tree branches to literally be on top of people's heads.
The picture directly above is random[ly nice]. The higher 4 are around the bridge area. You can enlarge the picture and read the information for yourself. Self service here!!After that, we went to take the number lift in China. I'm not really sure why number one.... Actually, I recorded the descent from within the lift. However, Blogspot and YouTube are uncooperative thus leaving me unable to post the video clip (it was just 58 seconds only anyway).
After having the honourable privilege of descending from the lift, we went for a late lunch. Screw the window screen of the mini bus (it's not the minivan, mind you). It was so dusty that I couldn't get nice shots of the damned dam (it looks like a natural lake, actually). And so, the end result was something like my blog post title. Blurred really badly.Later in the day, we came back for a train ride. Specifically in Ten Miles of Gallery (One Way Mini Train Ride). The pic on the left was taken on the mini train on its way back. The same goes to the following picture. The one after that was taken on the way out of the reserve. All 3 pics are really nostalgic to me.
Anyway, we went back to the hotel (refer to pic on the right>>) and 
were given some free time (which we devoted to taking baths). After dinner, we went to see a show/performance. It was quite a unique one. There were 3 fellows who did many fire tricks in front of the audience. This act included putting the flames into their pants (Rest assured they were not humiliatingly castrated in front of the audience). Then there were another 3 fellows (maybe one was from the previous fascinating performance) who walked on knives and jumped on glass. Mind you they weren't wearing any shoes or socks. Genetically mutilated people....Oh yes...after the indoor performances, we all went outside for the outdoor performance. This was more physically challenging. The "performers" did outrageous stuff like putting some heavy weight on themselves. Well, it wasn't just for them. Somehow, I think my bodily functions have been thrown out of whack. I don't think it was that cold. Nobody was shivering. Some stuntsmen didn't wear their tops. But there I was, shivering like mad, my teeth dancing to its self-produced beats.
Once we got back to the hotel room, I thought to myself, "Phew, that was the longest day in my life!!!".
Tuesday, 9th Dec 2008 (Zhangjiajie-Fenghuang)
Today was another looooooong day. Time is supposed to fly when we're having fun and it's supposed to crawl when we're bored. These holidays have definitely proven otherwise. We went to Huangshizhai Scenic Area. Pictures speak louder than words today. [I'll just point out that today, I was at least smarter to wear just 3 layers].
Then we went to Tujia Folk Culture Park.
There was a cultural show. They danced and swinged their hair around. Really.
After the show, we went into a building 8 stories high.
It was followed by a 5-hour drive from Zhangjiajie to Fenghuang City (Phoenix City or Ancient Phoenix City). We ate a slightly later dinner at our hotel-to-be. There, cranky nature called out. After dinner, we went exploring the little town (take note that it's not really a "city").
After "exploring" and much walking, it was time for the ladies to splurge. Well...there wasn't THAT much to splurge on. Before we went back, we bought some ginger sweets.Wednesday, 10th Dec 08 (Fenghuang-Zhangjiajie)
We woke up extra early today to catch a glimpse of life in the Phoenix City. 6.30 was our wake up call (I woke up at 6.15 though) and we set out at 7.
First, we went to some exhibition house. Tiny spears used to be the currency there.
We took a cruise on the canal. During the cruise, the guy paddling my boat started singing. The place was so quiet that his voice echoed. It ended with a "Yeeeew-whee!!!". Well, somehow, their barcarolles always seem to end like that. Without needing any explanation, we just followed suit and screamed "Yew-whee!" too.
She sang beautifully. But it was considered cheating since she used the microphone. Our paddler (geez, I need to find the word to use on this guy!!) didn't need the mic and could sing as loud as her.
The little boat we used. Our tour took three boats. This is the first boat. Ours was the second. The sun started rising below.
We went to an art gallery (above).
Photography was not actually permitted on the first floor, but I took one too fast (above). Cherish it. Even the pic itself is saying "Praise the Lord"!!!
They eat rodents and cut the fish in half.
We then visited.....my family's home!!! (Okay, kidding). No pictures were taken since we all felt too sentimental (again, I'm joking). The pictures below show the sign of the home of the Yang family (This is serious).
We went for lunch. Oh gosh......things just have to happen. My aunt asked Mr Tan's son to pass her the rice bowl. His mother suddenly told my aunt the boy's name (Zhi Yeung). Without hesitation, my aunt replied, "Hey, that sounds like her name!!" while pointing an accusing finger at me. Oh great....here we go again....After lunch, we made our way back to Zhangjiajie. Another 5-hour drive. This time, we stopped by Furong Town.
There was a special spot to take photography from.
When we finally reached Zhangjiajie, we went to another art gallery. This time, it was specialized in sand art. Everything in the picture was so vivid and real.
The pic below has earned my vote.
Continue reading Changsha 2.
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