Monday, April 14, 2014

Late Spring X Seems Promising: Happiness is Planning an Outing

Monday morning

dragging myself into the office

with a super duper low morale

it’s a long week ahead

and i have to wait another 5 and a half day

to do whatever unfinished task i have back home

 

top on the list is the upcoming trip

we only managed to talk about it

just for awhile, in secret

because we do not want the plan to leak

to my mom and sister who tend to nag a little

especially my sis

 

at least to lock down the date

my dad wanted to make it early May

1st May, Labour Day

but looks, it’s a long weekend at mainland too

so the crowd gonna be heavy

 

so let’s do it middle of May

yet i didn’t manage to book any tickets yet

and we are running a little tight on time

because the visa is about to expires on

end of May

 

so this is the first thing i checked

8am on a Monday morning

okay sounded good to me, let’s see

although the poster looks a little funny

2014.04.13 AirAsia Fare for Two Pack Promo 

there are 3 destinations on the list

(1) HangZhou

(2) ChengDu

(3) ShangHai

 

(1) Hangzhou

i don’t know

it was quite random like

suddenly i was doing extensive research on West Lake

i thought sightseeing at West Lake

during spring would be quite “promising”

 

and during my last survey on Friday

it was quite reasonable

not really that cheap, but within my budget

i even texted my dad the list of Lakes

we have been to in Mainland

saying West Lake is finally the next

sort of like a climax, okay

 

and guess what they were giving me today

2014.04.13 AirAsia Fare for Two Pack Promo 02

 

(2) Chengdu

this is crazy!!

and the ironic part is

their advertisement in the Chinese daily today

features Chengdu for Two

2014.04.13 AirAsia Fare for Two Pack Promo 03

 

and the funny thing is

the price for

business class with Premium FlatBed

was even lower than the so-called “Low fare”

2014.04.13 AirAsia Fare for Two Pack Promo 03 

so i checked the “Plan-B city” – ShangHai 

without much positive expectation

because ShangHai is where the flow of passenger is high

people fly anyway

so why bothered to offer a good deal

but hey!!

it’s a pretty good deal here actually

2014.04.14 Shanghai 2014.04.14 Shanghai

 

a simple experiment of

booking a ticket for one

and that’s what i got

so the deal for two is real, after all

2014.04.14 Shanghai 02

2014.04.14 Shanghai 02

 

called my dad to confirm

immediate booking was made

30 more days to fly

yeehaa

and the research excited me

i wasn’t particularly keen on ShangHai

except The Bund (Wai Tan)

i don’t know why

probably because it’s too much of a metropolitan

 

but the research today was pretty fruitful that

i kinda convince myself that

this gonna be a good trip

and i may still fulfill the

“West Lake in the Spring” outing by

making a day trip to HangZhou

 

ChengDu shall be reserved

i have big plans for ChengDu frankly

to pack JiuZhaiGou Valley , LeShan Buddha and

Mount E’Mei into one trip

and once i got this plan in place

i will be like: Let’s do this together, Dad

we are heading for paradise

JiuZhaiGou ValleyLeShan Giant Buddha Mount E'Mei

 

but let’s come back to the ground

so what’s in my list so far for Shanghai

there’s a confession to make

 

that’s why i list Shanghai as the Plan-B destination

because effort on research is minimum and

i find myself overblown by tonnes of attractions

 

no research has been made on transport?

no worries let’s just travel along the Metro map

 

oh yeah, i feel like i am ready to fly tomorrow

 

(1) The Bund

both day and night version

The Bund at night The Bund, Shanghai (paulchong.net)

 

(2) DongTai antique market

DongTai Road antique market

 

(3) ShangHai Museum

Shanghai Museum

 

(4) YuYuan Garden

YuYuan Garden 

(5) Temples

it’s a must or my dad will get grumpy

(5.1) LongHua Temple

Long Hua Temple

(5.2) Jade Buddha Temple

Jade Buddha Temple (virtourist.com)

(5.3) Jing’An Temple

Jing'An Temple

(5.4) ChengHuang Temple

ChengHuang Temple (backpackers.com.tw)

 

(6) Coffee in the sun

Tian Zi Fang

TianZiFang (absolutechinatours.com)

XinTianDi

XinTianDi

 

(7) get drown in crowd and neon lights

NanJing Road pedestrian shopping district

NanJing Road Shanghai

 

do i even have time for

a day trip to West Lake then?

because i think i gonna have a long list of things

and rowing a boat could be part of them

West Lake

 

(8) Old towns nearby

(8.1) Zhujiajiao Water Town

Zhujiajiao Water Town

(8.2) Qibao Old Town

Qibao Old Town 

Monday (almost over)

Tuesday (not too bad because Monday is over)

 

Wednesday (half way down the week)

Thursday (Pre TGIF)

 

Friday (TGIF shopping day)

Saturday (half day at work)

Sunday (do i have to say more?)

 

looking forward to my Holiday