Last Update : 5/07/02
CHINA TRIP 2002!
April 20 - May 4, 2002. Tina, Anthony's mom, arranged the tour and our extended stay in Shanghai. The Tour took us to Beijing, Xi'an, Wuxi, Suzhou and Shanghai in 9 days. Traveling with us were Bonny, in black, and Tammy, the blonde.
Champion Holiday 9 Day Tour
Day 1: Get on my 12 hour flight.
Day 2: Arrive in Beijing, eat dinner, check into King Wing Hot Spring Hotel for the night.
Day 3: 6:30am Breakfast. Pouring rain. Visit Tianamen Square, Forbidden City, Pearl Factory and Temple of Heaven. Lunch. Visit Summer Palace and shopped at a Friendship store. Dinner. Acrobatic show, which we (me, Tina, Tammy and Bonny) skipped.
Day 4: 6:30am Breakfast. Jade Factory. I climbed the Great Wall to the 3rd Tower. The steps are tall and uneven. Lunch. Visited the Ming Tombs where I got my fortune told by an old man with a dark green roundtable inset with tiles in a "Wheel of Fortune" manner. Suspended over the table was a dragon head that i spun. Visited Chinese Herbal Medicine Hospital where a Qi Gong Master had us link hands and run electricity through our fingers and doctors diagnosed our problems. Dinner. Wang Fujing Night Market.
Day 5: Breakfast. Fly to Xi'an. Got a dirty airport lunch. Visit the North Gate and Wild Goose Pagoda. Checked into Purple Mountain Hotel. Dinner and Show which we skipped. Ceiling over bathtub was raining tons of water through it's perforated tiles.
Day 6: Breakfast. Notified front desk of bathroom leak, so they sent people up to investigate. Visit Terra Cotta Shop, Huaqing Hot Spring where an Empress would bathe. Lunch. Visit Terra Cotta Warrior Museum, local jade store. Dinner. Returned to room to shower. Near the end of my shower, gallons and gallons of yellow water dumped and poured all over me. I was an unhappy camper. Hotel staff was notified, we were given a new room. YUCK!
Day 7: Skipped box breakfast, flew to Shanghai. Visit Jade Buddha Temple. Bused to Wuxi, visit Tai Lake, Li Garden. Lunch. Visit Tea Pot factory. Dinner. Checked into Wuxi Sheraton.
Day 8: Breakfast. Visit Pearl store. Bused to Suzhou to visit Hanshan Temple and silk factory where they boil the bugs. Lunch. Visit Garden of the Master of the Nets, Twin Tower Pagodas, Mountain Villa Garden and Embroidery Factory. We rode on a boat ride through the canals of Suzhou, that look very similar to the ones in Venice. It was stinky and people washed and dumped their sewage into the same water. Dinner. Bused to Shanghai. Checked into Hua Ting Hotel where we met 2 of Anthony's aunt's friends.
Day 9: Skipped the last half day of the tour and moved to the Olympic Hotel. Went shopping at Nanjing Road. Ate dinner at a beautiful seafood restaurant where we met a 3rd friend of Anthony's aunt.
Day 10: Went Qipao shopping, didn't find ones we liked. Visited the Flea market. Had drinks at Cloud 9 on the 87th floor of the Jin Mao Tower.
Day 11: Returned to Nanjing Rd to order my qipao from selected fabric. Ate at McD's and ordered a black suit to be made.
Day 12: Drove to Hanzhou to visit Lingyin Temple. Took a relaxing boat ride on West lake. Had dinner and returned to Shanghai.
Day 13: Returned to Nanjing Rd in pouring rain. Bought clothing at the dept store. Ate at McD's and picked up qipao's. Went to flea market, Shang-yang Lu? Had dinner at a noodle shop next to the HuaTing.
Day 14: When back to that qipao street. Ate at a "cafeteria". Visited a Huge dept store. Bought a cake for Tina's Bday. Had dinner in the hotel. Picked up our tailored clothes, it was pouring rain.
Tomato Lays and Ketchup Flavored Bugles.
The prices are cheap and the apple pies are fried.