04/27/25

Yichang – Hangzhou overcast – 18-27°C sunny

Woke up thinking there was pure sunshine. Turns out it was a flood light from the pier where we were docked at 2AM.

Disembarkment day. Our luggage needed to be down before 6AM. Breakfast at 630AM. First dinner & last breakfast were not that good. There were good days for food. The star food items for sure were the Noodle soups, taro balls, pumpkin balls & their oranges. Other than that, the good was ok.

One final excursion before we finished this portion of the trip. Met in the lobby for 750AM to head out for our final tour of the Three Gorges Dam Project – world’s largest dam. To disembark, everyone had to line up for the funicular to go up, many of us opted to take the stairs. Hopped on a bus and finally made movement at 835AM. We had Alex as our guide. He served 19 years as a Police Officer & he was very militant. Somehow I’ve been named team leader and every new guide asks for a leader and I get appointed the position.

It was a 3HR excursion with 2 stops. Bus 9786. 30 min drive to our first stop.

Finally a blue sky day and man the sun was a scorcher.

Off the bus with all our things to go through security check with our passport checks then back on the bus. No drones allowed & if you do bring one, it will be held for you until you leave. They thought my electronics looked like a drone.

Back on the bus where you can leave your things. Take only what you need to walk around and take photos.

Hangzhou is warm and humid making it a great region for growing oranges. April is harvest season for Mandarin oranges. Mandarin pies are suppose to be a highlight at the first site once you go up the escalators.

To get to the second stage, you pay ¥10/pp for a golf cart ride. You could walk too. At this stage, it is the 185 section where we are at the same level as the dam wall.

Only smaller boats come through these channels. Takes a total of 40 mins for the boat to pass.

After the tour, we got picked up by a bus with our luggage with our Yichang guide Christina (Tuija ethnicity and she couldn’t speak Mandarin or English until she attended University) and straight to lunch. We tried the fish soup which is famous in Yichang. The meal was much better than the food we ate the past few days on the cruise.

30mins to the airport in Yichang to catch our flight to Hangzhou (hung Joe). Christina helped us check-in and off we went. I have to say their security was small yet thorough – full pat down. For electronics more so they paid special attention to power banks and laptops.

1.5HR flight. On arrival, we were greeted by our guide Mr Fei. Mr Fei studied English. He use to be a teacher before becoming a tour guide.

It was a 1HR drive to the hotel. Traffic was rough in Hangzhou so we arrived at 630PM. We stayed at Wyndham Hangzhou Linping 杭州临平温德姆酒店.

Went across the street for dinner. Got a taste of Hangzhou flavours – duck soup, leen go (steamed/fried rice flour w brown sugar coated w toasted sesame seeds), pumpkin, tofu, braised pork, steamed fish. ¥811

After dinner, Jess & myself decided to walk a bit and we found the Ideal Intime City Mall. Not going to lie, we walked the entire mall and all the stores started to look alike. Almost bought a $200CAD Li-Ning rain jacket but stopped myself. The Popmart store there had the latest Labubu’s available that was sold out everywhere else that many were trying to find.

04/28/25

Hangzhou – Suzhou 17-27°C – sunny

Breakfast at the Wyndham was great, tasty and amazing variety.

It was rose season and the main highways are lined with them. It was an hour drive to West Lake. Loads of traffic as we are leading into May 1st which is the nation’s Labour Day so kids have a week off which means many schools were taking field trips. West Lake is the most renowned feature of Hangzhou. Explorer Marco Polo described Hangzhou as the most beautiful and magnificent city in the world.

The West Lake is on the 1 RMB banknote. There are many West Lakes in the world but this one is the most famous.

The air was much nicer than previous days as there was less smoking and we were in nature a bit more.

Next stop was the Dragon Well Tea Plantation. We drove through the fields of tea leaves that were still being harvested. We tried the world famous Dragon Well Green Tea.

Tidbits on Green Tea and Hangzhou Tea Plantation

-Green tea is the only tea you can drink hot or cold.

-You shouldn’t use hot boiling water but 80C for green tea.

– The first pour will be the strongest. But 2nd & 3rd cup are the best tasting.

-Fresh Green tea if on the shelf lasts 1.5 years, in fridge 3 years, in freezer 5 years.

-They harvest leaves at different times & the heat changes the taste & features.

-They use soybean powder instead of pesticides.

-They use teaseed oil to prevent the leaves from burning which get absorbed so there is no oily residue when you drink it.

Loose leaf was passed around with one batch picked in March and the other in April to smell. The most recent harvest from April was more bitter & carries less nutrients.

We drank the spring tea from the March batch (just a pinch) which you can refill the water 5 times. You can eat the leaves too. They also gave us waterbottles where they told us to also place some Green Tea leaves into as Green tea is the only type of tea you can drink both hot and cold.

A Baby can of Dragon Well Tea is for 50 cups. A pinch can be reused 5 times. One baby can was ¥150. 2 baby cans for ¥300. 1 big can is good for 100 cups.

They were also selling green tea concentrated pills which is equivalent to 8 cups a day in 4 pills.

I bought the green tea peanut, osmanthus peanut, green tea jelly, osmanthus jelly & orange jelly. Buy 4 get 1 free ¥100. The peanuts were really tasty.

After leaving the tea village, we went for a Hangzhou lunch which is more similar to Cantonese cuisine.

Back on the bus for 2 hours to take us to our next province of Suzhou.

Suzhou is known for it’s canals and bridges. China’s Venice if you will.

When we arrived in Suzhou, we went on a boat ride of the grand canal. We then walked around the old area.

People still live in this area however the homes were never built with toilets inside them so they have public ones they share & must walk to. Mainly seniors live in this space still as they are use to this older lifestyle or the homes have been converted to tea houses as it is also a touristy area.

We stayed at DoubleTree by Hilton Suzhou Wuiiang – 苏州吴江敏华希尔顿逸林酒店. There is free laundry in the changing rooms of the fitness centre.

Dinner wasn’t included in our tour. We ate noodles right across from the hotel to end the night.

04/29/25

Suzhou – Shanghai – 16-27°C – sunny and humid

The breakfast wasn’t the greatest at the DoubleTree. Woke up early and had a little stroll in the Canal Cultural Park a bit. A good amount of people out running/walking outside along the waterfront. It was slightly chilly at first but the sun hit and warmed things up.

The Suzhou dialect is the softest of Chinese dialects.

Suzhou is also famous for silk production. Our first stop was to a Silk Government factory. You can purchase items such as silk duvets, comforters, pillow cases, pillows, underwear, socks, scarves (top luxury brands) and creams/lotions.

The single silk can be used for sutures as it will dissolve organically or single string fishing line. Double cocoon is used for the inner lining of bulletproof vests & parachutes in the USA.

At the factory, they were able to offer “luxury brand product” at a textile cost and not by the brand name cost. Since the Covid pandemic, they have overstock so the cheaper prices for the tours are to entice more foreigners to buy stuff. If you buy the big bundle deal for bedding, it can be free international shipping or a free luggage.

Our next stop was the Lingering Garden. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It has 4 themed sections connected by covered walkways.

We ate lunch before heading over to Shanghai. We ate the sweet & sour fish that represents Suzhou cuisine. The cuisine was much more similar to Cantonese cuisine.

We said goodbye to Mr Fei and met with our guide Jack in Shanghai after 1.5hr drive. He also can speak Cantonese.

We explored the famous Bund along the Huangpu river while the sun was still out. We got picked up and brought to the dock area where we would be taking an evening cruise on the river. We had a bit of time to grab something quick to eat. We chose McDonald’s – it was ok but nothing special. The night cruise was chill with everything lit up. The hotel we stayed at in Shanghai was the Radisson Collection Hotel, Yangtze Shanghai – 延安西路2099号, 长宁区.

When we made it to our hotel we said our goodbyes to Eugene and parents as they were leaving a day early to reunite with family in Hong Kong. We had a late but quick dinner at a Taiwanese joint near our hotel to end the day.

Tidbits on Shanghai & China

-China exported tea, porcelain & gunpowder

-600,000 ounces of silver paid to England after the Opium war and succeeded Hong Kong to them for 100 years

-1965-75 was the Cultural revolution. The economy stopped.

-1980 the new leader Deng Xiaoping after Mao passed away, started the Reform and Opening-Up policy. His Cat theory – Black & white cat – a good cat can catch a rat no matter black or white. The cat representing any policy, economic approach of system. The Black and white representing different ideologies like pure communism (white) or capitalism (black). Catching rats representing achieving results such as economic prosperity, poverty reduction and improving standards of living. The Government allowed people to keep as much as they can make.

-Shenzhen developed from a fishing village in 10 years into a tech city to 10 million after 1990.

-Shanghai is famous for Xiao long bao

-Labour day and National day (new years) – everyone has a week off. There are no tolls during these time periods outside of the city. The sightseeing spots will be crowded with locals.

-Houses in Shanghai are expensive. Inner ring – ¥200,000 SQ/M. Average house is 100 SQ/M (3 RMS) over 20 million. Middle ring half the price. Outer ring another half.

-In Shanghai, the subway is the best to get back into the city.

-Half the cars driven in China now are EV cars.

-Blue license plated cars are normal gas car. It takes ¥100000 to get license plate. It is an auction to get it.

-Green license plates are EV cars. It takes ¥200 to get license plate

-China has created a solid ev battery so in -40C it WL work and not lose much charge

-The air quality is much better in Shanghai than Beijing.

04/30/25

Shanghai – 19-24°C – sunny with overcast in the afternoon – night time gets chilly – slightly dry air

Final full day of the TripOppo China trip with my family. Eugene & parents left for Hong Kong early morning and Nelson stayed back due to a swollen knee so it was my entire family plus Wei Chao.

Our first stop was the Shanghai history Museum. 4 floors of history.

We drove to old town to explore the City God Temple. It was packed with tourists but mainly foreign ones. We did a little bit of shopping there. With only 10 minutes to spare before meeting back up with the group, I stepped into the Anta store and tried on and bought a pair of Anta Kai 2 Basketball shoes $171CAD. My impulse purchase that has served me well for Volleyball.

We ate lunch together near Nanjing Rd.

Nanjing Rd in 1880 was the first shopping street that you could shop at night as it was the first shopping area with street lights.

Jack left us there after lunch and took my parents back to the hotel. I have to say shopping on Nanjing Rd is so overwhelming. You enter one store which connects to a mall/shopping plaza then you go out that door into said centre and there are at least 4 floors of stores. You finally get out of the building and walk into another main floor store front and once again enter into a new centre.

This street goes on for a long time. We made it from the giant Popmart to the Festival Building & Raffles City before detouring.

We ventured into the Jing’an Sculpture Park 静安雕塑公园 before going  to Nanjing Rd W. More shopping. We ended up eating in a food court trying to find non-Chinese food as we’ve had so much in the 2 week span. Green bowls & Yoshinoya.

We were drained from the overstimulation. At least 20000 steps to end our last full day in China together.

So glad that my parents wanted to purchase a new luggage to bring home so I was able to off load a bunch of my new purchases.

05/01/25 – 25°C sunny

Shanghai – Beijing, China enroute to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia – 25°C sunny in Shanghai, 11°C in Ulaanbaatar

The end of the tour means the end of the full family trip. Had breakfast together before majority of the family left for the airport to head back home to Toronto. Andrew & myself went to the closer Shanghai Hongqiao airport while the others ventured to Pudong. The original plan was to take the train from Shanghai to Beijing but it being China’s Labour day, there were no train tickets available and our only viable option was to fly.

We had some time before we needed to head to the airport so I took a walk in Xinhongqiao Central Garden and it was super lively.

May 1st is China’s Labour day. Similar to Japan’s golden week, they get a week off.

Got to the airport 3-4 hours early and walked the entire place over & over. We ended up eating Shake Shack for lunch. I got the exclusive Shanghai mulberry mood shake ¥46 (had actual full mulberry inside), shackburger ¥46 and fries ¥27.

Going through security, again the full-on pat down and they are serious about power banks and electronics. They took a photo of our faces before going through the security check and our faces became our boarding pass. Our first flight of the day was from Shanghai to Beijing – 2 hours with Air China. They gave us water bottles and a meal but the nice feature was the foot pedals.

When we arrived in Beijing Airport, we got on a shuttle bus to claim our checked bags and back into the airport to check-in and go through security and immigration again for our flight out of China. We took the 910PM flight to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia – 2.5HRS with Miat.

For flights, they do not make announcements at the gate. You just need to know the time for boarding. We were sitting at our gate and only noticed they started boarding when people started to line up and started going in. In both Shanghai & Beijing, during security check, we had a camera that took a photo of our faces. When we went to the gate to board, our face was our boarding pass going from Shanghai to Beijing. Leaving Beijing for Mongolia, it was our actual paper boarding pass that was scanned.

Once we landed at UBN airport, once we exited there were 4 ATMs of different banks to take out money. We took out 150000MNT equivalent to under $100CAD to make sure we had cash on hand.

We were picked up at the airport for an hour drive into Ulaanbaatar from the airport. 2°C is a big change from the 12-30°C (but mainly 15°C+ majority of the time) of China. We stayed at Edelweiss Art Hotel Эдельвайс Зочид Буудал.