The First Goldies Trip Abroad

A Dream came true! A dream for goldies to travel abroad all together. After around two months communication and discussion back and forth on line and face to face, the 1st goldies trip to China finally took place. When the itinerary was final, It turned out to be a quite different one from what we originally planned.

The trip plan originated from Pamela’s invitation to all goldies to ShangHai. She has an
apartment there due to her work. She’d open her home to goldies and we were all supposed to stay there during the whole trip. The other important mission was to visit some T/Ms clubs there and meet T/Ms in ShangHai. Interestingly, we ended up joining a tour group and had no time to meet T/Ms there at all. But one mission we did fulfill as our originally planned was we had our Chipaos tailor-made. How? It’s an amusing and incredible story. I’ll put it in my next minutes.

To enjoy a good beginning, I left home earlier than i scheduled. I took it very easy for the first time not like my usual self at all always in a rush. I thought I would be the first one at the Airport, didn’t notice Linda and Lydia were standing in front of the counter. It took me a while to recognize them. Well, who could blame me, they stood there with their back facing me both wearing black and white. What a good start! We didn’t see Sherry. No need to worry, she has much more traveling experience than anyone of us.

After a few photos taken to enjoy the moment, Sherry showed up. After passing the customs, she went to explore on her own at the Airport. What an independent woman! Linda, Lydia and I took some more photos in the waiting area for fun. Thanks to the advanced technology, taking photos is just a click away. Sherry slid in showing us her on-fashion nail polish just put at a duty free store. Without wasting any time she made friend with a tour member immed. I couldn’t wait to see what’s next for the following five days.

The 1st Murphy’s Law happened totally out of blue when we made a transit in H.K. to ShangHai. Right after we boarded the plane in HK and just when I was excited that in two hours we will arrive ShangHai and see Pamela who would be waiting for us at the Airport. What a shock it was when it broadcased that we had to wait for two hours on the plane as there was a heavy rain at ShangHai Airport. Though Pamela might check the arrival time of the plane before going to the airport due to the bad weather, we made a call to her. What depressed us was our night program would be cancelled. There were a lot of unnecessary complaints made by other passengers on the plane. So the Murphy’s Law for the day is “What is likely to happen would definitely happen.

The Airline pulled out the food cart to feed us immed. As the meal was light, we were treated with ice cream later. It was a great relief that two hours later, the plane took off. Another thing I didn’t expect was the temperature check because of epidemic H1N1. The air attendants checked our temperature first, than after the plane landed, a medical team got on the plane completely protected in white robe, mask and hood. I guess it was once-a-life-time experience to us. Everyone got a laser check. What a weird feeling to me!

When we finally arrived and walked out the customs, it was already 11:00 pm. We saw Pamela. Yeah! We were in ShangHai, China. Real excitement just began!

There were so much to write about and I will continue in separate articles. But first
Before I forget, I better put our itinerary below first:

Day 1: Arrived ShangHai 上海 to experience its modern and old-time beauty.
Day 2: 1) See ShangHai’s XinTienDi (modern area) 新天地. It is a crowded busy area at night combining both old and new structure.
2) Garden of Lions in SuZhou蘇州~園林城市
3) Night tour at QuiLiSanTang in SuZhou 七里山塘 The river is seven km long and served both economical and military purposes.
Day 3: 1) HanShanSi (temple) in SuZhou. (Silk)
2) TaiHu Tour 太湖
Day 4: 1) WuXi SanKuo - Castle無錫~吳中勝景 三國城
2) Tea Pot Factory
3) XiHu, HangZhou Enjoy the dance show of Impression of West Lake
杭州~西湖印象西湖山水歌舞
Day 5: 1) XiHu, HangZhou Boat & lake tour
2) ShangHai - HuangPu River bank, Tunnel trip, Acrobat show etc.上海ERA時空之旅, 觀光隧道
Day 6: ShangHai, City Trolley tour, Church 徐家匯天主教堂

Accommodation/Hotels:
ShangHai: 博龍國際 & 唐朝 大酒店
SuZhou: 春申湖

HangZhou: 東方假日
WuXi華美達

Restaurants:
ShangHai: 天一閣風味,

同仁堂藥膳風味, 傣家村風味
SuZhou: 水鄉風味, 評彈宴
HangZhou: 紅泥風味、山外山風味
WuXi: 乾隆宴、太湖風味

To be continured

Trini

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