~nonnah~

My first visit to China was for a Demolition and Blasting Technical Support Seminar in November 2007. I stayed for a month and visited 4 different yet lovely cities.

Nanjing was where I mostly spent my time in a dingy hotel, surrounded by the Chinese Army. My Chinese language was nada. I had to "talk" in sign language most of the time. We did have a young interpreter, who I had to correct her grammer every now and then.My favorite person was the seminar coordinator, who was an army man. His English was weak, but boy oh boy was he a great bargainer. I used to take him with me shopping. Because of his army attire, the sellers would respect him and wouldn't turn his bargained price down. That way, I saved a lot of Yuan:)

When classes are done at 6:00pm, I'd take a cab downtown Nanjing. I discovered an underground shopping center (totally forgot what it's called). The shopping was great and cheap. I really stood out with my tanned skin, dark hair and big eyes. They used to call me "Miss Princess". I remember once 10 Chinese ladies circled me to touch my hair and to look at my eyes. They thought I was a celebrity and wanted to take a picture with me with their funky mobiles. When it first happened, I was scared, but then I got used to it. On my last days, I learned to smile and walk away. I'm not surprised if I found a picture of myself with a Chinese lady on one of their websites hehe..what an experience.

My second city was Hangzhou. They call it "heaven on earth". I just can't explain how beautiful and serene it was. Just breathtaking. I wish I can share how it felt, but no matter how descriptive I am, it won't give it credit. You need to be there to feel its beauty :)

Shanghai was great. It felt so European. I used to call it "home" when I was in China. The diverse culture made me blend perfectly. It's a great city to walk around. Shopping for brands was great, but I preferred the Chinese authentic bazaars.

My last visit was Suzhou. It's an old city. The coordinators had to take us there to show us the real Chinese culture. I didn't like it much; the rain ruined everything.

I still cherish every moment I spent it there. The sad part is losing all the pictures I took. I couldn't retrieve a single picture. Oh well, there's always next time.

So long, China.
Ta.

Labels: China, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Shanghai, Souzhu

// posted by nonnah @ 3:01 PM