Shanghai 2012: The Lion, The Pearl, and The Chocolate World

Happy new year!  Can you guess what's my main resolution?  Hint: it's staring right at you. 

For 2014, I resolve to blog more often and catch up on my most recent travels.  This is a MUST because the coming year has a lot of travel opportunities for me, including at least two places that I have never been.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

But for now, this post chronicles my first time in Shanghai.  The downside is, I was so overwhelmed by the foreign languange that I was scared to really go anywhere.  The only places I've seen were a blurry haze of malls that I didn't remember and restaurants that I couldn't find again.

One weekend morning, we had breakfast outdoors just near our hotel.  Around the Shanghai area that we were in, there's really no place near to venture aimlessly.

 I had a Chinese-speaking friend with me but of course I can't drag him around.  And so I just followed wherever the group went.

Which is also kinda cool since I got to see the Pearl Tower, which is very visible from the IFC Mall.  As far as trip evidences go, this is it.  You couldn't find it anywhere else in the world.

A few minutes' train ride away (as with everywhere else), our group headed to Hershey's Chocolate World, a tourist destination in itself.  Yeah, I love, love chocolates.

The following day, three of us decided that we should take tourism matters into our own hands.  We will go to Shanghai zoo on our own!

And we did.  We just took a cab from our hotel.  The trick is to have the hotel concierge write down the address of our destination in Chinese characters, and hand it to the cab driver.  Someone told me cabs in Shanghai are pretty safe and reliable.

Here we are.

It is a massive zoo, not that I had any doubts considering it is China after all.  They have a lot of land.

Pink flamingoes!  I thought they only existed as lawn ornaments.  Yes, I am kidding.

I am not sure if this is a man-made or natural lake.  That's the reason for my pensive look.

All my life, I have never wished to have bread crumbs ready as much as I did then.

More birds below!  Our first stop was actually the reptilian area, but snakes give me the biggest creeps!  I think I held on to my companions so tight and they had to drag me while I was closing my eyes.  Most probably, they thought I was overreacting.  But really, I am so freakin' scared of snakes - even on TV and in pictures.

Anyway, that above is one of the main reasons why I have lots of bird photos to compensate for the lack of scaly, slimy, slithering creatures.

Mozilla firefox.  Or just the firefox.  But I prefer to call him Mozilla.  It's actually a kind of panda, not a fox.

And speaking of pandas, why am I in China but I have no rolly-polly panda photo to show for it?  I guess the Kung Fu master is out hiding or sleeping somewhere. Boo.

Here's Simba (or more like Scar) sitting on his throne.

I call this the "Sugar We're Going Down" photo... for obvious reasons.  Oh, it's not obvious?

Thanks to my friend for taking candid photos of me in action.

I think we took more pictures of ourselves than the animals.  It's like we went to a park rather than a zoo.  But the fact that we got around Shanghai on our own speaks a lot already.  We were full-fledged tourists!

Details for the tourists:

Entrace cost is RMB 40 for adults

Address: 2381 Hongqiao Road near Hami Road

How to go here by subway: Line 10 and get off at Shanghai Zoo Station .  Line 10 splits into two different directions after Longxi Road, so be sure you're taking the one going to Hongqiao Railway Station.

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Guangzhou 2012: Guangdong Museum

On the same day that we roamed around the landmarks of Guangzhou, we also visited the interestingly-designed Guangdong museum.  Honestly, I am not a museum-going type of person but figuring that China has a very rich culture and history, I might as well immerse myself while I was there.

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Guangzhou 2012: Opera House and Canton Tower

Continuing my Guangzhou experience, I will focus this time on the sights and skyscrapers, which, for me, are the best part. In my previous post, I shared with you that we stayed at Hilton Hotel Tianhe. Though I didn’t get to take a lot of photos of my room, here is my shot of my view of Guangzhou from my floor-to-ceiling windows. I especially love that gold-colored glass building.

It was a bit of a gloomy day that time. At first, I thought it was just the typical smoggy skies of anywhere in China until it drizzled a bit. I didn’t mind. We just took a cab to where Guangzhou’s Opera House was. Thanks to our translator who wrote in advance the address in Chinese characters, we didn’t get lost.

Before we beheld the architectural beauty that was the Opera house, I managed to take a few photos of the surrounding business-gray buildings. They all almost looked the same.

The taxi dropped us off within a few steps from the Opera House. With it’s unique shape amidst the uniform buildings, you couldn’t miss it.

It looks like a space ship, if you ask me.

We weren’t able to go inside as it was closed. We just roamed around its perimeter and I found this artistically-wrought iron sculpture of a mother carrying her child. Also, we can see the Canton Tower in the background. We will be going there next.

Oh, but before the Canton Tower, we also went to the Guangdong Museum, which is very near the Opera House. I’ll be writing separate post for the museum.

Now, we’re on our way to the Canton Tower. It seemed so near but being very tall (2000 ft), it’s actually a cab-ride away.

We just enjoyed strolling around and looking a the directions.

The red brick road, which will hopefully lead us to our destination.

This one, I found unusual. What would be a statue of a peanut be doing around Guangzhou? Up to now, it’s an unsolved mystery.

We arrived at the base of Canton Tower and bought our tickets. There are different prices depending on the height you want to reach and if you want meals included.

The elevator ride was exhilarating (read: scary)! Here’s a view from the top.

… and then some more.

In this glass encasement, you get to have your photo taken by the camera propped overhead, and this photo can be claimed at the lobby.

One more shot of me beneath the Canton Tower!

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Guangzhou 2012: Where to Stay and Eat

Guangzhou is China’s most developed southern city.  I went here and would have forgotten that I was in China if not for the obvious Chinese characters everywhere.  Okay, okay, it’s impossible to forget.  But the reason for my saying so was that my stay here was ultra-westernized.  I stayed at a modern upscale hotel and ate western food.  For a little over a week, I won’t be an authority on Chinese culture and authenticity.  The best I could do is to share where I laid my little head to rest each night and where I had enjoyable nibbles (more like gobbles).  

I didn’t specifically choose this hotel but that you to whoever did.  This is by far my most favorite hotel that I have ever stayed at, including those during travels that I have done but not yet posted.  Hilton Guangzhou Tianhe. 

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Wuhan 2012: The City and the Food

This is a very special blog post because this was my very first visa-required travel! I previously talked about here that I travel for work and this is just one of many exciting opportunities. I love my job!

For this trip, we went to Guangzhou and Wuhan, China, but I will tackle the latter first. Believe me, it’s tempting to do both in one post but these wonderful cities deserve separate spotlights.

Anyway, it looks like I’m ready to go…




Since, there is no direct flight from Manila to Wuhan, my teammate and I had a quick stopover at Guangzhou. I am eternally fascinated by the layout and efficiency of foreign airports.



After a quick plane ride to Wuhan, we had a 30-minute drive to our hotel, Shangri-la. Along the way, I saw that Wuhan is a big city with smoggy skies and clean streets… and the traffic was manageable.






Shangri-la smells the same at any location, that is why it felt like I was in Manila the moment I stepped in. It felt like home.





We really didn’t want to venture out into the city alone due to the fact that we didn’t speak a word of Mandarin. The safest bet would be to have dinner in the hotel. Good thing Shangri-la has lots of options.

How ironic, we chose to have Japanese cuisine on our first night in China.









On our second day, we traveled by car to the office. Here is just a random photo of a suspension bridge.



We promised to try the local cuisine the next chance we get. Still, we were in the hotel, at Shang Palace restaurant. I do love Chinese food and this dinner was such a treat!



Peking duck, naturally.



I forgot what dessert this is. I remember it was something unconventional but surprisingly delicious. I checked their website and I couldn’t find the dessert menu either.



On our last day, our client took us out to a special lunch at Gourmet Paradise.





It’s perfect because our Chinese clients selected all the food. They do know what’s best.



Rice pancake.



I feel like I need to include a photo of the China flag just to commemorate my visit.



Our last dinner was again (surprise) at Shangri-la. It’s the first time we tried their buffet dinner. It didn’t disappoint.





The Wuhan trip ended sooner that I’d like but I was excited to go to Guangzhou at the same time.



We’re flying China Southern Airlines. Goodbye, Wuhan! Xiexie!

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