Trip to Mainland China

I would like to share my travel experience in Mainland China.

This is my first trip to china ....

For some of my friends and family members might be a little surprised to read this blog post ,as I had not only been to Shanghai , but also to Turpan, in Xinjiang -Northwest province of China.

Some info. behind Turpan or Tulufan town to give a background on the purpose of an official trip to such a remote town in China. Turpan means 'the lowest place' in the Uygur language and 'the fertile land' in Turki. Lying in the Turpan Basin, the elevation of most of the places in the area is below 500 meters (1,640 feet). Turpan is the city with the lowest elevation in China and the second in the world after DeadSea. The city, which is also known as Huo Zhou (a place as hot as fire), is the hottest place in China.There are flights running between Shanghai and Urumuqi, capital of Xinjiang province. From Urumuqi, its about 3 hours by road to Turpan.Urumuqi is 5 hours by flight from ShangHai.

I was also little sceptic about the place, about its temperture, food etc., but it turned about to a very different experience. Here are some attractions and things to know about Turpan or Tulufan. I got to know a lot about chinese food habits , culture etc..

The abundant sunshine of turpan, gives the melons and grapes ideal conditions to grow. We had been in the peak summer season and were able to enjoy very sweet grapes and melons varieties.

Some of the places I visited in the test car with team- Flaming Moutain, Jiaoho Ancienty city,Bizalkik Thousand Buddha Caves, Grape Valley. Also, the Karez system is one of the four great irrigation system of China and its crystallization of ancient chinese people wisdom to divert the melted snow water and supply as water source to the people of Turpan.

As there is no direct flights from Singapore to turpan. We travelled with small stop over in ShangHai. The two Chinese characters in the name "Shanghai", (Shang and Hai) literally mean "up, on, or above" and "sea", respectively, evident of Shanghai's location next to the East China Sea. ShangHai is emerging as a important center of commerce and finance . According to me, it has good infrastructure to become as an Asian Hub and can overtake Singapore ,which I feel currently holds that status.

The flight journey between Singapore and ShangHai was 5 hrs. I feel its difficult to survive in ShangHai without knowing Mandarin. Even in Airport,we had to tell the hotel address, directions in Mandarin to the taxi Driver.Landed in Shanghai on a mid-afternoon,we had a 1-night stopover, before continuing our trip to Turpan.

As we had a evening at our disposal , myself and my other Singaporean Colleague tried to explore ShangHai. We used their Metro rail system . It was very crowded and we had to really push to get in or out of the metro trains. We hopped into a open-top Tourist bus, in the Lujiazui Finance and Trade Districts, their financial business district to have a look at many skyscraper buildings like Oriental Pearl Tower, Jinmao Tower etc.

We went to Oriental Pearl Tower- 468 meters high (1,536 feet) tower,which is the world's third tallest TV and radio tower surpassed in height only by towers in Toronto, Canada and Moscow, Russia.

Our next visit was to "The Bund" -on the east bank of the Huangpu River, here, we could enjoy the bracing air and the bright lights .

Some more attractions which we covered on our return from Urumuqi to ShangHai are Nanjing Rd- its considered to be the "No. 1 commercial street in China", Yuyuan garden is the largest of Shanghai's ancient gardens with architectural styles of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Though did not have much time to shop, got a chance to pick some of their dry fruit/seed based sweets,Chinese tea,which has got good detoxifying effect. after obtaining our boarding card on our return Singapore airlines flight, we tried to explore the bullet train "maglev" from Shanghai Pudong Airport and Longyang station , at a speed of 430Km/hr , thereby covering the distance of 30km in 7 min! The thing which we felt a little annoying in this Maglev train system is athough the passengers opt for a two-way travel ticket between pudong airport and Longyang station , the passengers had to get down in Longyang station . Go through the same security check again. There is no information that the train woud not wait for long . Hence,we ended up waiting in the Longyang station for 15 min to get the next train! There is scope of improvement in this process! ShangHai is very hot and humid in July. But, I understand winters here are very cold!

In terms of their food habits, I find they eat little quantity of rice. More of vegetables, meat, hot soup or porridge along with Chinese tea. I think this is the secret behind their fit and slim figure. I dont find too much of western influence like having ice-creams or coke, pepsi to quench their thirst or heat. Instead they were having chill herbal tea, which is 100yrs old receipe it seems and has cooling effects to the body. One of their deserts which i liked very much was yellow pumpkin, sago based porridge with mild sweet.I tried using chopstick to pick food from the bowls like them, but not successful in my attempt!

I shall upload more photos in my picasa.