Day 68 New years family trip

New years family trip

I went back to China for the celebration of lunar New Year and attending the important family reunion event. Normally, we would enjoy this holiday with an overseas trip or visit my grandpa and other relatives who live in our hometown. However, my father decided to gather all family members on a trip to Jiangsu providence.

Our first destination is Shanghai, which is the economical central in China. Compare to Beijing, Shanghai has a more commercial atmosphere rather than political. It is a charming South city which presents its own charisma. During 1845 to 1943, Shanghai leased part from the city as the concession of British. We can still view the beautiful British construction combined with Chinese factors along the side of Huangpu river. During the night time, light and shade paved over the surface of these buildings makes us feel like walking in a fantasy world, which also grants Shanghai with the name ‘ magic metropolis’. On our first night of arrival, we sauntered on the Nanjing road, where is one of the biggest pedestrian streets in China. Aside the street, there are hundreds of shopping centres, restaurants and other utility stores. Although people were swarming on the road, it was not really crowded, due to the street is spacious and clean. There were many armed soldiers to maintain orders on the street, because there was a tragedy stampede incident happened in Shanghai on the new years eve. At the end of Nanjing road, we reached the Waitan district. It is the collective point of commercial banks in China and other financial constitutions. Next to the road, Huangpu river is flowing quietly which makes the sight more fascinating. We took some pictures with the Oriental Pearl Television Tower located on the other side of the river, and headed back to the hotel.

Our next destination Hangzhou was a bit frustrating. The West Lake perhaps is the most famous attraction point in Jiangsu province. In fact, Chinese has the proverb that vividly describes the beauty of this city, as saying goes‘ the paradise above, the Suzhou and Hangzhou below.’ There are 18 main feature spots to visit in the West Lake. To illustrate, the broken bridge, the white causeway, and the Leifeng tower. However, the challenge we faced was there was way too many tourists. According to the local news, there were 100 thousands visitors per day on the lake. Even though the sight was still great, the surging flow of people forced us to briefly took a boat tour on the lake, and left the sight.

The last city we visited was Wuxi, which is the city surrounded by Tai lake. I have been there before, and I love this city. It is because the Wuxi is well developed modern city that without much population. In the lunar new years holiday, the local residence left the city to celebrate the festival with their families. So there are not many cars on the road. In addition, since the city is well developed, the road condition is absolutely perfect. For a man who gets used to traffic congestion on monash freeway, Wuxi is like heaven. We visited the local outlet shopping centre in the city, which is not much to mention as it was too ordinary compare to the similar malls in U.S. And Europe.

Even though the fun was reduced by the stream of tourists, it was a good experience because we shared it with other family members. Actually, it was a family reunion event, rather than a trip. Therefore, it was more important for us to communicate with our elders and kins using this opportunity. In conclusion, we were satisfied with it.