Travelogue →中国 (湖南)

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 8D7N 中国•湖南 

长沙→韶山→常德→凤凰古城→芙蓉镇→张家界

- First night in Dolton Hotel (通程国际大酒店) . This is China's 5 star hotel for you , decently clean but really old .

- Second night in Cohere Hotel (常德共和酒店) . Honestly , the first 2-3 days of our trip was just plainly long hours of car ride to our ultimate destination . On the second day , we went to Mao Zedong's hometown & into his home for a view of his living condition way back in time . It was boring and annoying because we got swarmed by the overwhelming amount of china tourists .

- Third day was seen at ( supposedly ) beautiful 凤凰古城 which I was really looking forward to but just look at the crowd ! Beautiful rustic shop-houses and bars didn't go too well with the rowdy china tourists . Gave up taking nice pictures , it will never happen there . We spent the night at a new abode again on our third day , Feng Tian International Hotel 凤天国际大酒店. 凤凰 also had a livelier nightlife where I saw dog meat steamboat for the first time . Oh ! Also took a walk into their wet market to have a better understanding of their lifestyle there which I really regretted in the end . I was well aware that China people eat dog meat BUT it wasn't right seeing a dog head on the table with no body left . What's that suppose to mean ?

- Fourth day was quite the official start of our holiday with decent sight-seeing attractions . 芙蓉镇 was beautiful ! The countless of waterfalls we passed by , rustic buildings and hours of walk to complete one attraction . We also reached our destination 张家界 and it was finally the end of our agony to shift hotels everyday . China's culture hasn't been easy to adapt except that they are big on foot scrubs . Which I had so much love for - therapy for the tired feet after a long day and watching China match-making reality shows . 

More on the rest of the trip , soon .

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Hello April , Hello Singapore .

The month of April had been such a tough marathon for me and it seemed like I haven't rested well in awhile . I kick-started April with a prank by the boyfriend who claimed my little kitten got bitten by his temperamental doggie . Which well , really happened two days ago wtf .

So , I spent the 2nd-9th of April in China , Hunan on a sightseeing holiday . And I was completely looking forward ... to coming back home . It wasn't a horrible trip , after all you have to experience the nature in China at least once in your lifetime but somehow the misses outweighed the hits . Just to name a few , the deprivation of network / clean toilets / decent food / MEAT / night activities . I felt so sorry for myself that I had to be disconnected from the network for 8 days . Imagine my frustration when my hotel room's got a damn computer but almost EVERYTHING that I tried to surf was being blocked by China's network . I jolly well knew that Facebook was definitely blocked but I didn't even know blogger couldn't be accessed as well . I had so much time to myself during the nights there so I thought I could do some blogging there but ... I ended up spending my nights watching China TV shows . And don't even get me started on the toilet . They literally take my breathe away ,  even before reaching the toilet . I've heard so much about their hygiene there and the sad thing is ... It's unavoidable . I can go on forever about how China's living conditions leaves me speechless each time I discover something new . And I think I'm giving up on the travelogue to China even before I begin . It took me ages to complete a short Bali trip , let alone 8 Days in China . The amount of pictures I took this time ... is so overwhelming that having to vet and filter out the best , is beyond taxing . We'll see . 

Working harder on new agendas this month . So exhausting at the end of each day , but I'm really really happy to be able to drain out this way . For happier things & thoughts , lets go !

love,
sheryl

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Shenzhen 深圳 (一日游)

In continuation of the Hong Kong trip in April , this is one of the entry that I owe to my online diary for the longest time . Prior to this Shenzhen trip , I've never been to any part of China therefore I was very much looking forward to visiting Shenzhen for the first time ! Don't ask me why but I anticipate alot on taking public transports of the foriegn countries . I was amused by the plastic coins issued as entry into China's metro . I was finding a slot to throw in the coin upon entry but it was used to tap instead . Amazed level x10

Upon reaching , I saw men dressed up in suits selling baby ducklings. A whole basket of them made me go awwww. I overheard a local asking for the price and it is sold at only S$2 for 3 baby duckies . Why are pets in the overseas sold at such ridiculously cheap prices ? There are so many of them selling the duckies and I stop each time I see them .

It was lunch first before all the exploring begin .

Steamboat lovers , If you visit China , just try 小肥羊. No regrets , I promise . When I was raving about Singapore's Xian De Lai and I said that it is still not the best that I've tried ? This is the best that I'm talking about . What's more authentic than China's soup broth ? Their famous beef/lamb slices are so nicely sliced . Not to mention , their staffs are so polite and welcoming . They even offered to change the fish slices that we ordered wrongly to something else we preferred . 

Did alot of walking around and shopping after lunch before stopping over at Modern Toilet for a break for the aching legs . I was so happy to see Modern Toilet in Shenzhen because I thought the only outlet is in Taipei ? Really cute interior designs for the restaurant , I had so much fun looking at the details and effort done while enjoying the huge bathtub of ice cream dessert . While resting , I was fidgeting with my camera and this is the main highlight of my Hongkong trip . My trusty camera actually crashed . Threw bitch fits and temperamental moments lasted for quite awhile before I accepted the fact that I would have to go without a camera for the rest of the Hongkong days.  Was really frustrated that it died on me when I'm on a holiday but well , all was fixed immediately after I got back . So yeah , this entry pretty much summed up my short one day in China before going back to HK .

love,

Sheryl

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