First Overseas Family Trip

Hey there, I am really excited to share about my first overseas family trip. 

If you are surprised at the previous statement, it's okay I forgive you because I won't deny the fact that my family is not rich and my parents worked hard to put me through years of education without being able to take leisurely vacations, until now.

Skip that long history of mine, and I would like to share some free labor planning I did: booking the flight for everybody. Because I was asked to book the AM flight, that is, my aim was to reach Shanghai on the AM of 16 April, but me being stupid, I booked the wrong timing, that is, we would land on AM of 15 April. I didn't realize until Zhi Kai checked and told me, after which I got a total shock. Luckily, the rest were able to make it but I couldn't due to my final examinations. 

So I flew alone in the end and it was my first time doing so. I was quite nervous about it but luckily it went alright and when I landed Christine Auntie was there to fetch me yay!

The plan was to visit my neighbour, Christine Auntie, who stayed in Shanghai for almost ten years and she was kind enough to accommodate us - we saved a lot of money because of that. She took care of the itinerary and transport as well. We are really lucky to have her!
(Thank you Christine Auntie)

Disclaimer: Remaining content will be written based on destinations and not days.

CHENG HUANG TEMPLE

So I napped right after I landed and soon had to wake up for our first destination - the Cheng Huang Temple that is famous for its authentic Xiao Long Bao.

Apart from the xlb, I ate the Soup Bao as well - it's just soup inside the bao and you had to drink from a straw. Honestly speaking, I was unimpressed. The bao's skin was too thick and the soup was not tasty. I love Singapore's xlb more, serious.

Toured around the temple and took some really scenic photos - okay fine, they were actually just ancient Chinese buildings.

Got to eat my favorite snack - Candy Haw. The last time I ate it was in Beijing and I had a really bad experience because the wooden stick poked me in the palm.

Headed over to The Bund and along the way I caught a grass of dolphins. HAHAHAH.

Ohana.

CENTURY PARK

We chanced upon this park because I told Christine Auntie that I wanted to see some flowers, and we were told that there are Cherry Blossoms here. Unfortunately, the Cherry Blossoms all wilted and it was just pure greenery around us.

Disclaimer: The photos were unfiltered because I want to keep it as natural as possible hahaha.

See how vertically straight these trees were. My dad was in love with them.

We were lucky enough to catch the last Cherry Blossom tree standing.

Love the following picture a lot; the cyclists waved when they saw me filming but I was too shy to continue so I didn't manage to catch them waving up close.

Featuring Christine Auntie's friend (Margaret)'s father.

Was really hoping to capture some 夜上海 (Night Shanghai) shots but the area I wanted to go was renovating and I only caught these.

QIBAO ANCIENT TOWN

Before we headed to Qibao Ancient Town, Christine Auntie brought me out for breakfast at this really nice cafe called 'Mr Pancakes'. The flower-fruit tea was really good and I was triggered to purchase the same teapot from Taobao hahaha.

Ordered the fruit pancake and smoked salmon omelette and they both tasted so good. Wew.

Had our tummies filled and took a cab to Qibao Ancient Town. Christine Auntie told me that there is a slightly bigger ancient town than this but due to the lack of them we can't check it out. 

Really love the ancient look hurhur,

Favourite candy here: Malt Candy. Didn't get to eat because my hands were full of gifts for people.

Look how cute these animal dimsums are!

PEACE HOTEL

After Qibao Ancient Town, we moved on to Peace Hotel, a must go in Shanghai. It has a realllyyyyy long history and most shows/movies which involved Shanghai were filmed here. The dimly lit interior and the vintage furniture reminds of the Old Shanghai. (I heard that it's haunted too...)

The cafe in the hotel was quite pricey... But tourists being tourists, we decided to give it a shot - the service was awesome and the food was good!

Not forgetting to take family and solo picture outside! My dad stole my straw hat by the way.

MOUNT PUTUO

I would say this place is pretty distant from the hearts of Shanghai; it is located in Zhejiang province. Being one of the top four mountains in China, it has over 30 Guanyin temples spread across the island. It is a good 2-hour bus ride and 2-hour boat ride, so keep your stomachs full if you were to head there (if ever). Christine Auntie visits this place annually and my parents had been really interested in going there if we had the chance. So here we are!

Spot my cutsey pie dad hahaha.

The tour guide took us a little further from the mountain and we walked along this path which eventually led us to a really huge beach. Sad to say, the weather was chilly and foggy so I couldn't capture a nice photo of it.

Introducing to you: our mini "tour group". Hahaha.

Being a family of Buddhists, my parents (especially my dad) were really fascinated by this place's rich history and Buddhism.

The largest Guanyin Statue (her face is made of gold) in the whole island.

南海观世音菩萨

We actually stayed over in the hotel for a night (I really love the hotel; they provided rain showers - my favourite) and pink bedroom slippers hurhur.

As we set off back to Shanghai, Christine Auntie booked a lobster buffet in Shangrila Hotel and my goodness, it is the first time I've ever had one and I ate 7 in a shot. My favorite besides the cooked lobster is the lobster sashimi - we had to queue and they only chopped a small tea-spoonful for you. Sobbles.

We spent the last two days just loitering around Shanghai and pamper ourselves (manicure, pedicure, food, etc). Christine Auntie brought me to this beauty accessories shop called 流行美 which sells expensive hair accessories and tools and as long as you've gotten one from any of their outlets, you can bring that one item back and they will help you style your hair for free. So cool right. It's similar to the Aries or Chameleon shops except the hair styling service.

We had our manicure and pedicure at Christine Auntie's friend's shop. Though a little pricey, you get what you paid for: the quality of my gel nails were really good - I didn't have time to cut and maybe cause my nails don't grow that fast I had it for 2 months (hahaha don't judge please) and it did not chip at all...

KBBQ right after.

Our last official dinner in Shanghai was at this Taiwanese restaurant and oh my, their desserts are realllyyyyy good; we ordered three actually (I only managed to capture two) and the flavours are mainly Mango, Mixed, and my favourite Peanut (which is not in the photo).

Love this shot a lot.

This gigantic bear at Christine Auntie's home made a good company for the past week.

Overall, the trip was really awesome and I am glad my family managed to achieve this milestone (travelling overseas) together. Once again, thank you Christine Auntie for making this possible! It was hard persuading my dad to go on the trip with us because he was worried about our finances but yay we made it! 

Please don't forget to check out my vlog here!
(watch on desktop, YouTube banned me from mobile devices)