Travel: China - Shanghai

[Dnls_mum]

yqyq:

went to 7 days Shanghai Jiangnan tour last Nov, cool but raining period..spoilt the mood.


We like the most Hangzhou West lake tour and the show, and the food nicer compare to Wuxi, Suzhou and Yiwu. Other than that, to me everywhere also serving the same dishes...all cover with oil and chilli :slapshead:

That's why I like the food at Green Tea restaurant in Hangzhou. The menu is not traditional china Chinese. The grill/BBQ dishes are great. Nice dessert too. Atmosphere and setting great as well.

[fatmama75]

Dnls_mum:

yqyq:

went to 7 days Shanghai Jiangnan tour last Nov, cool but raining period..spoilt the mood.


We like the most Hangzhou West lake tour and the show, and the food nicer compare to Wuxi, Suzhou and Yiwu. Other than that, to me everywhere also serving the same dishes...all cover with oil and chilli :slapshead:

That's why I like the food at Green Tea restaurant in Hangzhou. The menu is not traditional china Chinese. The grill/BBQ dishes are great. Nice dessert too. Atmosphere and setting great as well.

Thanks Dnls_Mum. Noted abt Green Tea Restaurant. Shall check it out

[fatmama75]

MMM:

Dnls_mum:

Do consider a trip to Wuzhen from Hangzhou. It is a Watertown and very beautiful. The Xizha part of Wuzhen was where Bu bu jing xing was filmed. When we were there the posters of the serial was displayed to show the sites. Also consider watching Impression Westlake if you can. I love it :). A gd restaurant in Hangzhou is Green Tea restaurant at Long jing road.

Yes, I also heard from colleagues wuzhen is a nice place.

BTW, for local tours, as we stayed near people's square, there are alot of agents there but poor memory me... cannot remember the name. There are 2 along the same stretch as raffles city. There will also be people distributing pamphlets on such tour. We observed that it's usually the same operator.

I think we paid around RMB138 to go to Zhou Zhuang. If you are keen to do more days and elsewhere, do visit the agency. They do have itinerary to other places within china. But be prepared to be in the same tour as locals from other parts of China. If you can speak the language, it's fine. It is not encouraged for non-mandarin speaker.

Hi MMM
After reading your comments, tgt with Dnls_Mum, I checked out Wuzhen and decided to book 1 night there. Wuzhen Guest House had gd reviews in TripAdvisor so I reserved a Suite C.

This is getting exciting. Thanks!

[fatmama75]

Any ideas where to buy longjin tea in Hangzhou? My gf wants me to help her buy but I am not sure which place to go to. I checked TripAdvisor and there’s a Hangzhou Longjinshan Tea Cultural Village. Is that the plc?


Are the longjin tea at ‘kill people set fire’ prices at this plc? Or it’s indeed the rt plc to buy authentic longjin tea?

[jetsetter]

fatmama75:

Any ideas where to buy longjin tea in Hangzhou? My gf wants me to help her buy but I am not sure which place to go to. I checked TripAdvisor and there's a Hangzhou Longjinshan Tea Cultural Village. Is that the plc?


Are the longjin tea at 'kill people set fire' prices at this plc? Or it's indeed the rt plc to buy authentic longjin tea?

Is she a hardcore discerning sort of green tea drinker? If not, u can just grab a pack from many tea shops near West Lake or the Duty free at SH airport. But if she really is fussy abt her leaves, then there are 8 Longjing SPECIALTY shops with the Golden Trademark endorsed by the tea association or something.
杭州有8家“西湖龙井茶专卖店”, 曙光路5号、武林路464号、清河坊187号、平海路30号、教工路125号,延安路296号、西湖大道68号和邮电路90号

If u go to HZ now in year-end, u might be sold the cheap 陈茶 \"old tea\" (autumn longjing or summer longjing) even though they might let u sample the 明前 \"Before Qingming\" tea (spring tea). Anything before Apr is sky-rocket prices, with early Mar harvest being the most ex (over CNY1,500 for 250g)

[jjxy mum]

fatmama75:

Any ideas where to buy longjin tea in Hangzhou? My gf wants me to help her buy but I am not sure which place to go to. I checked TripAdvisor and there's a Hangzhou Longjinshan Tea Cultural Village. Is that the plc?


Are the longjin tea at 'kill people set fire' prices at this plc? Or it's indeed the rt plc to buy authentic longjin tea?

Hi,

During our trip2-3 yrs ago, we got a cab driver that brought us for a 1 day trip around Hangzhou, he send us to Lingyin Temple and a place that sell Longjing Tea(should be Longjing Village as you had mentioned). He brought us to a tea house and 2 ladies attended us and serve us with 2 types Longjing tea. The tea (at least 1-2kg was wrapped in brown paper wrapper). We bought 2 small tins of it. Their taste is much better than the one that we bought from shopping mall tea house( even my kids said so). when we back Sg, and did some comparison, the one from the village looks fresher than the one at shopping mall. Prices varies depending on their grades.

[floppy]

fatmama75:

Hi floppy,

May I pls ask where did you get the local tour from? Online? Do you have any recommendations? How much did you pay for this local tour? I heard from other relatives that the prices for these day tours can vary. Thanks!

For local tours, stick to the official (i.e. government run) tours unless you enjoy being detoured to shopping tours/temple tours etc (great for stories after your tour, but absolutely horrible while you are at it).

In Shanghai, stick to http://www.chinassbc.com/. They can be found in 2 locations (check their website for more locations, but these 2 are the easiest to find - given that they are located in big stadiums):
1. 虹口分站（东江湾路444号) - 虹口足球场5号门
2. 杨浦分站（隆昌路640号）- 上海杨浦体育场

Prices are reasonable and they have a variety of packages to choose from.

[fatmama75]

Thanks Floppy.

floppy:

fatmama75:

Hi floppy,

May I pls ask where did you get the local tour from? Online? Do you have any recommendations? How much did you pay for this local tour? I heard from other relatives that the prices for these day tours can vary. Thanks!

For local tours, stick to the official (i.e. government run) tours unless you enjoy being detoured to shopping tours/temple tours etc (great for stories after your tour, but absolutely horrible while you are at it).

In Shanghai, stick to http://www.chinassbc.com/. They can be found in 2 locations (check their website for more locations, but these 2 are the easiest to find - given that they are located in big stadiums):
1. 虹口分站（东江湾路444号) - 虹口足球场5号门
2. 杨浦分站（隆昌路640号）- 上海杨浦体育场

Prices are reasonable and they have a variety of packages to choose from.

[fatmama75]

Hi everyone


So far this is what I planned.

8Dec - arrive in Shanghai
9Dec - Suzhou
10Dec - Wuzhen, Tongli
11Dec - Hangzhou
12Dec - Hangzhou
13Dec - Return to Shanghai
18Dec - Depart Shanghai

Does anyone have recommendations for a private driver to fetch me at Suzhou on 10Dec to Tongli and from Tongli to Hangzhou on 11Dec?

My husband isnt comfortable about taking buses between these 3 places. Or is there any other alternatives?

Thanks…Kelly

[seaglass]

fatmama75:

Hi everyone


So far this is what I planned.

8Dec - arrive in Shanghai
9Dec - Suzhou
10Dec - Wuzhen, Tongli
11Dec - Hangzhou
12Dec - Hangzhou
13Dec - Return to Shanghai
18Dec - Depart Shanghai

Does anyone have recommendations for a private driver to fetch me at Suzhou on 10Dec to Tongli and from Tongli to Hangzhou on 11Dec?

My husband isnt comfortable about taking buses between these 3 places. Or is there any other alternatives?

Thanks...Kelly

Sorry, I don't have any recommendation for driver, but I believe most hotel front desk can help. It's a popular day-trip thing from Suzhou to Tongli so the transport should be quite easy to arrange..

From your itinerary, it seems you are staying in either Tongli or Wuzhen for one night? That must be nice! Mind sharing which hotel / B&B did you book? Thanks!