Top Things to Do In Shanghai – China’s Biggest City
Shanghai has long served as the gateway to China on the Yangtze River delta. It is hardly a wonder that it is the largest economic and trade centre in China, and also one of China’s cultural centres. The city Shanghai retains China’s last vestige of its unusual colonial past. In fact, the architecture along the Bund is a […]
Tastes of Northern China: 6 Beijing Recipes That Will Impress Your Friends
The Northern China is known for its specific climate, often characterized by harsh winters and dry summers. The conditions suit the growth of plants such as wheat, garlic and green onion hence making them the common base for every Northern dish. Still, we should keep in mind that Beijing was once the home of the imperial […]
Savour Shanghai Dreams At Mandarin Oriental Pudong
Mandarin Oriental Pudong, Shanghai invites guests to experience the very best of Shanghai from refined luxury on the Pudong riverfront. Launching in time for the Chinese Labour Day holiday in May, the new ‘Shanghai Dream’ package treats guests to a sunset cruise, cultural visits and Mandarin Oriental’s Executive Club privileges, suite accommodation and legendary service. […]
Yamdrok-Tso – Tibetians’ Holy Lake
Today, the tour group will be leaving the comfort of Lhasa. We were briefed to leave the bulk of our luggages in the Lhasa hotel and bringing with us only the bare necessities to the city of Shigatse where we will be staying the night. Such an arrangement was seriously quite a pain for the tour guides, tour participants were seen running […]
Namco Lake – Highest Salt Lake in the World
After a night of drip, I was feeling alot better & decided to risk the recurrence of my diarrhea on a whole day road trip. I will have to endure roadside ‘Singing Sessions’ till we return back to the hotel. To be on the safe side, I popped the chinese doctor’s pills together with my own charcoal pills and reminded myself […]
Drepung – Monastery of Collecting Rice
The night of Day 2 saw heavy downpours at my hotel area in Lhasa. The guides told us that such heavy rain were pretty rare in Tibet and should be seen as positive omens welcoming us to the country. I stepped out of my room the next day morning feeling sick, weak and nauseous. I […]
Potala Palace – Tombs of Past Dalai Lamas
The day started with horrible breakfast prepared by the hotel. It was so bad that most of the tour people decided to bring instant cup noodles down instead. But the guests from a local China Tour seem to be pretty satisfied … perhaps we Singaporeans are too accustomed to our typical international buffet spread. Nevertheless, the lousy breakfast failed to dampen our […]
Jokhang – Tibet’s First Buddhist Temple
Finally, the last stop for Day 2. The entire tour group seems to be on a super fast track course on all things Tibetian. I am physically exhausted and I sincerely hoped that dinner will be good….btw lunch sucks too… The Jokhang Temple is the first Buddhist temple in Tibet, located on Barkhor Square (a great shopping street not […]
Norbulingka – Summer Palace of Dalai Lamas
Shortly after The Potala Palace, our tour group made way to Norbulingka Park, garden to the Summer Palace of the Dalai Lamas where they solved the political problems and held festive celebrations. Today, it has been turned into a park open to the public. Norbulingka (Treasure Park in Tibetan) lies about one km southwest of the Potala Palace. With a gigantic land area of […]
Acclimatization on the Tibetan Plateau
There are a couple of ways of visiting Tibet. You can either take a direct domestic flight from Cheng Du and experience an orgasmic 3000+ metres altitude and atmospheric pressure difference like what my tour group did or board the Qinghai-Tibet railway which allow you to slowly adapt to the increasing altitude (continuous but moderate […]
Surviving Altitude Sickness at Tibet
For many people, Tibet is a mysterious and exotic destination at the end of the Earth. With greater media coverage, these days the idea of planning a trip to Tibet is fast gaining popularity. What is so attractive about Tibet? Why do so many people want to go there? Here’s a list of reasons why one […]
