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Saturday 14 December 2019

8D Xi'An China, Day 1

Prologue:


We had been putting Xi An China on hold till now.  I love historical sites, so how can I miss Qing Shi Huang's Mausoleum Site (兵马俑)?  I wasn't able to clear my old man's doubts when I told him it's gonna be cheaper if opt for free and easy.  I didn't insist either cos I was too tired to plan for an itinerary and also he found this package tour with Rayson Tan (陈泰铭).



So we went for it, joining CTC Travels for the first time.

Before the trip, my health was giving me a lot of problems.  I was adjusting myself to a new job but it was still very strenuous to me at that time.  I told my old man many many times (like mother nagging son) to pack his own luggage though I had pre-washed and folded in some clothes for him.  I shouldn't even had waste my precious stamina nagging cos it fell into deaf ears.

Before travelling we bought phone data through AirSim, which we had used for several times in different countries.  It allowed us to access Facebook, IG, Google and whatsapp in China.  Yes you hear me right.

Moving on, this is a short blog post cos we took a night flight and touched down in the mid-night.  No itinerary only some information on the hotel we slept in.


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Destination: Xi'An (China)
Duration: 8 days 9 to 16 Nov  2019
Mode of travel: Celebrity tour with CTC Travels
Damage: $1419/pax + RMB200 (fee for guides) + RMB600 (cable car and performance)
Flight: Scoot, we had 20kg baggage and 7kg hand carry
Accommodation: We have 4 accommodations, details will be in the post
Weather: -2 to 18 degrees
Currency: approx. SGD1 = RMB5
Time difference: same as Singapore


My dear old man started to disorient the moment he stepped into the airport, I had to bring him to the right lane for check-in.  I think he enjoyed being baby-sit unknowingly, it's my compulsory task liao.  I have to be mentally prepared if I am to bring him to Switzerland (nothing is finalised yet but I am working towards it, money not enough de...)

Entered into T1 departure, we went looking for a neighbour who works here.  After saying "Hi" and "Bye", we found a nice spot to have a meal.

Ordered from Ippudo Express, some mini ramen at $11 and a curry karaage rice at $13 (didn't take pic).
 Portions very small but good enough since meal was provided on flight.

Sun set view before taking off.

Meals were included but we couldn't chose, so whoever having soya chicken, he was probably our tour mate.

The set came with a bottle of mineral water and chocolate.

I really could sleep exceptionally soundly with him by my side, so we actually baby-sit each other lolxx....
My eye mask are really comfortable though hubby said it looks like sanitary pad.

Beautiful man made galaxy before touching down.

First thing to do after leaving the plane was to go toilet and put on a coat.
Was a little surprised to see a cute bear basket in the cubicle.

They had a few machines to take 10 finger prints.  Not friendly using, had to try so many times.
It's mid night and the clearing took more than an hour.  So tired, body crumbled into bread crumbs already.

Pic taken outside 

We reached our hotel around 2am.  The tour agent had pre-arranged luggage to be send to our rooms, we need not lift a finger.

Titan Times Hotel
360 North Section, Huancheng West Road, Xi'an (Shaanxi), China

The spacious lobby was floored with marble.



I made a lousy video, was too tired to do any better at 2am but everything was clear enough:

Our room was a 47 m2 big with a living area, 2 TV and 2 super singles.  Furnishes were new






Love this wool coat very much which I bought in Hokkaido.





Found sewing kit in the dressing table, should had brought home.

Hubby said I snored like thunder, so sorry.

We stayed in this hotel for a few days and we really like it.

The actual tour started on the 2nd day which I'll do on the next post.  Thanks for reading.


Tuesday 10 December 2019

Halloween at Woodgrove 2019




I edited half amount of photos before I went China and the other half when I came back.  If not for the 3 days MC, don't know how long more I have to take to get this post done lolxx...

Information for my new readers, every 31st Oct, Woodgrove (at Woodlands) will celebrate Halloween and the public is welcome to join the fun.  There's no fix timing but the crowd generally starts coming in around 5pm and slowly disperse around 9pm if it falls on a weekday.  We had experience it on a weekend and the crowd was high till pass midnight.

Chauffeur (hubby) was not with me, so I went on foot around the compound to take clearer pictures of the decors before the crowd seeped in.  So much so that I lost my way and needed to google map back home lolxx...

The decorations were self funded put up by the residents in this private estate.  My sis was too occupied with stuffs so her house was bare, haiz....  Anyways, scroll down and enjoy the following photos:
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Halloween hand shake.




Interesting car boot decor but it's a pity that I didn't see it again in the evening.
















Icecream man already here to standby, ready to "huat".

This year I dressed up as blood platelet only known to cos players.

This is the anime blood platelet I was dressing as.
This is the typical one with long brown hair.  There are many blood platelets, so my real hair was okay just that I looked extremely low profile.


I went to the neighbour's to help to distribute candies.  It was great fun.








猪八戒 (Zhu Bajie) and 孙悟空 (Monkey God) really had me laughing hard.




This family distributed drinks, satay and chicken wings.  Many rich people around but being this generous is hard to come by.

Had satay and milo.


I found Baymax.
I remembered I watched the movie at home and when it "died" I cried howling really really loudly, waahaahaa....  I felt very silly, to cry watching cartoons.

The crowd.

Meteor shower lights always attract.

This year, some how, the security let vehicles to enter resulting quite a bad jam.
We saw a taxi driver and told him to U-turn.  He did not take our advise and was still there when we walked back after an hour.

So drivers, please keep out of Woodgrove/Oakwood Grove during Halloween, you need to walk in.





This was really cute in real life:

Halloween falls on a weekend next year, already looking forward to it (exciting!!), making plans of what to dress up as.

So finally everything is up and I will now start to do my Xi An China post.  It's going to take some time, if you are bored, can swing over to my diary at https://ordinaryauntie.blogspot.com/

Meanwhile I am looking at Tokyo in Apr 2020.  Maybe Luis can come along (depending on his schedule) else it's gonna be another solo adventure.  I am waiting for him so haven't book anything yet.

I am actually digging into my savings already cos I didn't manage to earn enough within 3 months.  But I don't want to wait any longer to see sakura.  I decided that it's worth it to sacrifice some money to fill up my heart and soul.  Please let me know if there's any cheat cheapest way to get to Japan during sakura season.  I am open to other areas, not necessarily Tokyo.

Till then, bye bye for the moment.