Shao Xing (紹興), China

When someone say about Shao Xing, what is the first that came into your mind?

Definitely, will be the wine that all mom and chef will use for cooking, Shao Xing Rice Wine. So, finally I've got the chance to visit to the origin of where the famous wine were made of. But to my surprise, who has no history background at all, actually Shao Xing city is not just about the wine, actually there's more of it.

For example, a famous writer named LuXun was born here. If you ask me what are the famous stories that he wrote, I tried search for it, one of the famous one that we might know is the story of 阿Q正传 "The True Story of Ah Q" (Blame it on wikipedia if it's not right :P). Ok, I seriously don't know much about him but mom does. So, any questions please feel free to ask and I'll direct it to my mommy .. LOL LOL ..

Here, it's a one small street where there's nothing much but to visit LuXun's home where he used to stay in his younger days which was still well kept. That's one thing I like the historic place in China. They really preserve their historic buildings very well.

But before that, we walked almost till the end of the street for some Wine in the early morning which was drizzling.

 

 This is one of the character in Lu Xun's story

 Look at all the wine I can have .. well, unless I paid for it to have it :X

 It says the character as you saw above, owe the shop owner 19 bucks/yuan.

 How can the guys leave the shop without having some of the famous wine ! This is what you called happiness .. LOL LOL ...

Not sure if my dad drank too much or the wine effect is just too strong that he start to do these posing :O

Hahahaha .. I think he's slightly drunk at that time xD

After most of us went a little tipsy, we then of course visit LuXun's house ... Have yourself a little bit of imagination of how big is his house, ok? Complete the puzzle but browsing through the pictures below xD

 OK .. This is random .. But she is just so prettyyyyyyyy !!! Jelesh to the max ..

Some miniature view of the village in the olden days ...

 Young LuXun listening to his grandma telling stories ...

Forgot what this scene is all about .. My bad !

Well, it's really a small town in the ZheJiang Province which we actually just spent about half a day there before we head to Su Zhou ...

Just to make your stomach growling, here's some of the delicious dishes that we had on the night we reach Shao Xing. Can I say is one of the best meal we had ? So, must share with you all the pictures :P

 This restaurant's set up looks very grand eh ..

 Pao with stewed pork

 Some jagung, ubi and peanuts .. LOL ...

 Vege *duh*

 Rice wine .. 

 Pig skin with veges .. Sedap !

 Vege again ...

 Some shark-fin-liked soup .. This was so-so only ..

 OH OH !! Their mushrooms are really sweet and tasty lor, cannot find here in Msia ..

Sweet and sour pork

Yay ! Thanks to me for making you hungry now :P

Tata for Now !!

Pu Tuo Shan, Hangzhou

Other than Hangzhou city visited, we then headed to a very religious island. Yeah, you read it right. A small island. It's an island that's basically is just temples but nothing. But well, even if you are not a believer of Buddhist, I don't see there's any harm making a visit here, simply because of the beautiful structure of these temples that could have age hundreds over years old.

Our itenary was to stay 2 nights here in Pu Tuo Shan itself as on the first day when we travel from Hangzhou would basically take almost more than half a day of the travel time. We first travel by bus then we have to take a ferry into the island. Reason why road or bridge are not build connecting the mainland and the island is because in buddhist teaching, we as a human should not always take things for granted, should not always enjoy the luxury moment but also to experience the tough journey.

As it's a small island and more monks and nuns than anyone else, hotels there are not expected to be great even if you are getting yourself a 5 star hotel and is super pricy. The hotel that we stayed in was so bad that many of us complained of the uncomfortable room that eventually the 2nd night we moved to Shao Xing (a city of where the famous rice wine were make). Shall post about it later.

So, when we first reach there, this what interest me .. xD

All these are local residents who are actually trying to attract the tourists to stay a night at their home, kind of like a home stay but beware, it's really NOT cheap and I can't really guarantee the quality.

So, here's some of the scenic view of the main monastery

Nan Hai (South Sea) Guan Yin

One of the Goddess of Guan Yin

Oh yeah, another point to note when you are here is that every entrance to each monastery, you need to pay for a fee. But if I'm not mistaken, is just about 5 to 10 Yuan per head.

Bu Ken Qu Guan Yin

There's a story behind this monastery. I might not be recalling it correctly but it's basically about long long long time ago, someone found Guan Yin statue at the sea just here. Then, for some reason, the locals here wanted to donate this statue to somewhere thru the sea transportation. But somehow, each time when they try to sail the ship, there'll be either sea storm or bad weather that disallow them to sail.

So, eventually they build this monastery/ temple and named it as Bu Ken Qu Guan Yin, where Bu Ken Qu in chinese basically mean "Unwilling to Go".

Just nearby to the monastery, there's this cave near the sea where there's people actually saw Goddess of Guan Yin herself.

Just love the view here, it's so peaceful.

Always love the traditionals carving either at the roof top or the tiang ... Just so detail and pro.

Here's one of the biggest monastery and can you spot our young and handsome local guide? :D

So so so bigggggg ~~~

One of the pagoda ..

 boh pi boh pi me all the good luck ohhhhh ....

Put your hands up guys !!! Hehehehe .. No la ... What they doing is actually like a wishing well kind of thing .. Instead of throwing your coins into a well, you throw into the top of the hole there. So, the believe is if you manage to throw your coins in, mean your wish will come true .. And guess what, I manage to get it in with one time .. Wooot .. No wonder my wish all are realising ... *claps*

Oh oh .. and manage to caught a squirrel in action :D

Shoooo fat and cute ...

Lotus Pond

Well, I guess that's all in PuTuoShan .. Actually there are more monastery that you can visit which are less crowds but as my time spent there is about a day only, so we only manage to visit the main one.

Oh if you are wondering why most of my photos are just the outside view, reason because normally the inside of the temple, we are not allowed to take photos as a respect to the god and goddess. But it's really nice in the inside with all the god statues. It's really a stunning view, trust me.

And to end the post, I hereby, wish all my readers a very good luck in whatever you wished for and whatever you are doing are in a smooth sailing conditions, good health and wealth. :)