In City Plaza and Walmart: First Shopping spree

Traveling during winter season is never favored by most people; due to the cold climate and the heavy weight of the thick clothing, not to mention the bundles of layers one have to put on.
I am not exactly a fan, but I am not particularly against the idea of traveling during winter either. In fact, I find it quite fun to be able to layer and stuff my hands into the pockets of a nice and warm coat.
Call me crazy, but I think it's something fun considering that I wear the same type of clothing throughout the whole year here at home as we have only summer all year long:p (I know most people would kill to stay in a place like my home country :)

Anyway, after dinner on our first night, we went out to the nearest shopping mall by cab to do a bit of shopping, and to get some groceries for home.

In City Plaza is the nearest and also one of the most popular malls in the Suzhou Industrial Park area.

If you think that Suzhou is a rural and tourist area surrounded only by canals and village folk, then think again, because Suzhou is as developed as most of the major cities in China/Asia and they offer facilities to the expatriates staying there.
Of course, I can't compare the number of shopping malls to that of Shanghai or New York, but the malls here are still decent and even offers lots of international brands!
(You will see more of In City as I made a few trips there during my stay :)


Posing with the kids:)
They never seem to have a problem going out in the cold!

In City offers fashion, food, home stuffs all under one roof with Walmart as their anchor tenant, and international fashion labels like H&M, Zara, Uniqlo, Mango, Next, Promod, DKNY Jeans, Guess, Calvin Klein, and many more!
The best part is, most of them were on sale at that time! *winks*

Anyway, we didn't shop much on the first night, as we only needed to get the essentials; which for me, is something to keep me really warm as I can get cold easily.

My long john or thermal wear!

Value buy from my first shopping trip, and kept me warm throughout my trip.
Definitely recommended for anyone traveling to a cold country; don't leave without at least a pair of long john in your luggage!

Arrival at Pudong International Airport and Car Journey to destination

The flight from KL International Airport was approximately four and a half hours before we finally arrived at the Pudong International Airport.
I can't believe that it has been 5 years since my last visit to Shanghai and that I came to this place again; but this time not on business.

The airport has not changed a bit, but then again, don't all airports look the same?



Still, I just can never resist to take out my camera and start snapping photos to beat those flight blues away and feel cheerful immediately that I am on vacation!
Yeah, it's a me-thing :)

Despite this not being a business trip, I was still pampered with the luxury of being picked up by the airport by a car which was pre-arranged by my brother-in-law to ensure a comfortable journey to his place.



Lovely car, which offered a good view!

There is really no need for A/C as it was winter, instead we really need the heater! :p

Our journey took another 2 hours to my brother-in-law's place, and do you want to guess our destination?

The sights during the journey





I guess it will be a little hard to guess the destination, as it turned dark really soon, although these photos were taken at 5pm!



We finally arrived, and despite this being one of the shorter flights (compared to 8-20 hours type), I was still exhausted as it took us the whole day to reach our destination in China!
Welcome to Suzhou for me :)

Flight Food

I am finally starting the posts on my travel in December 2011; and to reveal where I have been for my Christmas cum New Year break.

I took off from the local international airport on the 26th December 2011, and having to travel from where we were to the main airport required us to wake up and leave our premises from as early as 5am!
Anyway, we took a connecting flight to the capital and then we were on our 5 hours flight to our destination (to be revealed in later posts)

A snapshot of the food we have during our flight:
Nasi Lemak with sambal shrimps


Fish with mushrooms, long beans and omelette


Fruits


To be continued...

You can take a guess, where was I heading to? ;)