SanrioTown’s Travel the World  Event

(http://blog.hellokitty.com/traveltheworld)

My family and I went on a trip to China from May 28 - June 7, 2008. It was the first ever trip for the whole family so we were all very excited! We didn’t join a tour though. We booked our flights and hotels online and searched for maps, subway routes, and tourist spots on the internet. Most of the people there can’t speak English. It was a good thing my parents can speak Mandarin, although not very fluently. During our flight from Manila - Shanghai, I won an inflatable giraffe in a “bring me” game.

DAY 1 - Shanghai

I met up with my friend from high school who now lives in Shanghai. She offered to be our tour guide for the day. We walked around the city, went to People’s Square, drank some milk tea, and had lunch at Crystal Jade Restaurant. My family then took a train from Shanghai to Beijing that night.

DAY 2 - Beijing

We walked around the city during the day. At night, we went to Wangfujing district and bought food from the famous Food Street. They eat anything there. I saw scorpions, starfishes, beetles, lizards, crickets, etc. We just bought the boring but reliable pork, beef and chicken.

DAY 3 - Beijing

We went to see the Great Wall at Badaling. We rode the cable car and climbed the great wall till we reached the topmost part there. We ate peking duck at the famous Quanjude restaurant for dinner.

DAY 4 - Beijing

We hired an English-speaking tour guide to take us to the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven and Summer Palace. We also drove by the Bird’s Nest Stadium on the way back to the hotel.

Forbidden City

Temple of Heaven

Summer Palace

Bird’s Nest Stadium 

 DAY 5 - Beijing We rode the bus to Beijing Zoo and spent the day there. Rode train to Xian at night. DAY 6 - Xian

We went straight to the hotel to rest. We walked around the city a bit then had dinner near the hotel.

DAY 7 - Xian

We rented a car with a driver to take us to see the Terra Cotta Warriors. After lunch, we went to see the Xian Bell Tower and Tang Paradise. We then rode the train back to Shanghai.  

Terra Cotta Warriors    Tang Paradise (notice my hello kitty necklace ^_^)

Rest day again. We rented an apartment with a 3-bedroom suite. It came with a kitchen, dining area, living room, and 2 bathrooms. We walked around the city then had dinner at our “home.” We walked to the famous Nanjing Road.
 

DAY 9 - Hangzhou

Took a day trip to Hangzhou via train with Kathlyn. We took a boat ride at West Lake, drank their famous green tea, hiked a bit in the mountains and visited an old Indian temple. 

  DAY 10 - Shanghai
  MY BIRTHDAY! I met up with Kathlyn and her friend. She treated me and my family to lunch in a mall. Guess what I saw inside the mall? A HELLO KITTY STORE!! I just HAD to take a picture.

  Kath and her friend then brought us to the Maglev train station. The train uses a technology called magnetic levitation. The train moves at super fast speed because it does not touch the rail. The train was said to travel at 330km in 8 minutes. It will bring us straight to the Shanghai Pudong International Airport for our flight back to the Philippines.
 

Before we said goodbye, Kath gave me a box which I assumed was a cake. She asked me to open and eat it in the airport while waiting for the flight. When I finally opened the box, I was so surprised to see a HELLO KITTY CAKE!! I was in hello kitty heaven and couldn’t stop smiling. It was the best birthday ever! =)