.....times of refreshing.....

Here's one of the pic I took of Hangzhou, if I didn't remember the place wrongly.

A night market at Yiwu. It was long and crowded and mostly sold winter wear, veggies, mobile phones and lots of street food.

Another glance at the 'pasar malam'... there's a lot of bargaining going on as we bought our winter clothes

It was also located to rows of shops nearby where we can go in to the shops for more shopping.

Below and above, the hotels we stayed in Yiwu.

My kid busy checking out the wifi connection ...

This is Yiwu's International Trade City, mostly selling stuffs in bulks like bags, socks, shoes, clothes and etc.

Another view of Yiwu , capture near the International Trade City. It was cold outside!! Brrr... can't even see the sun!

Then, when we were at Haining, we were  lucky to stay at Haining International Holiday Hotel, which is at Gongren Road, and there lies a shopping belt. Thus, after leaving our stuffs at the hotel, we went out to walk around. It's a street filled with departmental stores and lots of shops, mostly selling winter clothes, shoes, mobile phones and street food, but what surprises me was I can't find any restaurants or cafe for a snack. :( However, we spent a lot of time over here for shopping.

Stepping out from the hotel and checking out the gorgeous ladies ... :P

The place turning vibrant as dark falls , at 6pm.

Another view of the street, it was around 5pm+ then.

My kid checking out the shops

More shops opposite as it became night at 6pm...

We got ourselves mainly winter wear like sweater, cap, ear warmers and winter shoes for the remaining of the trip since it's cheaper there. We also got some local cookies and tidbits, as well as trying some street food like sausages and 'kebab'. Too bad, I didn't capture the food pixs on these two nights but more to come. :)

This is the first time I heard about Haining, which is a city located in between Shanghai and Hangzhou. We went to Haining after a day and night stop-over at Yiwu, which is another city I never heard of , till I joined this trip, though I have heard of Suzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing and etc. Perhaps the most enjoyable part of our trip to Haining was the visit to the ancient city of Yanguan, as well as our DIY shopping at night in the city where our hotel is conveniently located at the shopping belt. Coming back to the Yanguan Ancient City, I always hope to visit those ancient houses with a canal in between, where I always saw it in those wuxia Chinese dramas. Well, I have my wishes fulfilled! It's so nice to see so many beautiful places over there, amid the cold weather. Well, the weather was very cold during these few days where it swing from 3 celcius to 8 celsius, but I love it! It's even nice to walk at the open pathways in the ancient city.

The entrance to the city, which is a fort. I climbed up to the fort and had good view around.

I am captivated by the ancient houses, which is as though I traveled back in time or I was at those filming sets

Another view of the walking path. Those concrete blocks are so sturdy!

A picturesque view except 'bomb' by one of my tour fellow :)

The river that I mentioned. What I understand is that during in the old days, the river served as a transportation line.

We also checked out the interior of one of the houses, which was maintained for historical and educational purpose. We also needed to pay to enter.

An intrinsic carvings of one of the entrance

The seats of the hosts

Not sure what is this, probably a decorative item?

Seats for guests

Another hall in the inner section of a house

A stage

Another interesting one is an ancient brothel, where a 2008 Chinese drama, The Duke and  The Cauldron was filmed here. I did watch that serial back then!

The entrance to the ancient brothel

Drawings of ancient ladies

A room in the brothel

Here's a view from the top of the fort, where I climbed up when leaving the city. Should have ask the lady to turn around...hahaha

A view from the fort

Another view from the fort showing trees besides the river

 Oh.. We also had our lunch at the ancient city and it's an healthy lunch as we ate mostly veggies except for one or two meats, where I enjoyed the pork braised meat a lot!

'Ma Lak' tofu or Spicy tofu.... good for the cold weather

Can't remember this dish ... err.. pork with yam or radish .. I ate too much there! hahaha...

Braised Pork meat ...yummy

Cauliflowers

Another veggie... I can't recognised this one too

Yes, veggie again ...

And more veggies....

We head off to the hotel for our DIY shopping at night later. And, again, I love the cold weather especially at night ... muahahahaha!

Have a great week!