Singapore & Shanghai 2024

April 2024

My first venture into Mainland China. Read more

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Traveler Singapore & Shanghai 2024
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- Apr 4, 2024, 3:28pm
- 🌬 26 °C
- Altitude: 16 m
- United States Hawaii Honolulu County Mokumoa Island (historical)Honolulu International Airport 21.331438, -157.92018121°19’53” N 157°55’13” W
Day 1
Honolulu to Tokyo Haneda
April 4 in the United States ⋅ 🌬 26 °C
Japan Airlines JL71 | HNL/HND
Economy Class
Boeing 787-9 | JA873J
ATD/1546 | ATA/1916+1
Lounge: Sakura Lounge
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- Apr 5, 2024, 9:59pm
- ☁️ 11 °C
- Altitude: 8 m
- Japan Tokyo Ōta Keihinjima Tokyo International Airport 35.545738, 139.76939435°32’45” N 139°46’10” E
Day 2
Tokyo Haneda to Singapore
April 5 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C
Japan Airlines JL35 | HND/SIN
Economy Class
Boeing 767-300ER | JA607J
ATD/0013 | ATA/0643
Lounge: Sakura First Class Lounge
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- Apr 6, 2024, 1:29pm
- ⛅ 33 °C
- Altitude: 192 m
- Singapore Central Singapore Community Development Council Fuyong Estate Bukit Timah Hill 1.35467, 103.7764361°21’17” N 103°46’35” E
Day 3
Bukit Timah Nature Reserve
April 6 in Singapore ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C
My one and only priority for the day was to combat jetlag by staying awake all day and having a good sleep after dinner. To that end, I went on a hike up Bukit Timah Hill to make myself stay awake and also to tire myself so that I would sleep soundly. It was absolutely sweltering, but it worked! That night, I had a good sleep after dinner and I was pretty much adjusted to the time zone by the next day.Read more
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- Apr 9, 2024, 4:29pm
- ☁️ 32 °C
- Altitude: 16 m
- Singapore Central Singapore Community Development Council Kampong O’Carroll Scott National University of Singapore 1.301445, 103.7735751°18’5” N 103°46’25” E
Day 6
Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum
April 9 in Singapore ⋅ ☁️ 32 °C
My friend Min wanted to visit the Death By Man (sic.) exhibit at the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, so on Tuesday we trooped over there after her workday.

Situated on the National University of Singapore campus, the Lee Kong Chian Museum houses a collection of exhibits on flora and fauna, including taxidermied animals, displays of moss and fungi, and three dinosaur skeletons from Wyoming.

Upstairs, we found the Death By Man exhibit, which is a rather discomforting collection of prints of animals and birds killed by human contact in Singapore. The animals and birds were anthropomorphized and given names. Accompanying each frame was a brief description of how the animal died. Most of the birds died by flying into buildings, while most of the animals died after being hit by vehicles.

A select number of the animals were also given a backstory based on what the artist knew about the circumstances of their deaths. There were a few extra sad standout stories, including a pet iguana tossed from a highrise when the owner no longer wanted it as a pet, a woman who suffocated a harmless snake in three plastic bags because she was convinced it was going to kill her and her children, and a man who used to feed a monkey, but then got tired of the monkey's antics so he set his dogs on the monkey.

Overall, this was a sad, horrible indictment of human fecklessness. But, it was a worth a visit, if only to jolt us out of our complacency.Read more
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- Apr 11, 2024, 2:07pm
- ☁️ 31 °C
- Altitude: 37 m
- Singapore Central Singapore Community Development Council Prince Edward Park Nus 1.305612, 103.7745741°18’20” N 103°46’28” E
Day 8
Berlin Wall Remnants
April 11 in Singapore ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C
I have wanted to visit this Atlas Obscura listed site since I first learned about it several years ago. I resolved to seek it out on this trip. Unfortunately, my first two attempts to visit it were thwarted; the first by lack of time, and the second by lack of nearby parking. For my third attempt, I took public transport.

Situated in University Village next to the National University of Singapore, these two slabs of the Berlin Wall were gifted to Singapore in 2015. They stand on top of a small hillock, and they are not visible from the footpath at the bottom of the hill. Due to the lack of directional signage and visibility, one would not know the wall relics were there unless they read about it on Atlas Obscura or some other site. I felt sad that such an important piece of world history would stand forlorn and ignored.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/berlin-wall…Read more
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- Apr 13, 2024, 7:32am
- ☁️ 27 °C
- Altitude: 8 m
- Singapore Kampong Ayer Gemuruh Singapore Changi Airport 1.36427, 103.9924551°21’51” N 103°59’33” E
Day 10
Singapore to Guangzhou
April 13 in Singapore ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C
China Southern Airlines CZ352 | SIN/CAN
Economy Class
Airbus A320NEO | B-32ET
ATD/0800 | ATA/1159

I chose to fly China Southern to Shanghai via Guangzhou because their fare was reasonable, and I could accrue some miles (but not status qualifying though) on American. I also had lounge access within China thanks to American and China Southern's reciprocal relationship.

The cheapest OneWorld fare, which was on Cathay Pacific, cost over $200 more, and it was in a fare class that wouldn't earn me any miles or loyalty points. I do want to experience Cathay's First Class Lounges in HKG while I still have OneWorld Emerald status, but I couldn't justify the extra $200 expenditure.

This was my first flight on a mainland Chinese carrier. The flight itself was fine, but the hard and soft product was definitely less refined than that of competing Asian carriers. One thing I did find interesting was the obvious presence of an air marshal on the flight. I guess all the reports of badly behaved Mainland Chinese tourists led to this.Read more
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- Apr 13, 2024, 7:08pm
- ☁️ 28 °C
- Altitude: 13 m
- China Guangdong Donghu Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport 23.407892, 113.30960823°24’28” N 113°18’35” E
Day 10
Guangzhou to Shanghai Pudong
April 13 in China ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C
China Southern Airlines CZ8211 | CAN/PVG
Economy Class
Boeing 787-9 | B-20C6
ATD/2012 | ATA/2235
Lounge: Sky Pearl VIP Lounge

I took almost an hour to go through arrival formalities at Guangzhou. The immigration officer who processed me was very brusque. Once I was through to the sterile domestic departures area, I found absolutely no signage for the China Southern lounge. It wasn’t marked on the terminal map either, but I found it using the terminal map search function. As it turned out, the lounge was appropriately signposted for local joining passengers after they go through security, but not for passengers coming connecting from the international terminal.

Upon arrival to the lounge, I was channeled to the section reserved for economy class passengers with status. The lounge was aesthetically pleasing, but the food was passable at best. I am grateful for this lounge access, though, because what was supposed to be a five hour layover became a seven hour layover, ostensibly due to weather en route.

We boarded the flight from a remote bay. At the remote bay, I saw that CZ8211 was to be operated by a B787 instead of the originally scheduled B777-300ER. Once we were on board, the captain announced a further one hour delay, but we did take off half an hour later.

Sadly, the delay to this flight meant that I would arrive in Pudong after the last Maglev train departed. I really wanted to try the Maglev, so this was a disappointment. Jeff waited for me to arrive and then we took a ride share to our accommodation. The drive into town took almost an hour.Read more
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- Apr 14, 2024, 8:32am
- ☁️ 17 °C
- Altitude: 9 m
- China Shanghai 31.242722, 121.48658831°14’34” N 121°29’12” E
Day 11
First Look at The Bund
April 14 in China ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C
We had a good night's sleep at the Shanghai Fish Inn Bund.

We began our exploration of Shanghai with a quick walk to The Bund from our centrally located hotel. The skyline, juxtaposed next to the traffic on the Huangpu River, was quite spectacular.

I am embarrassed to admit I ate breakfast at Starbuck's, but I was hungry and there weren't other options in the immediate vicinity. A short while later, I kicked myself when I saw the food options at the nearby East Nanjing Pedestrian Street.Read more
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- Apr 14, 2024, 9:35am
- ☁️ 18 °C
- Altitude: 9 m
- China Shanghai Huangpu 31.239738, 121.48056831°14’23” N 121°28’50” E
Day 11
East Nanjing Road
April 14 in China ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C
Leaving The Bund, we walked over to the nearby East Nanjing Pedestrian Street. We enjoyed viewing various quirky displays and sampling some of the food on display, including a stall dedicated to White Rabbit. There, we both had a White Rabbit ice cream.

My favorite site on East Nanjing Road was undoubtedly Pop Mart, which featured some rather disturbing looking toys and figurines. We both also liked a mall with a dragon head on one end and a dragon tail on the other.Read more
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- Apr 14, 2024, 10:26am
- ☁️ 19 °C
- Altitude: 12 m
- China Shanghai Huangpu 31.234179, 121.46777331°14’3” N 121°28’4” E
Day 11
Marriage Market at People’s Square
April 14 in China ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C
A short walk west from East Nanjing Pedestrian Street, nestled within the green space of People's Square is a meat market of sorts: here, parents put out posters to help find prospective marriage partners for their single children.

Walking into the park, we easily located the Marriage Market. On the ground, parents placed descriptions of their single children. Even with my limited Mandarin, I figured out that the posters listed attributes such as their year of birth (most were born in the 1980s), their height (but not their weight), their jobs and educational qualifications, where they live, and in some cases what kind of mate they were looking for. I only saw one poster with a photograph of the child, and that photo was likely outdated. A fair number of the kids were located in the US or Singapore.

There were quite a few parents in attendance, but none of their kids were to be seen. I can imagine their 40-something kids saying: "Mom/Dad, you're embarrassing me!".

After viewing the Marriage Market, we wandered the grounds and enjoyed the greenery.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/shanghai-ma…Read more
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