Walk Outside 黄山观云度假村 (Huangshan Guanyun Hotel)

One of the advantages of being old is that it will get increasingly hard for us to sleep in, and this meant waking up earlier and when you are stuck in a hotel in the middle of nowhere; you would still attempt to explore the surroundings.

The above was exactly what we did at Huangshan Guanyun Hotel, on a misty morning, coupled with a nice, cool climate, and a surrounding that felt peaceful.

Not to also mention that the flock of ducks did provide some light entertainment for us. If I die, I would love to be reincarnated as a duck living at this hotel, where I can freely explore. Not sure if I would be food or not though.

Some village houses that don't seem to belong to the hotel but there didn't seem to be many around. Even though the houses look welcoming, I am not prepared to be slapped with a crime for trespassing. 

Large pen for poultry! Just a thought; the poultry should be quite scared of the cold? How do they regulate their temperature given that they thrive quite well in the tropics too?

The never-ending road and given the mistiness, it could very well lead to the fictional town of silent hill. Boy, I wouldn't dare to walk or even drive along this stretch at night. It would have given me the creeps and constant goosebumps! 

Daytime it was.

And a photo we shall take.

The fields were actually filled with rapeseed flowers, which would be one of the most common sights when you travel to the countryside of China; common yet breathtakingly beautiful especially when they covered a large plot of land.

Even though they might look like large clusters of blooms from afar, the rapeseed flowers are actually quite small. The flowers were on top of the plants; hence, giving the illusion that they were large swathes of yellow until you get closer.

As the board indicated, this area is part of the Yixian International Rural Tourism Resort that spanned 35 square kilometers and embodied huizhou culture. What's the most famous attraction in Yixian? It has to be Hongcun; a 900-year old village that's also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

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Click HERE for our 8 Days Huangshan, Tunxi, Yixian, Wuyuan, Mount Qiyun, Thousand-Island Lake, Hangzhou Tour Package to China via CTC Travel Agency

The Cruise Down Xin'An River at Huangshan City in Anhui Province [China]

The coach ride from Lakeside Ancient Village to the above tourist centre was so short; we could have just endured the drizzle and walk there ourselves without the need to keep our brollies! 

Okay, I need to eat my words as I just checked the map, and realized it was more than a kilometer away; a distance my elderly tour mates are not likely to cover without any complaint. 

Whatever the case, we shall be taking a cruise along Xin'An River; a vital waterway in the past, we shall be boarding the traditional-looking Chinese boat and covering just a short section of the 365-kilometer long river.

Unlike most boats, this was like a huge living room, making it easy for me to take a group photograph! With large window panes, it's also easier to take in the sights although the lack of windows meant it can get quite stuffy. 

There's also a second level for better ventilation and relaxing in the river breeze! Problem was, the drizzle was relentless and getting wet would have been so uncomfortable! Down to the first level. 

Dad with the China flag. 

Start of our cruise. Given how important this river was in ancient times, connecting the region to the Qiantang River in the northeast, I expected a lot of movements but river traffic was literally non-existent. Maybe easier and cheaper to take the roads. 

So, my eyes were drawn to the activities along the riverbanks. Like the pumping of river water, and the line of anglers waiting for their catch in the rain. 

Going to the front of the vessel, where the colors of the photographs turned out to be more vibrant. Nowadays, I don't bring along my bulky DSLR, and photographs taking using mobile phones can be quite hard to amend, I feel.

Cruising past the Lakeside Ancient Village we visited less than an hour ago and passing by the 111-meter long Huizhou Cultural Wall. It actually looked impressive from the above angle, although the buildings behind kind of spoilt it. Oh well, the juxtapositioning of both modern and historical. 

What I didn't know then was that the boat was travelling towards the Tunxi Old Street, one of the major attractions at Huangshan City, and pretty near where we would be staying for the night that day.

Going underneath the Pedestrian Guanguang Suo Bridge (人行观光索桥); honestly, this was one of the worst name ever since it just meant pedestrian scenic bridge, which could be given to any of the millions of bridges in China. 

It was spring but temperature remained pretty low.

And someone was swimming in the river! Respect max.

I thought we were continuing down the river, maybe to Tunxi Old Street but no, the boat made a u-turn. Distance it covered was maybe only about three kilometers! 

Well, the whole lot of us weren't complaining since it was pretty boring in the boat, and with the rain making it impossible to go up to the second deck; most of our tour mates appeared bored, with a few of them taking a snooze. 

You can roughly imagine with the above video. 

Bypassing the Lakeside Ancient Village again. 

Aside from the Lakeside Ancient Village and the Huizhou Cultural Wall, another highlight along the river would be the King Sun's Pavilion (孙王阁) on the right, on top of a hill. The history of the pavilion goes back to the Ming Dynasty but the original structure was destroyed in 1958, and this 18-meter replacement was completed in 2012. Sadly, no opportunity to climb up. 

Message with a very communist propaganda vibe but it actually meant "the world's beauty, and the beauty is Huangshan", playing homage to the province's most famous attraction.

About to reach the same terminal we departed from.

Chinese inscription on the cliffside; translating as the great scenery of Xin An! Well, I found it quite puzzling as you don't really need to have words to describe the scenery when you are there to experience it for real. 

And we were still continuing our way!

So, maybe a longer distance covered, I presume?

Remember my earlier sentence when I mentioned that boat traffic on the river was like non-existence for a historically vital waterway. Turned out a dam was built along the Xin'An river and that actually removed the practicality of having boats around to transport goods! 

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Click HERE for our 8 Days Huangshan, Tunxi, Yixian, Wuyuan, Mount Qiyun, Thousand-Island Lake, Hangzhou Tour Package to China via CTC Travel Agency

Mao Shan Wang Durians from the Factory from the Industrial Area @ Klang [Malaysia]

While in Klang for a short getaway in early July, we met up with Alex's gaming friends, and the conversation got into durians; for which Malaysia was having a bumper crop then, with prices falling even for the premium species like Mao Shan Wang! 

After sharing that there was a viral reel about durians being sold in a factory at an industrial area in Klang, our friend drove us there given the interesting experience, and that I am a sucker for durians and irresistible deals.

Notice placed outside; given the obscurity of the place, and that people wouldn't usually drive into the factory with no official business, I wonder the need for this A3, A4-sized piece of notice. To be fair, we thought we had gone to the wrong place as there wasn't any display of durians at all from the outside! 

Even though there were many cars parked inside, it still surprised me to find that the insides of the air-conditioned building were exactly devoid of people. That's not just the only space though.

Step outside to the back of the building and it's an open area with clusters of durians for customers to choose from! While not packed with a lot of people, it was a never-ending stream of customers coming in and out, in what appeared to be a sleepy industrial town on a Sunday! 

Durian prices were insanely cheap; from RM 6.00 a kilogram for kampong durian, to RM 15.00 a kilogram for Mao Shan Wang (abbreviated MSW)! In Singapore, the typical price is maybe S$15.00 thereabout a kilogram for MSW, which was about RM 47.00! 

No wonder so many people would literally using paper bags to pack their unopened durians! I heard that for some of clusters, they sell you by the paper bag for one pricing and you can squeeze in as many durians as you could.

For us, however, we only want good-quality calories since there's only so much we can ingest and the most expensive in this factory still cost only RM 20.00 a kilogram, about S$6.30! Problem now is how many durians should we buy? There were only four of us. 

Would four be enough? Or five? Maybe six since we would be taking away and likely going to a friend's house to slowly indulge the king of fruits? 

Can't remember how many fruits we got.

But it's 13.6 kilogram and they cost us RM 272.00! 

Since we didn't have the tool, nor the expertise to open up durians without hurting ourselves, let's leave the opening to the professionals, and the guy assigned to us was good! 

Within minutes, all our durians were dehusked and placed in plastic containers. 

p.s. my sustainability colleagues would likely nag at me for such wastage...

Anyway, a short video of the dehusking for your viewing!

A job well done! 

And gosh, six boxes! 

Arrived at our friend's place and we shall indulge, together with his dad. Alex's gaming friends are actually quite young at only about 23-25 years old, and I thought we should clean all of the above in no time.

Turned out to be too much for us! We only managed to eat like at most four boxes and I was literally stuffed! The durians were pretty good with plenty of creamy pulp, flat seeds, although quality wise; they were still two notches below what I would get from Xiao Hei in Singapore. Whatever the case, I can't complain given the prices we paid for!

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Address

Lot 6476, Minho (M) Berhad, Batu Off 42100, 

Lebuh Sungai Puloh & Jalan Cempakasari 6, 

42100 Klang, Selangor, Malaysia