Adventure on my own

My companion for the two days in Hangzhou was a fellow teacher from Australia - and despite a lot of differences we got on well. She was a nurse, I had been a nurse, she was from Tasmania and I was from the mainland, she liked to smoke, I hate smoking - and so it went. She also liked to stay up late at night, while I liked an early night, and she enjoyed sleeping in while I was an "early bird", so the next morning I was up early, dressed and headed out for breakfast at Starbucks. (Not that I am a great fan of Starbucks, but the food is pretty good and it was close by!)

The lake was a wonderful picture as you can see from the photos. Around the lake in the parks are often groups of people doing their morning exercise. This is a common sight all around China, and even if they do not go out into the parks, people do their daily exercises religiously. It is important for "good health."

I sat and enjoyed my breakfast before setting off to Hefung St. The tourist books said this opened at 8 am - but perhaps that is summer. In any case I set of along Yan'an Road enjoying the new scenery.

At one stage a man came "flying" towards me on roller blades and said "hello". I replied "hello" and he said "Great, you speak English." These sort of conversations are common - not all light skinned foreigners are English speakers! He was asking for direction. Now, of course, I'd not be the best person to ask directions would I? I mean, I'm not a local. But where did he want to go?

Starbucks! How funny! As I had not long ago walked out the door, I certainly knew where it was, and I laughed as I told him the directions! Funny world, isn't it?

When I reached Hefung Street it was mostly deserted, but some of the stalls and shops were beginning to open. I had come specifically for the music one, but it didn't open in the time I was there.

However, it was great to wander around without crowds milling around and I wandered the whole length of this historic street taking photos and looking in the shops.

I met a calligrapher and he showed me some of his work and I was delighted to buy a little piece, and then I bought a magic trick for my grandson, before I headed back to Wushen Square and caught a taxi back to Starbucks where my fellow traveller was enjoying her breakfast.

We went back to the hotel and grabbed our bags, checked out (and yes, ) we did get the balance of the "deposit" back. However, we did think it was very funny. "Wait a moment" the receptionist said - and the young man who was also working on the counter went up to check. Perhaps he counted the condoms, perhaps the towels, but he soon appeared and we saw his "thumbs up" from the staircase and the money was duly handed over to us.

We found a taxi and headed for the East bus station and got our tickets - and only had to wait 10 minutes for the bus to Shaoxing.

We were back by early afternoon after an uneventful bus journey. Time to finish off preparing for our departure from Shaoxing back to Australia.

West Lake - Hangzhou

Marco Polo visited Hangzhou and said wonderful things about the place which had been an ancient fishing village hundreds of years ago. Now it is a top tourist destination - being not all that far from Shanghai. The West Lake, reputed to be the most beautiful lake in all of China is a feature. Here are some of my photos of the lake taken in January 2009.

Art Galleries

We'd seen an exhibition advertised in More Hangzhou and we had some idea where the gallery was, so we kept walking from the China Silk Museum and the hotel, and eventually came across this building. No where could we see any English, but I thought it was the gallery. As you can see from the photo there was no English visible, although I certainly recall from a previous visit to Hangzhou, that this was a gallery.

The row of cane floral arrangements suggested that something had started. In China these appear in front of new businesses or places where there was a big event occurring, so it was a good guess.

We went in and sure enough there were two floors of beautiful traditional Chinese paintings. we spent quite a lot of time admiring the artwork before heading off back in the direction of our hotel.

Along the way there were several other galleries and we wandered in and looked around. There are advantages in being foreign in China - one is that often rather than try and test their poor English on a foreigner they hide and let him or her wander through unhindered. If they speak English well, they tend to pester. Luckily for us we found no one interested in talking with us!

Another find along the way was a marvellous homewares shop - we could see the merchandise through the window, but where was the entry? We wandered close to where we felt the entry should be and a great wall opened - a wide timber door that looked like a wall!

Inside there were many wonderful items. Luckily (or unluckily) our suitcases were already overflowing so our spending was on hold.

A bit of culture in Hangzhou

The China Silk Museum was on our agenda for the next morning, but first of all it was breakfast at Starbucks. The weather was wonderful, the sun was shining, the skies were blue and the cold didn't seem to penetrate the way it did in Shaoxing. We dallied over breakfast - there was no hurry - and when we left we hailed a taxi to the Silk Museum, which is not far from the West Lake. It is such a pretty city and each time we see it we see the changes brought on by the seasons. It was winter and many of the trees had lost their leaves. Hangzhou is a clean and beautiful city! The Silk Museum soon appeared - quite a modern grand building (sorry, no photo from me but you can see it here) surrounded by beautiful gardens. We went inside and followed the trail.

The exhibits were marvellous and each one had English for us to read, so we were able to understand everything. This museum was different than the Silk Museum we visited in Suzhou - it focused on the silk thread and fabric. As you walked towards an exhibition hall which was dimly lit, the lights came on making it somewhat of a mysterious journey through the museum. Each exhibit behind glass windows was exceptional. There was so much to see, so many fabulous fabrics, so many amazing old clothes, so much to learn. It certainly begs several visits and as it is FREE it would be good to see often.

We wandered for quite a while - and surprisingly did not see another visitor there. Is it on the tourist route? It certainly should be, but the tourists were flocking to other places around the lake. When we returned to the reception area, we saw a display of memorabilia and asked at reception where the shop was. Isn't there always a shop???? In a rather casual way she pointed to a set of stairs at one side of the grand entrance hall, and said "there". The only sign at the top of the stairs was "Toilets" so we wandered down. At the bottom of the stairs we found ourselves in the midst of a busy construction zone. Picking our way through piles of rock, bricks, cement and timber we set out to find "the shop."

Soon Chinese speaking people yelled at us and with difficulty we tried to explain we had been sent down her to "the shop." One of the ladies said "Come" and we followed her through more construction areas, and then a long walk along paths, through gardens and past ponds, to "the shop." which turned out to be the place where people were buying silk clothes. That is not what we wanted but we thanked her, and wandered around with what appeared to be a bus load of tourists (ah, so tourists do visit the Silk Museum??) before finding the exit. We walked back to the entrance, still couldn't find the shop to purchase the small gifts we were after, and set off on another adventure.

By this time we were looking for a W.C. - and there were many signs along the road and through the gardens pointing in one direction or another, but we never found the building we were after, although we did find a construction zone which indicated that there were more renovations happening. On the opposite side of the road was a hotel - so it was there that we spent the next half hour or so, not oly taking advantage of their facilities, but enjoying a cup of tea in the Tea Bar overlooking a wonderful garden. It was winter, but we could only imagine how this garden would look in Spring or Summer. On foot we set off again - holding our copy of More Hangzhou which had inforamtion about an Art Exhibition near the West Lake. Some more culture would be good.

Crushing Peanuts

We were visiting Hefeng Street in Hangzhou, when we came across this sweet stall. There were two fit young men, armed with wooden mallets smashing some sort of peanut sweet. Smash, bang, crash as the peanuts were crushed, and then the sweet was carved into neat squares. We did not buy any - but watched in fascination as they were made.

Orioles Singing in the Willows

The leaves have fallen from the Willows now, but the avenue of weeping Willows is rather stark as the leaves have fallen with the cold weather. The trunks of the trees have been painted white. I was told it was in part to keep them warm, but I also learn that the white paint has some chemical that kills parasites. I think this is in preparation for wrapping the trees in rope. The process is to keep the trees warm and strong during winter.

Between the avenue of Willows is some wonderful stone carvings with willows and birds. At the entrance is the round stone with the carvings of many birds (orioles) . You can read more about it here.

I have been there when the grass was a brilliant green, and the green leaves on the willows helped make a very pretty picture.

Hangzhou weekend

Around the West Lake.

I went to Hangzhou for the conference for foreign teachers, and there was a proposed tour of Hangzhou in the afternoon of Sunday, but as the conference was scarce on numbers it finished n the Saturday afternoon, and the conference organisers offered a tour of the city on the Sunday morning.

Our first stop was the West Lake and the Su Causeway which takes one across from one side of the lake to the other. Our bus took us to the start and was there waiting when we finished. There were already quite a few people walking whe we arrived not long after 8 am, so it would have been packed later.

There were some beautiful photo opportunities - and with the water so still, there were some wonderful reflections. It is not surprising to hear that this has been voted by many as one of the most beautiful spots in China.

We visited the site of the Southern Song Imperial City and the Orioles Singing in the Willows. Our guide was not a tour guide - so it took us a while to understand that when she stopped walking we were "at" the place that was on our sheet!

I had previously been to the Orioles Singing in the Willows but did not know it then. We got back on the bus and after a short distance on the bus, it stopped and we walked to Wishen Square and Jefang Street. Wow! That was wonderful.

Day two in Hangzhou

Spot Versace????

As we woke after a good sleep we could hear the rain, so we had to decide what to do. We had bought "breakfast" the night before at a little shop - coffee, buns, jellied fruit etc. We had little joy learning about the facilities at the hotel, but we learned on booking out that their breakfast was good. We watched others eating it - wishing we had known about it before hand.

We had decided to go to the Silk Museum which is one of the many attractions around the West Lake and not far from our hotel. It was still raining and while on our way to the museum in the taxi, and noting the absolute chaos of the traffic with huge tour buses, taxis etc in the pouring ran, we decided to go straight into the shopping area near the lake. We didn't want to lug our backpacks around the museum which would have been crowded, so opted for the alternative. We decided we would go back to Hangzhou, but plan our tourist activities during the week when it was quieter.

We had found a good shop on the Saturday, so did a little Xmas shopping there, before finding an Italian coffee shop. Oddly enough it had a great array of stunning cakes in its menu, but had none. (Must have been a busy day on Saturday) so we had to settle for coffee, which was served in wonderful tea cups - just as if we were at a tea party in Oz.

So back to the lake and we walked in the opposite direction this time. Past the designer label shops. You should be able to see them in the photograph.

Now "third world" this country is not! I've never seen so many of the top expensive label shops anywhere and there seem to be on every street corner here! Not far from here was the Ferrari sow room and the Rolls Royce Show room!

Just along from these shops was the Hangzhou Hilton! We had coffee there later, and we nearly fell over when we saw the bill!!!

We have decided to try and get to Hangzhou during the week - even if we have to wait until after the college exams in January. It really is a fabulous wonderful place. Cleaner than Shaoxing, and less chaotic traffic too. The tree lined streets could well be out of any place in the world! It is beautiful!

We left the Hilton in all its luxury and caught a taxi, hailed by the concierge, to go to the bus station, where we had to walk the last few hundred meters as the traffic is so chaotic that the taxis can't get close. We got our tickets and had a safe trip back to Shaoxing.

A night in Hangzhou

Another teacher and I decided to visit Hangzhou for the weekend. Originally the plan was to catch a train - as I am not keen on the human dodgem game that traffic plays on the roads, but when we went to get train tickets, there were no seats left and the idea of spending an hour standing up in a packed train did not appeal, so we chose to go by bus.

So on the Saturday morning we were up early and caught a bus to the "Big Bus Station" and only had 10 minutes to wait for the bus to Hangzhou. There were three of us - my "partner in crime" as Sue has been described by Phillip, who is from Western Australia and was meeting a school friend in Hangzhou - they had kept in touch since college days in India over 30 years ago, but had not seen each other in that time.

When the bus arrived in Hangzhou we caught a cab, but had trouble getting the taxi driver to understand where we needed to go to meet Phillips friend. In the end we made it of course, and Sue and I sat and had ac up of coffee there. Even that was funny. The porter told us that the coffee lounge was on the second floor, but there was a restaurant there, but did not serve coffee, so we went to the restaurant on the third floor which was closed. So back to the ground floor and reception who told us that there was no coffee place at the hotel, but as we were about to leave a guy offered to help us, and pointed to the "Lobby bar" on the ground floor, within sight of the receptionist who must have been at least a little curious as we were indeed served with our coffee!

The amazing stone sculpture was in the lobby of the hotel - Days Hotel.

We eventually found a taxi and headed for the tourist area near the West Lake. Another non English speaking taxi driver, and lots of pointing, writing, and showing the map. One thing we have learned is that even the taxi drivers do not seem to understand reading maps - even if the map is in Chinese, which ours was!

It was raining, so with umbrella over us, we wandered around the shops, and stopped for coffee again, and then lunch, before wandering around the lake. There is no doubt that you'd need a couple of days to see it all, and even with the rain it was quite crowded!

We found a wine bar, but it only sold wine by the bottle. Too much for me so we settled for tea. (How disappointing!) Then when the rain came again we got a taxi and headed for our hotel, which was on the other side of the lake. The traffic was chaotic - so many tourist buses, wedding cars, taxis, and bikes all in the pouring rain. Our taxi drive stopped and told us we were there and pointed to a building with Chinese writing. So we paid and got out, only to find that we were not a the right place, but a kind lady pointed us to a place further along the road, so we had to find it ourselves.

We had seen photos of the hotel, a Chinese hotel called Flower Inn, but the photo was somewhat misleading. It was tucked in the midst of old apartments, but was quite modern. No one spoke English but we paid our deposit (despite giving them my credit card details too!) and the showed us to our room. Sue and I just laughed - it had one double bed in it, so before we even put our bag on the floor we went back to reception, and in the end they found a double room with two beds!

The room was clean and modern, and quite comfortable. Considering we were paying around $40 for it, it was good value. Nothing to complain about at all! After we dropped our luggage we went for a walk as the rain had eased a little. We found our way through luxurious villa cmplex, where the guards - all three of them happily waved us through. It was beautiful - even with two white geese in the pond!

We kept going around the lake. Shame it was raining, but it was even so, quite beautiful. As it was getting dark we headed back to the hotel. We had decided to eat in the hotel as it was wet and miserable, and we'd lost our enthusiasm about finding our way back into the city.

The restaurant "attached" to the hotel was awful, and besides we had to sit outside and it was cold, so we wandered around to another restaurant fo sorts. Quite primitive and no one spoke English, so we were taken into the kitchen to point at the food we wanted. It wasn't bad - but I'd not hurry back!

There was nothing to do - so we lay on the beds watching the Hangzhou Fireworks Festival on TV, until we decided to go to bed. Despite the noisy guys in the restaurant and few other comings and goings, we did have a good sleep!

Autumn Osmanthus

We saw them before we noticed the fragrance. People were carrying sprigs of a plant with tiny white flowers. I had not seen them before - but have since learned that they do not grow anywhere but in Asia. The Japanese teachers speak highly of this fragrant shrub. There are huge hedges of this evergreen plant which has the tiny flowers at the beginning of winter.

Initially we did not notice the frangrance of the bushes here as apparently the plants here do not have as strong a fragrance as in other places. Perhaps it is because they do not get much sun, I do not know, but we have been able to detect a pleasant fragrance from the plants, but not as strong as some folk describe.

In the bus, the bus driver will have a sprig of it on the dashboard and people take sprigs of it with them. Perhaps picking it from hedges in the street I do not know.

In Hangzhou there is a special event in the Botanical Gardens, and if you click here you will see a much better photo of the flowers.

More photos taken at Hangzhou

The magnolia in bloom at Hangzhou near the West Lake.

Boats on the West Lake - in the centre is some sort of statue.

The fish in the lake on the island in West Lake.

Tourists at the West Lake

The boats above - and their interior below.

The tourists sit on the chairs inside the boats.

A boat on the West Lake

Lost in Hangzhou

OK, I'm not lost, and really wasn't. But let me explain. Two of us decided to go to Hangzhou for the day yesterday.

Hangzhou is a city just an hour from here - I think was the original capital of China many years ago. It has a population of 6.9 million people.

It is famous for its West Lake and Silk Museum among many places of interest. M2 and I had been through the outskirts of the city on our way to Shaoxing, so we hadn't really been there. This was going to be an experience. And it didn't disappoint.



Island in the West Lake (above)

We had our destination, what tickets we had to buy, what bus we had to catch, all written in Chinese characters. We did very well and arrived - at a different bus station to what we had been told. No matter, we were safely there.

We were set upon by touts - wanting us to catch their minibus and eventually we haggled and got a fair price (bit expensive - but we were OK with it.)

We arrived safely at the famed West Lake. We walked around to see the shopping, and the people. Thousands of people were out walking.

We had our first drama in a restaurant. No English. We left hungry because everything we ordered they didn't have any left. So we got on one of the quaintest boats we have seen! Photos below.

We disembarked onto pretty islands and walked around. It wasn't a good day weather wise - a bit cold and smoggy - but all was fine. We met some Danish people and had lunch with them. Despite having a Chinese interpreter things didn't work out there. They messed our order up. But in the end we did get a meal which was quite tasty.

From there we caught a taxi to where we thought our bus went from. "No bus. No bus." No English either, so we did not know what to do. The information desk was our next stop. No English. But we were "saved" by a young Chinese man, who had also been given the wrong information about the bus. We caught a taxi to another bus terminal and managed to find a seat on the late bus. We sat around in a very crowded waiting room until our bus departed. Without him we would really have been in a pickle. In the end all was well.

We were safely transported back to Shaoxing by the bus (really a coach), and then we had trouble finding our own bus back to the college.

Four taxi rides, two restaurant meals, one boat ride, two coach trips, for little more than $25!

What a day. We certainly thanked our Chinese saviour. A wonderful young man whose help saved us from disaster I think. :)

Boats on the Westlake.