Day 5
Place: Flying over Mainland China, Southward this time...
So we're on our way to Hangzhou, flying Air China again. The flight was delayed by about 30min for goodness knows what reason, but all in all we're glad to actually be in the air.
Today we woke up bright and early. Had a lot of packing to do. I was still sneezing with the polluted air and rapidly fluctuating temperature - this morning was absurdly cold. Even the walk downstairs to the toilet to brush teeth required me to put on my sweater. In fact, even the Dutch girls wore a scarf outside.
We decided against the hostel breakfast in the end, and Wee Long suggested McDonald's breakfast. On the way to Macs, in the Tram Street, we saw many shop vendors trying to sell their cold weather attire. Quite smart, actually, to try to sell these especially on such a cold morning. Make hay while the sun shines, eh? Or the reverse, in this case. Anyway, we don't need any clothes so we bypass the vendors and go straight to Macs.
Today we woke up bright and early. Had a lot of packing to do. I was still sneezing with the polluted air and rapidly fluctuating temperature - this morning was absurdly cold. Even the walk downstairs to the toilet to brush teeth required me to put on my sweater. In fact, even the Dutch girls wore a scarf outside.
We decided against the hostel breakfast in the end, and Wee Long suggested McDonald's breakfast. On the way to Macs, in the Tram Street, we saw many shop vendors trying to sell their cold weather attire. Quite smart, actually, to try to sell these especially on such a cold morning. Make hay while the sun shines, eh? Or the reverse, in this case. Anyway, we don't need any clothes so we bypass the vendors and go straight to Macs.
In total, McDonald's breakfast came up to S$3 per person, so I think that's a good way to start the day. After breakfast we returned to the room and finished up the packing. There were too many jelly packets to we decided to leave two for the girls as a parting gift. Also as an apology for ogling during our culture shock moment on the first night (and this morning too, mind you).
In my defence, I shall say that did try not to stare or even look.
We also left them a short note explaining where those two jelly packets came from, and not including the part of us ogling at them.
In my defence, I shall say that did try not to stare or even look.
We also left them a short note explaining where those two jelly packets came from, and not including the part of us ogling at them.
*
We had decided against taking a cab or the shuttle bus to the airport because it seemed a lot easier to take the subway. There is an Airport Express train that costs 25RMB that takes one straight from the city to the airport.
Overall the total duration of the trip was about 1 hour and the subway was empty enough for Wee Long's large bag to feel comfortable. Very convenient.
On the other hand some types of jelly do make excellent explosives, so I've heard, so it's probably good that they check for that. Of course, as usual they don't remove the laptop battery which actually is easier make into a bomb, or so I've heard. Whatever. I'm still sour over my lost jelly.
Anyway we had lunch at Burger King. It's quite strange that we are increasing frequency of fast food meals when I'm sick. As a defence, it can be argued that Beijing food is ANYWAY going to be absurdly oily and salty so fast food is probably not going to be much more unhealthy. But we really need to stop, nonetheless.
And that brings us to now, about half an hour away from Hangzhou and its legendary beauty. I just want to stone in the hostel, or by the lake. Whichever is warmer and more comfortable.
*
Time: 11.30pm
Place: At long last, West Lake Hostel, Hangzhou.
I feel so stupid. Hangzhou is absolutely a mega surprise for me, as anyone who knows absolutely anything about Hangzhou would have known by now.
It is a huge city. Even if it's only half the size of Beijing, it's still larger than Singapore by quite a fair bit. And traffic was murder while we were trying to get to the hostel.
From the airport we took the airport shuttle (about 20 RMB) and then transferred to a cab. The cab driver somehow by hook or by crook managed to navigate through the standstill traffic with utter and blatant disregard for traffic rules. Which made me remember what Chunmin said about the lawlessness of the traffic further from Beijing. She had said that Beijing motorists were relatively law-abiding as compared to their counterparts in Shanghai. We didn't believe her just then because there was relative lawlessness in Beijing as compared to Singapore. But now we understand.
Finding the hostel was another long story. The taxi driver couldn't takes to the hostel address that we gave him. So he dropped us 'somewhere around the area' and we had to walk from there. Needless to say, as magnets for adventure, adventure and suspense found us yet again.
First we went in the wrong direction on the road; and then we asked a policeman on the road for directions and he pointed us in the right direction. He said to turn right after the bus stop. But as we approached the bus stop we wanted to make sure of what he said, so we asked this random passer by woman. She told us to turn in before the bus stop.
'Are you sure?'
'Yes, yes, come follow me, I'm going in that direction too.'
'Okay...'
P.S. by the way as the conversation between her and Wee Long was in fact in Chinese, I don't really know what was being said. But I like this version.
Sooner rather than later it became painfully obvious that we were on the wrong path - we were in what looked a lot like a Chinese slum, and it looked like no tourist had ever prod on these tracks - till today, of course.
'Are you sure?'
'Yes, this way.'
Then she disappeared around the corner so suddenly that she might as well have been purely a figment of our imagination.
Fortunately, a few (helpful) guides later and we were back in developed Hangzhou, with its pavements and lampposts.
And a few more helpful guides later and we managed to reach our hostel.
The hostel was relatively busy - at least the reception was, trying to sort people to rooms. I'd have thought it would have been easy to sort Wee Long and I, considering we were only staying one night.
As it turns out our roommates in this 4-bed mixed dorm are both guys, one from China, and the other from Aku-punya-negeri (Malaysia). The Malaysian, Jack, and us hadn't had dinner so we went out to the city centre to have dinner. After walking a fair distance, we arrived at this row of hawker stalls that were selling a great variety of food. And after finding a seat there, with some difficulty, we order actual hawker food from China - satay, noodles, beggar's chicken (Hangzhou's specialty), and glutinous rice. And of course beer, to wash down all the oil with.
It is a huge city. Even if it's only half the size of Beijing, it's still larger than Singapore by quite a fair bit. And traffic was murder while we were trying to get to the hostel.
From the airport we took the airport shuttle (about 20 RMB) and then transferred to a cab. The cab driver somehow by hook or by crook managed to navigate through the standstill traffic with utter and blatant disregard for traffic rules. Which made me remember what Chunmin said about the lawlessness of the traffic further from Beijing. She had said that Beijing motorists were relatively law-abiding as compared to their counterparts in Shanghai. We didn't believe her just then because there was relative lawlessness in Beijing as compared to Singapore. But now we understand.
Finding the hostel was another long story. The taxi driver couldn't takes to the hostel address that we gave him. So he dropped us 'somewhere around the area' and we had to walk from there. Needless to say, as magnets for adventure, adventure and suspense found us yet again.
First we went in the wrong direction on the road; and then we asked a policeman on the road for directions and he pointed us in the right direction. He said to turn right after the bus stop. But as we approached the bus stop we wanted to make sure of what he said, so we asked this random passer by woman. She told us to turn in before the bus stop.
'Are you sure?'
'Yes, yes, come follow me, I'm going in that direction too.'
'Okay...'
P.S. by the way as the conversation between her and Wee Long was in fact in Chinese, I don't really know what was being said. But I like this version.
Sooner rather than later it became painfully obvious that we were on the wrong path - we were in what looked a lot like a Chinese slum, and it looked like no tourist had ever prod on these tracks - till today, of course.
'Are you sure?'
'Yes, this way.'
Then she disappeared around the corner so suddenly that she might as well have been purely a figment of our imagination.
Fortunately, a few (helpful) guides later and we were back in developed Hangzhou, with its pavements and lampposts.
And a few more helpful guides later and we managed to reach our hostel.
The hostel was relatively busy - at least the reception was, trying to sort people to rooms. I'd have thought it would have been easy to sort Wee Long and I, considering we were only staying one night.
As it turns out our roommates in this 4-bed mixed dorm are both guys, one from China, and the other from Aku-punya-negeri (Malaysia). The Malaysian, Jack, and us hadn't had dinner so we went out to the city centre to have dinner. After walking a fair distance, we arrived at this row of hawker stalls that were selling a great variety of food. And after finding a seat there, with some difficulty, we order actual hawker food from China - satay, noodles, beggar's chicken (Hangzhou's specialty), and glutinous rice. And of course beer, to wash down all the oil with.
By the time we were done the shops were already closing. Initially we wanted to walk off the oil that we consumed, back to the hostel, which would have been a half hour walk, but halfway through we got lazy and just took a cab that had stopped right in front of us.
Tomorrow we'll be meeting the monkey that is Eugene for the first time in such a long time. Which would make Eugene my joint top travel buddy with Gobi. Top if you consider Pawai a separate country as many do.
Tomorrow also will be quite hectic because we have to move the stuff from one hostel to the next and find some way to kill the rest of the day while waiting for Eugene to arrive.
Till tomorrow then.
Day 6
Time: 3pm
Place: Waiting for Eugene to arrive in the lobby of Ming Town Hostel, Hangzhou.
As mentioned before, we were not able to book a hostel straight for these two nights in Hangzhou; so we had to check out of West Lake Hostel in the morning and check into Ming Town after that. It turns out we're quite fortunate to actually get a place because there's one guy who's just walked into the lobby (in Ming Town Hostel) and been turned away because there is no more room.
Wee Long's opinion that the taxi drivers here in this city are a sorry lot was further reinforced. Recall that the first taxi driver didn't really know where the West Lake hostel was so he dropped us off somewhere nearby and we had had to walk through the maze of slum roads to get to the hostel. The taxi driver that we flagged to bring us to the second hostel from the first was worse. Halfway through he gave up trying to figure out where the hostel was and dropped us off. Positively thinking, at least he had not taken any money from us and did in fact bring us partly towards our destination.
So we decided to walk, mainly because we had contradictory directions. I really think that there is no point asking for directions in this city - after all, the directions are relatively straightforward. And there's a huge lake as a landmark.
At long last we found the hostel and checked in.
Place: Waiting for Eugene to arrive in the lobby of Ming Town Hostel, Hangzhou.
As mentioned before, we were not able to book a hostel straight for these two nights in Hangzhou; so we had to check out of West Lake Hostel in the morning and check into Ming Town after that. It turns out we're quite fortunate to actually get a place because there's one guy who's just walked into the lobby (in Ming Town Hostel) and been turned away because there is no more room.
Wee Long's opinion that the taxi drivers here in this city are a sorry lot was further reinforced. Recall that the first taxi driver didn't really know where the West Lake hostel was so he dropped us off somewhere nearby and we had had to walk through the maze of slum roads to get to the hostel. The taxi driver that we flagged to bring us to the second hostel from the first was worse. Halfway through he gave up trying to figure out where the hostel was and dropped us off. Positively thinking, at least he had not taken any money from us and did in fact bring us partly towards our destination.
So we decided to walk, mainly because we had contradictory directions. I really think that there is no point asking for directions in this city - after all, the directions are relatively straightforward. And there's a huge lake as a landmark.
At long last we found the hostel and checked in.
As it turned out, our room was already ready so we got dump our bags there. After resting for awhile we decide to venture out armed with our map and a refusal to ask for directions. At least I had given up on getting directions from the locals.
This was actually the best I could manage yesterday:
Lunch was at the first of two roadside small restaurants that were locked in an intense battle for customers. So intense that it bordered on funny. I mean, as a Singaporean, you'd be familiar with the drink stalls at major hawker centers such as Tekka Center or Adam Road Food Center jockeying for customers. But this scene is a whole new level. I think it was one step away from direct verbal abuse, though it should be noted that, as a non Mandarin-speaker, I would not have been aware had there been direct verbal abuse.
The lunch was decent, fortunately. Not as good as yesterday's dinner which I enjoyed as much as I enjoyed the cheapness of it, but quite good all the same.
After that we walked back to the hostel, and it turns out that Wee Long didn't have a good night's sleep last night because our Malaysian friend was snoring really loudly. So that's why he's currently in the room sleeping while I'm out here waiting for Eugene. Who, by the way was supposed to come at 3pm. It is now 3.30pm. Oh well. At least I managed to finish up this account.
Time: 11.20pm
Place: Back in Ming Town hostel, very tired.
I'm struggling to remember everything we did today because today seems to have been the most saturated day of our whole trip. Perhaps it's because Eugene has just joined our group and injected some sort of energy into us, or perhaps, and more likely so, we realised that we only have one evening to see the rest of Hangzhou. Tomorrow, we depart at 10am for Suzhou, by the way.
Now that I think about it, I think saturated is the wrong word. Tiring, more like.
Anyway, since we had already visited the night market in Hangzhou, we focus our attention on the lake. Unfortunately, the weather today, despite being very kind to us as far as walking had been concerned, was not so kind as far as sightseeing was to be concerned. There was an overhanging mist that made the visibility across the lake very poor.
The lunch was decent, fortunately. Not as good as yesterday's dinner which I enjoyed as much as I enjoyed the cheapness of it, but quite good all the same.
After that we walked back to the hostel, and it turns out that Wee Long didn't have a good night's sleep last night because our Malaysian friend was snoring really loudly. So that's why he's currently in the room sleeping while I'm out here waiting for Eugene. Who, by the way was supposed to come at 3pm. It is now 3.30pm. Oh well. At least I managed to finish up this account.
*
Time: 11.20pm
Place: Back in Ming Town hostel, very tired.
I'm struggling to remember everything we did today because today seems to have been the most saturated day of our whole trip. Perhaps it's because Eugene has just joined our group and injected some sort of energy into us, or perhaps, and more likely so, we realised that we only have one evening to see the rest of Hangzhou. Tomorrow, we depart at 10am for Suzhou, by the way.
Now that I think about it, I think saturated is the wrong word. Tiring, more like.
Anyway, since we had already visited the night market in Hangzhou, we focus our attention on the lake. Unfortunately, the weather today, despite being very kind to us as far as walking had been concerned, was not so kind as far as sightseeing was to be concerned. There was an overhanging mist that made the visibility across the lake very poor.
For dinner, Eugene had intended to bring us to some place famous for shopping, perhaps likened to Orchard Road. So, armed with only a (picture of) a google map image and our sense of direction we set out to walk to the place from the lake.
We had actually been at the lakeside because I had insisted that we should at least try to see the sunset. Perhaps the mist might suddenly clear. Evidently, as you might have guessed, the mist didn't clear, so we just went down to see one of the famous pagodas along the lake. It cost a fair bit to enter so we just took pictures from the outside, before setting out for the Orchard Road-like place.
However, after a long time of walking searching for a landmark that didn't seem to be coming, we finally realise that we were all the while on the wrong road, and were thus actually clueless about where we were. So we decided to just eat whatever was convenient.
As it turned out, that was at Pizza Hut, the Hangzhou Edition. As with everything else, it cost 2/3 the Singapore price, so we decided to have a good meal, which ultimately included appetisers, main courses, drinks, and even dessert.
After dinner, we recuperated for awhile at the restaurant, after which we went to take a cab to the other side of the lake. Apparently there was a show (that costs quite a fair bit to enter) going on there. Without paying for the tickets, though, we could still listen to the sounds and watch the way the lighting effects lit up the environment. Better than nothing.
After getting chased away by the guards stationed outside to prevent people (ourselves included) from watching the show through the cracks in the canvas sheets that were installed for that very purpose, we walked aimlessly for another 10 min before realising that we had been walking aimlessly. By then we were at a point where it made no sense to turn back to where we came since we were already halfway along the path. The path which, coincidentally, led back to where our first hostel was.
Amazingly, we managed to catch a cab from there - all previous times when we had tried to do so, we had failed miserably - and so were finally back on the way home. This time, we knew how to guide the cabbie back to the hostel so there was no repeat of this morning's fiasco.
Tomorrow we have to wake up early for the train ride to Suzhou. I shall elaborate more on Suzhou tomorrow on the train. Too tired now. Besides, I've already covered everything we've done today.
Goodnight!
After getting chased away by the guards stationed outside to prevent people (ourselves included) from watching the show through the cracks in the canvas sheets that were installed for that very purpose, we walked aimlessly for another 10 min before realising that we had been walking aimlessly. By then we were at a point where it made no sense to turn back to where we came since we were already halfway along the path. The path which, coincidentally, led back to where our first hostel was.
Amazingly, we managed to catch a cab from there - all previous times when we had tried to do so, we had failed miserably - and so were finally back on the way home. This time, we knew how to guide the cabbie back to the hostel so there was no repeat of this morning's fiasco.
Tomorrow we have to wake up early for the train ride to Suzhou. I shall elaborate more on Suzhou tomorrow on the train. Too tired now. Besides, I've already covered everything we've done today.
Goodnight!
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