Braim International Hangzhou

... see here, but my first inkling that it would be more than a trout sewn onto a fishing shirt was when Joe told us that no photography was allowed because they were concerned with the Japanese stealing the secrets of their craft. The unfortunate part is that we don&#8217;t have anything to show you how amazing it was. <br><br>The art is all done with silk thread. A single silk thread can be further divided into 48 ...

... been the highlight. Sadly, the three hour bus ride required to get there was not. The area is kind of reminiscent of Vancouver or Kelowna, the air seems fresher and the water is very clean. While in Qiandao, we visited two highly irrational islands stocked with poorly treated, imported exotic animals. The first island displayed several pits containing cobras and other venomous snakes, the other housed a farm of ostriches. Neither ...

... The Chinese call it Heaven on Earth.<br><br>Our journey got off to a fantastic start: We found our seats on the fast train (China has a great system of bullet trains which go almost everywhere)... we were in 1st class! Whoop! Granted it was a mere 2 hour journey, the shortest yet, but we were still very pleased!!!<br><br>When we arrived in to Hangzhou station we did the usual method of following the hoards to find the exit and found ourselves in an intimidating, bustling ...

First stop for today was the Temple of the Soul's Retreat with the unique caves and the carvings done into the rocks which date back to the 10th century, influenced from India by Indian monk Hui Li.<br><br>Next we went to a tea plantation and museum, Tea of the Dragon Well, and saw the hills of tea bushes and shown how they make the tea. We also enjoyed a tea ...

Departed Suzhou at 9am for a 2 and a half hour drive to Hangzhou, we said goodbye to Grace our Local Guide for the past two days but we keep our driver Mr John. On arrival we meet our new Guide Rain and we are taken to the restaurant for lunch, then onto a local market area where we visited some Chinese medicine shops and an art gallery with bronze sculptures.<br>Arrived at the Hotel at 2pm and did nothing much, went walking and later found a Subway so that was dinner.

... Marco Polo called this the most beautiful place he had seen in China when he came through in the 13 Century. We settled in and then headed to the night market which was about 6 blocks away. This night market has been here for over 5 hundred years and is just incredible. It stretches for about a kilometer and you can buy just about anything there from the usual touristy stuff, to lots of silk, tea, carvings, Chinese artwork, etc. There is a giant ...

... dining experience, especially when you factory in the increased price for the location. In the West, we often select a restaurant that has few people to avoid waiting for a table. In China, if people are crowding out the door of the restaurant, you had better try to eat there at some point. Crowds are a good thing in Chinese culture, especially in the case of ...

... sit in their ticketed seat and will ask a couple to move apart to get it. Maybe they don't think to just to sit in the other seat so friends and couples can stay together. I have no explanation and have simply stopped tyring to find a reason for it each time it happens. I sit back and watch in amazement! Believe me, it goes the other way too. There have been many things I've done or asked for where I've been met with a ...

... my expectations, it's set on the famous West Lake (Xi Hu) in Chinese and is beautifully scenic and laid back city. I say laid back, comparing it of course to Shanghai which brings new meaning to the word chaos. Tonight will be my fifth night in Hangzhou and my time here has gone so fast. I certainly haven't to worry about my fitness since I got here, me and Jamie have been doing tons of walking, climbed a few ...