Crowne Plaza Hotel Hangzhou Grand Canal

The Holiday Inn in Beijing had one great amenity: free internet. Other than that, it wasn't anything like our stay at the Crowne Plaza in Beijing. The beds were smaller, the pillows lumpier, and the breakfast was a poor imitation of the varied and delicious spread in Beijing. In short, it was a lot more what we are used to when we travel!<br><br>The first stop of the day was at the silk factory to see how silk ...

... 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 ...

... in the next afternoon and spoke to family about arrangements"reflective, determined"<br><br>Sat: <br>waiting on my certificate from Hangzhou, making copies of all the documents before packing them away to be picked up in the afternoon. spoke to family "focused, determined"<br><br>Sun: <br>"anxious, reflective"<br><br>Mon: <br>waiting for it to get to NZ "reflective, relaxed"<br><br>Tues:<br>waiting for it to get to NZ "relaxed"<br><br>Wed:<br ...

... crowd and more whooshes and booms... and of course, more 'oooh's and 'ahhh's. We all looked at each other. Non of us could see a thing! The trees around the terrace had blocked the view and the fireworks weren't going high enough for us to see them over the trees. From the reaction we could hear from the crowd it sounded like they had put on quite a show. All was not lost though, we managed to get a glimpse through a clearing in the branches and got to see the fireworks ...

... br><br>After lunch we journeyed onto the West Lake area and a cruise on the lake. West Lake covers over 8 square kilometres and is situated at the heart of Hangzhou. Originally the lake was an inlet off the estuary of the Qiantang River, becoming a lake when the river began to silt up in the 4th century. The lake had a tendency to flood, so several dykes were ...

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.

... to say something to the girls who were standing a few feet away and noticed a middle aged Chinese man in line behind me. When the person in front of me was finished I started taking a step to the window when suddenly the guy behind me<br>jumped in front of me like I wasn't there and started buying his tickets. I was kinda shocked and started laughing out loud at the same time (I'm getting used to this now). I turned and said,&#8216;Did you see ...

... it was still really wet. It actually mad eit nice as it deterred most of the crowds and made everything mjestically misty like in a Chinese watercolor. We had big plans to check out the nightlife, which seemed robust, but because we're American and can;t apprently read a 24-hour clock, we miscalculated our train time and had to leave 2 hours earlier than expected. Oh well. Hangzhou still ranks up there with one of the most beautiful place sin China thusfar. Toodles.

... time I see the interior of a temple it seems like the big statues of angry - looking faces are SOOOOO Mongolian :) Maybe because they are angry - or maybe because I have no idea what I'm talking about and never went to Mongolia :) YEA as Europe was wrapped in the Dark Middle Ages of witchcraft, Guttenberg (1550) and 200 years before the Enlightenment the confucian schools/universities were flourishing - like in today's Vietnam etc. And we are sooooo unaware that this culture ...

Two and a half days in Hangzhou, China...here's what's up: Sorry there are no pictures yet. I took a lot yesterday, but was not able to upload them to the site. The connection was too slow, but my roommate said that it might be better today. Here are some stories instead. First, the first thing that hit me about being back in Asia is the proverbial hard bed. Yes, Asians like to sleep on wooden planks with thin pads on top. While initially very uncomfortable, I find ...