Hangzhou New Century Hotel

... and Potatoes and it was fairly expensive for China. It reminds me of that Japanese restaurant we went to for Rhedyn's birthday on Chapel St. The food was tasty, but I guess I can thank myself for that! haha.

Today I changed some money in preparation for the next few days adventures.

EDIT: Appaears that China won't let me upload the Video. So that is disappoiting. Enjoy the pictures.

... busy there, in particular the bargain bin, where nothing is over 3 RMB (50c). It was so crowded there I couldn't even see what all the fuss was about. I was able to buy 2 600ml Pepsis, a packed of Pretzels, a large bag of Dorritos, Chocolate Milk and some Cadbury Chocolate all for 17RMB ($2.80).

Some large videos seem to not want to upload on here. But I will try it again.

... is provided and the facilities are what you'd expect from a 5-star hotel. The girls were worried that there were no English songs on the machine, but as I soon found out there was nearly 200 of the classics, so that was more than enough for me to find some suitable to me. We stayed there for 4 hours and it cost about 200RMB, which is about $35AUD. Not too bad for free food, drink and 4 hours worth of singing. It's hard work to sing for that long though and I ...

Today I walked for a while and ended up at Broken Bridge. The sight itself isn't so spectacular, it really is just a bridge, but is a very popular love story in chinese folklore. The story goes that two lovers met on the bridge but then the girl was banished to a temple so they couldn't see eachother. That isn't really the whole story, but I have forgotten it now. From the sounds of that its not so happy, but I think there is a happy ending.

Got a few more waves and ...

Hangzhou is still cold but there is a development, there is now little bits of rain here and there, so my waterproof jacket is coming in handy.

Today I walked around the West Lake by myself and took some pictures and videos which you can see if you click on them. There are less people walking around given it is a work day, so mainly just ...

... thing to do is just follow someone else. The onus is on the cars to avoid you and not the other way around, that appears to be the unwritten agreement.

So for the next few days I will be able to explore more of the lake and visit many other places, hopefully it doesn't include me getting lost or unable to buy food.

I'm not sure why, but the photos seem to not be that good quality on here, or they get streched out. They seem to be fine on my laptop.

Gage

... now. They prepared all special foods for me and were very nervous as to whether I would like them. The food was good, but the conversation was lacking, given that they couldn't speak English. They have a cute young daughter who was watching a cartoon teaching her English and so she was singing English songs all night. They have a full time 'ayi' who does the cooking and cleaning most nights and ...

... took pictures with us. It was interesting to compare the intimate setting of this garden with the sprawling complex of the Summer Palace. Denise had a great time taking pictures in the garden, as I’m sure you’ll be able to see in the gallery with this blog.

After a sub-standard buffet lunch, we headed to the Embroidery Institute to see Chinese Embroidery. I didn’t think there would be much ...

... ence is th*t they pretty much const*ntly s**ve food *nd drinks, even on * two hour flight. I got lucky once *g*in *nd w*s the only p**son in my row, so I could switch freely between window *nd *isle se*t. I *rrived in S*ny* city, which is * city built entirely for tourism. T*xi driv**s tried to trick me into believing th*t the bus into the city wouldn't come, but I followed some Chinese people *round for *bout 20 minutes *nd eventu*lly found the bus which took ...

... among large Chinese cities. It's clean, it's beautiful and it's not as boring as batshit. While China boasts more than a hundred cities with over a million people, unless you're an avid card player or have a soft spot for kareoke, many of them are bereft of anything to do. Hangzhou though is different. There's plenty to keep even a perpetually bored sole like me interested, with most of the action centred around the West Lake, one of the country's ...