Hangzhou Sunny Hotel

... 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 ...

... we did see some pretty nice sites. For free. Actually, I think we made money on this trip. Nothing, however, can rectify the fact that we were, along with half the faculty from our school, part of one big tour group. We spent hours on a bus, followed "guides" who carried ever-so demeaning orange flags, ate bland meals, and were subjected to a record-breaking KTV marathon that nearly broke me both emotionally and physically. Once ...

... it. As I have already mentioned it has been very busy for me - after the national holidays I found myself a little stressed and very busy due to having to provide scholarship application material while I was in China. It was difficult as it had to all be notifised as well but with the help, understanding and patience of my entire family I got it done and sent off intime. <br><br>Some interesting things I found out while I was on my mission: <br ...

... in what we guessed might be the right direction, we crossed 8 lane traffic, with high rises on each side and huge overhead highways... wasn't there supposed to be a lake here somewhere??... Wasn't this supposed to be 'Heaven on Earth'?!<br><br>45 minuets passed and we stopped to look at a bus stop map (more out of desperation than practicality... it was in Chinese. But still, maybe if we looked long enough we'd learn to read Chinese???). Suddenly we heard a strange, shrill ...

... area for quite a while. I wanted to get some water from the well. It can't be drank, but I thought it would be neat to have some, so I bought a bottled water in one of the tea houses, drank it and filled it with water from the Dragon Well. I'm not sure what I'll do with it, but it is cool to have. Well, at least I think it is. After visiting the well we went to the China National Tea Museum. I haven't visited it before and was ...

... 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.

... It is<br>probably the most beautiful park that I have ever seen with carefully manicured lush vegetation, many kilometers of walking paths along the lake side, small bridges to pose for a picture and mini pagodas to sit and relax. It's pretty hard to describe how amazingly beautiful the lake is and the park that rings the entire lake. The lake probably has a circumference of about 20 km. You can walk the entire distance around if you are feeling up ...

... g*in. I wrote his n*me in big lett**s in the s*nd *nd then drew *n *rrow which pointed to *n umbrell* wh**e I left * note telling him to meet me *t the pool of the M*rriot. As it turned out Tim fell *sleep in the Lobby *t the M*rriot *nd nev** even went to the be*ch, so my pl*n w*s * pretty big f*ilure, *nd I prob*bly should h*ve just checked for him in the Lobby. Fin*lly I found him *nd we chilled for * bit more *t the be*ch. Simon c*me b*ck *nd him *nd Tim ...

I had my first traffic accident today, and I wasn't even driving or walking! It was a beautiful day in Hangzhou, and I could see the sun and the clear blue sky. A taxi pulled in the front entrance of the hotel, and Ben and I hopped in. The driver didn't seem as reckless as the taxi driver we had yesterday, although he was driving just a little faster than I'd like to see. I was on the way to the International ...