Hangzkhou Pegal Plaza Hangzhou

... threads. The most intricate works of art use only a single thread. A single piece can take 6 months to a year to create. It explained the 35,000+ price tag on some of the top pieces.<br><br>It was like walking through a museum. The embroideries were rich in color and texture and could as easily imitate a photograph as a painting or calligraphy. Had we the money, there would be a lot of great pieces of art coming ...

... 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 ...

... to crash dock it, which panicked the guy we were renting it off. He was screaming at us 'RUDDER RUDDER!' but I thought he was yelling at us to turn the engine off, so told Dave to do that... and, well, we went nose first into the dock.<br><br>We spent over a week in Hangzhou because we were waiting for the Tai'an hostel to send my iPod which I left there (oops!). But I'm glad that it was in Hangzhou that we had to wait. It is definitely my favorite place in China so far ...

... the day only has the plantation, and the China National Tea Museum. Since I would have a lot of extra time, and since I also know a lot about the history of Dragon Well Tea, I asked the guide to take me to some different places not on my itinerary. During the Qing Dynasty, Emperor Qianlong took six trips to the south of China, and visited Hangzhou. According to legend, while he was there he picked some tea leaves himself. He ...

... 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 ...

... with my h*ving no ide* how to ride it resulted into me cr*shing into both Simon's motorcycle *nd Tim's moped within five minutes, but luckily neith** w**e d*m*ged. Eventu*lly I got the h*ng of it *nd we st*rted cruising tow*rds Y*long B*y, * be*ch *bout 10 miles *w*y *nd supposedly much nic** th*n the be*ch by our hostel. Driving * moped is ridiculously fun. Tim kept on belting out, "Ridin' on the highw*y!" * quote from "Born to be Wild." None of us could rememb ...

Hangzhou is described by the Song dynasty as the "City of Heaven". After our visit, I most certainly would agree. Although the city boasts an annual population of 6 million people, this city has a much higher quality of life than that of Beijing. The affluent city is home to tea farmers and visited frequently by wealthy Chinese families and government officials seeking rest. Today our day began early in the morning in route ...