Honglou Hotel Hangzhou

... with us. <br><br>That pretty much ended the day. I&#8217;m writing this on a 3 hour bus ride to Hongzhou. It&#8217;s raining outside, the windows are fogged up, and there isn&#8217;t much we can see. It&#8217;s actually a nice break. I think I&#8217;ll hit the health facility tonight after dinner instead of spending a couple of hours working on the blog!<br><br>PS &#8211; Dave, did you know that I.M. Pei is from Suzhou?

... all the tour group nonsense. If we can do it, you can do it. <br><br>The best day of the trip, not surprisingly, was the day the bus left us behind. The tour group spent the entire day learning about and buying "animal skin clothes". We respectfully passed on the idea and spent the day roaming Hangzhou's semi-famous West Lake area with our friend, Sandy (or Dai Wei), who may have enjoyed the escape from TGH even more than we did ...

... told that they couldn't do when I got there - wasted my entire morning and most of yesterday arranging this - rang the hospital yesterday and they told me they could) "upset/ angry/ frustrated/ stressed" <br>organised to go to Hangzhou tomorrow morning <br><br>Friday:<br>left very early in the morning for Hangzhou, completed exam by 9.30am gave myself time for a breather before heading back to Keqiao. Arranged for courier to come and pick up the ...

... other places we had been. It was considerably quieter also. Not quite 'Heaven on Earth', but we could see why the Chinese would think so. Wandering away from the road and along the lakeside was like a different world. Green and serene. With signs to places such as 'A bamboo lined path leading to serenity', which was on an island called 'Three pools mirroring the moon'. A couple we met in our hostel refused to go down the path because they didn't want to be disappointed at ...

... including the Bai and Su Causeways.<br><br>Our next stop was the Six Harmonies Pagoda, first built in 970 AD to placate the tidal bore, a massive wall of water that rushes upstream during high tide. Over 60 metres high, it served as a lighthouse up until the Ming Dynasty.<br><br>Our Guide next takes us to a freshwater pearl shop before dropping us back at the Hotel.

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.

... 8221; She was laughing. But that's not the end. When he finished a young Chinese woman appeared out of nowhere and jumped in line in front of me also. By now I was laughing pretty hard and Lois was laughing even harder telling me I would have to get more<br>aggressive if I wanted to get some tickets. Well after the Chinese woman I<br>managed to get the tickets. The Chinese have no concept of lining up at all. <br><br>We are having fun! . <br><br><br>

... At the first night in Hangzhou, we were happy to enjoy the famous Chinese Performance in the city center. At the second day of the journey, in the morning we went to the Dragon Well Tea House to taste the world famous green tea. Dragon Well Tea is favored by both local residents and foreigners because of its four unique wonders - emerald green color, aromatic ...

... the first sip was terrible and thought "why is this one of the best teas in China?" but now I'm like "okay, I see where they're coming from, and hey, a million monks writing sutras for days on end can't be wrong, right?" The actual drinking is getting easier too because I've worked out how to strain the free-floating tea leaves against my lips and keeping them in the glass instead of ending up choking on bitter green bits. The next of my brilliant ...

... Me: Should I come downstairs to get the key? Front Desk: Goodbye Me: Goodbye So I went downstairs to get the key. Once there I asked the lady behind the desk, "did you find my key?" No reply. "Did you just call my room?" Please.. handing me a pen and paper. So I wrote down: Someone just called my room. Lady looks at my writing, then looks up at me and smiles So I wrote down: Did you just call my room? Lady replies yes. So I wrote down: Did you find my key? Lady ...