Season Westlake (Ssaw) Hubin Hotel Hangzhou

Please look at the video on this blog for a bit of a walk-around and reflections by me.

Last night we went to a Korean do-it-yourself restaurant. Basically you are given the food raw, cooking utensils and a barbeque and you do it all yourself. It was much more fun to do it this way. I did most of the cooking given my experience of cooking sausages and the like. We ordered Beef, Corn ...

I started the day with a chocolate muffin and hot chocolate from Starbucks. The man at the counter could speak some English, so he knew exactly what I wanted . After that I walked to a garden of the Westlake called Singing Willows. It was somewhat interesting and I spent my time trying to take interesting photos. Following that I went to the supermarket to get some snacks. It is ...

Last night we went to the KTV. KTV is a very elaborate Karoake centre. Karaoke is extremely popular in most asian countries and given the increasing demand, the Karaoke centres are like palaces in which customers get first class service. Basically the place is set up into mini rooms and you hire a room based on the amount of people you bring with you. Larger rooms are available for larger parties, but we got a small room as there was only 3 of us. Food and ...

... In fact theives target young people, as these are the people who have the most money, given that they don't have to support a family and have just started earning money for themselves.

It isn't so cold today, although maybe I am just getting used to it.

Tonight or tomorrow night we will go to the KTV Karoake bar, extremely popular in China. The girls told me that the only English songs are old ones, but I am happy enough to see how the KTV system works.

... 20 nuggets, large chips and large Coke was only $3AUD. What a bargain!

Afterwards I went to a big supermarket based on the French version called Carrefaur or something like that. It is like a cross between a KMart and a Coles supermarket with everything from vegetables to 50' Plasma TVs.

All is good. Enjoy the videos and pictures.

... expensive by China standards, but not so by International Standards, so this man certainly wasn't going hungry. Beggars exist on the streets but are kept away from the West Lake side of the road by the many security guards scattered around the area. We also rode public bikes for a while and though I havn't ridden a bike for quite a while, it came back to me pretty quickly. Although riding a bike on the road, with crazy traffic and no helmet isn't a stress free experience. The ...

... very happy to see me. She hasnt seen many foreigners in her lifetime.

The next night we went to a fancy restaurant which is called 'Grandma's'. There is usually a 40 minute wait to get in, but the cousin got there early and her husband picked me up. They order many different foods once again, such as fish, chicken, rice, pork and so on. We also got some potatos shaped as a face, in ...

... to answer your question: Shanghai was a great city but Beijing was definitely my favorite. There was so much to explore, and it was by far crazier). We changed hostels 3 times as there was so much going on they we always fully booked after a few days. One of the hostels was not so nice and had showers which looked like something out of a slasher film and were covered in mosquitoes, the other hostel was lovely and homely. Finally the iPod arrived (phew!) and it was time to ...

... Hang Zhou airport an hour ahead of time. With the 90 minute delay in Chengdu, she waited literally more than 3 hours!!!! To make it even worse, another of my aunts and her children's families drove almost 2 hours from An Ji to meet us in Lin An, AND they waited in the restaurant literally for 3 hours because it would take us an hour and half from the airport to Lin An. The driver sensed our urgent mind and drove super fast. We ...

... it you know and ask for directions and they point me 90degrees to where I have just been walking, now even to me who has been lost a fair bit recently, that feels like the wrong way, so I walk a bit and sit down and study my map - yes I have a map and im still lost. A woman comes up to me and says, "oh you look a little lost" to which i reply "i am!" heres me hoping she can help, but instead she sits down next to me and says "me too" bluddy great! I eventually decide to ask ...