Zhejiang Grand Hangzhou

... 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&#8217;m sure you&#8217;ll be able to see in the gallery with this blog.<br><br>After a sub-standard buffet lunch, we headed to the Embroidery Institute to see Chinese Embroidery. I didn&#8217;t think there would be much ...

... 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 ...

... with visa information.<br><br>The idea of booking ahead and making a appointment is not a common one.<br><br>Finding a strong courier envelope is a lot harder than you think - don't expect the post offices in china to have a lot of choices. <br><br>Posting anything to NZ (priority) will take at least three working days and this by an international couriering company such as FEDEX or DHL. <br><br>Anyway a summary of that week till now: <br ...

... in an odd accent say, 'Can I help you?'. Dave thought he had suddenly acquired the ability to understand Chinese... But it was an Australian girl. She told us that our hostel would be at least a 15 minute walk with all the stuff on our backs. All we had to do was follow the signs for the West Lake.<br><br>45 minuets later we arrived.<br><br>We were starving. We took an early train (left the Shanghai hostel at 6.30am) so didn't have breakfast, and the lady at the train ...

... take a stroll. <br><br>The whole area is beautifully manicured and is filled with little pavilions, bamboo groves, flower gardens, and traditional bridges. It is really a lovely place. We slowly strolled through it just enjoying the weather, and the beauty around us. The little ponds and lakes are filled with beautiful goldfish and one of the old houses has been transformed into a ...

... 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.

We are sweating it up in China. It is hot and humid.<br><br>We have taken the train to Hangzhou, a city just south of Suzhou. We took the bullet train which was great. The trip took a little over 2 hours, fast and smooth. Altogether for 4 round trip tickets it was about $80 Canadian. Very cheap. The train is modern, clean and very comfortable. The top speed we reached was 180km/hr. I'm not sure why it didn't go any faster<br>but we were cruising along ...

... I felt strongly and deeply the affection of everyone toward us. I felt the time and effort we made to visit them was worth a million. These people are very dear to me as they are hard-working, optimistic, humble, and genuine, AND they are related to my mom! We made this visit on behalf of my mother as well as an important opportunity for Joseph to get to know his extended families on his grandma's side. Before we left the ...

We got off to a really early start today. We woke up at 5:00AM to catch a 6:30AM train to Hangzhou. It was sooo tiring to get up that early since I've been getting up at 10-11AM for the past week. But we bought our tickets a week ago and we were going rain or shine. When we got to the train station, it was full of degenerates and sketchy characters...similar to Port Authority but worse. It didn't help that Sarah's co-worker ...