|
  | |  |
Hangzhou, Suzhou and Shanghai
Entry 29 of 39 | show all | print this entry |
Hey guys,
Next instalment of my blog, it's of 3 cities as they're all pretty close toghether and I did them one after the other, so thought i'd put it down as 1.
So, from Guilin I took the train up to Hangzhou. I arrived in Hangzhou and not too sure at which train station, so spent about 5 mins wandering around tring to find the bus I was supposed to get to the hostel (see planned ahead here and actually booked a room!). Eventually found the bus, but my instructions just said, take the bus to this place, not take how many stops or owt, so I had to ask the driver to tell me where to get off, but he seemed to look quite blankly at me, so I just sat down and hoped he would tell me the right stop! After about 20mins - I was starting to get a tad worried, he told me it was my stop, so I got off and had to get another bus, so I waited and it came, I got on and said the same thing - again was only to go to a place, not how many stops (it's so useful when they tell you how many stops), and he told me I was on the wrong side of the road - typical they didnt tell you you had to cross the road! So, I went and waited on the other side of the road and got on the same number bus, only this guy decided that his bus didnt go to the place i wanted to go to either!!! But as the 1st guy had said that the bus did go there, I decided to say on the bus. After talking to an old guy and he spoke to the driver, he told me the bus def didnt go there and I should get off and get on another bus - great except the bus stop signs are only in chinese and I dont read chinese! So, came to the conclusion I would have to walk! 30mins later - trust me with a backpack on thats a long time - I eventually found the hostel, after asking numerous chinese where the hell I was and walking past the YHA not seeing it as it was done a little ally about 3 times, I collapsed on my bed realy for a well earned shower, only to find............showers only open 7am-10ama dn 7pm-10pm, now it's 2pm - great, im gonna smell like sh*t for the rest of the day!!!!
Hangzhou was really hot weather, so I decided to have a wander around the lake that the city is based around. It's an amazingly beautiful city. I didn't actually have a map of the city, which i didnt think would be too bad as the hostel was right on the lake shore, thought id be able to find it again, but...........oh ye, for the second time that day I managed to get very lost!!! I was walking round the lake and there are these kinda walk ways that go across the lake, I decided to walk along one, which threw out my orientation and just carried on walking, missing the second walk way which would have taken me back, so I ended up walking most of the way round this lake, which only took me about 4hours - now I really really need a shower!
The next day was better, I bought a map, very helpful! Decided to go on a cruise on the lake to the islands in the middle, was nice and relaxing after yesterday, and then for a walk on the river crossing which I should have been on yesterday. As i said the city is really beautiful, plus its spring and there is loads of amazingly beautiful blossom on all the trees in the parks that surround the lake. All the chinese girls go crazy at having their photo taken next to the blossom, some go way way over the top to get the perfect piccie, but hey.
Met a Scottish guy, who was on his way home from New Zealand for 6days, before flying back out there to carry on working. Sounds crazy, but he was a crazy guy, basically he was going home to go to the races with his mates, then back to kiwi land, alright for some. Was good though, we had a wander round Hangzhou and then got the train together up to Shanghai and got lost on the subway in shanghai too - after someone told us the wrong line to get! But, it worked out in the end, until it was that I left the subway station, where here, more good insturctions from the YHA it said leave by exit 9 and walk for 5 mins to find our hostel - ok, walk which way???? So I look about and see three more subway exits in front of me and non behind me, so to me would make sense to go away from the other exits, or it would have said to use them - again i have my bag on my back - kinda heavy. I get as far as 5 mins walk and no road names I should recognise, so I pop into a posh hotel - Im dressed for 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 the flag waving guy at the junction for directions - it's actually a god send to be able to speak a little chinese! He points us back the way i came and past the subway exit i came out of (turns out i should have gone the other way) then with a double check from a copper later on, I eventually found the hostel - phew, my bags getting heavier and heavier!!!
So, once settled into my lovely bed, I head out to see what Shanghai has to offer. Amazingly, I was surprised. A lot of people who I'd met had said Shanghai was aweful, so I'd come here with a bad image and it didn't live upto the bad image. I was surprised at how modern the city was - the first really westernised city I'd been to since I'd left xi'an. It had a really good vibe to it and the bund is a pretty cool sight. So, I spent a couple of days hanging round here, a trip on the river at dusk - so going one way it was light and coming back it was dark with all the buildings lit up, pretty cool, wandered down to the old quarter and found one of the best food shops ever - only problem was once i'd left it I couldnt find it again as it was down some kind of Hutongs (really small and windy streets that you get easily lost in - as I've said already in this email, it's not difficult for me!). Went into Yi Yuan gardens too, which were really pretty, lots of water features and plants everywhere, not to mention the throng of tourists here too!
For one of my days in Shanghai I decided to visit Suzhou, about a 45min train ride away from Shanghai and easily done in a day. So, I decide on an early start and get to the train station about 8.15 and que up for a ticket (at Shanghai there is 1 English speaking ticket window that has noone there until at least 9am), so I get to the front and ask in my best Chinese - which is actually pretty good for booking train tickets as I'v done it a fair few times - and the woman tells me that there are no trains that go to Suzhou, I know this not to be true and ask her why, and all she says is go to the English speaking window and then ignores me - great it's now 8.25. So, I ask a guy which window I should que up to get a ticket to Suzhou, and he tells me any are ok, so, I pick a different window, get to the front and ask again, same reply - we dont go there, why?? Go to the English window - it's now 8.35, so I'm pretty peed off at the mo, and have to hang around until 9am, I make sure I'm first in the que at the english speaking window and ask again in chinese for a ticket to Suzhou - and amazingly, she can find a train that goes there! I'm a tad angry with the other members off staff at the train station as they were blatently making no attempt to listen to my chinese and just brushed me off to the Engligh speaking person - grrrrr.
Anywho, got on the train and was sat next to a guy from England who lived in Suzhou with his chinese girlfriend. He offered to show me around the city and to show me this place he was planning on opening up as a tea house. Now, if he hadn't been with his girlfriend I would have prob decined the offer, but as it was, I accepted. When we got to Suzhou, they helped me book a ticket back to Shanghai as there is a big black market in Suzhou and someone buys all the tickets at the start of the day, so if you dont know where to go, you cant get a ticket back! Anyways, they took me on a walk around the city, showed me loads and this lovely little house on the edge of one of the canals which he had rented to turn into the tea house. They also showed me the best gardens to visit - Suzhou is regaurded as one of the best garden cities in China, so they pointed out the best, which I went and had a wander round, it was also very beautiful and more peaceful than the one in Shanghai. Once I had finished here it was time to head back to Shanghai.
The next day, I headed out of Shanghai to Beijing on the over night train, this was my first experience of having the pleasure of a hard seat over night - oh how fun that is. Basically sat bolt upright with you knees touching the person sat opposite, so no room to move or even to stretch your legs out, the lighhts never go off, and you also have people who dont have a seat so are stood/sat on the floor, so there are also people talking all night - hence not much sleep for me!
Ok, I'll leave this one here and start the next one!
Rach xx
|
|
If you like this entry, search for other entries from China or try a new search. |
| |
Back to Entry - Back to Home
|
2 votes 
