Hangzhou Days

Thank goodness it was only T1 this morning so off we left for Hangzhou in Dragonair. Reached HZ and realised to my pleasant surprise that we will be checking into a Hotel after all .. it's the New Century Zhijiang Resort Hangzhou near my in law's place as they have guests staying with them from the States.

 

This hotel has an amazing lot of facilities... from shooting,bowling, karaoke, squash, tennis, fishing, carting, sauna, foot therapy, tennis to the standard swimming pool. 

 

And the room is big and comfy with a serene view of the garden and the hotel room costs merely $400 RMB per night.

 

Anyway, a summary of the places I went to before I forget...

 

Day 1  

- Qian Tang Jiang can be seen from my in law's place

- Looked at the 700 year old trees with people playing mahjong/cards at temples (interesting to note that due to the lack of religion in the nation building of China, temples are not considered sacred places .. and that's why you see people doing so within the very compounds itself. In many places, I would have thought it to be rather blasphemous.)

- Went to the market square with the ham shop, giseng shops, teas shops etc

- Went to the wet market

- Ate dinner of female crabs (which I helped to cut ginger and cong which became also laughing stock as I cut away the white parts of the cong which is supposed to be the main thing people eat. also saw the preparation of the crabs. ..which is an art and science in itself. the complete lack of culinary skills on my side was exposed. So I made myself useful by helping with cleaning up and preparing instant coffee..which won some cookie points...hee)

- Foot massage for 70 min at 100 RMB

 

Day 2

- Xihu

- Guan Yu Hua Gang

- Went for lunch at one of the restaurants near the edge of the Xihu

- Saw many to-be-married couples taking pre wedding photoes

- Went to the silk shop (and bought a silk blanket after knowing about how it doesn't trap dust, is cool in summer and warm in winter, how it doesn't catch fire and how it is used in parachutes in the chang jiang qi hao) and the National Tea musuem (where we tasted the big 8 teas in china...long jing from hangzhou is one of them)

- Ate dinner of male and female crabs

- Played a game of Da Lao Er

 

Day 3

- Woke up with many many mosquito bites which are still itching today

- Had Sze Chuan lunch today..very shiok..[particularly like the ma po tofu and the suan cai yu]

- Went to another side of Xihu and today we took a boat

- San Tan Ying Yue where we also saw Lei Feng Tai etc

- Dinner ended at my grandma's home (name of restaurant) which served the most awesomes salted egg pumpkin, sour vegetable clams soup, fried golden mushrooms, breaded fried fillet, pickled cucumbers and many others..a meal for 7 at only 150RMB.

- Resumed playing Da Lao Er

- Market crashed

 

Some interesting ads in China ..

- Signature designing

- Knowing how many people have the same name in China (out of the 1.3 billion people)

- Disproportionate amt of pharmaseutical ads on the TV channels

 

Also saw many nice, expensive looking restuarants near Starbucks ard the Xi hu but most are completely empty on a weekday. As such, I wonder if those are entirely for tourists or rich locals.

 

Anyway, think Hangzhou is really a very peaceful and scenic alternative to Hong Kong. Lots of fresh air and space. Surprisingly many nice developments as well. A good place for retirement actually when things are so cheap.