Spring Festival 5: MH to Hangzhou

Our journey from Huangshan to Hangzhou was slightly odd.  We were taken out of town by a minibus which dropped us off at a petrol station in the middle of nowhere.  Five minutes later and a coach full of Chinese people arrived and picked us up.  Unfortunately there was one seat too few so a Chinese man was made to get off for me.  I tried to protest but the the coach driver was having none of it.  We then drove for another twenty minutes or so before stopping again.  This time everyone got off the bus, leaving just us foreigners to complete the journey to Hangzhou.  Very strange and definitely the work of Mr Hu (see previous post).

Our hostel in Hangzhou was very cosy and we had a whole attic room to ourselves.  Unfortunately the showers were downstairs (and outside) but we made it work.  Oh and there was a puppy so the girls were happy about that.

Hangzhou is a very popular tourist destination in China as it is the home of West Lake.  Many cities in China have a West Lake, but Hangzhou's is known for it's beauty and history.  Su Dongpo, a famous Song Dynasty (960 - 1127) poet, once compared the Lake to Xi Zi, the most beautiful woman in ancient China.

Ripping water shimmering on sunny day,
Misty mountains shrouded the rain;
Plain or gaily decked out like Xizi;
West Lake is always alluring.

Unfortunately the weather was pretty poor (standard) and, it still being winter, everything looked a bit grey, but we still had a great time hiring bikes and cycling around the water.  The girls got the usual attention from the Chinese tourists and locals and for the first time some of them also wanted to take pictures of me.  Hurrah!

I imagine that the lake and the surrounding gardens would look absolutely spectacular in the summer so hopefully one day I will be able to come back and see it in all its glory.

After our strenuous day of cycling we decided that we deserved to get ourselves booked in for a massage.  Some parts of it were very relaxing, other parts were downright painful but I think I felt a lot better for it.  At £19 it was actually quite an expensive treat (on a Chinese teachers salary) but it did include tea, snacks and a shower afterwards.  Not too shabby.

Whilst walking through the streets of Hangzhou we spotted these helpful signs.

I like how they need just 4 characters for the first poster but 5 characters to say "No spitting".  I also like that they decided to include a picture with the second poster.  Gross.