Took a reasonably cheap taxi to Hong Qiao Station in the morning. Waited almost an hour for a ride on the high-speed train. The CRH train 和谐号 outbound to Hangzhou 200km away departed from Shanghai at 12pm sharp. Experiencing the train smoothly slided out from the platform & watching the scenery slowly changed. We bid farewell to Shanghai and looked forward to 2nd destination of China trip.
This train has got empty business class, quiet 1st class & crowded 2nd class. A cafe car selling snacks & drinks is also available. Can't help reminiscing with our last ride on NEX between Narita Airport & Tokyo Shinagawa. Quite similar experience except we had a meal on 和谐号 - Morton's Prime Burger lunch doggy bagged yesterday.
Hangzhou, although is the capital of Zhejiang Province, is much smaller & less complex compared to Shanghai. Hangzhou was an important port in the past. Merchant from Arab lived here. During Qing Dynasty, Hangzhou was also populated by many Muslim. So there were some Islamic influence in local food & architecture.
Rice... Nice...
Grill mutton - The Muslim way
Mutton soup
Now I know "halal" in Chinese is 清真
That evening we walked along the 河坊街 pedastrian street night market & visited the Hangzhou Museum. Most of the museum in China are FREE. Because too many artifacts available easily. On the same street 50m away from our hotel was actually a site of ancient civilization. When development works was carried out a while ago, workers excavated the ground & notice signs of habitation. They unearthed some roofing material & identified some sort of irrigation system. And now this place is currently conserved yet entry is free.
The conserved site is the red shelter in the background
Day 4
I had my new insight into seasons. Spring is actually wet and chilly. It's drizzling most of the time and that's how the plant "awakened" from the Winter.
On this day, our trip focuses on West Lake, a lake so beautiful that poet ever made comparison with Xi Shi (1 of the 4 Beauties in ancient Chinese history). The 10 most attractive spots around West Lake are
If not for the wet weather, West Lake is quite a nice place to relax.
Yong Jin Tower 涌金楼 is located by a jetty. Most of the Emporers taking a trip to West Latke used to board the boat from here
金牛吐水
There is a story behind the golden buffalo.
"There was a golden buffalo residing at the bottom of the lake. During heavy drought, it will emerge & spit a lot to"refill" the dried lake. Once the corrupted officials were dying to impress the Emporer so they instructed the villagers to scoop out the lake water. Miraculously the golden buffalo emerged but it spitted too much and drown the corrupted officials. Since then the lake never dried up and the golden buffalo never appeared again."
Greenery
Must have KFC whenever we go. China KFC is not bad but very salty with soyabean :)
This weather reminds me of a song. "... Raindrops keep falling on my head...". No choice but stayed in hotel watching "Beyond the Realm of Conscience" (宮心計) in hotel that afternoon. Only went out for dinner.
Wang Run Xing Restaurant. Our verdict - 四个字!
Last Day
The weather only turned slightly better on the last day of our Hangzhou stay. We returned to the walking street & catch up with the photo shoot. That concluded our tour in China.
We walked up & down the street trying to buy some dragon beard candy (龙须糖)
We ended up not having any 龙须糖 :(
Hangzhou Museum
Drum Tower
Where we stayed
Bai Causeway
I walked so much. My 3-month old ecco is like 3-year old now.
For the 1 last time we took a 步步惊心 taxi ride. This driver was also very honestly sent us to Xiao Shan International Airport for ¥100 fare. We are so glad the trip is over...
half dead...
By the way, HIA is quite big & new inside. We also spent our time wisely investigated the budget airline shuttle bus service. After make comparison, it was concluded that AirAsia is still a better option.
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