Alison: Hangzhou is a really lovely city. It is just outside Shanghai and is just above the province that has recently had all the floods. The weather when we were there was terrible. We spent 5 days there for some rest and rejuvenation which we just about managed (apart from the night we found a rather large bottle vodka in the supermarket...vodka is very hard to come by!). It rained practically all day everyday except the last day. We still managed to get out and see everything we wanted to though....umbrellas are a must have in China as they are used in both sun and rain. Even Nigel has a snazzy green tartan number. The worst part of the wet weather was the mosquito's. The climate is very humid here which is ideal for them. We were feasted upon despite the mosquito repellent. The hostel that we stayed in was particularly bad for mosquitoes because we chose to stay in one out of the city in the mountains for some peace and quiet. We have heard that some people complain that it is out of the way but we were pleased to be away from the busy city environment. We had beautiful mountain views from our bedroom and we could even see the beginning of the tea fields....

Nigel: And that leads me onto the tea fields that Alison mentions. We had read about them before we had got there, but to be able to see them was a great experience. When we got on the bus to go to the fields, we got chatting to a young lady called Christina, who came from Belgium and we went around the fields together with her. The village, that the fields are situated in, is meant to be famous in China as being one of the best around for tea producing (Dragons Well). Also situated in Hangzhou is a rather large lake called the West lake, which again is also famous in China. You are able to walk around the perimeter of the lake, but the whole journey would take hours, so we didn't go for that option. There was a causeway which went from North to South across the lake, which was built over a 1000 years ago from the material which was dredged from the lake. So we decided to walk that and get the bus back. The lake also had a recent famous visitor in the shape of Manchester United, who had recently played in the town as part of there Asia tour. Man Utd are well supported over here and you see many Utd tops. Its funny however that we haven't seen any Liverpool fans. Maybe they are all in Liverpool and one lonely one in Portsmouth. Maybe this season Kev maybe.