Hangzhou - 3 nights

Day One:

Was packed up and checked out of the hostel in Shanghai just after 9am, shuffled to the metro station to catch the metro to the main train station then walked to the bus terminal by 9.53am, booking the next bus to Hangzhou that was leaving in 7min. Making my way from the ticket gate through bag security and upstairs to the gate at a pace and with an amount of pushy aggression that would impress even the chinese themselves, I managed to get seated on the bus before departure time. To my surprise, my 2.5h bus ride was accompanied by only 4 other men in this huge vacant bus.. Hangzhou must not be very popular in the winter??

I was completely unsure about my destination and pissed off that I was seated in front of a man who not only had the habit of talking loud on the phone, but also could hoik like the best of them and he snored... finally the glaring sun through the window put me to sleep and I woke up just before arrival time. We parked up at the east bus station, which according to my not very helpful lonely planet map could have only been 8km at most to the hostel that I wanted to go. I had originally planned to hike this distance but had a change of heart at the station and headed towards the taxi stand, almost being tricked by a mob of touts waving their keys and yelling out "taxi" in front of the way to the actual taxi stand. However, I have learnt in China that the real taxi drivers do not leave their cabs to find passengers, so i managed to walk out of the group of touts that had encircled me and walk to the taxi stand. After a greedy 66yuan taxi ride (he clocked up an outrageous 17km on his meter - twice the distance i had estimated by map!) I was at a youth hostel perfectly located on the side of the west lake with a cozy bar and cafe. Sick of sleeping in dorms for a week and being afraid to turn a light on in the morning so as to not wake up my peers, I decided to depart with a bit more cash and score my own private room (with ensuite!).

Happy as larry, i then went walking round part of the lake to the Leifang Pagoda then back into town to the markets of the old street. I slowly looked at the stalls of (in my opinion) unnecessary tack then lingered at the amazing artists jumping rope while on a unicycle and spinning and catching rope in the hands (and later the mouth), before walking off to the smell of food. The food street was a hive of activity and most of what was offered was seafood of some variety, placed on skewers and deep-fried . I pointed to some interesting looking pattie, ended up having to buy four for 10yuan, then proceeded to eat the oily vegetable fritters.. not the prawn fritter i was hoping for

I then back to the hostel, stopping off at a dairy to buy a filled steamed bun that i have grown fond of (but usually buy from a clean seven eleven or family mart). after biting into the bun and determining that the meat of an unrecognisable taste, i threw the meat out. lesson learned - don't buy food from suspect dairies!!

After a brief stop at the hostel, I put my walking shoes back on and looked at the local night market as well as walk by the small lakeside squares with women assembled to engage in their night past time of either the slow waltz or the more energetic line dancing.

Day Two:

I set out in the morning by 10am, stopping at the public bike hire kiosk to hand over my 300yuan deposit and receive entitlement of a swipe card to pick up and drop off the city's red bikes at their numerous stations in town and around the lake. After a relaxing 2h biking around most of the lake and witnessing the charm of the lake and its surrounding tea fields (Hangzhou is reknowned for its tea), I was hungry so walked into a chinese restaurant that i had spotted next to the carrefour. This restaurant did not have an english menu but I was confident that its picture menu would suffice. After pointing at a bowl of something that looked like a standard pork and vege dish and asking for a bowl of 'fan' (rice) also, I sat confidently at the table anticipating the taste sensation that was about to be my lunch. However, the waitress bought to what looked to me like mature meat of some sought (origin unknown) and mainly bone, with capsicum and bamboo shoots cooking in a chilli oil. Luckiliy I had also ordered the rice so did not go hungry!

My night walk led me further away to an area where and dancing lit fountain show was being performed to classic american ballet tunes. Unfortunately I did not have my camera on me at the time, but You Tube it - its fantastic

Day Three:

I start the day by performing some 'time fillers' such as sleeping in, packing up bag, sipping coffee at the hostel cafe and using the internet, before checking out at 12pm, leaving my luggage in storage while I spent the afternoon hanging out at the lake. I walked to Su Dongpo's causeway - this man was a famous scholar from one of the earlier dynasties - the Song Dynasty. According to my informative account of the dynasties thanks to the foreign bookstore, Su Dongpo was a man of culture who rather than labourously work; he liked to read, paint and drink wine. I walked back in the direction of the hostel, but not before I was intercepted by a group of colleagues from a local company who were performing some sought of teambuilding scavenger hunt, with one of their tasks being to take photos with five or six foreigners and i was the first whitey that they had seen that day.. to be honest i hadn't seen many others the 2.5 days i had been threr either.

After mucking around for a bit and stretching my legs, I settled at the hostel cafe for a western pasta dish (that had its unusual touches of sweet corn kernels and red kidney beans). After an hour or so, I picked up my luggage and walked the 5-6km to where the lonely planet said that i could pick up a shuttle ticket to the airport.

I was extremely lucky to find the shuttle ticket office and for a reasonable 20yuan i managed to push my way on board to bus to a seat. Arriving at the airport at between 5-6pm, I sat twiddling my thumbs, sitting coffee and noodle soup, reading, and further twiddling of the thumbs until i had to check in at 6am the next morning. The logic for my overnight stay was to save a wad of cash for no accommodation, as well as to catch the cheap 20yuan shuttle bus instead of taking a stupendously overpriced taxi to the airport for over 100yuan.

I caught the plane to Guangzhou and sat waiting with huge anticipation for my last chinese cities, and also one that was one of the wealthiest...