Hello again,

Up in the middle of the night (5am) to catch our flight to Hangzhou. Check in was fab, we had a desk to ourselves then private security as well - felt like VIPs. I'd never heard of Hainan Airways before but the flight was good. Unlimited drinks then a breakfast consisting of cucumber dish, chicken noodles or fried rice, and a packet of crackers. The flight took around two hours then bused to our hotel. The hotel is a lot nicer than the last one, good facilities although Im still not able to upload photos grrr!

Its a lot warmer here. In Beijing the weather was mixed - warm and hazy but rainy at times. Xian was cooler but here you can really feel the heat so we are hoping to catch some rays from now on! Keep hearing about freak rainfall on the news here so it better stay away!

After check in we had an hour free time then Marcia took us out for lunch - traditional food from the Hangzhou area (fish in vinegar gravy, skewered prawns, spicy pork, rice etc) then we went on an orientation walk to the West Lake. Once we got there she left us to it and the rest of the day was our free time to do what we wanted. Most of us stayed together as a group and decided to explore the lake. There was a fountain show about to start so we all took a seat by the water jets. The music started and the fountains were dancing to the music - all very nice until the bloody things turned, scooshed tons of water in our direction and drenched the lot of us. We were up off the seats like a shot except for Gail who sat with her brolly up! We were laughing so much cos we were all absolutely ringing wet, make up and hair everywhere - poor Georgina could have entered miss wet tshirt. It was really funny. The Chinese were all laughing at us as well - probably knew we'd get soaked the b uggers :-)

Next we went on a boat trip on the West Lake to dry off. The scenery was absolutely stunning. We got off the boat on 'The Island with 4 pools' and also to see the lanterns of the moon (you'd need to google it to see what I'm talking about). The island was was lovely - pools with massive goldfish and floating lotus flower. I took loads of photos. We walked round the island for a while before getting back on the boat to the city.

We finished the day at a traditional tea house on 'tea street' where we were served proper Jasmine tea (with a flower in the cup) and it was poured from a clay pot. Also tried lots of unusual fruits and snacks. The tea room was olde worldy - a dark wooden house building with large red lanterns on the outside. Really enjoyed it.

Had a great day today. Tomorrow we drive 2 hours to visit Wuzhen - a traditional water village. After that we have another 3 hours on the bus to Shanghai.