http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Zhejiang/Hangzhou/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , China , Zhejiang , Hangzhou en-us Sun, 06 Dec 09 13:33:52 +0000 Sun, 06 Dec 09 13:33:52 +0000 First Day I slept for ages last nightthis morning. Tarik woke me up at 11.30 but i would have slept longer if I could. Am still yawning as i sit and type this...I visited Tarik's school today. He's done a lovely job with it. Goo sized classrooms andd a glass wall and a welcoming waiting area. He's teaching at a chinese school just now and I was going to go with him but had to go and register at http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Zhejiang/Hangzhou/blog-450619.html We woke up around 630am probably the earliest we've set our alarms for since being in China other than the whole training in Beijing thing... as we rarely have to teach before 9am. It's a tough life. It was a bit chilly outside so being up that early and showering on the balcony sans hot water we still haven't figured that out wasn't the most fun but it had to be done. We'd quickly packed http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Zhejiang/Hangzhou/blog-449892.html The bus ride from Suzhou to Hangzhou went faster than I thought. At arrival it took a while before I found the right bus stop to the hostel but when I finally found it the ride went very well. And then I have to say taking the bus is more fun than to get into a taxi that brings you to your destination at once.After having checked in the hostel I decided to do completely nothing that day. The http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Zhejiang/Hangzhou/blog-449110.html Longjin tea http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Zhejiang/Hangzhou/blog-448028.html Xihu West Lake is a really nice place http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Zhejiang/Hangzhou/blog-448024.html heavy rain http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Zhejiang/Hangzhou/blog-448022.html So I have been studying quite a bit but as we all know I do occasionally go out on the townhellip and this post is dedicated to the most interesting two nights I have had in the first month or so that I have been here.My First Chance at Stardom Josh as the Lead Singer of a Chinese Rock BandI have a Chinese friend named Tommy who I met at a bar near my house. Tommy is a student also but on t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Zhejiang/Hangzhou/blog-442851.html A special Nanbeihu entry.Helloooo everyoneSince staff training ended it's been pretty much non stop for those good enough to be picked to do actual work p. Katie being fabulous beyond belief or in fact just white and female the two things missing from the other Nan staff was selected to go to Nanbeihu where there were two back to back trips. To get there the staff had to undergo a gr http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Zhejiang/Hangzhou/blog-440919.html So I am at the end of me second week of school and I couldnrsquot be happier. I have class every morning except Mondays when it is in the afternoon. Starting next week I will also be taking a class in Kung Fu Tai Chi and Chinese calligraphy the last one surprises me also. Our language classes are divided up into 3 different courses Grammar Spoken and Listening. Grammar is our core cl http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Zhejiang/Hangzhou/blog-440079.html Anmerkung Es gehoeren noch Fotos dazu. Die werden demnaechst nachgeliefert wenn ich eine bessere Verbindung habe.Am frhen Morgen habe ich Risas Apartment in Shanghai verlassen und bin mit dem Zug nach Hangzhou gefahren. Obwohl Hauptstadt der an Shanghai angrenzenden Provinz Zhejiang und mit einer Einwohnerzahl von ber 6 Millionen ist Hangzhou fr chinesische Verhltnisse doch recht berschauba http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Zhejiang/Hangzhou/blog-438738.html A Chinese friend once asked why when foreigners come to China they would always and most often only wanted to see the Great Wall in Beijing. My response and explanation was rather simple because when yoursquore outside China yoursquore only aware of The Great Wall because itrsquos dubbed as one among the Seven Wonders of the World. Inside China however critics place Hangzhoursquos Wes http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Zhejiang/Hangzhou/blog-433688.html On the 19th June Clare and I went to our friends' apartment to check out their spare room for us possibly moving into. It was a kind offer but realistically it was too small for the pair of us plus the three that already lived there. Clare had told one of her colleagues that we were getting booted out of our apartment and he mentioned that his friend was looking to move out of his 4 months befor http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Zhejiang/Hangzhou/blog-430980.html We were elated at the thought of leaving the scorching tempertaures of Suzhou but a little dissapointed that as a result of the heat we couldn't fully appreciate all that it had to offer. Hangzhou was a three hour train ride from Suzhou. The journey took us through the metropolis of Shanghai but we'd decided on this occasion to give Shanghai a miss. We were pretty tight for time and having been http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Zhejiang/Hangzhou/blog-428531.html Clare got back from Thailand on the 7th of April. I'm insanely jealous that I couldn't go with her but every time that I went to Hong Kong she was envious of me so I guess this makes us even now.. sort of.We had been planning a day trip to Hangzhou for two months before we eventually got the opportunity on the 17th April. Hangzhou is the provincial capital of Zhejiang and is always listed as a m http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Zhejiang/Hangzhou/blog-416699.html After a crappy tour group dinner lol we headed off to Song city it is an entire entertainment city built to mimic the Song kingdom The show was awesome and there was a ghost street filled with silly stuff http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Zhejiang/Hangzhou/blog-409691.html This day was dedicated for Hangzhou we mainly stayed around the westlake a very famous place in China It's beautiful and very romantic Lots of love stories took place here And it was rainin just softly so it's even more beautiful But I still dislike the rain http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Zhejiang/Hangzhou/blog-409685.html Okay here's the post where I freak my mom out. Today was mostly ordinary in the neverbeentoChina sense. So yeah not really ordinary but kinda like the past four other days. If you want to skip to the exciting parts our bus was hit by a very small truck and I just got back from a night club in downtown Hangzhou where we were the life of the party. Don't believe it Yeah me either. No real http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Zhejiang/Hangzhou/blog-408806.html A long time ago I had a lot of friends. You always have the ones that stand out here and there and you go around with sayings like ldquo1 good friend is better than 10 bad onesrdquo which of course is a quote inspired by Samuel Johnston ldquoTrue happiness consists not in the multitude of friends but in there worth and choicerdquo. But in the end back then itrsquos just all about soun http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Zhejiang/Hangzhou/blog-408540.html After the Dragon Boat Festival tour in Quyuan's Hometown I go back to Shanghai and plan to travel to Hangzhou during the last two days of my holiday. I have done much preparation before travel to Hanzhoubook hotel and gather informations of spots and itinerary ahead of time so that I may visit both classical spots and try delicious local food during the short vacation. I take morning train at 8 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Zhejiang/Hangzhou/blog-404108.html until I'm leaving for China againThis will be my fourth trip but I'm almost as excited this time as I was the first Actually maybe I'm more excited because I KNOW what there is to be excited about The first time I was just all jitters and as alot of you know I'm not all that great with uncertainty.However we still have some uncertainty this year what with the H1N1 flu scare. I hope th http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Zhejiang/Hangzhou/blog-402002.html