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Published: September 15th 2007
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Hi!
I hope everyone had a great week! I've had a less exciting week than my first, but still a good time. I'm not sure if it's the food/tummy or if I'm just feeling like 4 weeks in China is PLENTY of time to visit, but I've been feeling a bit burnt out recently. We meet up with our 9 new group members tonight and I think there's a lot more to see on the second half of the trip, so I hope the feeling goes away!
Hangzhou is a city a few hours from Shanghai. We actually flew Shanghai after the boat ride from Fengjie, so the 9th was a long day - 3.5 hours on the boat, 2 hours of flying and then a 3 or 4 hour drive. It makes the overnight train look good 😊 At least with the train, you get the travel over with while you sleep. I did get to watch a few hours of a Korean soap opera on the boat though which was very entertaining... somehow when you have enough drama going on you don't need to understand the language to understand the show! Anyway, we had two days in Hangzhou
and i think we saw most of the highlights - Lingyin Temple and the Dragon Well Teahouse (where I sipped the green tea that they make for Emperors and the Queen), and a float around the West Lake to check out the stone pagodas called "Three Pools Mirroring the Moon" - located on the $1 note. Andy and I did have an entertaining negotiation with a boat paddler who got us into a paddle boat twice on an agreed upon price only to get out on the water and realize he wanted twice as much money as we thought to leave us on the other side of the massive lake instead of bringing us back. We ended up taking the tourist boat instead for 1/2 our original negotiated price 😊
The next morning, I decided to rent a bike on my own and bike partially around the lake. I became one of the masses - mostly those commuting - along the main road with the other cars and bikes.... it was a bit scary, but a good time. The scenery was very beautiful as the lake is surrounded by numerous forests. I was able to also go along the
causeway through the lake to avoid streets with cars. I then had my first Starbucks latte in week and drank it in a nice quiet park on the lake - perfect morning really! I'm actually off of coffee - the headache only last for a couple of days, so I no longer have to search around town for a decent coffee only to be disappointed.
We left Hangshou at noon and headed for Yellow Mountain and our hotel at the base of the mountain. It turned out that our hotel wasn't near the town, it was up in the hills a bit. So we had no internet, no pubs and a couple of 9:30 to bed kind of nights. Unfortunately I think one of the dishes at the hotel was a bit off and most of us hit the Imodium for the hike the next day. Our hike was beautiful! They say of the 5 major mountains in China, you really won't need to visit any others after visiting Yellow Mountain. The views were stunning. You can take a cable car to the top (6.5km straight up) and then walk up and down the numerous peaks. We decided to
Smiling Buddha
A touch for good luck can't hurt :) take the car up but walk down... My calves and knees are still feeling it! It was much steeper than I anticipated, but it was fun. It definitely could have been worse... I could have been one of the porters going up the mountain (or one of the more ambitious hikers)... these guys carry everything for the resaturants and 5 star hotels up to the top - I can't believe the running the cable car at night wouldn't be cheaper than paying them to carry supplies, but maybe it is? There were carrying things hanging from a piece of wood balanced across their backs - like 2 huge wooden hotel chairs, a propane tank, flats of water, ten foot long planks of wood, SIDING!!! ect. It was crazy.
We left Yellow Mountain the next morning and spent the afternoon in Huang Shan - a small city. Our 13 hour train ride started later than the others - at 10. I think I prefer the 6pm start b/c then you're off the train early rather than waiting for an arrival all morning. So we arrived in Shanghai around noon. Its been fun so far (we finally had our first night at a bar Friday night), but not what I expected. Very big modern city, but not too much to check out other then the shopping. I spent yesterday afternoon wandering around numerous 7 story malls located along Nanjing Lu - a pedistrian walking street with 1000's of people everywhere - 8th ave isn't quite at this level yet! We also checked out the Bund, a street running along the riverfront with European architecture. Last night we went to a Chinese Acrobatic show with everthing from contortionists to 12 girls riding one bike, to 5 motorcycles in the "ball of Death"... yeah, I'd say!
This morning we took in the Shanghai museum for a few hours and then had a delicious Subway sandwich. We chatted a bit with the guy that opened it - there's now 8 in Shanghai... I don't know if the sandwich idea is going to catch on with all 14million people, but I was pretty happy to have it! I've just had a nap and I'm going to go get ready to have dinner with our new buddies and then head up the Jinmao Tower - to the 88th floor to check out the city at night. Looking forward to a fun Saturday night out in the city!
Have a great weekend
Love Steph
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