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Published: September 7th 2008
Streets of Hangzhou
This street leads up to the nicer more upscale area of Hangzhou. Wednesday, November 14, 2007
?? ? 4 (china diaries 4)
Category: Travel and Places
They say Hangzhou is the most beautiful place in China, although I haven't been to other places apart from Beijing, my experience here has been nothing lower then that standard or expectation.
West Lake...........The last that I left off, I said we took a trip to the lake and I was to write about it after I got some sleep. Well, apart from the constant gloom of the weather, it's an absolute serene scene to see this peacefully large lake that Hangzhou resides around. We took a boat around to observe the sites around the lake, it was and is such a drastic change from Beijing. There are some nice parts of Beijing, but the area we were in was mediocre. Where we are now seems to have such a European feel to it. There's an abundance of trees, it's clean, people seem so happy. The buildings are a mix between Euro decor and Chinese decor, alot of coffee shops, couples strolling, it really was a nice time to check out the city. You can see the taller buildings and main
Side of the lake
A walkway along the lake is quite nice. city area on the side of the lake, and there is also a Bellagio type fountain show infront of the Hyatt that played symphony music. Where the Hyatt is is more of the upscale area of Hangzhou where they sale Hermes, Ferarri, Omega, Zara, etc......The boat dropped us off on the opposite end of the lake and we took a stroll through a garden area that was quiet, green, it's definitely for the romantic couples, older people taken in the day, a place of relaxation. You always hear of a Japanese garden, but the Chinese garden is just as good. One thing you notice as well here is it's bit more luxurious, people have a better life, nicer cars, and better shopping. No hustle and bustle or muddy roads.
Once we reached our final stop of the walk, the bus picked us up and we were off to another tea room dinner where again the food was served on a round table, and people were drinking, having a good time. It's never an eat and run when you're in a room like that. The chairman of sports and activities of Hangzhou was there and all of the staff
Tea houses
This place was very cool, it had a french feel to the buildings. welcoming us so it was a great way to start the week. Hangzhou Drift Series is sponsored by the government sanctioned event this time so it's far more organized than in Beijing which is a load off of the people in charge. We have more translators, people helping us, and an actual schedule. My roommate and I called it a night early and it was off to bed.
The following morning, the organizers set up a promotional parade around Hangzhou of the drivers, the Chinese drivers as well as the Americans and us models. We were in a van infront of the drifters and streets were blocked off as we drove around the streets of Hangzhou which I also counted for a great tour of the city. We stopped in a few areas, the drivers got out and had alot of photos taken, the media also followed us around, we were to promote the series and get the people involved as much as we could. It was such an honor to be apart of this developing series because with the proper people working it, the promoting, the right WAY overall, this series is going to take a turn
for the better. Hangzhou is an absolute amazing city with so much to offer and like I said, to be apart of it is really neat.
The tour around the city too about an hour, it's funny to see roads guarded as well drove through, and after we were finished, we all went back to the hotel and had the rest of the day to roam around.Some of the girls wanted to go shopping at the center next to the stadium but I was up for checking out more the town, so I walked with them to the shopping center and then I was off to West Lake. I forgot my camera so I had to run back to the hotel to grab and decided to call a taxi to have it drop me off at the Hyatt where the fountains were. The moment I got out of the cab, I cruised around but stayed close to the lake so I didn't get lost.
I found a starbucks and got my cafe mocha and a muffin, watched the fountain show and walked along the lake. I managed to walk a couple blocks into the city more
but I gave myself a limited amount of time before heading back to the hotel. The Hyatt from our hotel is about a 15 minute cab ride, maybe 3-4 miles I wanna say more or less and I decided I was going to walk back to submerge myself into the Hangzhou way of life. I walked along the lake until I remember which street I took to go back to the hotel. I swear I have a gps or homing device built into my head because I can always manage to find my way back to where I need to go. I think from navigating throughout Europe really helped me and the key is to remember certain stores, or focal points along the way.
The walk back was nice, it was really neat to be apart of the city and to watch how people live, get around and also rush hour. Everyone here rides bikes and electric bikes, and I mean EVERYONE. It's like Asian Holland I swear. The funny thing is, I don't remember if I mentioned this before but people don't care about walking infront of traffic at all. They have some serious balls or death
wishes, because in order to get across or get to where you need to go, you just go. Forget waiting around and moving out of the way, they don't care. I tried to be the proper citizen and wait for a clear passage to walk across, but gave up when I would be waiting there and see other pedestrians or people on scooters not giving a damn and going for it. I finally gave up and decided, "when in china" (hence when in rome).
As I was getting closer to the stadium, I happend to run into the head models on their way to get their hair washed a salon, so I tagged along. We went to a place called Georges which looks like a high end salon, and we got our head massaged and hair washed. It was soooooo nice! It was more like a treatment and it was cheap. Probably expensive here but converting to USD, pretty good deal. They washed it, then gave a shoulder, arm and hand massage, blow dryed, and you can get a cut, curled, and/or straightened. I got mine straightened so it grew another 2 inches it seemed. Great place so
I recommend it to whom every comes to Hangzhou.
Once we were done, we hopped into a cab back to the hotel for dinner. The plan was to go clubbing but first stop was Karoake. Karoake is a big deal here just like Japan, people getting faded and singing their little hearts out. The drink of choice here as well is green tea and chivas and who ever thought of it is GENIUS!!! You can drink and feel great. We karoaked for a couple hours and then headed to the club. There was 1/3 of the crew that went out, everyone was buzzing for sure before we got to the club, and the club is a five minute walk from the hotel so we can stumble back. DJ Paul who is an American DJ living and working here in China hooked us up with a table at the club which was huge and amazing. It reminded me of Luxy in Taipei because it's in a building so you need to take an elevator to get to it and it's so big with ginormous rooms. We went into the electro/trance room which I was stoked about. Once we got
Street parade
The city of Hangzhou organized a parade. our table and our forever ongoing rounds of green tea and chivas, I was on the dancefloor. I would find a little opening somewhere and go to town for my nightly exercise and watch Chinese men try to get down. It was funny, we were the only non-asians in there and we were all partying it up. They had great entertaiment as well which reminded me of Amnesia in Ibiza and Avalon because it had themes, so the girls dressed as angels, people dressed up and hanging from rafters, Camoflauge/Army theme with machine guns that shot out sparks, a phantom of the opera on stilts walking around and a huge white fabric piece over the dancfloor that luminated with the lights. All the visuals were dope and the music was great with chunky basslines and electro beats, I was having a ball. Everyone was getting hammered and having a good time. It was packed! I called it a night around 1:30 am and walked back to the hotel to get some shut eye thinking I drank too much and might get a hangover. I toned down my drinking about 10 knotches so I can't consumed as much as I use
Photo 9
The parade lasted about an hour and half maybe. to, but I'm glad I drank that green tea because I woke up feeling like a superstar with no hangover.
Today we had rehearsal with the Chinese Drift models to make up a dance routine during the show, so we walked over to the performing arts school and surprisingly enough with the 9 models we have the 10 models they have, the language barrier, and all of us wanting to contribute, it turned out fabulous. My roommate use to be a cheerleader and trained dancer so she was nominated to coordinate the routine (funny thing was we both said we didn't want to take the reins and rather be told what to do). After an hour and half of three formation changes, riples, and solo routines, we got it dialed. My solo is twirling checkered flags........and maybe some poplocking if I'm feeling sassy.
We all ate lunch back at the hotel and got to chill for the rest of the day. Tonight, six of us models are gogo dancing at a club an hour away with Paul the DJ so as I'm writing this right now, I have to get ready to eat dinner and put
Here is a pit stop
We would drive to a couple locations, stop for a bit and then drive off again. We unfortunately had to ride the shuttles. my gogo face on.Tomorrow night is the start of the series and so this is where I end my blog. Stayed tuned for the next installment. I don't have the means to put up photos from West Lake, at the karaoke bar, or club because we have a computer in our room and don't have to use ours. It's free which is good, but photos have to wait. I'll check in in a couple days time.
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