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Published: January 27th 2007
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In this week, I went to Eastern China again with my family. Our trip called at Hangzhou, Shanghai, Suzhou, and Nanjing. Hopefully, this trip was similar to my trip back in 2003 so I should have known about many of the places and the troubles on the road would be minimized.
We flew Hong Kong Express, a new start-up airliners based here, and the fare was attractive. This was pretty much the reason we had the trip. Landing in Hangzhou was, as expected, in a hazy weather. I think I have got used to this kind of weather wherever I go in the mainland. Sadly for the people who live there, they will have to breath in the smoke everyday and have no escape. It is really sad that the rapid economic growth in China is costing so much and nobody actually knows who is going to suffer it.
Our first night was spent in Shanghai instead of Hangzhou, so we took a train immediately after we landed. Naturally, we took the soft seat class, which, besides the more spacious compartments, offers a relatively luxary waiting room. Ironically, the difference in fare between the soft and hard seat is
just CNY 16 (USD 2) for our trip, but the difference in treatment between the passengers of the two classes would tell one that this amount of money matters a lot. Or would it not be a pure money thing?
Shanghai was more or less the same as I had visited 3 years ago. But wait, they built a brand new railwa station, and we were staying this time in a new chain hotel, whose brand I had not heard of earlier. The metro was still the same crowded, but it seemed the people there were more polite this time (Well, it is in this country!). We did the same sightseeing, which was not much surprising as I had been to there.
Next stop was Suzhou and a detour to the village of Zhouzhang. Probably because of the rain, the impression I had this time with these two places was not as good as last time. Suzhou seemed to be a bit dirty and its traffic was still in chaos, while Zhouzhang was flooded with too many tourists which simply ruined the quiet atmosphere of the village. My advice is that when going to China, try to avoid
the "famous" tourist spots as one can only see people, but nothing else. And then everyone wants to sell you something (and rip you off!)
We went from Suzhou to Nanjing, which was one of the old capital of China. I did not go to Nanjing 3 years ago, so this time I would expect something. However, as we stayed in the old town, the atmosphere was not too impressing--the roads were dirty and the food was not good. Anyway, we joined a local tour the next day, but unfortunately, it turned out to be a shopping tour rather than a sightseeing one. Everywhere we went, the main objectives of the tour guide were to get commission from selling something, or simply from the admission fee. Some of the places we went were simply unknown and flake tourist spots!
Hangzhou was our last stop and I think it was the highlight of our trip. The West Lake is as beautiful as ever, but only problem was the haze. Nevertheless, we enjoyed a boat trip on the Lake and on Suti, while we skipped some of the attractions which require admission fee. I think Hangzhou is getting into the
right direction to get inself on to the top list of leisure city in China, especially when it abolished the admission fee around the West Lake. This is one of the few truly public goods on offer in China!
We had a detour to Xiaoxing near Hangzhou before the end of our trip. Xiaoxing was the birthplace of the writer Luxuen, and home of a few other cultural figures. Naturally, the sights we went were mostly culturally oriented and this had been satisfactory to us.
To conclude our trip, this part of China is economically most developed and there are many sights on offer. I especially like Hangzhou with its natural setting. However, given the wealth that has been generated, the attitude of many people, whether in or outside the tourist industry, has obviously not catched up. Many of the taxi drivers we met were simply unprofessional while the tour companies were more concerned with their commission than the needs of their clients. I do not know when and if this would one day be improved, but it seemed that the road is long. Sadly enough, our nation knows too good in making money, but at the same
Nanjing
View from 中山陵 time has ignored something that is important, whether be it the environment or the attitude to others. One day this needs to be changed. Only then can this country be really competitive in moving up the chain in international economy.
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Lewis
non-member comment
More pictures would be nice!
Especially those of West Lake.