Blogs from Zhejiang, China, Asia - page 4

Dongqian Lake is one of the main tourist spots in Ningbo, so we hopped in a taxi and headed there. Since the lake is massive and we didn't know which part we wanted to be at a quick phone call to someone gave us a location to show the taxi driver. The journey took about twenty minutes. The taxi dropped us at the start of a smaller road and we walked down it. There we found a ticket booth and paid the entrance fee to Tao Gong Island. I can't remember how much it was now. The God of Wealth, Fan Li, and Venus, Xi Shi, lived on Tao Gong Island several thousand years ago, or so the story goes. We consulted the map and it seemed that there were a few things to do on ... read more

My first exploration into my new city. Tiangong Farmstead was about a half hour's drive from where I live. I think it would have been quicker if the bus driver hadn't got lost and took us to another farmstead first. The first place we visited was a square surrounded by workshops. The buildings are all in the traditional Chinese style, they looked so pretty. We wandered through the various workshops, looking at what the artisans had produced. There were lots of gorgeous carvings and lanterns among other things. This place must run art classes as in front of the workshop/shops were lots of kid sitting on little stools sketching and painting. It was an adorable sight to see. After wandering the shops, we decided to head out and see more of the farmstead. While there had ... read more

Before setting off for the heady heights of Shanghai our next stop is the beautiful town of Hangzhou, reportedly enjoyed as a holiday retreat by Emperors long gone. But first to tell of our new year on the train. The negotiation of the station was easy, having our own waiting area for the train, and on the platform the attendants were all smartly lined up alongside each carriage. We had magnificent peace and quiet, being the only passengers in the carriage let alone our compartment, after the noise and hustle of Xian it was a treat. Dozing in the compartment, which was the plushest of the trains so far, we saw many red lanterns and occasionally fireworks and that was it. Party poopers or not I enjoyed the peace! And so to Hangzhou. The scenery had ... read more

Het begon allemaal op een druilerige zaterdagmorgen. De Fudan-universiteit had een excursie georganiseerd naar Wuzhen, volgens de gids de minst toeristische ‘watertown’ van Shanghai. Minst toeristisch, tsja. Zodra ik uit de bus stapte, waande ik mij in de Efteling. Voor de poort (met drie torentjes!) stond een enorme wachtrij en uit de prullenbakken klonk vrolijke muziek. Op het eerste gezicht leek het dorp nogal commercieel…en dat was het ook. Maar toen we eenmaal langs de mensenmassa waren, bleek Wuzhen toch een erg leuk uitstapje. Wuzhen is eigenlijk een soort Chinees Giethoorn, maar dan met (nog) meer Chinezen. We werden met een bootje naar het centrum gebracht. Daar leidde de gids ons langs de kanalen en door een wirwar van steegjes, alles verbonden door talloze bruggetjes. Het dorpje doet erg ‘oud Chinees’ aan door de traditionele architectuur. ... read more

“Jinhua Aiqing Cultural Park” The next adventure with Terry started on a misstep as we discovered, after a long taxi ride, that the place he planned to show me was closed. Undaunted, we looked at Terry's prepared list for a good alternative site to visit. Within moments taxi was flying back over the route we had came on, our new destination was the Jinhua Aiqing Cultural Park. I must admit we could not visit the entire massive riverside park. Only a section was photographed and explored before crossing one of the many bridges to lead us into a secondary sister park (Jinhua Architecture Park) that sat on the opposing bank of the Yiwu River. I must believe that my presence had reignited Terry's passion for exploring since he kept saying how he had barely visited most ... read more