I’m back in China, after being away for about a month. Right now I’m sat in the passenger seat in Xiaoxiao’s Dad’s car with Xiaoxiao driving the four of us from Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province, to Taizhou, Xiaoxiao’s home city.
Our flight from Manchester all went pretty well: Quentin arrived at our house at some ridiculous hour in the morning, giving me a matter of minutes to get washed and into the car for the short drive to Doncaster train station. We grabbed a quick bite to eat before getting the train direct to Manchester Airport.
I don’t think I’ve ever been so early for a flight before… I can be a bit late for other things, but on the whole I always get to an airport three hours before the departure time (for international flights). Anyway, we were so early that we had to wait forty minutes before they’d let us check-in. Once we’d done this we waited in the First class lounge, while was a first for me. It’s all very nice: plenty of space to properly relax, grab a few “free” drinks and prepare yourself for the flight ahead.
We flew Manchester to Schiphol and then on to Shanghai. The flights were both fairly normal, although on the way to Shanghai we made excellent time and arrive about half an hour early. I don’t think I’ve been through immigration quite as quickly, either.
Once we’d grabbed our bags we met Xiaoxiao’s aunty and she drove us to her newly decorated flat where we had some classic English food: Pizza Hut. Unfortunately we were a bit late for our train to Hangzhou, but the mad rush we had to try and get on the train was quite amusing: I ended up dashing off with Xiaoxiao’s aunty to the correct platform, but my Mum and Uncle followed another crowd to a different platform. In the end we caught a later train and spent the two hour trip standing up at the end of a carriage near the hot-water boiler.
You quickly realise that pot noodles are the big travel food in China. They’re very practical: a noodle with some meat and flavour in a tub that you need only add hot water before eating. The Chinese obviously love these, backed up by the fact that every two minutes another Chinese cool kid wanders up to the hot water tap to top up their pot. The two hours standing was really hard work, by the end my feet were thoroughly sore and I was ready for Xiaoxiao to drive us to our hotel.
In Hangzhou we stayed two nights in the Home Inns hotel, which is more of a Travelodge: spartan, but very clean and practical. We stayed here purely by chance, although when we stay in Beijing, we have arranged to stay at the Home Inns in Qianmen, which is very close to Tiananmen Square. So far I’ve been very impressed with Home Inns. They’re not the cheapest place to stay, but they are certainly very reasonable… a room with a double bed is about 14/night.
That evening we ended up in a student bar near XiHu (West Lake). My Cokes cost a lot more than a bottle of Asahi… about 70p a bottle.
Yesterday we visited the three main sights I had planned: Lingyin Si, a Buddhist temple with an impressive number of buddha statues and buildings; Liuhe Ta, a six-sided pagoda over a thousand years old. On the Liuhe Ta grounds we also walked around a Legoland of replica pagoda from around China. Some of these were very impressive, although I didn’t find a replica of Liuhe Ta, which would have made a really interesting photo. The last place we visited was the West Lake… unfortunately we ended up at the wrong side of the lake and spent a good twenty minutes figuring out how to get across. We almost ended up on a rowboat, which would have taken almost an hour and 100RMB (about 7 pounds). For dinner we had a really good (although slightly too spicy!) curry at an Indian restaurant on the lake edge.
As I’ve mentioned, right now I’m sat in a car on the way to Taizhou city. This morning Xiaoxiao’s alarm clock went off at 7:50… somehow Xiaoxiao was the only one that hadn’t figured out we had aimed to leave the hotel at 8:00 to get to her flat in Taizhou before lunch. Anyway, we set off a little late but we’re at least half-way there now.
Today we’re planning to spend a little time with her family, maybe visit the toilet factory and tour the city. Tomorrow is Chinese new year, so this evening we will be sitting down to some sort of family meal… we’re not yet sure if this will be out at a fancy restaurant, or at home. Either way, the food will be funny and I’ll have to hope that McDonald’s is open so I can top up with nosh :)
Tags: travel