I
tend to think of this short (2-week) trip as a “watertowns” tour.
This area, just east and southwest of Shanghai, is dotted with lakes,
rivers and canals. It contains many beauty spots with a water
theme—either man made or natural. I have already written about
Suzhou and its lovely landscape gardens built around ponds or canals.
Hangzhou,
next on our itinerary is a bustling metropolis built on the eastern
shore of West Lake, a large natural feature of the area that has been
landscaped with stone bridges and long tree lined causeways that are
perfect for strolling and enjoying nature. We spent seven days
exploring the points of interest in the area.
Our
last stop, a short three days, was Zhujiajiao, an old town built
along a canal that used to be used for commercial transportation, but
is now plied with innumerable boats offering rides on the canal for
tourists.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
TRAVEL AND ARRIVAL
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| Suzhou Railroad Station waiting area - only half of the concourse shown |
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| High Speed Train |
We
checked out of the Suzhou Soul Hotel on Monday, March 19 and took the
hotel shuttle to Suzhou Railway Station to board a high speed train
to Hangzhou a ride of a little over two hours. The concourse and
waiting area is cavernous. The train departed on time (12:36) and
arrived in Hangzhou around 14:45. We had a little drama at Hangzhou
Station. I leaned my crutch against a column while we consulted our
map for finding our hotel, the Wyndham Grand Plaza Royale, before
setting off on foot. Then we proceeded through the wicket and, while
in the men's room, I realized that I had forgotten my crutch. I
backtracked the short distance and saw my crutch still leaning
against the column. I flagged down a station security man and
explained (mostly by body language) my problem while pointing at the
crutch and myself, saying: “That's mine!” He caught on, retrieved
my crutch, and gave it back to me.
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| Wyndham Grand Plaza Royale |
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| our upgraded room |
Relieved,
we followed our map and soon found the hotel after a short walk,
maybe a kilometer or so. We had booked an ordinary room, but when we
checked in we were given an upgrade. We were first time guests
staying for seven days, so it's good marketing to upgrade and
encourage new guests to stay again. Our upgraded room was a spacious
business suite very elegantly decorated and very comfortable. Since
we had both come down with persistent colds the spacious room was
perfect for resting. A little tired after a day of traveling we
decided to stay in and enjoy our room and have dinner in the hotel.
We chose a Thai Restaurant that was well reviewed on TripAdvisor and
decided to give it a try. It turned out to be a good choice as the
food and atmosphere were excellent.
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| nicely folded napkin |
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| Here's looking at you, kid! |
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| mixed meat kebabs |
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| rape greens and stuffed pineapple |
_____________________________________________________________
UNCOOPERATIVE WEATHER
The
weather took a turn for the worse the next day—very cold and
raining most of the morning. After the hotel's buffet breakfast the
weather was still overcast with a low cloud ceiling and poor
visibility. We decided to postpone a walk along the northern causeway
and went swimming in the hotel pool instead. We needed to keep the
body in some condition to fight the cold, so the weather was a good
excuse to do some swimming.
Towards
late afternoon the rain had stopped and we decided to walk along the
lake shore and look for a restaurant. The wind was very strong and
icy cold even with three layers and a windbreaker. We should have
brought warmer clothes. We were unwise to come without our down
jackets. Walked about a kilometer along the eastern shore of West
Lake, passed by a famous tea house that charges 180 Yuan (about $30)
for a cup of tea and some sweets. Imagine!
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| bronze group sculpture depicting common people thanking a beloved administrator on his departure |
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| famously expensive teahouse |
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| West Lake - from the eastern shore |
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| it was steaming so it must be some sort of kettle |
We were both feeling under the weather and running a bit of fever so
we decided to call our travel insurance to arrange a visit to a
doctor. The insurance company arranged a doctor's appointment and,
with the help of the wonderful hotel staff, reserved a taxi to take
us to the clinic—all covered by the insurance, including the taxi
fare. Although the weather was uncooperative we got quite a lot
accomplished in our first two days: got some physical exercise, got
oriented within the area of eastern West Lake and got an appointment
to see a doctor the next day.
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