China - Hangzhou

The train arrived into Hangzhou an hour late, not that that made any difference to my life having already been on it for 22hours. I was very pleased with myself because I booked my train to Shanghai immediately. I then had to get someone to translate the hostel details into Chinese so that I could get a taxi, however, the taxi still couldn't find the hostel. I eventually made it and was checked into a small room with 5 other girls - all Chinese. One of them was actually an older woman who found me fascinating and therefore stared at me constantly....rather off putting. Getting stared at in public is one thing but in your bedroom it's quite disconcerting.

I went out and walked down to the famous West Lake and around the lovely park that lines the shore. It has to be the most tranquil place I have found in China. I found a bench under a willow from which I could watch the sunset over the lake and chill out and pose for numerous peoples photos. Actually I had a strange experience: two women (mother and daughter) came along and the mother sat down next to me and the daughter took photos from about 4ft away as if I wouldn't notice (!) Obviously I did notice and so I smiled for their photos which they were thrilled about. The mother then brought out some tiger balm and put it on a mossy bite on my ankle! Next thing I know she's rubbing it all over my arms and legs and signalling that it will keep the mossies away. I was highly bemused and tingling all over!
Photos from the park: Grass that no one is allowed to walk on:

West lake:

I was pretty desperate for some food after the sunset but couldn't find anything. I walked away from the lake and by chance came across what was obviously a tourist street with loads of stalls and shops and Chinese tourists! It was called Qinghefang Old Street. I wandered up and down looking in all the tea houses and all the shops with their piles of tack and found a restaurant that had English captions on the menu. It was a self order place (kind of a Chinese fast food joint) which was hard work because I had to order under pressure from the disorganised queue of impatient Chinese behind/around me. Actually my meal was disappointing but it filled the hole.

On my way back I came across a large group of people doing some kind of slow dance/martial art all together. It was quite funny to watch but it's nice to see such a strong community. I think it's because they don't have personal outdoor space and so everyone uses the public outdoor space much more than we do in England.

Back at the hostel I watch Wolverine without any special effects - not quite as believable - and then had an early night. The next morning I walked along the shore of West lake to the Jigong Buddhist Temple. It was my first temple in China so I found it really interesting and spent ages in there.

Jigong Temple:

I left plenty of time to get to the station after my mad dash in Xi'an. I asked the hostel to book me a taxi and then went to read my book. About 15mins later I realised there had been no word of my taxi so I re asked and the girls behind the desk had that look of panic/guilt. They had forgotten and when they rung again they couldn't get hold of one. I therefore had to get a bus and so suddenly, I didn't have enough time. I ended up cutting things very fine amd walking straight onto the train again. I always find that stressful let alone in a country where I wouldn't be able to explain to anyone what had happened if I did miss it. Anyway, I got the train and ended up sitting next to a PE teacher who had a little English and really tried hard to talk to me.