Alpha's Summer Adventure
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Alpha eX
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Fatal Exception
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tnman
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Dr Kelso wrote:I only play Pac-Man and that car-jack game. There's nothing quite like scoring a caddy and mowing down street hos.
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The People's ElboReformat
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Lion Rock.
The Eeveelution club! \o/
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Alpha eX
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Wuzhen
13-07-09
We had to be up early again today to put out our suitcases but got everything ready the previous night to save time in the morning, allowing us a little extra time in bed. We got down to the breakfast hall with enough time to enjoy and not rush our breakfast.
There was a lot of choice at breakfast like the hotel in Beijing. The breakfast hall wasn’t too big, as I looked around I could see the rest of the tour group, including Bonkers who was standing on his chair shouting hello and waving at us.
More Pictures of the Breakfast Hall
We were leaving Suzhou today for Wuzhen, which I’ve been told is like a mini Chinese version of Venice. Before we left Suzhou we had one last place in Suzhou to visit, Hanshan Temple. It took us about an hour to get to the temple so I decided to have a nap on the bus. By the time we got there, it was already busy with other tour groups. We got off the bus and nearly died in the heat during a short walk to the main entrance.
More Pictures
We walked around the temple grounds for a while before going into a small building with a giant buddah statue. We wasn’t allowed to take pictures in here but it wasn’t too impressive. The next area was quite busy, not much to see apart from a few small buildings and a large viewing tower. We were given free time so we went to look at the viewing tower, on the way, I was approached by two Japanese girls who wanted to have their picture taken with me, Antonia stood and watched in confusion. We finally got to the viewing tower, not a great view. In the distance I could see a roof top covered in coins, people had been throwuing them for good luck. Even further in the distance was a building with fewer coins. I managed to throw one coin to the farthest rooftop, Antonia gave it a try and missed the furthest rooftop, missed the closer roof top but did manage to hit something, a poor unsuspecting man on the ground.
More Pictures
We wasn’t at the temple for long and had to walk back down the road with no shade, burning all the way back to the bus. As we walked back, we passed a street merchant selling kazooie whistles, they was 10p each so I decided to buy one for Bonkers, he was very happy, his mother not so much as he blew it loudly at her face. Back on the bus and too the next location, as we pulled in I knew what it was, another factory tour.
The factory produced silk products, it started with a boring talk, followed by a tour around the factory where silk was made. No photos were allowed but I managed to get one. The tour ended in a large shopping area selling all sorts of silk products. Bonkers was running around the clothes department like he was on fire, chasing us and just causing havoc. We were left to keep him occupied while the mother tried to look around, I was tired of chasing him after a while and showed him my DS. He stopped running around and ran over to get the DS, he sat down in the middle of the shop floor and started playing it from then and until we left. He’d never seen a DS before and his mother looked shocked that I had completely calmed him down, the first thing she said was, “where can I get one of those?”.
After the boring factory tour we got back on the bus and headed for lunch. The food today wasn’t good at all. Neither me or Antonia ate much, it was just so bad.
More Picture of Lunch
Me and Antonia left the restaurant earlier to try find somewhere else to eat. We looked around the local area and couldn’t see any place close to eat apart from KFC, so off we went. As I walked in, it was almost as if everyone stopped to stare, I was the only foreign guy in the place.
Surprisingly, we didn’t order any chicken. It was so hot, we just got ice cream floats which is basically a fizzy drink with a lump of ice cream on top but these ones had small bits of jelly inside. We were both in a hurry so didn’t stop to take pictures, we were even late back to the bus, whoops. As the bus left, we were told it was going to be a long 2 hour drive to our next location, Wuzhen. The journey seemed to go on forever and the view wasn’t that great either. We eventually arrived at the Wuzhen Visitor Centre, a modern building in what seems like the middle of nowhere.
Our bags were collected and we had to wait while the tour guides sorted out the hotel for us. We were in the visitor centre for a long time, Bonkers was being mischievous as usual but we were tired so hid ourselves away to get some more rest. There were giant paper animals hanging from the ceiling, Bonkers tried to knock them down with his coin.
Paper Things
We left the Visitor Centre through a small Wax Museum leading out to a boat which took us across a small lake to Wuzhen. The boat ride didn’t last very long, we just had to cross from one side to the other.
More Pictures
Wuzhen is like a mini Venice made up of alley ways, bridges and traditional wooden buildings. There are many local shops and businesses in the area and many local residents still live here. We walked through a long alley way full of shops and houses in the baking sun, I was trying to keep in the shade to stay cool but it was still far too hot.
More Pictures
We stopped at a small museum, the Museum of Chinese Foot Binding and Culture. The building was very new and stood out amongst the traditional wooden houses, I felt it ruined the town but it was hidden behind some other buildings and had aircon so I was happy. The museum had lots of miniature shoes and traiditoal clothes on display, Bonkers dragged me to a sign that read, “No Photos” and barked out what I assume was “Do not take pictures” in Mandarin until I put my camera away. We left the museum and headed over to the otherside of the canal that runs through the town.
More Pictures
The other side was mostly souviner shops and local food stalls. I didn’t try any of the food but was offered a traditional sweet from Bonker’s parents. I took the sweet and tried it, it wasn’t good, what made it worse was the fact it was very dry, absorbing and chewy. The sweet was in my mouth for a good few minutes, it was horrible, especially in the heat. We got off the streets and walked through a series of buildings showing traditional work tools, one thing that stood out was a giant wok near the entrance.
Bonkers ran up first to look at the wok while everyone stood and watched as they was listening to the tour guide talk about it. Bonkers stood next to the wok for a picture and suddenly jumped forward and screamed out. It was boiling hot because of the sun, he burnt his head on it, the 20 strong tour group stood and laughed at him. Bonkers then tried to get me to touch the wok by holding my hands onto it, how kind. We passed through the small museum quite quickly before heading back to the hotel which was in the main part of Wuzhen.
The hotel was very traditional but still looked classy as a 5 star traditional hotel could be. We were given just over an hour before lunch so took the chance to have a bath and freshen up. We were a bit late for dinner and couldn’t find the restaurant, after asking at the front desk where everyone went, we realised it was just outside the hotel. We hurried to seat for dinner as the food started to arrive.
More Pictures of Dinner
The food was awful. I didn’t eat much again and neither did Antonia, this time, there was no KFC to fill us up so we ate a lot of the rice and desert. The desert was very dry but quite sweet, would have been a lot nicer if it was made properly as it’s not supposed to be so dry.
We had free time after dinner so decided to walk through the town at night. The place really seemed to come alive at night, newly installed lights lit up the bridges and sides of buildings creating a beautiful canal walk.
More Pictures
We spent the rest of the evening walking through the town and looking in the local souvenir shops. There were boats taking tourists down the canal, most noticeably a large group of Americans who annoyingly kept shouting out, “NI HAO” in a typical American fashion. The scenery was amazing but sadly, my camera does it no justice so I only took a few pictures.
Wuzhen is a great place to visit but only really requires a day trip. It would have been a huge waste and great shame to just visit the place during the day time as it’s during the night it seems to wake up from it’s lazy state during the day. I’m really annoyed about my camera not getting good shots at night as it was defiantly one of the most beautiful places i’ve been to in China.
13-07-09
We had to be up early again today to put out our suitcases but got everything ready the previous night to save time in the morning, allowing us a little extra time in bed. We got down to the breakfast hall with enough time to enjoy and not rush our breakfast.
There was a lot of choice at breakfast like the hotel in Beijing. The breakfast hall wasn’t too big, as I looked around I could see the rest of the tour group, including Bonkers who was standing on his chair shouting hello and waving at us.
More Pictures of the Breakfast Hall
We were leaving Suzhou today for Wuzhen, which I’ve been told is like a mini Chinese version of Venice. Before we left Suzhou we had one last place in Suzhou to visit, Hanshan Temple. It took us about an hour to get to the temple so I decided to have a nap on the bus. By the time we got there, it was already busy with other tour groups. We got off the bus and nearly died in the heat during a short walk to the main entrance.
More Pictures
We walked around the temple grounds for a while before going into a small building with a giant buddah statue. We wasn’t allowed to take pictures in here but it wasn’t too impressive. The next area was quite busy, not much to see apart from a few small buildings and a large viewing tower. We were given free time so we went to look at the viewing tower, on the way, I was approached by two Japanese girls who wanted to have their picture taken with me, Antonia stood and watched in confusion. We finally got to the viewing tower, not a great view. In the distance I could see a roof top covered in coins, people had been throwuing them for good luck. Even further in the distance was a building with fewer coins. I managed to throw one coin to the farthest rooftop, Antonia gave it a try and missed the furthest rooftop, missed the closer roof top but did manage to hit something, a poor unsuspecting man on the ground.
More Pictures
We wasn’t at the temple for long and had to walk back down the road with no shade, burning all the way back to the bus. As we walked back, we passed a street merchant selling kazooie whistles, they was 10p each so I decided to buy one for Bonkers, he was very happy, his mother not so much as he blew it loudly at her face. Back on the bus and too the next location, as we pulled in I knew what it was, another factory tour.
The factory produced silk products, it started with a boring talk, followed by a tour around the factory where silk was made. No photos were allowed but I managed to get one. The tour ended in a large shopping area selling all sorts of silk products. Bonkers was running around the clothes department like he was on fire, chasing us and just causing havoc. We were left to keep him occupied while the mother tried to look around, I was tired of chasing him after a while and showed him my DS. He stopped running around and ran over to get the DS, he sat down in the middle of the shop floor and started playing it from then and until we left. He’d never seen a DS before and his mother looked shocked that I had completely calmed him down, the first thing she said was, “where can I get one of those?”.
After the boring factory tour we got back on the bus and headed for lunch. The food today wasn’t good at all. Neither me or Antonia ate much, it was just so bad.
More Picture of Lunch
Me and Antonia left the restaurant earlier to try find somewhere else to eat. We looked around the local area and couldn’t see any place close to eat apart from KFC, so off we went. As I walked in, it was almost as if everyone stopped to stare, I was the only foreign guy in the place.
Surprisingly, we didn’t order any chicken. It was so hot, we just got ice cream floats which is basically a fizzy drink with a lump of ice cream on top but these ones had small bits of jelly inside. We were both in a hurry so didn’t stop to take pictures, we were even late back to the bus, whoops. As the bus left, we were told it was going to be a long 2 hour drive to our next location, Wuzhen. The journey seemed to go on forever and the view wasn’t that great either. We eventually arrived at the Wuzhen Visitor Centre, a modern building in what seems like the middle of nowhere.
Our bags were collected and we had to wait while the tour guides sorted out the hotel for us. We were in the visitor centre for a long time, Bonkers was being mischievous as usual but we were tired so hid ourselves away to get some more rest. There were giant paper animals hanging from the ceiling, Bonkers tried to knock them down with his coin.
Paper Things
We left the Visitor Centre through a small Wax Museum leading out to a boat which took us across a small lake to Wuzhen. The boat ride didn’t last very long, we just had to cross from one side to the other.
More Pictures
Wuzhen is like a mini Venice made up of alley ways, bridges and traditional wooden buildings. There are many local shops and businesses in the area and many local residents still live here. We walked through a long alley way full of shops and houses in the baking sun, I was trying to keep in the shade to stay cool but it was still far too hot.
More Pictures
We stopped at a small museum, the Museum of Chinese Foot Binding and Culture. The building was very new and stood out amongst the traditional wooden houses, I felt it ruined the town but it was hidden behind some other buildings and had aircon so I was happy. The museum had lots of miniature shoes and traiditoal clothes on display, Bonkers dragged me to a sign that read, “No Photos” and barked out what I assume was “Do not take pictures” in Mandarin until I put my camera away. We left the museum and headed over to the otherside of the canal that runs through the town.
More Pictures
The other side was mostly souviner shops and local food stalls. I didn’t try any of the food but was offered a traditional sweet from Bonker’s parents. I took the sweet and tried it, it wasn’t good, what made it worse was the fact it was very dry, absorbing and chewy. The sweet was in my mouth for a good few minutes, it was horrible, especially in the heat. We got off the streets and walked through a series of buildings showing traditional work tools, one thing that stood out was a giant wok near the entrance.
Bonkers ran up first to look at the wok while everyone stood and watched as they was listening to the tour guide talk about it. Bonkers stood next to the wok for a picture and suddenly jumped forward and screamed out. It was boiling hot because of the sun, he burnt his head on it, the 20 strong tour group stood and laughed at him. Bonkers then tried to get me to touch the wok by holding my hands onto it, how kind. We passed through the small museum quite quickly before heading back to the hotel which was in the main part of Wuzhen.
The hotel was very traditional but still looked classy as a 5 star traditional hotel could be. We were given just over an hour before lunch so took the chance to have a bath and freshen up. We were a bit late for dinner and couldn’t find the restaurant, after asking at the front desk where everyone went, we realised it was just outside the hotel. We hurried to seat for dinner as the food started to arrive.
More Pictures of Dinner
The food was awful. I didn’t eat much again and neither did Antonia, this time, there was no KFC to fill us up so we ate a lot of the rice and desert. The desert was very dry but quite sweet, would have been a lot nicer if it was made properly as it’s not supposed to be so dry.
We had free time after dinner so decided to walk through the town at night. The place really seemed to come alive at night, newly installed lights lit up the bridges and sides of buildings creating a beautiful canal walk.
More Pictures
We spent the rest of the evening walking through the town and looking in the local souvenir shops. There were boats taking tourists down the canal, most noticeably a large group of Americans who annoyingly kept shouting out, “NI HAO” in a typical American fashion. The scenery was amazing but sadly, my camera does it no justice so I only took a few pictures.
Wuzhen is a great place to visit but only really requires a day trip. It would have been a huge waste and great shame to just visit the place during the day time as it’s during the night it seems to wake up from it’s lazy state during the day. I’m really annoyed about my camera not getting good shots at night as it was defiantly one of the most beautiful places i’ve been to in China.
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Chocolate Jim
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shas'la
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Lionsheart
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The People's ElboReformat
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Some great pictures Alpha.
Also you bought the crazy, hyper-active kid a whistle? Are you mental?
And again.
Also you bought the crazy, hyper-active kid a whistle? Are you mental?
And again.
The Eeveelution club! \o/
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Alpha eX
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Jim wrote:Awesome update Alpha man ... one thing has been bugging me though and I am gonna have to ask a rather rude question! How much is this costing? How are you affording this whole trip? It seems like you eat out nearly everyday! It must be costing a bomb!
Well flights were very cheap, around £400 and i'm staying with Antonia so I skip on hotels and such. Each day I spend around £10/15 because I rarely take public transport as Antonia's family have a driver to take us around and pick us up each day.
The trips to Beijing and Shanghai were dirt cheap, around £300 each which included flights, 5 star hotels, all meals, travel, tour guides and entrance fees to all tourist attrations. For what they were, I still can't calculate how they're not losing money! There are many trips at this price, if I had more time i'd be going loads more places with these tour services, they're brilliant.
I've saved up a lot of extra cash over the years doing freelance work and teaching whilst living with my parents. So no rent or bills allows me to save a lot very fast because of my income. It'll soon end though when I move out, enjoying it while I can.
shas'la wrote:too much ketchup at breakfast.
Ketchup is amazing, it makes bland food taste great. Well, like ketchup...
Herr Dark Wolf wrote:How long are you out there for?
I leave on the 27th but my last full day is next Sunday. I really don't want to go home since i'm really enjoying it out here with Antonia. She won't be coming back with me, so I won't see her for near two months after I get back. She returns at the end of September
--
By the way, has anyone noticed my Shark Pouch? These things are very handy and make a great DS case. I'm thinking of getting some to sell back in the UK, would anyone be interested?
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Fatal Exception
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Chalk me up for a shark pouch? How much are they?
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gaminglegend
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Man walking a monkey
Check out the GRCADE Beer Money Thread - Free shares & Bank Switch Offers £££! 
https://grcade.co.uk/t:the-making-beer-money-thread
https://grcade.co.uk/t:the-making-beer-money-thread
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Alpha eX
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Fatal Exception wrote:Chalk me up for a shark pouch? How much are they?
Was going to ask for £10 with postage, how does that sound?
DaLax wrote:All the food looks the same, everywhere you go.
It does but the taste is very different between regions.
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Anyone else for a Shark Pouch, is £10 posted a fair price? Was going to ask £12 but didn't think anyone would bite at that price. They come in 4 colours, Black, Grey, Navy Blue and Dark Purple.
First come first served as these are very limited stock as they are hard to find, only know one place that does them.
I am going to make a small shop post so you can order and request things for me to bring back.
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The People's ElboReformat
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The Eeveelution club! \o/
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Fatal Exception
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Yeah count me in for a Shark Pouch. 
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Roonmastor
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Qikz
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I'll take a shark pouch for a tenner. They look amazing.
The Watching Artist wrote:I feel so inept next to Qikz...
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Seven
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Ooh, I would like a shark pouch! They look awesome. 
And brilliant thread, I enjoyed reading it. I'm filled with envy, I would like to visit these places you've been to.
And brilliant thread, I enjoyed reading it. I'm filled with envy, I would like to visit these places you've been to.
Bluesky: SevenFisher.bsky.social || Steam ID: SevenFisher
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Alpha eX
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Hangzhou
14-07-09
We woke up horribly late this morning after very little sleep. By the time we got to the breakfast hall we had just fifteen minutes to eat. Feeling as if we ate way too fast, we had to trek back through Wuzhen to the boat, cross the river to the visitors centre and then board the bus for a 2 hour drive to Hangzhou. We slept nearly the whole way.
Hangzhou is well known for its beautiful natural scenery with the West Lake being the most popular tourist spot. We drove along the lake giving us a nice view before we reached our first destination, the Yue Fei Temple and Tomb.
More Pictures
Yue Fei was a famous general and a national hero. The first thing to see in the temple grounds was a small building with a giant Buddha inside. I was a bit bored as the tour guide spoke for ages about many paintings inside so I went and bought Antonia a bubble machine from the souvenir stand, which provided enough entertainment to occupy me while the tour guide spoke for near 20 minutes. It also attracted Bonkers, who tried to karate chop, fly kick and eat the bubbles.
We were given some free time to explore after the long talk about paintings. We took the opportunity to try and find some ice poles while looking around but only found cold drinks and a turtle in a pond.
We met back up with the group near a large souvenir stand selling all sorts of things. I decided to buy a set of funny little clay statues that absorbed water and shot it back out as if it was taking a piss, immature but perfect for my brother. Bonkers’ mother decided to buy him a sword which he then used to hit me in the back of the legs with. He then continued to hit things on the souvenir stand and a man relaxing with a fan, which was pretty damn funny.
We left the temple grounds and started to walk to our next destination which sadly wasn’t the bus. I was left carrying bags of souvenirs and really needed some water, which we left on the bus. We passed a small shop selling ice poles so I decided to buy some, while trying to get my wallet out, I dropped the bag of souvenirs which was followed almost instantly with a loud smashing sound, I had broken all of the little clay statues, I was not happy. A short walk later we was at our next destination, Fujing Garden.
More Photos
The Fujing Garden leads to a lake filled with Lotus Flowers. We had a slow walk through the small gardens, which is more like a park, to a large lake, I think the famous, West Lake. The lake is beautiful, it’s full of Lotus Plants coming from the water. On such a clear day, it was a great sight.
More Photos
We took time crossing the lake as the network of bridges used to cross it made great spots for taking photos. It took us a good 10 minutes to cross the lake and reach the other side. While on the bridge, a large wasp type bug was bothering everyone, not wanting to get stung, I stood still but this only prompted the wasp to use me as a landing pad.
The wasp wouldn’t leave my arm or hand so I just continued walking around with my new pet in tow. I lost the wasp about the time I went to get more ice poles from the local snack stand, a bit sad really, it looked cool. We continued to walk through the park until we finally reached the bus. I was glad to be back in the air conditioned bus, it was so hot outside it was almost unbearable, 42 degrees again today. Our next stop was lunch, I wasn’t very hungry because of the heat but liked the sound of the place we were heading, A Japanese Tempanyaki place, where they cook the food in front of you.
More Photos
Lunch was much better than the last few days. The meat was really good and the fried rice was full of flavour but lacking vegetables by my request. It was entertaining to watch our food being cooked, it was thrown in the air, flipped, chopped and spun in front of us. As usual, me and Antonia finished early so went to wait by the exit, a large lobby of a tall building. Bonkers soon caught up with us, he had his sword and decided to chase me and his little sister around with it. Terrible idea to give a kid like that a sword (it’s wooden, his mother isn’t that crazy) Back on the bus after lunch to our next stop, Flowery Stream.
More Pictures
The Flowery Stream is a large park split into seven parts which include several gardens, a large lake and a fish pond full of goldfish. The sun was still burning but the park looked good enough to endure the sun. We walked around for a while before coming across a peacock pen with white peacocks. I was very tempted to hop the small fence for an awesome picture but got a cold look from Antonia when I suggested it so stayed on the human side of the fence.
We walked around some more before getting separated from the group. I have no idea how it happened but I think it was something to do with me climbing trees and rocks. We managed to find one of the tour guides, Sandy, who was looking for us. We walked with her through the park without the rest of the group. We arrived at the Goldfish Lake, I expected there to be a few goldfish in the lake, I didn’t expect it to be a lake made up of goldfish. There were so many, you couldn’t even see a gap in them, amazing. Look in the spoiler box for the goldfish.
More Pictures
We eventually got to the meeting point. A well shaded (thank god) area alongside the river with snack and souvenir stands at all sides. We were waiting for quite a while for the group to get to us so I enjoyed the snack stands and their refrigerated goods while Antonia seemed to have a nice chat with Sandy the tour guide.
When the rest of the tour group caught up with us, we got a bit of an evil glare from the other tour guide because we got separated. We made our way towards one of the boats to cross the giant lake ahead of us. I managed to get a space right at the front on the deck, Bonkers decided it would be fun to try and push me off the boat. I was very tempted to pick him up and hang him over the edge but decided against it in case I ‘accidently’ dropped him.
More Pictures
I took a small video of the boat ride, I’m not sure if the quality will be good enough but take a look any way, you even get to see Bonkers doing a crazy dance.
The boat ride was much longer than I expected, easily half an hour. Time seemed to go quickly, I was really tired so after looking around outside for a bit, went to sit inside and rest but it wasn’t long before Bonkers came to find me. Several rounds of the coin game later we reached the other side of the lake and headed into a carpark, I was glad to get back to the bus but shot down when the tour guide told we wasn’t going back to the bus yet and had another place to walk around, Lufeing Tower or in literal translation from the sign, ‘Cloud Looking Out View’ which I think sounds better.
More Pictures
Before we could go up to the tower, we had to walk around and listen to the tour guide for a while. I took the opportunity to run off and get us some ice cream. We were given an hours free time so set off to climb the large viewing tower in the distance. The place seemed to have been modernized quite a lot, in the middle of the long staircase was an escalator, at the bottom of the tower was a modern museum type building with lifts going up to the top. Even more disappointing was the entire tower had been gutted of all original decor and fitted to look like a museum, it really spoilt the tower but the view was still good.
I took a quick video of the view from the top of the viewing tower, you could see far and across the large lake. It was a great view and sucks we got there too early for sunset as it would have been an amazing sight.
We decided to walk down each floor from the top of the tower. Each floor was like a museum space with a different set of things on show, most were boring but one floor was actually really interesting, a story in wooden carvings.
More Pictures
The story is about a Snake Goddess who fell in love with a mortal man and punished for it. Antonia tells me it’s almost like an oriental Romeo & Juliet. The tower was apparently where the goddess was imprisoned. If you watch the youtube video you can see each carving and the story subtitle underneath it.
We left the tower quicker than expected and some time left to explore. There wasn’t much else to see so I decided to climb things. First I climbed the tall walls around the base of the tower, then I climbed some statue type lamp things outside the tower.
More Pictures
I don’t know why, maybe boredom, but there is a video of me climbing one of the little statue things. I’ve decided to upload it just for the sake of it.
After all the climbing and the highly disappointing tower we met back up with the tour group. We walked back towards the car park to a large but strangely empty restaurant. We were seated in our groups in private rooms to eat. The rooms were small, with two large tables but each room had a TV which I thought was cool, nothing interesting was on, just some Chinese drama, sort of like Eastenders.
More Pictures
The food was awful, so bad that I’m not going to bother writing about it. We just ate the rice and didn’t eat more than a bite of the other dishes. We finally got back on the bus after dinner just as the sun was starting to set, it’s a shame we wasn’t up in the tower for that. We drove into a busy city centre full of shops, it was very busy and looked like a great place to shop. We pulled up outside a theatre, it was time for the Chinese Kung-Fu Show!
More Pictures
Unlike the other shows I have been to in China and Hong Kong, photography and video was allowed here so I took many videos of the performance. Because I can’t upload too many (it would take forever) I’ve selected the best few to upload.
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The Kung-Fu show was a bit of a mix. Some parts were good and others boring, like the singing and dancing parts. It was a mix of the theatre style from the show in Beijing and the acrobatics from the Mongolian Circus. The acrobatics wasn’t as impressive but the set design, costumes and lighting were very good. An enjoyable show but not as entertaining as the circus. Before the show started, there were clapping devices on the table, small toys you wave about and make a clapping noise with. We decided it would be a great idea to give these to Bonkers so took them with us as he wasn’t at the show (optional part of the tour).
We got back to the hotel quite late, feeling very hungry due to lack of food. The hotel screamed high class as we entered the large lobby. My attention was drawn to a small bakery in the lobby where I bought some doughnuts. We finally got to our room and couldn’t believe the quality of the place, easily the best hotel we’ve stayed in to date, very modern and new model Samsung TV’s in the living and bedroom. There was even a changing room but much to our disappointment, no bathtub! We ordered some room service and watched an interesting film, Into The Wild. The film is based on a true story of a guy who just graduated university left everything to go live in the wild with no money or help. I really enjoyed the film, check it out if you want something different than Hollywood.
Despite the heat, today was really good. The parks and gardens we visited were beautiful which makes me glad the sun was out in full force. I preferred the Fujing Garden over the Flowery Stream because of the beautiful view over the lake. The amount of goldfish in the Flowery Stream was unbelievable and has to be seen to be believed. The tower was a huge let down as it had been completely modernised, inside it looks no different to a museum in London, good view but the tower is ruined, may as well put neon signs on the side. The Kung-Fu show was good but after such a long day in the heat, we would have preferred to have gone straight back to the hotel.
Tomorrow is our last day on the trip so we have to be up early again to prepare the bags and get ready to leave. I’m told we’re leaving extra early to go to a tea factory, great...
14-07-09
We woke up horribly late this morning after very little sleep. By the time we got to the breakfast hall we had just fifteen minutes to eat. Feeling as if we ate way too fast, we had to trek back through Wuzhen to the boat, cross the river to the visitors centre and then board the bus for a 2 hour drive to Hangzhou. We slept nearly the whole way.
Hangzhou is well known for its beautiful natural scenery with the West Lake being the most popular tourist spot. We drove along the lake giving us a nice view before we reached our first destination, the Yue Fei Temple and Tomb.
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Yue Fei was a famous general and a national hero. The first thing to see in the temple grounds was a small building with a giant Buddha inside. I was a bit bored as the tour guide spoke for ages about many paintings inside so I went and bought Antonia a bubble machine from the souvenir stand, which provided enough entertainment to occupy me while the tour guide spoke for near 20 minutes. It also attracted Bonkers, who tried to karate chop, fly kick and eat the bubbles.
We were given some free time to explore after the long talk about paintings. We took the opportunity to try and find some ice poles while looking around but only found cold drinks and a turtle in a pond.
We met back up with the group near a large souvenir stand selling all sorts of things. I decided to buy a set of funny little clay statues that absorbed water and shot it back out as if it was taking a piss, immature but perfect for my brother. Bonkers’ mother decided to buy him a sword which he then used to hit me in the back of the legs with. He then continued to hit things on the souvenir stand and a man relaxing with a fan, which was pretty damn funny.
We left the temple grounds and started to walk to our next destination which sadly wasn’t the bus. I was left carrying bags of souvenirs and really needed some water, which we left on the bus. We passed a small shop selling ice poles so I decided to buy some, while trying to get my wallet out, I dropped the bag of souvenirs which was followed almost instantly with a loud smashing sound, I had broken all of the little clay statues, I was not happy. A short walk later we was at our next destination, Fujing Garden.
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The Fujing Garden leads to a lake filled with Lotus Flowers. We had a slow walk through the small gardens, which is more like a park, to a large lake, I think the famous, West Lake. The lake is beautiful, it’s full of Lotus Plants coming from the water. On such a clear day, it was a great sight.
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We took time crossing the lake as the network of bridges used to cross it made great spots for taking photos. It took us a good 10 minutes to cross the lake and reach the other side. While on the bridge, a large wasp type bug was bothering everyone, not wanting to get stung, I stood still but this only prompted the wasp to use me as a landing pad.
The wasp wouldn’t leave my arm or hand so I just continued walking around with my new pet in tow. I lost the wasp about the time I went to get more ice poles from the local snack stand, a bit sad really, it looked cool. We continued to walk through the park until we finally reached the bus. I was glad to be back in the air conditioned bus, it was so hot outside it was almost unbearable, 42 degrees again today. Our next stop was lunch, I wasn’t very hungry because of the heat but liked the sound of the place we were heading, A Japanese Tempanyaki place, where they cook the food in front of you.
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Lunch was much better than the last few days. The meat was really good and the fried rice was full of flavour but lacking vegetables by my request. It was entertaining to watch our food being cooked, it was thrown in the air, flipped, chopped and spun in front of us. As usual, me and Antonia finished early so went to wait by the exit, a large lobby of a tall building. Bonkers soon caught up with us, he had his sword and decided to chase me and his little sister around with it. Terrible idea to give a kid like that a sword (it’s wooden, his mother isn’t that crazy) Back on the bus after lunch to our next stop, Flowery Stream.
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The Flowery Stream is a large park split into seven parts which include several gardens, a large lake and a fish pond full of goldfish. The sun was still burning but the park looked good enough to endure the sun. We walked around for a while before coming across a peacock pen with white peacocks. I was very tempted to hop the small fence for an awesome picture but got a cold look from Antonia when I suggested it so stayed on the human side of the fence.
We walked around some more before getting separated from the group. I have no idea how it happened but I think it was something to do with me climbing trees and rocks. We managed to find one of the tour guides, Sandy, who was looking for us. We walked with her through the park without the rest of the group. We arrived at the Goldfish Lake, I expected there to be a few goldfish in the lake, I didn’t expect it to be a lake made up of goldfish. There were so many, you couldn’t even see a gap in them, amazing. Look in the spoiler box for the goldfish.
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We eventually got to the meeting point. A well shaded (thank god) area alongside the river with snack and souvenir stands at all sides. We were waiting for quite a while for the group to get to us so I enjoyed the snack stands and their refrigerated goods while Antonia seemed to have a nice chat with Sandy the tour guide.
When the rest of the tour group caught up with us, we got a bit of an evil glare from the other tour guide because we got separated. We made our way towards one of the boats to cross the giant lake ahead of us. I managed to get a space right at the front on the deck, Bonkers decided it would be fun to try and push me off the boat. I was very tempted to pick him up and hang him over the edge but decided against it in case I ‘accidently’ dropped him.
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I took a small video of the boat ride, I’m not sure if the quality will be good enough but take a look any way, you even get to see Bonkers doing a crazy dance.
The boat ride was much longer than I expected, easily half an hour. Time seemed to go quickly, I was really tired so after looking around outside for a bit, went to sit inside and rest but it wasn’t long before Bonkers came to find me. Several rounds of the coin game later we reached the other side of the lake and headed into a carpark, I was glad to get back to the bus but shot down when the tour guide told we wasn’t going back to the bus yet and had another place to walk around, Lufeing Tower or in literal translation from the sign, ‘Cloud Looking Out View’ which I think sounds better.
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Before we could go up to the tower, we had to walk around and listen to the tour guide for a while. I took the opportunity to run off and get us some ice cream. We were given an hours free time so set off to climb the large viewing tower in the distance. The place seemed to have been modernized quite a lot, in the middle of the long staircase was an escalator, at the bottom of the tower was a modern museum type building with lifts going up to the top. Even more disappointing was the entire tower had been gutted of all original decor and fitted to look like a museum, it really spoilt the tower but the view was still good.
I took a quick video of the view from the top of the viewing tower, you could see far and across the large lake. It was a great view and sucks we got there too early for sunset as it would have been an amazing sight.
We decided to walk down each floor from the top of the tower. Each floor was like a museum space with a different set of things on show, most were boring but one floor was actually really interesting, a story in wooden carvings.
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The story is about a Snake Goddess who fell in love with a mortal man and punished for it. Antonia tells me it’s almost like an oriental Romeo & Juliet. The tower was apparently where the goddess was imprisoned. If you watch the youtube video you can see each carving and the story subtitle underneath it.
We left the tower quicker than expected and some time left to explore. There wasn’t much else to see so I decided to climb things. First I climbed the tall walls around the base of the tower, then I climbed some statue type lamp things outside the tower.
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I don’t know why, maybe boredom, but there is a video of me climbing one of the little statue things. I’ve decided to upload it just for the sake of it.
After all the climbing and the highly disappointing tower we met back up with the tour group. We walked back towards the car park to a large but strangely empty restaurant. We were seated in our groups in private rooms to eat. The rooms were small, with two large tables but each room had a TV which I thought was cool, nothing interesting was on, just some Chinese drama, sort of like Eastenders.
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The food was awful, so bad that I’m not going to bother writing about it. We just ate the rice and didn’t eat more than a bite of the other dishes. We finally got back on the bus after dinner just as the sun was starting to set, it’s a shame we wasn’t up in the tower for that. We drove into a busy city centre full of shops, it was very busy and looked like a great place to shop. We pulled up outside a theatre, it was time for the Chinese Kung-Fu Show!
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Unlike the other shows I have been to in China and Hong Kong, photography and video was allowed here so I took many videos of the performance. Because I can’t upload too many (it would take forever) I’ve selected the best few to upload.
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The Kung-Fu show was a bit of a mix. Some parts were good and others boring, like the singing and dancing parts. It was a mix of the theatre style from the show in Beijing and the acrobatics from the Mongolian Circus. The acrobatics wasn’t as impressive but the set design, costumes and lighting were very good. An enjoyable show but not as entertaining as the circus. Before the show started, there were clapping devices on the table, small toys you wave about and make a clapping noise with. We decided it would be a great idea to give these to Bonkers so took them with us as he wasn’t at the show (optional part of the tour).
We got back to the hotel quite late, feeling very hungry due to lack of food. The hotel screamed high class as we entered the large lobby. My attention was drawn to a small bakery in the lobby where I bought some doughnuts. We finally got to our room and couldn’t believe the quality of the place, easily the best hotel we’ve stayed in to date, very modern and new model Samsung TV’s in the living and bedroom. There was even a changing room but much to our disappointment, no bathtub! We ordered some room service and watched an interesting film, Into The Wild. The film is based on a true story of a guy who just graduated university left everything to go live in the wild with no money or help. I really enjoyed the film, check it out if you want something different than Hollywood.
Despite the heat, today was really good. The parks and gardens we visited were beautiful which makes me glad the sun was out in full force. I preferred the Fujing Garden over the Flowery Stream because of the beautiful view over the lake. The amount of goldfish in the Flowery Stream was unbelievable and has to be seen to be believed. The tower was a huge let down as it had been completely modernised, inside it looks no different to a museum in London, good view but the tower is ruined, may as well put neon signs on the side. The Kung-Fu show was good but after such a long day in the heat, we would have preferred to have gone straight back to the hotel.
Tomorrow is our last day on the trip so we have to be up early again to prepare the bags and get ready to leave. I’m told we’re leaving extra early to go to a tea factory, great...
Last edited by Alpha eX on Sun Jul 19, 2009 7:30 am, edited 2 times in total.
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