West Lake in Hangzhou

My new Chinese friend Vanna suggested I spend the final 24 hours of my trip at West Lake in Hangzhou.  So I left my hotel, got on a bus and went to Hangzhou.  Vanna made it seem so easy and wrote some notes for me to show cab drivers.  It was still tough figuring out the area but I had some help and found a hotel.  I think I spoiled myself.  It felt so luxurious to have a shower that didn't go all over the bathroom.

West Lake is very beautiful.  It's a man made lake that is surrounded by mountains on one side and the city on the other side.

I found a place to hike up in the mountains.  I had coffee at the quietest coffee shop. Then hiked a bit more and saw the Baochu Pagoda.

Then I hiked even more and came across this temple that was so beautiful.  The man who sold me the ticket always seemed to appear after I was finished seeing one part and he would quietly point his finger to the next part. It seemed to be a working temple so I wasn't sure where I could go and where I couldn't. 

I miss hiking in Los Angeles.  This reminded me a lot of the canyons I used to hike in only nicer.  There were so many stairs and lots of paths to explore.  I could have spent a day just walking around up there.

For dinner I decided to save money and find vendors selling the local street foods. I found a few and got a variety of foods.  AND saw the biggest cucumbers (It's hard to tell but they're probably 4 to 5 feet long!):

I took the food to the lake and accidentally sat right in front of the fountain show. The fountain show is in the lake so you would think it would be spectacular.  It wasn't.  Especially since I live in Xi'an which has the biggest fountain in Asia.  This lake show didn't change colors and only lasted 15 minutes.  It was still nice to enjoy my dinner while watching the show.

It was a quick trip but a nice way to end my vacation.  I'll definitely be going back to Hangzhou to see the rest of the city.

I took a bullet train back to Shanghai.  It only took 50 minutes and was a very new and clean train.  It cost 82RMB or $12USD.

I took the subway to Pudong Airport and it took 2 hours!  I almost missed my flight.   Luckily I made it just in time and had a turbulent flight back to Xi'an.  I've never experienced more turbulence in all my years of flying than I  have in China.  We made it safely to the ground and it was back to teaching the next day.

I'm 31?!

It's hard to believe it's my birthday again!

This is what I was doing last year at this time:

I had so much fun in Boston with my sister and Sara.  I couldn't have asked for a better 30th birthday.

I was excited to turn 30. I was looking forward to my 30th year.  I had no idea a year ago what really was in store for me this year.

I spent 8 months in Chicago with my friends and family, living downtown, and working on 'In the Bedroom with Dr. Laura Berman' at Harpo.  I went camping with a majority of my extended family.  I traveled to Boston twice, London, and San Francisco.  I got to spend New Years Eve / my Dad's 60th birthday with my family.  I experienced the 2012 blizzard.  Then went to Cambodia for a month and became a teacher!  Now I'm a teacher in China.  It sure has been a crazy but amazing year.  Here are some highlights in pictures:

East / West Wuzhen

I was right about Vanna.  She was definitely better than exploring by myself.   We met up in the morning and immediately had lots of things to talk about. It turned out to be her birthday!  She was so anxious to hang out because she didn't want to be by herself on her birthday.  I was happy to be with her on her birthday in this amazing little town.

We started at the East Scenic area.  It feels like more of an ancient town than the west side.  There are still people living here in tiny houses on the water.

Down one of the tiny streets was a place where they make rice wine.  I had a taste.  It was good but very strong. 

After the east scenic area we headed back to the west area and had a relaxing afternoon exploring.  We followed signs to a temple.  On the way Vanna told me that it's an ancient tradition for girls to go to a temple and ask for love.  I could obviously use help in that department so I was eager to get to the temple.   This is what we found when we got there:

Looks like no love for me anytime soon!

We saw these slabs of stone with water and paintbrushes sitting on top.  Vanna explained that this is what they use to practice the characters when they're just learning because it saves paper.

I ate one of these delicious pancake things that he put in this barrel to heat up. It had some green vegetables inside.

This man uses these birds to go fishing.  They are tied to his boat.  There just happened to be an article about him in a newspaper I read on the plane on the way back.  It's a pretty cruel profession and is luckily becoming less common. 

We wandered into the children's area and Vanna started playing this game that played a tune if you could pump enough water through it.  Once she got it going we realized the melody was Happy Birthday!  We were relieved that she wouldn't have to suffer through me singing her happy birthday.

Goodbye Wuzhen!  Next stop:  A last minute trip to Hangzhou.

Wuzhen

For my next trip I really wanted to go to a small town.  Vickie, my tutor, suggested Wuzhen in the Zhejiang province - near Shanghai and Hangzhou.

I wrote about how I got to Wuzhen and all the logistics of being there on this post.  I didn't find much on the internet so I thought if someone else was doing research maybe it would help them out.

Wuzhen is a historic scenic town built on canals with a population of 60,000 - only 12,000 are permanent residents.   It is 28 square miles.  Compared to the city of Xi'an which has around 8 million people this is SMALL.

The woman at my hotel spoke zero English but we sort of figured things out with my broken Chinese.  It was also hard for her to point me in the direction of the scenic zones (east and west). Luckily I know how to say East and West in Chinese!  I found the West scenic zone without any problems.  As soon as I entered I fell in love. 

I wished I was staying right in the scenic zone.   I found signs for the hostel and decided to check it out. While I was there struggling through another conversation I met this girl who spoke English and was also traveling by herself.  She kept saying how bored she was and was really anxious to hang out the next day.  I said ok and we arranged a time.  She seemed interesting enough and spoke decent English.  I had a feeling she would at least be better than exploring by myself.

I wandered around a little more before heading back to my hotel to go to bed.  I think Wuzhen is prettiest at night:

Getting to Wuzhen

This post is all about getting to Wuzhen and the logistics when you're there.  I didn't find much on the internet so I thought I would post this incase someone else is doing research.

I flew into Shanghai from Xi'an.  I was looking for tickets to either Hangzhou or Shanghai and Shanghai was cheaper.  I took a taxi from the airport to Shànghǎi qìchē nánzhàn(上海汽车南站）- that translates to the Shanghai South Bus Station.  The taxi was 155RMB.    I didn't know the South Train Station was next to the South Bus Station.  There are long distance buses from the airport to take you to the train station and then you can walk to the bus station.  It's a much cheaper option.

The people I dealt with at the bus station spoke some English. 

This is my bus ticket to Wuzhen.  10 is the waiting area.  20 is the seat number.   I had no idea there were seat numbers on the bus and I sat in someone's seat.  Whoops. 

 This is the train station waiting area.  I figured out the characters for Wuzhen but you can also wait until the time of departure appears on the screen.


When I arrived in Wuzhen I had already booked a hotel on elong.com.  I had the address in Chinese characters to show the rick shaw driver.  BUT there is a bus that goes to the west scenic area where all the hotels are located.  It is bus K350 and it costs only 1RMB.  I paid 30RMB for a ride to my hotel.  The hotel was located just outside the west scenic zone and they spoke zero English. It was nice and each room had a computer with internet.  120RMB / night.

If I was to do it again I would stay inside the scenic area.  There are many guest houses and one hostel.  I visited the hostel.  It was very nice and about 65RMB per night / per bed.  Once inside the scenic zone you have to walk to the hostel but there are signs to help you find it.  It is called Wuzhen Wisteria Youth Hostel.   They speak a little English.

I don't know how much the guest houses cost but every where you turn there's another one.  I didn't find much about them on the internet and I'm not sure if they speak English.

Entrance from the street to the West Scenic area:  (walk through and enter the building inside to buy tickets)



You have to pay to enter both scenic zones.  To enter the West Scenic area it costs 120RMB before 5:30pm and 80 RMB after 5:30pm.  You can buy a combination ticket for both the East and West areas for 150RMB.  They have to be used on the same day but it's very easy to do both in one day.  The east is smaller and there aren't as many restaurants - mainly places to shop.  I would start there and end in the west.   On my first night I paid the 80 to enter after 5:30pm.  Then bought a combo ticket for the 2nd day.    Do not miss night time - it's stunning.

If you stay in the scenic zone pay to enter the first time, then take your room key (and maybe certificate from the hotel) and passport to the office at the entrance of the west scenic zone for a card that lets you enter and exit as many times as you want. 

There is a free shuttle bus that connects the West and East scenic areas.  It's very to use.