West Lake Hangzhou

We had a plan today to walk around one part of West Lake . It was a very nice day for walking cool but not freezing today and there was little wind but lots of people.

We walked over the Baide Causeway, it breaks up the lake and is only a walking road, no bikes no cars.

We had occassion to visit this place which was a garden and art type place. The steps were rough stones.

After lunch we walked across to the lake again and took a trolley bus/golf cart thingy around the other part of the lake.

Then there was this

China Silk Road

I had always called it the Silk markets and that was plan B for today. Plan A was to go one way around the lake and then return but as it was minus obe degree at 10am when we were wanting to go out, I suggested that we go to the silk place today rather than Monday. Monday is supposed to be warmer.

We set off and crossed the main road Yan'an Road, as it is so busy, there is an amazing structure with stairs and escalators going up, then walkways and down again. Plan B also included finding the foreign language book store, not that we need to buy any books but there used to be a great coffee shop attached. I discovered that although one could go there via the book store, it is a seperate business altogether.

We walked under a bridge at one stage and this was what we saw.

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Coffee shop after our walk was very welcome, had nice mocha and spag bol. Only down point with lunch was a woman who light up a cigarette at the next table. We found out that we had been put into the smokers area. We finished our meal quickly and left.

A wet day makes hot chocolate very welcome

We took a bus into town as I wanted to check out a couple of places for some gifts/trinkets to take home. The road that I wanted is called Lu Xun street which leads into Lu Xun village. He was a poet and wrote many famous poems in China and is quite looked up to, in this part of China. This was his birthplace and he was a very distinguished looking guy. Just as well because there is a very large wall at the entrance with his face on it, he had a moushache and is always shown smoking a cigarette.
When we first came here the village was here and it was a tourist attraction but over the years, it has become bigger and better.
There was a new restaurant just opened, can always tell when a new place opens by the flowers outside of the premises.

A hot chocolate at Starbucks to warm us and prepare us for the 4.6 km walk home

Hangzhou

First visit to Hangzhou is about five years. Its only an hour by bus from whete we are living and its rare for us to stay here but we are taking a break and intend to try to find some caches which also means we will be doing some walking. Walking and caching a win win situation.

Warren organized the hotel and it is opposite West Lake for which Hangzhou is famous. It is a beautiful lake and today it is freezing walling around it.

We have TV! And a King sized bed this one is super sized!
Even better than TV as we havent had tv since we have been here, I turned it on this afternoon and flicked through channels, knowing the cctv 5 does sport and there was Sydney tennis. Watched one game and went out walking and then an early dinner.

Now we are watching our young Aussie hopeful.

This is the king bed

English learning centres

These pop up on a regular basis and it seems that there is ample students for them to make a living. One of the biggest in China and has been for awhile is Web international. We have done a bit of work for them in the past mainly to help them out of a jam.

Web is mainly for adults, nights and weekends.

Younger kids often have extra English lessons and even this time we have been asked if we can do some extra work, which we declined gracefully I hope,  saying that we had to be on call to our college.

But I digress and this was one that we past the other day, it was on a major road although down one end so rents would not be as high. It was tucked in between a curtain shop and a car wash. Nothing downstairs, but the stairs leading up with all the countries and their flags.

Fishing in the canals

Walking along the canal the other day,  we came across two guys fishing, well one was fishing the other was followjng along behind totting an empty bucket. I assume he was there to carry the catch, he maybe have been the back up for pulling in the fish. I did ask if they had any and was rewarded with a shake of the head and was shown the empty bucket.
When I say he may have been the relief or back up fisherman, we saw that it took great arm strength to pull up the net. It was dropped in, that was not a problem left for a couple of minutes then he crossed his arms and hoisted the net. The muscles in his arms really came into play when he hauled it in.

The poles are bamboo and the net stretched about three metres with small weights on it. We watched him throw it in a bout four times walking up the canal a few metres and throwing it in again. Twice he had to walk around a woman washing clothes in the canal. Everytime we walk by the canals there is always at least one woman washing clothes in there. Last night, I left for a walk at 4.30, this is the middle of winter and half way around on a different part of the canal where two women washing clothes and one washing vegetables. It is not the cleanest looking water either.

I need a bigger suitcase!

I have always admired these.

The bigger one on the right came almost up to my shoulder.
Goodness knows what I would do with one or two. I particularly like the one on the right with the flowers no less or the blue and yellow ones.

Doesnt matter which one I like, cause theyre are not going home with us. I just have to be content with a photo and also keep the money in my pocket as I am sure they wojld run into the hundreds of Rmb.

Our favourite pottery store has moved on but this one is on the edge of the old or ancient markets, a great place to wander thru.