HangZhou-杭州

Simply put, Hangzhou is suprisingly beatiful. I was actually really caught off guard when I arrived. I was not expecting such a scenic spot in the middle of China. Well that isn't entirely true, but after being surrounded by the same grey buildings for months it was a pleasant surprise to find a city like Hangzhou.

The city is a 45 minute train ride from Shanghai, that is if you use the High Speed train option. Otherwise it is something like a couple hours. In either case it is definitely worth a day trip or even a couple days. 

Succinctly, the city grew up around "West Lake" which is a very large body of water that has turned into a popular scenic attraction for both foreigners and mainlanders. While the day we were there was not really clear, nor sunny, it was certainly worth it. 

It is interesting to note that while the local government has taken great lengths to preserve and foster the natural forest-like feel around the lake, just a mile away is the actual city center of Hangzhou with all of its business buildings and the like. Basically, as soon as you leave the lake the city looks just like any other major city in China. 

For your reference:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangzhou

We actually only had an afternoon in the city, which limited our options of tourism. The rest of the guys (roommate and other students) thought of a way around this problem-- tour the city on 3 seat tandem bikes!! So we did. Just imagine, two 3 seater tandem bikes being driven by Americans through the busy streets of an ancient Chinese city. Yep it WAS  that awkward, and I am pretty sure we almost hit a bus a couple times. 

And remember if you ever drive tandem bikes through a Chinese city it is ALWAYS proper to bring along as many cartoon balloons as possible. It adds to the experience. 

Below: the train station in Hangzhou on the way back. The place was packed and this seems to be the norm around here. 

On the street and making the rounds

Shanghai is huge, but completely different from most large cities in China. Where Beijing is planned on a massive scale and is spread out along 6 ring roads, Shanghai is dense compact and is the more preferable travel city for foot-traffic. Due to the old district by the Bund and the close courtyards of most Chinese buildings, the new Shanghai has some really compelling sights to see just by walking around. 

Aside from the Bund, the other must see district of this city is Nanjing Rd. Nope, it is not Nanjing the city, but just a road. Apparently, every city here includes every other city in China as a street name. Nanjing Rd. is a Pedestrian only thoroughfare and is home to the tourist/upscale/glitzy part of the city. That means that there are plenty of stores to visit and quite a lot to do. It is about a Kilometer long, but is definitely worth multiple trips down the street. 

In addition to the tourist parts of the city their were also just normal alleyways that housed millions of Shanghai citizens. While the tourists are doing their thing, these guys are just going about their daily lives like it is no big deal. Actually I kind of prefer these simple alleyways to all of the lights of Nanjing Rd. 

This revamped old Chinese courtyard (?) was also a large tourist destination in the city. It had everything including multiple Dairy Queens, McD's and Starbucks. It was definitely for the tourist crowd as the prices were astronomical for the normal Chinese citizen, but it was fun to walk around. 

We randomly ran into these "Marine" street perfomers on Nanjing road. I don't know what they were doing in China with all of their instruments, but they drew quite a crowd of chinese tourists. They were pretty good and had a thing for old jazz and funk. go figure.  

So Nanjing Rd. at night is a different experience all together. All of the storefronts are lit up and the streets are  way crowded. It is probably the best time to walk around because for some unknown reason it is really easy to get caught up in the feel of the night. But, I found it really annoying because of the hawkers. That is to say that if you go walking on Nanjing Rd. and look like a westerners dozens of hawkers will come up to you asking you to buy whatever they have like shoes, fake-handbags, and gimmicky toys. It is cool for the first five times, and then after that you want to start practicing your really rude mandarin accent. Ha!

We stayed in Blue Mountain hostel right in the middle of the city. It was pretty cheap, $8 a night, and was in good shape as far as I was concerned. This was our lounge area. 

And finally the train station. This is were we left for our next two cities. I will say this: if you are traveling in China. Be sure to take the trains, they are amazing. 

Shanghai 上海 - The Bund 外滩

Well, hello there everyone. This past Chinese labor day we took a trip to Shanghai, Nanjing, and Hanzhou, all of which are located in southern China. It was a 5 day trip that was packed with anything and everything we could do in these cities. For me, there are almost too many things to tell. I really felt like I was able to get a new perspective on China. Actually I am still trying to figure this place out, so I suppose this blog has been really instrumental in that regard. 

So here is the plan. There is way too much to talk about in one blog post. I am going to post a couple new posts every so often about different subjects or parts of the city(ies). So lets start out with the most famous part of Shanghai -                         The Bund-.

 There is a long history to Shanghai, and any attempt here to commentate on the history of this former British outpost would be foolhardy. But I can tell you about my experience. This section of Shanghai is a very peculiar corner of China. It is a strange juxtaposition between an old chinese town, british imperialism, and a new and rapid growing form of chinese capitalism. So it is nothing short of confusing. Well in any case the easiest way to understand this is to look at the buildings along the Bund. Most of these building above are either leftovers from the Western occupation or new buildings from the Chinese economic boom. In short, from one spot you can look around and feel like you are in a very chinese metropolitan city, then all it takes is a quick turn around to feel like you are in the middle of London. 

 Essentially Shanghai serves as the Finance and Economics hub of China. Beijing is more of a political and cultural center, whereas Shanghai can be just about anything else. It is the most populous city on the Mainland 23 mil+ and has seen a ridiculous amount of development over the past 50 years. Thus, most of these huge buildings are national banks, Multinational Corporations, or state-owned enterprises. 

Here is wikipedia. Have a look around, the history IS pretty neat:

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bund

 I had a great chance to go on a boat cruise in the middle of the Huangpu river 黄浦江. It cuts right through Shanghai and serves as a boundary of sorts. To the east is the more financial district with the impressive skyline and needle, and to the west is the old town and the more densely packed cityscape. 

 For some wierd reason we had to take the "coco club" boat out on the river tour. Don't ask me why, I don't have any idea either. 

The Forbidden City - 故宫

Aside from the Great Wall, the Forbidden City is THE most well visited place in Beijing. It is in the very center of the city and is the starting place for almost everything. It used to be the functioning palace for a long line of Mainland Emperors, and today it serves as a very impressive monument to the longevity of the Chinese mindset. 

 Every weekend these sightseeing attractions are filled with tourists from all over the world and China. Actually I was more impressed with the variety of Chinese tourists than anything else. There were actually quite a couple tour groups, and we had a fun time trying to eaves drop on the history and stories associated with the palace. 

 So this isn't just one building. In fact, the entire compound is somewhere around 20+ large palaces. It just made me wonder how they could possibly all be used. But hey, emperors need their amenities I guess. 

As can be expected, every corner of every building was inlaid with some form of decoration. Each separate 'palace' had a theme such as "heavenly harmony" or "celestial peace" etc. All of these decorations have been refurbished of course. 

 Wouldn't you like to have a throne room like this??

 Even the rafters in the main palaces had their own detailed architecture. 

 Out of all the fancy building and plazas, I enjoyed the palace garden the most. Every tree was at least 300 years old and had a nice ancient gnarled look to it. We went on a week were most of the flowers were in bloom so it really helped us soak up the atmosphere of the place. 

 These large urns were actually located all over the palace ground and were one of the only safety measures against fires in ancient times. From what I understand, there were frequent fires on the palace grounds (due to the main construction material being wood) and the servants would use these cisterns as places to draw emergency water from. 

 We didn't get to go the the top of the 'mountain' on this trip. I guess it will give me something to do later on. However, LOOK  at all those people, AND the cowboy hat. 

Springtime

For all effective purposes, springtime has officially arrived in northeast China. This means better weather, fresh produce, more stuff to do, and cherry blossoms everywhere. It almost feels like a different city without the ridiculously cold wind. 

I have found out that one of my new favorite things to do is go around the city and find the best open air markets available. Beijing is huge and obviously this many people need a huge amount of food, which means that there are more opportunities to go see really fancy and exotic feeling 'open-air' markets. 

In fact, I recently went with my Indonesian classmate to a classic Indonesian open-air market. They had everything. fruits, vegetables, fish, dried fruits, and even specialty items. I found out that if you want a specific food item in the city, such as a certain brand of cereal, then your only chance of finding it will be at these specialty markets or a very western, and expensive food mart. 

Speaking of food, I thought I would mention the above restaurant -Peter's-. It is a pretty authentic TexMex place in East Beijing. I think it is an unavoidable tradition that after Thursday night Small Group, everyone heads over to Peter's to grab a burrito, milkshake or whatever. It is always a really good time. For me it is pretty surreal to 'escape' the Beijing atmosphere and just eat a couple tacos. Go figure. 

With springtime in Beijing comes a lot more outdoor activities. Unlike the Winter where you would rather just stay inside, the Spring in the city allows for some rather nice scenery and good chance to experience life here. The above picture is from a public park in central Beijing. The International Student Center here at BIT planned this trip to show us the famous Japanese cherry blossoms that bloom all at once like clockwork. I think we arrived a bit too early in the season to see the best of the park, but it was still nice to walk around and chat with the other international students. 

I thought I would mention this. Above, we have a random group of rather elderly people gathered on the edge of the lake singing. If you look closely you might even see that they have a band with them. From what I gathered they are singing ancient Chinese songs form several hundred years ago. Don't ask me what for- I have no clue, but that is what they are doing, and it actually sounded pretty good. The cadence and pitch that they sing with is impressive and even lets them be heard on the other side of the huge lake.

As anyone in the city knows, this season in China means more than sight-seeing and better weather; it means that the crowds are huge and traveling on the weekend is a big hassle. After a rather long winter, everyone in Beijing is ready to get out and go shopping, traveling, etc. Effectively, this means that every weekend or holiday all of the subways and buses are packed. For me, even though this is really inconvenient, this makes sense. The city has 20+ million people  and they all want to be outside doing whatever. 

But, even through the crowds there are still plenty of things to see. Little glimpses of city life shine through, and for the most part one is able to really enjoy a day out in the market or hanging out with classmates.