HangZhou International Youth Hostel

Since last year, year 2010, I travelled to Melbourne alone and stayed in a youth hostel, every time when I Google and do some research about accommodation to places that I’ll be going, I will first search “xxx youth hostel”. So, this time is HangZhou. Because I’m travelling with a friend, at the very beginning, I was browsing some hotel, but find that they are not very cheap. Then I came across this International Youth Hostel, the location is very strategic, reading comments and mostly positive, looking at the pictures and they all projected clean and safe environment.

When we reached Hangzhou, the cab driver didn’t know where was it, luckily I have the address and he managed to send us there. When I was doing the check-in, I noticed a lot of the worker there are very very young… (is it because this is youth hostel so they only hire young ppl?) The reception is very helpful, that evening was raining and one of them even helped us to carry our luggage. I know if you are too used to live in a hotel, bell boy service is all time available, but mind you, this is a youth hostel, you need to be responsible to your stuff because you are still “youth” aka young.

This Hangzhou International Youth Hostel has 2 wings, the reception and rooms, they are connected by a small alley. I like about the security, you need to have an access card to enter to each wing, modern (security) + tradition (interior & exterior design).

Our room is @ the 1st floor of “room” wing, no lift or escalator, narrow staircase a bit scary when you are taking your luggage up and down. Before all the rooms, there is this public place for you to hang & dry clothes and basins. Further in, there are laundry room, bath rooms, toilet and hot drinking water supply room, all for sharing.

Our room was the 1st room after all the public area, short ceiling, kind of small, a little bit crack on the wall, but for me I prefer this kind of setting, I don’t like big room. There is a small window on the ceiling, cover with a curtain, I think it’s for you too watch stars at night. 

Left pic: You can also sit by the window, watching the koi in the pond. Right pic: it’s kitchen

Left pic: Living room for sharing too. Right pic: a balcony @ 2nd floor

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There's a cafe next to the hostel, I think they are running independently, but symbiotically. It’s kind of nice and when you were sitting in the cafe, you get confuse “am I in China, not France?” 

Highly recommended if you were to go Hangzhou… West Lake is just walking distance away, you can wake up every morning and do a bit of running or tai chi there…

For hostel info, please visit this site: http://www.yhachina.com/ls.php?hostID=2&id=33

Last Day in Hangzhou

Finally, came to the last day in China… as usual, Libran always has the same dilemma, eager to get home (can’t sleep at all at night due to cough, mind and body got exhausted already) but on the other hand, there are a lot more for me to explore in town, especially West Lake, it is a true beauty, I didn’t even have good time experiencing this man-made lake, crossing all the bridges while understanding the stories behind each of them, seeing the 10 must-see sceneries around the lake, surrounding the lake to walk at least a round (although this is quite impossible)…

Since I was not able to get quality sleep, I decided to get up early (West Lake was just behind the hostel), spend a serene morning with the local people and the lake. I thought I was early, but the local were earlier, at 6am, most of the parks facing the lake were crowded with people playing Tai Qi, dancing, running, brisk walking on the track. Some young working ladies or men were having their breakfast on the benches by the lake… security guards or police officers were also there to protect or maintain order I guess.

I was walking walking walking until I finally found an empty bench, although there were a lot of people but non of them making a lot of noises, now I understand why my Hangzhou friend, HuiJia’s husband used to wake up early just to come here to study during his school time… the environment is really quiet and nice, fresh cool breeze, bird chirp, green… you really need to be there to feel the lake with your heart…

After recharged with all the positive energy, I walked the hostel to shower, meet my friend, pack, check out and take our breakfast in the cafe attached to the hostel (because we have discount voucher to dine in). The breakfast was very very nice, look at the beautiful latte & our 5-star breakfast… the cafe looked simple outside, but has a beautiful and modern interior, will show the pictures in my next post.

Before heading to the airport, my Hangzhou friends brought us to walk a little in their newest mall, finally got a chance to spend some money and we had lunch My last lunch - 状元过桥米线, method to eat: 1. throw all ingredients (variety of vege, prawn, fish fillet & dried stuffs) to hot soup, after 2 minutes then throw in the mee. 2. soaked ingredients till cooked and served! Besides than the colourful combination, the soup was really nice too! At least this is not so “aggressive” to my stomach compare all the spicy dishes in every single meals that we had during the trip… mind you, the Chinese can be very “hot”!!! lol  

Lastly, HOME SWEET HOME WITH A PAIR OF PANDA EYES AND A COUPLE OF SIZE UP! CHINA… I’LL BE BACK!

5th Day in Shanghai/ 1st Day in Hangzhou

Day 5 Itinerary: Shanghai Zoo –> 动车 High-speed train to Hangzhou

You are right, I went to the zoo… I understand visiting a zoo isn’t a “must-do” in most of the countries, but China, especially this is my first trip to China mainland, no doubt, it is a must because they have got PANDA!!!

Right after we bought our entrance tickets, 1st thing 1st, we checked out where are all these cuties located, with no further ado, we took a feeder “train” straight to the panda area.

Such a big different between small panda and giant panda

Panda is as lazy as koala (I think), they either eat or sleep… most of them were still sleeping when we were there, only this playful one was having his breakfast while playing with the leaves too.

After panda, we did walked around, but most animals were pretty lazy, they were either hiding or sleeping. But we still managed to see some interesting animal, e.g. Sun bears fighting, and we saw gorillas too, that’s my first time seeing gorilla too. They really act like us, human being, they look fierce but in fact I think they are quite harmless…

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Lunch

We have not had any Ramen in Shanghai yet, so, that’s what we were going to eat for lunch… We walked out from the zoo and this small restaurant attracted us.

We ordered ramen葱油拉面, kungpo chicken rice and 水煮鱼 (no idea what’s the English name for this) for sharing… the latter 2 dishes were only so so, I still prefer our version of kungpo chicken, but the ramen is really good… the chef made the noodle on the spot too…

After the lunch, it’s also time to bid farewell to Shanghai!!!

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Hangzhou Trip

Day 1 itinerary: 印象西湖 Impression West Lake –> Karaoke

I actually planned to reach Hangzhou by 3pm, because we really have not much time to cover Hangzhou. However we learnt our lesson for not doing much research on some of the details.

After Shanghai Zoo & lunch, we rushed back to take luggage, but my dear friend, she hasn’t packed her luggage the night before, at first we thought of taking metro to train station, but due to time constrain, we decided to take a cab. The driver said there are 3 train stations in Shanghai but we have no idea which is which, neither the driver know the exact station to take us to. End up, although he said he is pretty sure, but I guess, he just picked the farthest one – South Gate Train Station.

We got a shock when we reached South Gate after more than an hour in the cab, because from the digital board, all trains to Hangzhou on the day have sold out!!! Luckily my friend found an officer who know English, she told us we went to the wrong station, we should go to HongQiao Station which is quite a distance from South Gate, and her suggestion was to take metro better than a cab. Taking metro with luggage is no fun at all, “best” part was taking the luggage up and down the stairs for transit @ different stations.

After all the hassles, we managed to get our precious 2 tickets to Hangzhou, and the train is very comfortable, it remind me of Eurostar that I took from London to Paris in my Europe trip. From the info that we received in the station, the train will take 80 minutes to Hangzhou, but in less than 50 minutes, we were already in Hangzhou! (Should this a good news? The very terrible accident happened in Wenzhou in July was still vivid in mind).

I actually has a group of China friends staying in Hangzhou, I know them in my Langkawi trip in March this year, although we know each other not long ago, but it seems we are already very close friends. Before I go to Shanghai, I actually told them I will reach Hangzhou on that day around 3pm, so, they had booked a table at a very fancy restaurant named Lou Wai Lou 楼外楼 to welcome us. I felt so sorry for their effort being wasted, because we were there late. Some of them were actually doing their OT in the office and squeezed out the time for the dinner. I felt so touched but at the same time very guilty for not letting them know earlier that we were facing some difficulties in getting the train and we will be late.  

Photo with the guys before they were getting back to their office to work.

We missed the wonderful dinner and this was what I had that night “Old Beijing" Chicken Roll” & citrus tea @ KFC.

1st surprise from my Hangzhou friend – HuiJia & her husband ShenKai, they bought us tickets to watch “Impression West Lake” (印象西湖), directed by the famous director, ZhangYiMou (the director who directed the opening and closing ceremonies of 2008 Beijing Olympic). It was an amazing show! Very breath-taking and everything seems perfect, music, lighting, dance, coordination...! Can you imagine the stage is in the middle of the lake? I strongly recommend this show if you have a chance to visit to Hangzhou. http://www.hzyxxh.com/en/

Half way watching the show, rain started pouring down, the rain give a prettier impression to the scene and draw a more touching picture to the story. 

a a a... that's not the end of the day, 2nd surprise coming up… HuiJia booked a karaoke room for us to sing our lung out too!!!! Exhausted and a day full surprise (bad and good), more exciting Hangzhou travelogue coming up…