..was billed to us one of the most beautiful cities in China. This is down to the fact it has many trees, a beautiful lakefront, and you can usually see a few hundred yards in front of you without infra-red goggles on, a rarity given the acidic smog that befouls most of the country. It's a huge tourist destination for Chinese tourists.
We arrived via train which we barely made thanks to Ivan''s wonderful time-keeping! We were met there by Steaven (how he spelt it!) who undoubtedly was our most charismatic and entertaining guide in China. We got hours of entertainment from him (laughing at and not necessarily with him for the most part).
He could aptly be described an effeminate James Brown. He sported jet black combed hair, fish lips, absolutely outrageous sunglasses, and a strut straight out of Vaudiville. One of the first things he did was to show us his cat impression - hilarious(/bizarre?). His main catch phrases were "Woooooooowwwww!", Amaaaaazzzing"and "Janey mack!"
We had free time after arrival which was great. The hotel again was fantastic. We strolled down to the lake front after an appalling meal. It's really hit and miss with food here! On the lakefront a group of Chinese tourists were out in force with their cameras watching a fountain and lights show.
On our first morning Steaven brought us to Huagang park where we had a boat ride on the West lake. Nice views and gentle floating passed the next hour. From there it was onto the Six Harmonies Pagoda! Naturally we were ecstatic about the prospect of another pagoda! (hum the theme tune to the melody of My Sherona - go on!). On the hilltop Steaven tried to impress us with a completely obscured view of the river - woooow, amaaaaziing! We climbed the pagoda to take in the view of the surrounds, and made our way back to the hotel.
J, Dave and I headed out to sample the nightlife - something Dave is itching to do on arrival in every new place. Meanwhile Fitz had some down time. After a few screwrivers in a dice bar and a beer tower in a jazz bar we hit a local club which had a dancefloor made of sponge which bounced as you dance! Ingenious. It's times like that when the local chippie on the way home is hugely missed, heehee - the following early morning rise was difficult all round needless to say!
Hangzhou is famous for its' Longjin tea so we headed off to a nearby tea plantation to sample it! We sat around steaming our eyeballs over the tea and drinking copious amounts in a quest to cure our livers of all evil! Having bought enough to keep us going for a few months (adding a few kilos to the bags in the process) we went on our merry way feeling a lot better.
We had a fairly funky lunch thereafter in a private room with a view over the tea plantation in a colonial style building. It was wonderful until the food arrived! A whole chicken (giblets/full head, feet etc - the works) some nuclear fish with green beady eyes, soup of questionable (nigh alien) content. Our stomachs are fairly hardened at this stage, and we're not afraid to try new foods - but this was just poxy. Poor 'oul Steaven's seemingly insatiable enthusiasm even waned when he saw that most of it remained untouched upon departure.
Kenny Egan was due to fight in his Gold Medal bout against the Chinese fella - Xiaoping Zhang (Dave and James got a photo with him in Beijing!) so we headed to the solitary Irish bar in Hangzhou - the imaginatively titled Shamrock. Only one Irishman working in the place - he said he had come across only 6 of us in his 6 months of living there. We had an early night in anticipation of the flight to Hong Kong the following morning.
We arrived via train which we barely made thanks to Ivan''s wonderful time-keeping! We were met there by Steaven (how he spelt it!) who undoubtedly was our most charismatic and entertaining guide in China. We got hours of entertainment from him (laughing at and not necessarily with him for the most part).
He could aptly be described an effeminate James Brown. He sported jet black combed hair, fish lips, absolutely outrageous sunglasses, and a strut straight out of Vaudiville. One of the first things he did was to show us his cat impression - hilarious(/bizarre?). His main catch phrases were "Woooooooowwwww!", Amaaaaazzzing"and "Janey mack!"
We had free time after arrival which was great. The hotel again was fantastic. We strolled down to the lake front after an appalling meal. It's really hit and miss with food here! On the lakefront a group of Chinese tourists were out in force with their cameras watching a fountain and lights show.
On our first morning Steaven brought us to Huagang park where we had a boat ride on the West lake. Nice views and gentle floating passed the next hour. From there it was onto the Six Harmonies Pagoda! Naturally we were ecstatic about the prospect of another pagoda! (hum the theme tune to the melody of My Sherona - go on!). On the hilltop Steaven tried to impress us with a completely obscured view of the river - woooow, amaaaaziing! We climbed the pagoda to take in the view of the surrounds, and made our way back to the hotel.
J, Dave and I headed out to sample the nightlife - something Dave is itching to do on arrival in every new place. Meanwhile Fitz had some down time. After a few screwrivers in a dice bar and a beer tower in a jazz bar we hit a local club which had a dancefloor made of sponge which bounced as you dance! Ingenious. It's times like that when the local chippie on the way home is hugely missed, heehee - the following early morning rise was difficult all round needless to say!
Hangzhou is famous for its' Longjin tea so we headed off to a nearby tea plantation to sample it! We sat around steaming our eyeballs over the tea and drinking copious amounts in a quest to cure our livers of all evil! Having bought enough to keep us going for a few months (adding a few kilos to the bags in the process) we went on our merry way feeling a lot better.
We had a fairly funky lunch thereafter in a private room with a view over the tea plantation in a colonial style building. It was wonderful until the food arrived! A whole chicken (giblets/full head, feet etc - the works) some nuclear fish with green beady eyes, soup of questionable (nigh alien) content. Our stomachs are fairly hardened at this stage, and we're not afraid to try new foods - but this was just poxy. Poor 'oul Steaven's seemingly insatiable enthusiasm even waned when he saw that most of it remained untouched upon departure.
Kenny Egan was due to fight in his Gold Medal bout against the Chinese fella - Xiaoping Zhang (Dave and James got a photo with him in Beijing!) so we headed to the solitary Irish bar in Hangzhou - the imaginatively titled Shamrock. Only one Irishman working in the place - he said he had come across only 6 of us in his 6 months of living there. We had an early night in anticipation of the flight to Hong Kong the following morning.
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