Travels with Kathryn

I am on my train. My alarm went off at 5.45am, quick trip to the station, and I boarded my 7.34am train to Hangzhou (it actually goes through to Shanghai, but I will be getting off one stop earlier). I am currently 2 hours into my 8 hour journey…

Its a little bit of a come down being back in second class, and annoyingly I am in the window seat of 3 across. I shall embrace the fact that I have the window view and crack on with my cross stitch… I actually feel my journey went faster than my previous long train trip, perhaps because I had a TV series to enjoy (Etoile on Prime which is by the same team that made Marvellous Mrs Maisal), plenty of nice scenery to enjoy and various seat mates kept offering me snacks.

I also travelled via Nanchang which I thought I had heard of, but turns out that was Nanjing which is one of the ancient capitals of China. Anyway, this made me do some further reading and made me realise that although I am now pretty good on my ancient Chinese history i.e. days of the Silk Road and all, turns out me knowledge of more modern history is pretty ropey. So, Nanchang is the location of the Nanchang uprising (led by, amoung others, He Long) on 1 August 1927 which is considered the founding of the People’s Liberation Army (the military branch of the Chinese Communist Party) and the first action fought by the National Revolutionary Army againt the Kuomintang. I can’t say I saw much from the train, but I certainly am learning (every day is a learning day).

I arrived into Hangzhou at 3.32pm and decided that I would buy my train ticket from here to Shanghai on Tuesday. So, in China train tickets only become available, and they do sell out on busy times – 1 July is the beginning of the “busy” season as its when schools finish for the summer. In my mind Hangzhou was going to be nowhere near as busy as it is, so it was a long walk dodging slow moving (particularly families) from the “exit” trains back to “enter” trains and tickets. Anyway, whilst a number of trains were indeed already sold out, I have secured my ticket out of here (wouldn’t want to miss Shanghai, or more importantly perhaps, Disneyland) for 11.30am on Tuesday. After all that excitement, I decided to treat myself to a taxi to the hotel (at a fast cost of about £4) to my hotel. I am back in a less boutique, but still rather fancy hotel – although it was mainly booked for its location on the West Lake.

So, why Hangzhou? Hangzhou is the capital of Zhejiang Province and during the 7th and 8th centuries was one of China’s most important trading centres and ports, mainly due to its location on Hangzhou Bay and gateway into the entry to the Grand Canal. The Song dynasty moved their court here in the 12th century after the mongol invasions in the North. Today, it is famous (mostly in China) for its West Lake in art, poetry, and even emperors. My inspiration for coming here was Marco Polo’s description of Hangzhou as “the most beautiful and magnificent city in the world”. No pressure.

Anyway, by now it was 5pm and a little West Lake wandering was in order (by me and a gazillion Chinese couples). This was originally a lagoon adjoing the Qiantang river but in 8th century the marsh was dredged to create this lake – overtime it has been gradually cultivated, gardens added, pagagos built and causeways constructued. I shall do more exploring tomorrow, but for now:

Another aside on Chinese culture – so due to the 1 child policy statistically there are more young/youngish men than woman and therefore it seems the young men have to work that much harder to keep their girlfriends. This is outwardly demonstrated by the fact that if you see a couple together, he will be carrying all bags and she will not even be carrying so much as a tiny purse, which he will also carry. Sometimes, it’s quite fun to watch when you consider he is carrying 700 bags and also chief photographer for her social media account (I assume). There was much of this going on around the lake. I would also note that this is only young couples, maybe everything changes on marriage, or older men don’t feel they need to work so hard?

Anyway, I also decided it was time for something to eat and due to hunger I over-ordered at a famous chain restaurant known as Grandma’s home (I did order almost the same selection of dishes as the table next to me which I took as a sign). It was all delicious apart from the rice stuffed lotus root – it came first which made me assume it was an appetiser, no, perhaps the sweetest thing I have eaten whilst in China and covered in some kind of cheap strawberry jam concoction. I would not recommend.

I am now in the hotel having just had a shower and making plans for tomorrow. Maybe a boat ride in not the rain?

It is now Monday afternoon and oh what I have achieved (sort of). I woke up relatively early and decided to head straight to the lake, and although there were a rather large group of people practising circus skills (make a change from dancing) it was far quieter than last night. I had a short week and then headed out on a scenic boat trip. There were a few spots of rain (you cannot make this stuff up!) it was otherwise dry. You can promanade all the way around the lake, and there are any number of scenic viewpoints. I intend to visit more of these when its cooler this evening (today its 36 degrees, but with the humidity feels 45).

I then decided to tackle the Hangzhou metro system. First obstacle, it may only be a 9 minute walk to my nearest station this involves a number of underpasses. You recall I mentioned the Chinese enjoy stairs? Whilst some have up escalators, most do not, and certainly no down escalators. Its usually 60 stairs each way – did I mention I a kind of done with stairs? Particularly in this heat! However, the metro system redeemed itself by its delightful air conditioning:

It was a short journey (with an easy change) to Gongchen, and then a walk (stopping for a breakfast banana) to the Grand Canal. Some say that the Grand Canal is actually far more important when it comes to big Chinese building projects – and I must say I am minded to agree as this was actually a useful shipping lane, as opposed to the wall which never actually stopped an invading force! It it is a series of waterways that links Hangzhou to Beijing and at 1,776km it is the world’s longest artifical waterway and today a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The earliest section was built in the 4th century, then rebuilt in 607 CE during the Sui dynasty and really expanded and improved during the Ming dynasty. Much like the Silk Road, it is not a single canal, but a series of sections linked together and during different periods (depending on where he seat of power was in China) different sections were more or less important. During industrialization the canal became very polluted, a increasing errots have been made to improve environmental conditions along the canal – in Hangzhou $250million has been spent since 2001 to improve water quality.

Pictured above is Gongchen bridge (meaning imperial residence and respectful greeting – to reflect respectful greetnigs to ancient emperors when they went on imperial inspection tours south to Hangzhou) was first built during the Ming dynasty in 1631 and is the highest and longest stone arch bride and marks the southernmost landmark of the Grand Canal. Technically, I have been to the end on my previous trip, so its kind of like I have travelled this route too.

As its now 12 and getting very hot, I planned to spend the afternoon at China’s National Silk Museum (I do like a nice textile and air conditioned museum) and although their website says they are open on Monday afternoon’s this is a big fat lie. On arrival (in my taxi) the gates were closed and after a detailed conversation with the security guard (via Google translate) I was reliably informed that, like everywhere else in the world, the museum is indeed closed on Mondays. I am rather displeased…

I have retreated to the hotel to hide from the hottest part of the day and intend to go out this evening to enjoy the delights of the lake when its cooler (and possibly darker). I have really enjoyed my brief stop in Hangzhou, its a proper city, but with a beautiful lake to enjoy as my penultimate stop before reaching the end of this trip and the bright lights and massive city that is Shanghai (including a little trip to Disneyland) WHOOP!