This past Easter weekend, Stephen and I made a last-minute get-away to Shanghai (been there before a few times) and this time, we took the high speed rail to Hangzhou (capital of Zhejiang province, supposedly really pretty West Lake etc).
It was quite a disorganized trip as we didn't pre-book our rail tickets so had to queue for an hour+ at Hongqiao station in Shanghai (the whole train ride should only be an hour!). Dial back an hour, we almost went to the wrong train station! Then another hour long taxi queue upon arrival in Hangzhou (train station is pretty disgusting)... followed by a massive traffic-jam ride to West Lake. Argh!
We finally rented our bicycles and the route around the lake was SO JAMMED with people and bikes, we could barely move. Worst still, the pollution from the countless buses and cars was making it difficult to breathe! What a zoo (and it's not even a China holiday weekend!). Then we returned our bikes late to the wrong location and they didn't give us our deposit back. Argh!!
Anyway, we made it to Papa John's and it was honestly the BEST PIZZA I've eaten in Asia so far :)
And back to Shanghai for much needed alcohol to cleanse our sore throats and wallow in our sorrow. ha ha. The rest of the long weekend was enjoyable in Shanghai... including local Shanghai lunch with my old colleague and meandering about the artsy area, having coffee and wandering the Bund without pouring rain. Good dinners and lounges as well at Lynn and Constellation respectively.
I thought ok...we'repretty much DONE with China travel and chaos and pollution after Hangzhou! But returning again to Shanghai next week (this time for work, ugh).
Came back to enjoy Morihachi Yakiniku grilled Japanese meat with Carin & David (visiting from SF Bay Area) and Li :) Lots of Sloanies in town these days!
All in all, having a four day weekend with a short getaway was good... just don't bother with Hangzhou.
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