Day 3: Wednesday the 14th
7:45 departure in Suzhou.
We took a boat cruise along the longest canal in the world. Some sections date back to the 5th century BC and it is now a UNESCO World Heritage site.
We saw old homes all along the river.
Then we travel to Shanghai-2 hour journey.
Shanghai is only 160 years old and is the city with the largest population, just a mere 25 million!
I found out that a skyscraper is built every 4 days in China! I definitely believe this from all the construction and buildings we have seen so far.
We went up a massive skyscraper for a view of the city called, Jinmoa tower.
88 floors and 340 meters tall.
There are sooo many skyscrapers as far as you can see! All are uniquely shaped.
After lunch we went on a Bullet train. It is the fastest train in the world, reaching 430kms/per hour!
We travelled 30kms in 7 minutes! It was an amazing experience.
We visited the old China town to get some delicious soup crap dumplings. Then we had 1 hour to look around the touristy shops.
The buildings looked amazing at night time.
From here we went on a boat cruise on the Huangpu River to view the Shanghai skyline. The lights were so beautiful and colorful at night.
The Oriental Pearl TV tower has to be my favorite building in Shanghai.
It was such a long and busy day but amazing!
Day 2: Tuesday the 13th
Suzhou
We meet on the bus at 7:45. It was a 3 hour journey leaving Hangzhou to Suzhou. On the way we learnt about arranged marriages and the 1 child policy.
At our rest stop I got a coconut and mango bubble tea.
First stop-Master of the Nets garden. The gardens are 900 years old!
Throughout the gardens there is a large step before entering a room. This is to make you bow.
Fish in Chinese is the same word for saving. It is in their culture to save money.
In 1966 people who could read and write were killed and the language is changed.
Men would grow their hair out as a respect for their parents. People from the North invaded and said they had to shave the top of their hair off. Thousands of people were killed because they refused to do so.
When men are 20 they are considered a man and get a hat to put their hair under.
Traditional women have to cover their mouths when eating because if they show their teeth or tongue it means they have to marry the person who saw!
The gardens were beautiful and full of fascinating history.
Then we went for lunch, lazy Suzanne style.
After lunch we went to a famous Silk factory. Silk worms make one single strand that is 1800 meters long! 1 female moth can lay 3 thousand eggs.
To check if it is real silk, you can rub the fabric on your hair and see if there is static and this would mean it is fake.
We looked at all the silk bedding, clothes and scarfs. Mum and I bought some silk and cashmere scarfs :)
We arrived at our new hotel at about 4:30pm and had the rest of the night free. We went to the nearby shopping centre with our new friends Mark and Sarah. We shared dumplings and noodle soups for dinner.
We went to a busy supermarket to buy some snacks for tomorrow and everyone started at us because we look so different!
Day 1: Monday the 12th
Hangzhou
Today is our first day of the tour!
Tour guide: Darren
Departure 8:20 hotel lobby
36 people in our group
We set off to the West Lake area.
There are 5 million people in the city of Hangzhou.
They have a policy in China where every second day you are aloud to drive for example, if your number plate ends in an odd number and even number you alternate days. This is to unclutter traffic.
Number plate colours mean different things:
Green=battery powered
Blue= below 10 seats
Orange=above 10 seats
White=police
We went to the West Lake area. The entire circumference of the lake is 5.6kms. It has stunning gardens and we saw a beautiful old pravillion.
Next we went to the Tea plantation-we tried some amazing green tea. It smelt like spinach/seaweed. We were told about all the health benefits of the tea.
We went for lunch which was a lazy Suzanne style, sharing lots of rice, meat, soup, egg and fish.
We came back to the hotel and had 2 hours to kill before we went to an optional show tonight. We went to the shopping plaza next to the hotel which was ginormous but completely empty because everyone does their shopping online in China!
We went to 7/11 to taste some treats.
We departed for the show at 4pm-'The Romance of Song Dynasty Show'.
It was like a giant theme park with lots of different shops and things to look at on the way to the theatre.
The actual show was INCREDIBLE. It was full of dancing, singing, acrobats, special affects, water, light shows, amazing costumes and insane props. What a fantastic cultural experience. It was strange to see everyone had their phones up filming and where standing up throughout the show.
We went to a noodle place for dinner where I ordered fish noodle because if you ask for some kind of meat you could get all kind of things! I had an entire fish in my bowl. It was a huge bowl for only $4!
