Strolling in the lovely gardens, my last day in Hangzhou
It was the last day of my vacation, and after an exhausting day in Shaoxing, I wanted to relax and do as little as possible. I took a taxi down to the northwestern part of the lake, where they have one of the most beautiful parks in China. It really was stunning, and I walked around for a few hours, just admiring the view. It had even stopped raining, so it was a beautiful autumn day in Hangzhou.
One of the things I like about these parks, is how curvy everything is. It looks like all shapes are rounded and dynamic, no straight square patterns like we use back home. It really gives the garden a quiet and relaxing mood.
Another thing is the bridges, I really love that. I always liked water, as in lakes and rivers, and these canals in the park with their beautiful bridges make the journey through the park very interesting. every island had a slightly different mood too, as different trees and plants were used. The variations are staggering, compared to the 3-4 different tree types I usually see 🙂
In the evening I met up with Kelly, and we went to a chinese fast food restaurant. That was weird but actually very good. Think burger king, but with chinese food! After that we went to Jamaica Coffee in the tourist-friendly Xihu Tiandi district, for coffee and a couple of drinks.
Hangzhou was a beautiful city, very tourist-friendly and absolurely lovely to just walk around in. I’d love to come back here in the summer sometime, but still I’m happy that there were few crowds and that I got to experience the tranquility of the lake.The only problem in this city is the taxis, especially at rush hour, and especially since there is basically no other option. Getting stuck waiting for a cab for 30 minutes really sucks.
Getting home from Hangzhou turned out to be a stressfull event. The train I wanted to take to Shanghai was cancelled, and the next one was 30 minutes late. So I came to Shanghai 1 hour late, and suddenly it was rush hour. I had to drop the tube and train combination, and had a taxi take me directly to the airport. The driver drove like a god, using all three lanes and blazing past all other cars, and we made it to the airport 13 minutes before check-in was to close. However, when I got to the counter, they told me that my flight was cancelled!
There were some strikes in Finair, so I had to get a different flight, and was booked to KLM through Amsterdam. That really sucked, both because KLM is way below Finair in quality (no in-flight entertainment), and because the flight is longer (11 hours compared to 9 hours to Helsinki). And I missed my flight from Oslo to Bodø, and had to get a new ticket from Norwegian. Hope I’ll get that covered by my travel insurance.
But anyway, I’m glad to finally be home, after a long journey. Nice to sleep in my own bed and get to meet my friends again.
Tags: 1
oyvind
Leave a Reply