hangzhou

breakfast of red bean paste buns (3 rmb) and freshly brewed coffee (15 rmb). and spectacle of a bratty girl who deserved a kick in the pants for mouthing off to her parents. but her rudest remark earned not the slightest rebuke. if you let your kids ride roughshod over you, maybe you deserve what you get.



decided to go to wuzhen, a water town with ming-qing era buildings extant. missed the tour bus at 8 am (65 rmb roundtrip) so had to make my way to hangzhou east bus station instead. next bus to wuzhen was full, advised to make my way to tongxiang (20 rmb) instead. was quite impressed with the hangzhou bus station. there was actually a system, and one that was actually stuck to. tickets are scanned before one boards the bus and, as learnt from a harried ticket scanner, the bus couldn’t leave till all tickets sold had been scanned and all the seats accounted for. bus was new, clean and comfy; they even provided bottles of mineral water. easy listening French pop came on, though that ended and was replaced by a chatty radio broadcast. journey took an hour and then caught a shuttle bus (4.30 rmb), which took another 20 minutes. once we reached wuzhen, bought the return ticket to hangzhou first, 22 rmb, 4.20 pm bus. continued to shadow this group who had also come to wuzhen via tongxiang and bought the same return ticket to hangzhou. the group was headed by this somewhat obnoxious guy, who did however, seem to know what he was doing. so ended up at cuixianguan for lunch. came to 44 rmb, which was not cheap considering the state of the restaurant. but the food was surprisingly good, tau pok stuffed with vegetables, hongshao chicken pieces which were tender and pleasantly chewy.
60 rmb to get into wuzhen (http://www.wuzhen.com.cn/) and hello tourist hordes!
reminiscent of lijiang old town, but decidedly less blatantly commercial. effort to preserve traditional crafts by hawking them as souvenirs – blue-dyed cloth, alcohol, snacks and candies. tried wumeigao which was a muffin-like confection but with a red bean paste filling. maybe should have eaten lunch within wuzhen. the ticket also gave one access to specific parts of the old town that had been preserved, including pawn shop, distillery, cloth-dyer, shadow-puppet show, dioramas of social customs.
the overcast sky eventually spewed a very fine drizzle.
went to yan’an road for dinner. wanted to check out zhiweiguan, or the magnificently-named 'flavour savouring tower.' had the oddly-named but appetizing cat’s ears, yummy dumplings in soup and the xiaolongbao, which were dried out and disappointing. polished off with red bean soup. grand total of 19.5 rmb. this was all on the first floor of the tower, which was a food court for the masses. perfect for single travelers since one could try various foods in one place. tough finding a seat though. one could enjoy sit down service on the higher levels, presumably at a premium.
hangzhou strikes one as a place where one could eat and shop well. some familiar Beijing establishments such as tiandiyijia (high-end classy restaurant) and babyface (club) were here as well. there was even a high-end shopping enclave (guess it’s not a mall) where giorgio armani, hermes et al rubbed shoulders. certainly important elements in the bid to receive the sobriquet of china’s most liveable city. (hangzhou was ranked sixth.)
though as a cabbie complained, the cost of living was even higher than beijing’s. damned tourists.

hangzhou

an 8 am flight is not one of my favourite things. made less so by the dreaded phrase ‘delayed due to fog.’ to add insult to injury, even the flight for fogsville dalian took off. and now for something completely unexpected, kudos to the service industry. air china actually provided breakfast while we waited: steamed buns (with and without red bean paste filling), hard-boiled egg, pickled veg, gruel. (hands-down best service ever in china award however goes to xueliang optometrist who provides services such as replacing the nose-pads of spectacles, for free! even though I didn’t make the glasses there! and offering tea while i waited!)
eventually took off at 10.30 am, which was of course, the time of my original flight on hainan airlines which was later postponed to 3 pm, hence the switch to the air china flight.
bought map of hangzhou for 5 rmb at the airport with the guy insisting at first that the tattered copy I was holding was a new one. let the games begin.
first cab I got into, driver said ‘it’s an expensive cab’ and asked for 160 rmb. having gotten a yardstick figure of 100 rmb fr a friend who was just here, hopped right out. the next cab had the meter going. fare came to 83 rmb, and the cabbie asked for 100 rmb. sure, since it was the second day of the new year.
took a while to find the hostel (http://www.jiangnanyi.com/) as it was tucked into the side of a hillslope. had reserved a single with an attached bathroom for 180 rmb. (prices are up fr 150 rmb normally.) place is located on the west side of the lake, but not on the bank. it’s also the less developed side, so it’s quieter but less convenient for food, shopping etc. the room was fine, though youth hostels in china=thin mattresses. would also have preferred heating in the bathroom, but at least no problems with the hot water. the staff were friendly enough, if a little harried at breakfast time given that it was fully booked. a tick in the plus column if u like animals. there were at least 3 cats and 2 dogs which had the run of the place, including a puppyish puppy, all excitable and energetic and lying down every so often, exhausted by its own enthusiasm. (the other youth hostel is located right on the east bank and within walking distance of grub and malls on yan’an road.)


decided to walk down to the lakeside after dumping the bag in the room. first major sight was ‘viewing fish at flower pond.’ west lake has, 10 or 18 or 20, such setpieces, often evocative of a season (malting (sic) snow at broken bridge, autumn moon over the clam (sic) lake) or specific time of day (three pools mirroring the moon, leifeng pagoda in evening glow). in other words, none are at their best in heavy fog. but this being the Chinese new year break, tourist groups abound, a multitudinous wave of humanity determined to enjoy the peace and quiet of west lake. or not. still, there were pockets of stumbled-upon solitude and unexpected beauty. the ma yifu memorial hall, located in the jiang villa, was largely deserted, the tour groups having made a beeline for the stressed-out and overfed red carp.
traversed the 2.8 km su causeway on foot. bought a steamed wine-dark corncob for 5 rmb. looked better than it tasted.
didn’t want dinner at a tourist trap, so walked down beishan road for a bit as the official (and free) hangzhou guide had a few places helpfully listed on that street. (www.gotohz.com is a good place to check out some basic facts regarding hangzhou. the printed English copy is a lot more detailed than what’s available in English online though.) went into the first one, caiyun xuan, that looked as if locals might dine there. ordering for one is a pain. ended up with dongpo pork, which thankfully came in single serving portions of 8 rmb. the amount of fat in one serving though would have busted any RDA requirement. still, it was melt-in-your-mouth fat which went splendidly with the tender morsels of meat. also, some mishmash dish of chicken, luncheon meat and pig’s stomach (28 rmb) which was soupy and passable, as well as a large bowl of pian’erchuan (8 rmb, noodles in soup with pork slices and veggies). considering the prices, 8 rmb for a glass of chrysanthemum tea was steep.
too tired to navigate the public transport system, so took a cab back. to find the lobby of the hostel packed with diners. huh.

harbin

4-7/1/06
finally made it to harbin in winter. it felt like a trip that i should make, in part because of the proximity to beijing, in part to see the spectacular spectacle of the ice and snow carvings. kept it putting it off though since the thought of being somewhere colder than jilin wasn't too appealing. so yes, harbin was cold; ice routinely formed on the inside of our minibus' windows. even swathed and swaddled in layers of clothing and 'winter proof' outerwear, one could only take so much of the chilly outdoors at one go. the trick to avoiding frostbite was to wear thin gloves that one could operate the camera with as opposed to wearing thick gloves that one had to remove at regular intervals for deadly exposure to the air.

overheard in the lift lobby: what do u call a group of diplomats? a gaggle? a school? a flock?
a murder maybe? a web perhaps, since everyone was outfitted in the matching spyder ski suits provided by the organizers. it looked like an amateur skiers' convention every time we gathered. and judging from the caps, an unusually high proportion of whom were pacers' fans.

on the first night, we went to the 32nd ice lantern exhibition at zhaolin park, site of the 1st (and subsequent?) exhibitions. was actually a little disappointed since i was expecting monumental edifices of ice and snow but this was only of a slightly larger scale than ice carvings i had seen in jilin.
the 18th snow carving exhibition the next morning was much more impressive. (these events were all part of the 22nd ice and snow festival.) followed by a visit to the siberian tigers park. tigers roaming free? that's nice. why weren't we in reinforced vehicles? wouldn't the tigers associate vehicles with food since they were fed from vehicles? oh cool, that's a tiger close by. here, kitty kitty. ok, that's too close.

took the post-lunch break to go to church sofia. church was gorgeous, all red brick and green-domed. the 25 rmb to go inside was kind of a ripoff though. there was a photographic exhibition and models of a few major buildings in harbin, but the interior was in rather bad shape. still, nice that they had cleared the buildings surrounding the church as they were apparently pressing in upon the structure.


the official opening ceremony of the festival was in the afternoon. the proclamation was followed rather incongruously by an entire program of dance presented by a russian troupe. no complaints since it was entertaining. the women displayed vegas-style razzle-dazzle while the men showcased acrobatic athleticism. guess it tied in with the whole russia-in-china year thing and the russian theme of the various exhibitions.
the banquet which followed took place in a hall saturated with baijiu fumes. good thing drinking it was not mandatory since one imbibed quite a bit just from breathing.
the highlight of the festival was the grand ice and snow world. unfortunately, we only had about 45 min there so it was a mad rush, twisting my neck to watch the fireworks while pressing on from spectacle to spectacle, and wondering about the supporting strength of ice whilst wedged in the midst of a crowd climbing up icy stairs.

skipped the buffet lunch at the hotel to walk down central pedestrian street instead. the cobbled street, wrought-iron streetlamps and russian buildings gave the area a very european feel. as long as one squinted and ignored the chinese signboards and the surrounding building blocks.

had lunch at huamei, in business since 1925. should have tried getting a table on the second floor since that was done up in russian fine dining style. the borscht (3 rmb a bowl) was a little spicy (is it supposed to be?) and the steak (24 rmb) was tender and peppery, though it came in strips. perhaps best to think of it as chinese-style russian food. meal for 2 came to 78 rmb, including 3 rmb for 2 licks of butter and 2 rmb for a large dollop of jam.
sought out russian food again for dinner. tried portman's, which seemed to be popular with the locals but turned out to be rather disappointing. was a sucker for anything prefixed by russian on the menu so tried red caviar (salty, 38 rmb), chicken leg salad (reminiscent of a waldorf salad because of the apple slices, 17 rmb), pork pancakes (12 rmb), cream of corn (blah, 10 rmb), and kebab sticks (deep-fried rather than grilled pork, beef, fish and potato, 24 rmb). the only dish of note was the pork which was tender and came piping hot. decided to go to this other restaurant, Russia, for dessert. should have gone for dinner instead. it was a cosy place with under 10 tables and lined with Russian bric-a-brac (what is Russian for bric-a-brac?) around the edges of the room. just as importantly, it had a menu that looked inviting. ran into a media friend who was covering the festival and learnt that the place was famous for its sausages. alas, dessert did not seem to be its strong point, though russian tea (ie. tea with jam) was a pleasant novelty.
optional trip to xiangfang grand world of lanterns in the evening. hmm, guess the organizers weren't too enthused abt it either.

the land of ice and snow lends itself irresistibly to puns about warm reception and warm hospitality. the first word that comes to my mind though, is hardy. one simply had to be. guess it was the same hardiness that saw through the period of cut-off water supply due to a toxic spill in the songhua river. and the second would be enterprising. what do u do when nature blesses u with a surfeit of ice and snow? u hold a festival.