Waterside: Hangzhou and Wuzhen canal town

Trip Start Jun 19, 2010
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Trip End Sep 14, 2010


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Where I stayed

Flag of China  , Zhejiang,
Wednesday, September 1, 2010

We took an early morning flight from Xi'an to Hangzhou, where the 15 of us (16 including our guide) spent a relaxing day biking along Hangzhou's West Lake. The bikes we rented weren't exactly well-tuned, but we had a fun time riding around the lake, despite the mandatory bell-ringing to get people to move out of the way on the sidewalks, in addition to the fact that someone's chain would fall off every time we had to bike up a hill. After our sweaty ride in the humidity, we stopped for some authentic Chinese Dairy Queen. With a little retail therapy at a local mall later in the evening, the day turned out to be pretty nice.

The next day, our bus stopped at the ancient Wuzhen Canal Town, which was conveniently on our way to Shanghai. The canal town was somewhat reminiscent of Venice, only a little less colorful, and a bit more rundown. Okay, more than a bit... We were taken around the canals in a gondola, while we sweated profusely (and fought off mosquitoes). The "town" had a few museum-like stores/old homes to walk through and check out things like wooden carvings and ancient Chinese beds. The beautiful weather quickly turned to rain, so we were forced to pack up and get out quicker than I think we'd planned. We hit the bus, and departed for Shanghai.
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