Leaving Hangzhou, next stop: Beijing

I had a busy 2-3 months prior to leaving Hangzhou for good. In between work, my weekly schedule of yoga, running and drinking, my parents visited China and i spent some time with them. Then there was a decadent Shanghai weekend trip squeezed in, visits to Beijing, the HZ mountain race, HZ marathon, a raucous Halloween party and countless other reasons i was in the bar - birthdays, farewells and such.

It goes without saying that by now i have developed a strong attachment to the city, not least because of my friends here that have made me feel at home in Hangzhou. But at the same time, towards the last 6 months, i had a growing restlessness and a niggly feeling that it was time for me to move on. Perhaps my only regret is I could have achieved more work-wise. It was hard to prise myself away from my friends and my life in Hangzhou. To relocate to a new city, find a new job, new friends, and have a new life would mean scrapping the rythym and stability i had acquired and starting from zero all over again.

But hey, this is what life is all about - There's much more to be done and experienced elsewhere!Change is the only constant, as the cliche goes. Keep on dancing!

"The wheels of the bus go round and round.. "

So goes the tune of the children's song...

My favourite bus in Hangzhou is the tourist bus Y4. Here's why - for a start, it goes past 2 of my favourite bars - Seven and Maya. Then it goes down leafy, tree-lined Shuguang lu and swings west into the countryside - passing through the Hangzhou botanical gardens, rows of picturesque teahouses, the "new" west lake, and some new-ancient Buddhist temples. Then it chugs into the Meiling tunnel and emerges on to the winding road leading to Meijiawu and Yunxi bamboo forest, where both have excellent trails leading up to the hills. Best of all, it costs next to nothing, and its a joy when you get the window seat and get to snap photos of the scenes passing by.

Evidence presented below :-)

Huang-ni-ling （黄泥岭）

Meijiawu valley

Cute - its a toy-boat by the way.

Mao Jia Bu (茅家埠）

Opposite Yunxi bamboo trail (云栖竹径）

2008/08/08 18:08:00 hrs

Countdown: Only 120 minutes more to go to the opening ceremony

Probably fair to say 1 billion people in China will be glued to their telly tonight at 8.08pm.

Beijingers got a day off work today (presumably to clear up the smog and clear the streets of errant motorists), and over here in Hangzhou, some offices closed half day, and we got off work an hour earlier in my company just so we can go home early and view The Event of the year.
Popped into C-store (Hangzhou's answer to seven-eleven) earlier and everyone is busy buying up snacks and drinks - potato chips, guazi, bacardi breezers, beer, etc.

The hype had been steadily building up over the past few months on every available media and its been hard to ignore or escape from it.

Everyone here, i mean EVERYONE is waiting in anticipation and today O-fever hits new heights. Shops, and supermarkets are going to shut early, even taxi-drivers are planning to abandon the streets in favour of watching China's glorious moment. Several cars are already sporting "Go China" flags and decals.

The opening ceremony, as i am cynically thinking, is going to be one big giant parade with thousands of people waving synchronised placards and flags. Oh and fireworks - loads of it. But having said that, I do like watching sports events, especially the Olympics and the mood here is infectious.

So, excuse me while i get ready to go to my friend's pad for the Olympics party (yes, i've already bagged my potato chips) *fingers crossed i get a cab!*

1.5years in Hangzhou

Arrived fresh off the boat 1.5years ago in Hangzhou and started work.
Looked back at my Feb 5, 2007 post and laughed my head off.
http://travelpede.blogspot.com/2007/02/hangzhou-survival-101.html

All that excitement, panic and anxiety i experienced relocating to a new place, my communicado problems, that terrible weather, navigating around the city, colleagues, protocols, landlords, agents, etc seemed so long ago.

So i've came some way in improving my Chinese. Actually, i don't know if its an improvement or an actual deterioration of my language skills when these days, i sometimes blank out and can't remember an English word, but can find a word in Chinese to perfectly describe something (!!)

I know now more about working in China - not the expert but suffice to say the more i know, the more i realise i don't know. when i say Chinese protocol and working culture = Lake Baikal, its an understatement.

Time to take stock - what i have accomplished thus far, what i need to do next.

Time to move on - do something else, be something else, try something different.

Time to leave Hangzhou, and move on to other pastures.

"Webpage not found" ..or dare i say it...

So.. i'm messing around the settings in blogspot and pressed "view blog" just for kicks - even though i knew it would bounce back with a "webpage not found" type error.... and
OMG - it actually opened! Magic!!
For 1.5years now (which is, how long i've been here btw), i've been able to post via blogger.com but not actually open my blog on blogspot.com, nor keep up with any of my friends' blogs. Happiness!

I wonder how long this is gonna last though... as with the Great Firewall of China, you never really know when they'll randomly decide to pull the plug again. Is this some sort of Olympics amnesty? Youtube, Wiki, and BBC news have all been un-banned this year in China - now is this progress or what?

Rainbow-scape

It's not everyday you see a rainbow, and it's the equivalent of striking lottery when you see one in China.

What's at the end of the rainbow? Who knows, eh?

Sprung

Spring in Hangzhou came and went in a flash - i woke up and realised its been 3 months since i've blogged - well i've been keeping busy (and facebook is evil).

In the short few months of spring, i saw an explosion of colour in the city. For a start, the trees were a brilliant shade of emerald, then there were cream and pink magnolias in February, then delicate plum blossoms and yellow cole in March before the tulips and a few sleeping lotuses in April. The cool breezes, bright sunshine and fresh colours instantly lighten everyone's moods and most people around me were more amiable and sociable ( i think its called spring fever!)

Well aware that it was probably my last spring in Hangzhou, i made a conscious effort to spend more time outdoors exploring the city with my friends - walks and picnics by the lake, lazy boat trips and lots of hikes around the hills.

April was also tea-picking month, and since Hangzhou is Longjing tea capital, that makes alot of locals excited - its the time of the year where you can enjoy freshly picked, primero grade of Longjing aka (Pre-Qingming tea) - i'm not a tea connoisseur but hey, when in China, do as the Chinese do - so i trooped off to the tea village to sample the brew too.

Before i knew it, the sun started to warm up just that little more that i had to wear sunglasses and shed the jumper, Chinese girls started toting umbrellas to prevent their fair skin from tanning (heaven forbid!), and the buses started to smell just a little bit more ... athletic.

Oh well, spring has sprung.

Hangzhou in snow

January was a lark, with record-breakingly bad weather not just in Hangzhou and other parts of China as well. The days got progressively more chilly, cold rain turned into slushy ice beating down on my flimsy umbrella and soon that turned into snow. and that meant only one thing - snowball fights! ;-)

It didn't matter how many layers of clothes i wore - it didn't make me feel any warmer. It was equally cold inside the house AND outside even with my heater on at full blast. I guess a major reason is because the apartment i live in is a little old, and most houses in the south don't have internal heating or double-glazed windows.

The snow didn't stop Mao from his long march.. nor us from our weekly run ...

My "First Year in Hangzhou" anniversay was spent fretting all day because it was the day before i was supposed to leave Hangzhou but snow was falling fast and thick outside - very ominous.

There was a record snowfall of 32cm in Hangzhou city the next day- the biggest in a hundred years and threw the Hangzhou airport, trains and highways into complete chaos. The planes were grounded, the highways were iced-over and too dangerous to drive on. Needless to say that got me into a major panic but there was nothing i could do but wait.

For lack of better things to do while waiting to get out of Hangzhou, i trudged out to make a snowman. I had to pry myself away from my laptop - to stop myself from refreshing the weather and airport information webpages every 10 seconds! Family back home were getting antsy too - Mum suggested that i called the Singapore consulate - would they be able to charter a plane to take all the stranded singaporeans home for the lunar new year? [The answer from the embassy was a polite "um, no, because this is not a humanitarian crisis and therefore no evacuation required - which of course made sense]

[It is a long story but i will summarise it as] After much difficulty, i made it back to Singapore via Shanghai Pudong airport on 4th Feb - 2 days later than scheduled. At the immaculate and highly-efficient Changi airport, i cleared myself through immigration via the automated booth within 20seconds - no human immigration officer required.

I could not have been more glad to arrive home.

New Year's day hike

Eva, Karolina and I kicked off the first day of 2008 with a walk along the hills. No hangover as i was sensible enough to leave Caris' new year eve party before it was too late (specifically, tequila shots were introduced later on and i escaped!) The weather was perfect for a nice little hike - crisp cold air but sunny!

New Year offerings at the temple on top of Wu-yun mountain.

Meijiawu's unfortunate ducks ...

Because just like school bags and bedlinen, ducks need to be sunned.

Fowl and fishy...

overdue ..

Ok, so i'm aware that its already a month and half into 2008, but i didn't manage to post some december events of 2007.

In between business trips, i went on a weekend hiking trip with Eva, and we had a great time at the Tianmushan national park strolling amidsts the tall cypress trees and bamboo forests. It was so peaceful and tranquil out there we didn't want to leave at all. We both agreed this is the perfect place to run away to if you'd like some quiet time to contemplate your naval or just sort out your thoughts. The owners of the guesthouse where we stayed at were incredibly friendly and hospitable and it felt more like a cosy homestay experience. Our meals were taken together with the family, we played with the feisty 10 year old kid and even attempted to help her with her schoolwork (with limited success). We warmed our hands and roasted sweet tapioca over a charcoal pit[indoors!] while watching TV together and discussing the culture differences between Singapore, Slovakia and China. This is just the sort of travel experience i can't get enough of ...

Cypress trees that stretched way up into the sky ...

i tried climbing but i didn't get very far...


Junwen also visited me in December and it was nice for me to show him my hangzhou - my usual haunts, my favourite Xinjiang noodle shop in my 'hood, and for him to meet my friends.

Here, Junwen attempts to hold up the Baochu Pagoda on Baoshi hill, until he got thirsty...

Here's looking back at 2007

Here's looking back at 2007 ..

If 2006 was the year of change, where I had quit my job and travelled around Asia and Europe for about 8 months, then I suppose 2007 could be summarized as a year of “adapting to change”.

I began the year in Singapore, and a month later, started a new life in Hangzhou. The fact that everything was in Chinese language, and living in a new country was exciting and scary at the same time. I cannot begin to describe the drastic changes involved working for a true-blue Chinese IT company IN China. I wasn't sure how long i'd last. The frustration I've experienced at work because of the culture shock, my language (dis)ability and also because I was taking on a new role radically different from what I used to do was getting to me and I was close to giving up after just 3 months.

I had to navigate my way around archaic regulations (both written and unwritten), protocol and management practices of the company. Reading and writing Chinese took me hours and I had the dictionary permanently open. It also didn't help that IT people are not generally blessed with natural communication skills either (sorry, but its true!), especially when communicating with an IT-idiot like me.

With all that, I learnt to persevere, and take everything with a good dose of patience and humour and most importantly “Choose your battles!”. (Whining to Ying-tze over MSN helped a lot. In fact, it was extremely therapeutic since she had lived and work in Dalian before and knew EXACTLY what I was talking about!) When in China, do as the Chinese do…

My colleagues are extremely nice and I'm immensely grateful to them for helping me out so much. They patiently explained alien concepts such as “hukou” and “fapiao” and rescued me from my language disasters. Outside of work, we didn't have too many common interests. They liked shopping and Korean dramas. I liked going outdoors. I went exploring Hangzhou a lot on my own just to recharge after a frustrating week at work. One Sunday afternoon, I decided to join the Hangzhou Hash Hounds on a run just to see if I would like it. Afterall, their slogan was “Run like hell, drink like fish!” –how bad could that be?

The Hashers were made up of a bunch of fun-loving foreigners and locals who loved hiking, running, and travelling. Every week explored a different part of the Hangzhou hills. It was exactly what I needed to recharge. Running, hiking, and having some good conversations over some food and drinks! We regularly swap stories and laugh over the western vs chinese cultural misunderstandings and language mishaps that we face on a daily occurrence, help each other to get over culture shocks of working and living in a foreign country.

My Chinese improved ever so slowly and work picked up gradually. I can't say I now understand the Chinese psyche completely but at least I have made some inroads. It still is challenging but at least i can cope!

I travelled a lot for work in the later part of the year within China, and even managed to score a trip to Singapore and Hong Kong. The HK trip was a much needed trip outside of Mainland china as I was getting antsy with the travel bug. With my visitors, I climbed Yellow mountain with Yingtze, and went to Beijing with Junwen. They both loved Xinjiang lamian. I hosted a few couchsurfers and showed them my Hangzhou. Not surprisingly, time went really quickly with so much work and activities on the weekends.

2007 has also been an active year where I’ve accomplished a few personal milestones such as taking part in a mountain race as well as my very first half-marathon. I’m pleased that I’ve managed to spend time outdoors in the blazing heat of summer and the cold of winter!

I enjoy the seasonal changes that I would otherwise not get to experience in Singapore and also a couple of hurricanes! Both came with generous lashings of strong wind and rain, and the second – Hurricane Krosa flooded my neighbourhood so much I couldn’t get to work. – not exactly a disaster ;-)

I've managed lose my wallet AGAIN – it is indeed a regular occurrence or curse as some might say. Grrrr...I was so close to keeping my driving license or credit cards for more than 12 months.
After 11 months in here, I feel some sort of attachment to the city already. My colleagues and friends have certainly helped me out and contributed to my sense of belonging. I now feel like I have Hangzhou in my hand – I can find my way around the city easily, take public transport almost anywhere, know the best places to hang out, the cheapest places to shop and bargain like everybody does, figure out i've where a Chinese was from by their accent and picked up some Hangzhou dialect. I learnt to shrug most things that I'm disagreeable with as “This is China, take it as it is” and just take it as part of my experience here.

Ooh, I even ended up on the front pages of 3 newspapers (not in a bad way!) on Boxing day, haha. http://zjrb.zjol.com.cn/html/2007-12/26/content_1911950.htm

2007 has been a good year for me and 2008 might just be as exciting, if not more.

Happy New Year everybody!

HZ Marathon

11 November, 2007, Sunday

Armistice-day
Bachelor’s day
Hangzhou marathon day

11 Nov is a day to remember of some sorts for me, not least because it was Armistice day, and also Bachelor’s day in China – it was also the day of the Hangzhou International Marathon, where I had signed up to do a half-marathon.
3 months before, a half-M hadn't even crossed my mind – some of the serious drinkers in the Hash hounds also happened to be serious runners and they did mention the upcoming marathon but I was nonchalant. Putting one foot in front of the other continuously for 21,000m. hmm. thanks, but no thanks.

Prior to this, I’d never ran anything more than 10k (Standard Chartered marathon 10k race in 2004). Why would anyone want to torture themselves running continuously for 2 and half hours (ok, less if you run faster)?

BUT… somehow, along the way, over the course of drinks in the bar, and hash club meetings, I was persuaded by my friends that I was more than ready for it. They said things like “of course you can do a 21k run – no problem!” and “You can DEFINITELY do a half-marathon, you’re already so fit! And it’ll be fun if we all did it together!. It was this potent combination of flattery, peer pressure and the infectious mood did it and I signed up. “Surely you’d like to test your limits and see how far you can push yourself!” That’s it. They got me. That was a challenge and I was itching to do it. And there was an instant support group to help me get going. I even received a customized training Excel spreadsheet!

My goal was to complete a half-marathon and make it out alive. Very simple. Thus, I embarked on setting a “Half-Marathon Training Plan”. From 10k to 21k – how to get there. I meticulously drew up a training plan which included running 3 times a week, and yoga and hash runs as cross-training twice a week. I’m proud to say I have never managed to complete a single 5x a week training – it was a case of over-zealousness and ambition in my planning! I did join the Tuesday “Even-If-It-Rains” running club and did circuits around the lake faithfully every Tuesday evenings as and when I could make it. On Saturdays, I went running alone, increasing the distance gradually. During the whole month of October, the entire lakeside was awashed with the scent of the sweet-smelling osmanthus flowers in full bloom. It made me forget I was actually running when I inhaled the cool, crisp sweet-smelling fresh air. On Sunday, it was trail running with the hash. The weather got progressively cooler and my shoes progressively worn out over the weeks. I was beginning to get used to the permanent soreness in my quads.

2 weeks prior to the marathon day, I managed to do 16k – my last training run and it was the furthest I had ran, Ever. I felt great mostly after these runs, tired but on a runner’s high. It made me so much more energetic over those few weeks to the point I felt cranky and antsy if I missed a workout. Could this actually be happening to me?! I don’t’ even like running to begin with!

The day before the marathon, I was already pumped up with adrenaline. 6 of us had got together to do the Vasque 28k mountain race as a relay team – each of us running about 6k each. It was a great release after a rough week at work. I never felt better as I ran through the hills, it was tough but I enjoyed it tremendously. We went for a kebab afterward and shared the funny stories. I didn’t sleep much that night as I was so excited about the Sunday race. I kept waking up and thinking its time to go (when it was just 2am, and then 4am) and I was just so revved up.

Race day was beautifully sunny, clear skies as about 10,000 people gathered at the Yellow Dragon sports stadium. There was the 42k, 21k, 13.8k, 6.8k and 1.2k kiddies dash. Most of my friends were on the 21k route and we gathered excitedly at the start-point.

The race-route (touted as “the most beautiful marathon route in the world”) takes you anti-clockwise around the eastern and southern part of the lake, down HuPao road, to the 6-harmonies pagoda before looping back to the western side of the lake (Yang causeway) back to Yellow Dragon stadium.

I got off to a slow-start, feeling sluggish and stiff from the mountain race the day before. It felt like eternity before I got to the 5k mark.. It was crowded as there were several participants on the 13.8k route – mostly as part of an inter-school competition. There were cheering spectators, many of them shouting encouraging “jia you!” and waving flags to add to the atmosphere. It was a mostly jovial mood as the students ran, joking and laughing. At Nanshan road, the course split – the full and half marathoners went down Tiger Springs road and that was when the runners thinned out and things started getting a little more serious. I was tired by then. I usually hit the 10k in an hour during training but this time, I took an extra 10mins. Along the way, there was plenty of encouragement from other runners. I got some encouraging pats on the shoulder and friendly shouts of “pengyou, jia you!”, cheeky “meinu, jiayou!” from some college boys when I slowed down to walk, and all these really helped to push me along. So did the cheers and smiles from on-lookers. As much as I could, I also did the same to my fellow runners who were running on a similar pace as me. We chatted briefly and ran together, giving each other words of encouragement. At one point, I did get a little emotional as I wondered if I would make it to the 21k mark, I almost burst into tears!

Finally, after what seemed like eternity, I got to the 12k mark - 6-harmony pagoda. I had taken more time than I had anticipated but I didn’t think I could make up the speed in the 2nd half either.

My energy was waning at and I started getting hungry at the 15k mark – man, I could use a sandwich! I told myself to hurry along so I could get to breakfast. Gulped down some Gatorade for some sugar, and plodded on. Yang Causeway was extremely familiar territory – this is the road I’ve gone down several times during my weekly runs. I’m almost at the end I started slowing down more often to walk, just to catch my breath.

At one point, I was walking along almost bending over when a little kid on the kerb asked her mother loudly “Mummy, why is this auntie not running anymore?” oookay… feeling slightly embarrassed, I decided to pick up pace. So much for pressure! The spectators did a great job, each time I saw them, I felt obliged to run, and told myself to walk only when they weren’t looking. However, given there were enough spectators, that kept me going for abit. There were plenty of police on duty – and while they were mostly silent, they did have the kindly look of encouragement (or was it pity) as the tired runners filed past.

Another female on-looker I passed asked me point-blank as I trudged past “Waaaah, you are already so thin, why are you still running a marathon?”

A fellow runner who was beside me snorted “Duh! There is no correlation between slimness and fitness!!”. I would have responded exactly the same way except I was way too breathless to start a debate! We had a chuckle and commiserated over our pain doing our first half-marathon. I declined his kind offer of some chocolate for extra energy.

Meanwhile, another old grandfather zipped past me cheerily. He looked about 65 and hardly broke into a sweat. Obviously there is no correlation between age and fitness either!

Countdown … 4k more, 3k more, 2k…soon I was on Shuguang road, and Huanglong stadium loomed ahead. Psychologically, I was on a high – I ran past Maya bar – which was our starting point for our weekly runs but physically I was hurting. #2683 and myself whom I had been running on and off with started picking up speed – there was tacit agreement between us to keep going and we ran together into the stadium. The policemen standing outside the gates yelled out “只剩 600米 , 坚持！！”. Hang on, only 600m!

I knew my friends were there waiting for me and I saw a couple of them cheering for me, jumping up and down excitedly when they saw me coming in. I forgot my pain for about 30 secs as I sprinted towards them. My face broke into the biggest smile as I crossed the finishing line – I made it!

Vital statistics:
Time clocked: 2hrs 38mins
Placing: no idea, except i was the last amongst my friends!
Number of km intended in my training plan: 150
Actual number of km ran as part of my plan (excluding Sunday hash runs) : 80
Favourite part of my training: carbo-loading

p.s. i wish i could say with conviction "Wow, that was great, i can really aim for a full marathon now! but nah. There is that initial euphoria, and i'll definitely keep running to stay fit, but i think trail running is more my cup of tea than road-running. There is the Hangzhou mountain series in March 2008. Anyone interested?

The last days of summer ..

Sorry i haven't been posted in awhile!. So anyway here's some random bits of updates. I've been busy moving into a new apartment during the last week of august. This one isn't quite as nice as the one i was in previously. Its in a local neighbourhood thats er, rather full of character. In any case, its cheaper, much more convenient for work, right next-door to the yoga studio i go to, and its within staggering distance of the local bar! what can i say, its a hands-down winner.

In between moving house and spending many hours scrubbing it clean (i'm a true-blue hygenic Singaporean afterall), i found time to go to work during the weekdays, and also go for yoga/ running/hiking over the weekends, and show some people around from couchsurfing. I've plugged this before and i'll do it again anyway - its such a cool idea.

http://www.couchsurfing.com/

At this very moment, i'm holed up at home unusually early because there's been a warning for typhoon Wipha. It is very gusty and rainy outside. Authorities have told everyone to be on high-alert and prepare for it - remove flowerpots from the windowsill, prepare candles, water and food in case there's a power cut (egad!) I've never been in the thick of a typhoon before, and now i get to experience what "may be the most destructive typhoon in a decade, with wind gusts of up to 290 kilometers per hour (180 mph),". Exciting. We'll see what kind of damage will be done overnight.

According to Reuters:

"East China [that includes Hangzhou for you geographically challenged people], including the commercial hub of Shanghai, is preparing for what may be the most destructive typhoon in a decade," the agency said. "

hmm, what else...

2 of my friends have announced their pregnancies and sent me pictures of their bumps - gongxi gongxi! i'll see them and their babies when i'm back in Singapore next year.

Er, i've also done something crazy - just signed up for a 21k run at the Hangzhou International Marathon so..i'm now training up for this - its in 53 days. Today's preparation was carbo-loading since i was stuck indoors) Wish me luck because i'm gonna need it!!

http://www.hangzhou-marathon.com/

Summer is almost over. The weather has been cooling down considerably and its fantastic for outdoor activities. Also, its Osmanthus season (Guihua 桂花）and the streets of Hangzhou are wafting with the sweet scent of this tiny white/ pale yellowish flower.

Its a great time to be in Hangzhou.

I'm looking forward to Yingtze's arrival this saturday night. We're going to Huangshan to hike for a couple of days - Yippeeeee! it'll be a chance to do what we love doing - travel together (as we did in Vietnam and China last year) and check out some mountains!

http://www.huangshanguide.com/english.htm

6 months and abit...

It is officially autumn in the chinese calendar (or so my chinese friends tell me). However it is still 35-39 degrees outside. Anyhow, I've been doing lots of hiking over the weekends, trying new routes and trails each time. its been a ball but i can't wait for the "real autumn", when the weather cools down and i can go for longer hikes without getting a heatstroke. Out in the hills, it is peaceful and tranquil. Fresh air, great scenery and best of all, no masses of people crowded around me.





All the Longjing tea you can drink... tea fields in the Hangzhou hills grow the entire nation's supply of longjing tea leaves....

By the way, its been 6 months since i've moved here. where did all the time go...?

Lotus bloatus

Took this a couple of weeks ago with my little trusty compact, and sent it to mum (lotus flowers rank among her top favourite flora) and she then said something along the lines of "wow,you can take such a nice picture... surprisingly.. did you take lessons?"... Gee, thanks mum. I still can't work out whether its a compliment or not... but thats parents for you.

So the story about this is that apparently this year, the lotus flowers don't seem to be blooming as much as they should in the lovely city of Hangzhou, prompting panic amongst the authorities. The solution? Planted more lotus in the pond, oops i mean the West Lake. Because we can't have non-flowering lotus plants sullying the view for tourists in the top travel destination of China, can we? ;-)

The pond, one week later - somewhat more buds.

Sea of lotuses. There must be a million lotus plants in the lake, but maybe only 200 flowers.

FAQ

I've been having this intermittent problem of not being able to see my own blog and this is one of those moments again. So, in response to the question from Duanneng, the answer is "probably yes" and to landd, i am determined to save 50yuan a day for 1.5years to fund future travels, heh heh.

And lately, i have been fielding questions from all manner of curious friends, ex-workmates, and kaypohs so to save myself from having to repeat my answers all the time, i will publish them here.

• Q: So..how long have you been here?

• A: The last i counted, 5 months 2 days and 4 hours...

• Q: How's work going?
• A: Its going.. Has its ups and downs, learnt tons of stuff you can get on text books. Expanding my repertoire which is great. Getting to know Chinese working culture (which can be uh, challenging at times). Cafeteria lunch tastes the pits though.

• Q: Do you like living in Hangzhou?
• A: Yep, pretty much so. Its freezing cold in winter with no indoor heating, and blazing hot in summer (already 37 degrees today and its only beginning of summer). Plus the reckless driving here makes me fear for my life each time i'm in any sort of vehicle, or just trying to cross the road. But apart from that, its very green, lots of hills just within the city itself where i can escape to for fresh air, peace and quiet. There are different flowers in bloom throughout the year instead of just boring bouganvilleas and orchids in Singapore. In feb, there were magnolias. March -plum blossoms. April - Tulips. May/ June - i don't know what they are called.
• Taxi drivers here don't try to rip you off and taxi queen here has taken a taxi way too frequently. Buses are easy to navigate. Its generally a wealthy, developed and clean city for China, with a good standard of living for locals, has lots of affordable Chinese and Western restaurants, cafes and bars. It's not as big and polluted as Shanghai and if i really need to go there, its only 80mins away by bullet train.
• Carrefour saves lives with pasta sauce, pasta, and good cheese.

• Q: How much is beer here? (Yes that was a real question that someone asked)
• A: Tsingtao is only 10rmb (SGD$2) during Happy hour. Tiger beer 20 RMB for half-pint. And in fancy restaurants, its double the price. I've found restaurants selling Siwo (Xihu) beer for only 5RMB with the yummiest beef satays to go along. And another place with G&Ts so strong i've keeled over after just 2.5 of them. and they are only 30rmb. Huangjiu (yellow wine) is the local favourite and a specialty from this region. If you dare, go for Baijiu, the local potent drink that's only 7.5 RMB a bottle. Its so strong you can get high just from the fumes alone.

• Q: Do you foresee yourself staying here for long?
• A: Too early to say but the cheap beer might be swing a vote. Just kidding. i honestly have no idea.

• Q: Has your Chinese improved?
• A: Yes, from being an idiot in January, i have graduated to writing presentations, marketing articles, and business documents and arguing in Mandarin. But i still delete lengthy emails from the admin department in my company because it still gives me a headache to read long rubbish, useless paragraphs of chinese text. Nonetheless, i feel a sense of accomplishment.

• Q: What do you normally after work? Do you have a life? Any friends?

• A: Yes i'd like to think i do. i signed for yoga a few months ago so i do that 2-3 times a week. Now i can finally touch my toes. I'm working on a hand-stand next. I go out for dinner with my colleagues couple days a week. Sometimes we go for retail-therapy together. They managed to drag me to a karaoke once. Polite refusals and excuses to sing ("but i don't know any chinese songs!") were futile because they found me a Boyzone song. But they've been immensely helpful and patient with my stupid-foreigner questions ranging from "Where do i pay the electricity bill?", "How does xyz work?" to "Do you really eat duck's tongue?". (Answer to the last question is yes). On weekends i sometimes go out to explore bits of Hangzhou. Recently i've joined the hash hounds here in Hangzhou so every sunday we are out running in the hills, and i get to have a decent chat in English. We share our tales of woe. We share information about where to have really good sandwiches or buy pasta sauce. Intake of alcohol units have increased significantly again (as evident from my beer research). When i don't feel like sharing space with my fellow 6 million comrades in the city, i stay home to read, listen to music, do housework.

• Q: Are you dating?

• A: Yeah but i prefer to keep it low profile for now so i'm not entertaining any further questions about it.

• Q: Really??! Who?! What?! Since when?! Where?! How?! How many?!

• A: see answer from above.

• Q: what do you miss in Singapore?

• A: Friends. Family. Food. Cleanliness. Zouk/ Velvet. Swimming. Kinokuniya. Safe roads

"Pero el viajero que huye tarde o temprano detiene su andar."

Who wants a monkfish cooked in crazy water?

so tantalising...

More Westlake

Yunxi and Meijiawu (云栖/ 梅家坞）

Took a hike out to the Yunxi Bamboo Trail (云栖竹径) situated in the west of Hangzhou yesterday.

I highly recommend the bamboo trail as therapy for stressed out city folks in need of some an escape out to nature! There is a feeling of peace and calm as you stroll amidst the willowy bamboo trees. All is quiet around you except for the chirping of birds and your own footsteps.

From Yunxi, i hiked north to get to Meijiawu, a Longjing tea-producing village nestled in the hills.

Longjing tea shrubs grown on the hills around Hangzhou

Our hike ended in Meijiawu, named after the "Mei"(梅）family that has produced tea in this village for generations. We took a rest in one of the several teahouses and had some tea and lunch as we watched life go by in the village.

Freshly picked leaves are first dried in the sun for a couple of hours before stove-drying. It looks to be a rather labour-intensive process since it has to be dried in small batches to ensure it is evenly roasted. This old granny is using her bare hands in a stove that is usually above 200 deg celcius. There is a secondary roasting process in another stove before it is packed into tins but i didn't get to see this.

In truth, i enjoyed my refreshingly cold Snow Mountain beer a lot more than the tea because it was simply such a hot and sticky day!

Spring in Hangzhou 2 - Banshan Peach Blossom Festival

I took a day trip out out of Hangzhou to a nearby village called Banshan in Fuyang county (半山, 富阳县）for its annual Peach Blossom Festival. I passed by hills covered with peach blossom trees and fields of bright yellow cole flowers on the way. At Banshan, families picnic'd amidst the peach blossoms. Almost everyone hiked up the hills to pose next to the(you guessed it) peach blossom flowers for photos.

If you have ever wondered where sesame seeds come from, (i have to admit it's never crossed my mind to ask) its from the yellow Cole flowers in the photos.