China Travels: Trip to Shaoxing

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Monday, June 22nd 2015:

That day was a holiday, so we all had a day off from work. We actually wanted to go rafting, but then we ended up going to the gym to play some badminton, table tennis, and tennis. It was quite a hot and humid day so it was good that we could play inside. At the end of the day, we all went home to take showe and then went out to have dinner together. We went to a Korean Barbeque restaurant. We ordered two pans, one with shrimps andthe other one with beef. I didn't like the one with beef so much, because it was a bit greasy, but the shrimps were heavenly!



After dinner we talked about our Shaoxing trip again. We actually wanted to watch a movie but I was too tired that I just wanted to go to sleep.

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015:

That day, Josie, Hailey, Geet and me woke up early in the morning to go to Shaoxing. That's a city quite close to Yuyao, only 10 minutes with the fast train and 40 minutes with the slow train. We took the slow train because the station for that is closer to the city centre in Shaoxing and it is cheaper. The train got quite full, though, but we luckily had seats.
When we arrived in Shaoxing, we also bought our tickets back. Hailey and Josie would return that same day, but Geet and me wanted to stay there for one night.
So after that, we first planned to go see the Pagoda. The weather was extremely hot and humid that day. I think it was even the hottest weather we have had since I have arrived. And stupid me was wearing dark jeans. I nearly died from the heat.

The way up to the Pagoda

Anyway, when we finally walked up the pagoda, we stayed up there for about half an hour because we were exhausted and sweating really badly, and the air up on the Pagoda was cool and fresh.

The Pagoda

The view from the Pagoda. IT was quite foggy/smoggy, but unbearably hot humid.

I loved these umbrella trees

However, we got hungry soon. Geet and Josie were craving a subway sandwich, so we decided to look for one and go there to eat it. There was supposed to be one in a mall, so we took a taxi there.
After the meal, we wanted to go to the Shen Yuan garden. When we arrived there, Hailey didn't feel well after the lunch we had, so she waited for us outside. Josie, Geet and me went inside and it was really beautiful, despite the rain that started to drip a little bit.
After some minutes, something caught my eye: There were wooden boards hanging down with something written down on them. They were wish boards which could be hung up. Of course, it wasn't free. You had to pay for the boards to write on and hang them up. But it was only 25 rmb, so I got one. I wrote something on it, which took a while, and hung it up. I hope it will still be hanging there for years after that.

That's what I wrote on my board :)

Anyway, after that, Josie and me looked for Geet. She had already gone deeper into the garden while I was hanging up my board. Inside, it was really beautiful, quite simple maybe, yet you could find many fascinating details in the untouched natue which made the area look unique in its own way.











After some beautiful snapshots, we got out of the parc. Hailey was waiting for us and together we walked around. We found the area in which a famous chinese author used to live, the Luxin Native Place.


There were many little shops lined along the streets. We decided to walk  through the tiny streets that unfortunately smelled like stinky tofu, a famous street food offered in Shaoxing. Suddenly, something strange happened: Many moter bikes appeared and tried to get past us. We were confused where to walk and tried to get out of the way. Then, out of nowhere we heard loud dog barkings. Three stray dogs were running towards us. At once, we all started to run away from them. I realized that it wasn't the best solution to run away from dogs, so I screamed to the others to get into the shops. We immediately stormed into the next little shop. You can't imagine the frightened looks on the two women's faces who were surprised by some crazy foreign girls who came running into their shop, screaming loudly. When I think about that moment, I still have to laugh. The women were first angry with us, but when they realized that we were running away from the dogs, she gave us an understanding look.

After that, we needed some cool drinks. We went out of that area and found a little fruit juice shop in town. I got a lemon-cucumber juice. In that heat, I just needed something refreshing with cucumbers in it. As we were sitting in the little shop, something droppedon our table, and now guess what it was: A freaking cockroach landed in front of Geet. We all stood upand didn't know what to do. There was a chinese woman who could speak english a little bit so she killed it. After that we decided to better finish our drinks soon and leave the place, but the fear of the heat was bigger, so we stayed inside bit longer.

Soon, it was time for Josie and Hailey to go to the train station. Geet and me looked for the hotel, and after some help from strange chinese people, we found it. It was actually in the area where the author lived. Our hotel was quite nice, small and cute. Our room's walls had drawings on from the visitors who stayed there before. I decided to do a drawing of Geet and me as well :D

After we took showers, we met Geet's friend Dylan from New York. He picked us up in front of the entrance wall and we first went to his apartment to meet his 2 roommates, a chinese girl called Ashley, and a Ukrainian girl called Anna. They were both quite young, too, and they joined us in our plans to hit the bars. The first bar we went to was quite cozy. There was a billiard table and someone preparing hookahs. We didn't get one, but Anna told me that that the guy doing the hookahs was a turkish guy and was actually working in the turkish seafood restaurant in front of the bar. Ashley knew him from the restaurant and the told me I should talk to him. After finishing my beer and talking with the others for while, I decided to talk with him which turned out to be a good idea. His name was Samet and he seemed to be quite surprised and happy to see someone who could speak turkish as well. His friend came, too. He was learning chinese in a language school, and sometimes working at the restaurant and the bar, too.
Unfortunately, we had to leave soon, because Dylan wanted to show us another bar and Samet also had a lot of work to do in the bar. That bar was a bit louder, and maybe more like a club, but we had fun playing that chinese dice game :D Shaoxing is really not a bad place for bar hopping.


At about 1:30 am we returned to the hostel. We had a bad shock at first when we couldn't open the entrance doors. I was freaking out, trying to bang the doors open violently, then suddenly, someone moved inside, right in front of the doors. A man was sleeping there, and he woke up to open the doors for us. We were so confused, but relieved that we didn't have to sleep on the streets :'D
Anyway, we were really tired and went straight to sleep.

The next morning, I woke up early since I had to get my train back to Yuyao. Geet also got up at the same time because she was meeting Dylan for a sightseeing day.
I arrived home safely that day, but had to work unfortunately. Still, Shaoxing is bigger than I thought and definitely worth a visit if you want to see a classical small chinese city.

Today's rating:

Sightseeing: 3/5
Food: no information
Shopping: no information
Nightlife: 3/5
Transportation: 4/5
 
Thanks for reading and
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