Category: China

Tranquiltiy and Adventure in Xingping

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If you’ve ever had a 20 RMB note, you’ll have seen the gorgeous karst mountains and the Li river that roams in the South West of China. The location on the note is in a small village called Xingping. On most days, the small village is home to lots of tourists, taking lots of photos with their 20 RMB note and enjoying boat rides down the river, looking in awe at the surroundings. It really is a spectacular sight. However, my favourite part of Xingping wasn’t the place where we match up our note with the river and mountains. There are parts …

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Kowloon, Hong Kong: Busy, Bustling, and Burning my Money

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Stepping off the plane to 18 degrees after leaving Hangzhou and its bitter winter chill was blissful. My flight was delayed so it was getting late but I managed to swiftly get through boarder control, pick up my bag, and get on the City bus before midnight.  As the bus rocked up at my stop near Mong Kok station, I was amazed looking outside. It didn’t look like 12:30am. It seemed more like the middle of the afternoon: restaurants full, people chatting, and people walking down the street. I met Mitch, who had arrived earlier, and it was then that …

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How to survive a cold spell in Hangzhou

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This weekend Hangzhou reached some of the coldest temperatures the city has seen in many years. My school got closed due to the weather, and Mitch had buggered off to Cambodia as he’s already broken up, which meant I was left alone in our very cold flat (no central heating or double glazing) . However, despite sub zero temperatures and water cut outs – I’m still here, alive and well. Here’s how I survived. If you find yourself in a cold city, these tips may work for you too.  Buy yourself some proper pyjamas. If you’ve ever been to some non …

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A Happy New Year in Huangshan

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We wanted to hit the ground running with travelling in 2016, so on 1st January Mitch and I headed west of Hangzhou to the town of Tunxi. Nestled in the south of Anhui Province, it’s a great base to explore the surrounding area. Our plan was to visit Mount Huangshan (the Yellow Mountain) on the Saturday, but if the weather wasn’t right there are plenty of other places within easy access of Tunxi to explore. Thankfully, the weather was wonderful! We arrived on Friday evening and found our hostel, located in a very swish, more modern area of town with coffee …

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Our Chinese Christmas

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My previous post was a universal Christmas Card to you all. Now I shall tell you how we spent our Chinese Christmas. On Christmas Eve the Chinese English teachers at my school invited me out for coffee and cake in the afternoon which was really kind. Talking to them all outside of school was really relaxing and I felt like I got to know them a bit more. They treated me to a smoothie and very nice Belgium waffle. The head of English even bought me a Christmas present: reindeer gloves!

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Shanghai Shenanigans

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Hangzhou is ideally located an hour away by train from Shanghai. We left from the snazzy East Hangzhou train station. It felt more like an airport as it was very modern, full of restaurants, and even had proper boarding gates with ticket checks and security. For a mere £7 we left Hangzhou in our comfortable economy seats and arrived an hour later in Shanghai. I still can’t quite comprehend the size of the city: 23 million. That’s nearly 4 times the amount of people in Hangzhou and London. Needless to say, only being there 2 days meant we saw a …

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