Last Saturday we went to Shanghai South Railway Station to catch a speed train to Hangzhou. Ian had had "fun" buying our train tickets last week and, in hindsight, we had a lucky escape that he was only able to buy a single as our experience on the outward bound train was one we didn't really want to repeat! Although our tickets said we had seats booked, as we boarded a very rusty old train with no seats on and only beds! We soon realised we weren't the only ones to be confusede and it was a bit of a free-for-all. It appears an extra train had been laid on for the holiday period, but they only had what is called 'Hard Sleeper cars'. These are compartments with 3 bunks on either side and no doors closing them off. Luckily we were there early and were able to get a bottom bunk for us all to sit on for the 2 hour journey. Many people had to stand but we were quite comfy (-ish!) and caused quite an attraction (one of the few times when not being able to understand the lingo paid off as we sat there in blissful ignorance as everyone else moaned/argued about the seats and budged up loads whilst we sat there unmolested). In fact, we were somewhat of a tourist attraction for the entire duration of our trip. Parents were bringing their children to see ours as if we were a rare species, only seen in a zoo! We could imagine them going home and telling their friends and family how they had seen a REAL Westerner! We were regularly asked if they and/or their kids could have their photo taken with Sophie and William, but in the end the novelty of being a superstar wore off for the kids and even Sophie said no! We can understand how Robbie feels when he is mobbed now (especially after his latest role in Harry Potter)!

We arrived in Hangzhou at about 11am and were immediately met by huge queues , which was to be another pattern throughout the holiday. We had been told that there would be loads of people as it was Holiday week, but nothing could have prepared us for quite the enormity of the queues! Firstyl, Ian stood for about 15 mins to buy
a ticket home (more on that later!), then we stood in a queue for about 40 mins to get a taxi to take us the 10 min ride to our hotel. We stayed at the Grand Metro Park which was lovely, but we were immediately disappointed as the pool we had seen on the website was closed as it was 1st October, so it was officially cold!!! Never mind the fact that it was 28 degrees and sweltering outside, no on 1st October it is officially winter!!! We made our disappointment known to the Manager but,as we have found out, the Chinese don't do Customer Service, and all he could do was apologise and offer for us to go to the Hyatt (for a swim) for the same price as 2 nights accomodation for us all! Needless to say we didn't take him up on the offer!

We took a wander into town and I have to say I have never seen a sight like it. Imagine this, we are walking along a busy shopping street and suddenly there is a huge lake and mountains in front of you! If it hadn't been for the masses of people, it
The cuties at the lake
could have taken our breath away, but it was definitely beautiful. We took a boat across the lake on to one of the 'Islands for Sightseeing' and we, well, saw some sights, but were mostly swept along with the crowds to another queue for another boat. This one took us to a different 'Island for Sightseeing' which was much better. It was full of typical Chinese bridges and buildings and statues and was even quite peaceful at times! Our superstar status continued and we finally joined a final queue for a final boat back to town. After dinner out, we returned to the hotel where the children loved having a long bath, a novelty now as we don't have one in our apartment (and then were introduced to the highlight of the holiday ... Charlie and the Chocolate Factory .... narrated by baba and acted by mama).

On Thursday, we went back to the lake and strolled along the other side but didn't quite realise the enormity of it. Ian had spied some tomb thing he wanted to visit (what a culture vulture I am) and we were a substantially flagging when we came across a cafe for lunch.
As we walked in we were amazed to spot a couple of teachers from our school. We joined them for lunch and compared crowd stories before they went to retrieve their hired bikes and we continued onto the tomb(there is an entire tale of woe and misfortune missed out here in relation to the food order ... as per usual in China the order didn't go smoothly and no ammount of mime or tears was going to set it right so Ian went without lunch - luckily I planned ahead and have been eating a little bit extra for the last 18 months so as to be able to survive). To be fair to Daddy, it wasn't just a tomb, it was the tomb of General Yu Fei and it was actually a collection of several buildings dedicated to this guy. It was really pretty and impressive, but again with masses of people!We decided this would be a good time to buy some tacky souvenirs for the children, which of course they loved! We then continued to wander for another few hours and eventually fell into a Starbucks (quite by chance) where we all sat very exhausted forthe next hour!
We then went to watch the Music Fountain which was lovely as dusk fell. After dinner at a Teppanyaki restaurant, we all went back for a long sleep!