Along with age, perhaps, I am feeling less enthusiasm in writing here. Been to and fished at few places, local and abroad, since my last penning down here in my blog.
Hanzhou
This trip to Hanzhou took place early of year end last year. Route was Hanzhou-Shanghai-Hanzhou. We took a tourist van from Hanzhou and spent an evening only in Shanghai, with primary intention to try some authentic Shanghai food, and to visit The Bund.
Unfortunately Shanghai was in heavy haze then, with visibility of less than 1km or so. After our hotel check in, five of us walked from our hotel to The Bund in 12 deg. C of dusk and soft breeze of end autumn. The Bund is one of the few tourist spots that I like in Shanghai. Each time I walked at the long walkaway, I tend to visualize in my own imagination how bustling Shanghai was when those buildings were built by Westerners during 19th centuries.
My first visit to Shanghai was in year 2007 and I visited The Bund too. I recalled historical events that those buildings had witnessed in the last hundred years, and the sentiment was simply lamentable.
I did not really like Shanghai, even then. I told my tour guide that day, who was my former colleague and good friend, that Shanghai was too metropolitan to my liking.
A rare photo of my second brother and myself, with The Bund at the back.
We visited 2 cities that were rebuild for the ancient effect of it; Shao Xing (绍兴） and Wu Zhen （乌镇).
We hired a tourist MPV that took 5 of us comfortably and visited Shao Xing on our way from Shanghai back to Hanzhou. The driving took some an hour or so, if I remember correctly.
This detailed engraved art piece at pillar of a traditional vinegar factory captured my attention.
Visited the renown restaurant Xian Heng (咸亨) at Shao Xing and tried the local delicacies there. Food was good and we had a good time there. Weather was rather cold and we took some Chinese wine to warm our selves up. A good experience it was.
Xian Heng was built in year 1884 and closed down couple of years after. In year 1981, the authority rebuild it and launched it as a major tourism attraction in Shao Xing, along with other tourism introduction Shao Xing as the home town of the great Chinese writer, Lu Xun (鲁迅).
Took a group photo just outside of Xian Heng Restaurant after our lunch. The total bill came up to approximately RM 160.+, and I would not say the food is cheap, but we had some nice meals that was really new to us and topped with tourist mood, we were happy.
While in Hanzhou, we visited Westlake (西湖）， the famous garden built since Chinese Emperors time. I was told that Westlake is ranked top ten tourism attractions in whole China. A huge fresh water lake with islands, plants and flowers on nice landscape. I was rather interested if there is some nice exotic specie in here that I would return for some interesting fishing here, but only small idunnowat white fish was sighted.
Leaves turned yellow and mostly were dropped as it was end autumn. I thought Westlake should be greener and therefore nicer during spring.
Took this picture at Westlake entrance point, from where we stayed. Haze was in Westlake when we were there, especially in the morning. To bad that we could not see the wide beautiful lake.
A group photo in Wu Zhen. Temperature of around 10 deg C was obviously too cold for tourist from tropical area like we. The entire Wu Zhen was a tourist attraction spot with buildings rebuild with ancient Chinese architectural and design. I thought the tourist authority should put some food stalls there and serve old Chinese cuisine too.
A traditional vinegar making yard in Shao Xing. Love this photo for the tradition urn, the roof and doors, though deep down in my heart I know they are products of modern world today.
We reached the entrance point of Xihu Lei Feng Ta, or Lei Feng Pagoda, and thought that the staircase required to step up to the top was too many. Instead, we looked around for some nice spot for a group photo and choose this nice view with about-to-dry maple leaves as background.
Had a much expected lunch at Wu Zhen. The experience of sipping warm soup in that cold afternoon was simply extraordinary!
