After spending 48 comfortable hours in Shanghai, spoiled by Aymeric and Celine, I left to Hangzhou , a town I had been advised to go to. I received there the shock that I had been fearing and that had been delayed by my friends in Shanghai. I arrived at the beginning of the evening, under heavy rain and in dark obscurity. As soon as I left the train station I was literally assaulted by a swarm of hotel advertisers. And as the China guide (a guide made by the Chinese government and conveying a lot of funny ideas...) I had bought didn't give me the single start of a hint of where I ought to sleep, I was quite defenseless. I ended up in an ugly, over-expensive hotel lost in a district near the train station. No one in my entourage could speak English, I didn't speak a work of Chinese and I needed to eat and find an internet cafe (I found only to discover this blog and most of the sites I used to consult were censored in China). A really bad start for this town... and it was only the beginning !
A glimpse of the atmosphere near my hotelIn fact, I discovered in this town the real meaning of the two words "Chinese Tourists" (the 's' is very important). This denomination represents a group of people, at least 30, noisy, inconsiderate of the places and the other people and shameless. And they are so many, that I had the impression of being the only westerner in site. My peak of anger was reached when as I was queuing to buy a ticket, a couple passed me, the man throwing a kind of you-lowlife-glance (this gives a good idea of how I was angry) at me and his girlfriend looking slightly embarrassed.
So, even if some of the wonders of Hangzhou were real, I didn't like this town at all and my only thought as I was leaving it for Guilin was "Laos the sooner, the better". An impression so much funnier, my friend Raphael found in Hangzhou a good point for China...
Hangzhou's lake 
Another view
A hungry dragon
Russian
Window (some of my comments are quite useless, aren't they ?)
4 commentaires:
but Raphaël cannot see any problem in the japanese way of life, so ... ;) Anyway, I trust your point of view! Where are you, now? Michiko is worrying about you in China ... Michiko, are you there? :)
Take care!
Now I am in Phitsanulok in the north of Thailand. I don't know what I will do exactly now as a friend will soon move to Bangkok, my thai visa finishes soon and I want to go south. Anyway, as soon as I have news I will tell you !But please, Michiko, don't worry (for this my mother is more than enough ;))!
I also worry!!! :D hihihi
Ouhh que lis-je ..! ;-)
J'ai toujours dit que j'adorais le Japon et que je n'aimais pas la société japonaise, ce qui ne m'empêche pas d'apprécier beaucoup de Japonais et Japonaises !
Anyway, pour Hangzhou, c'est vraiment dommage que les conditions n'ont pas été favorables pour toi car sous le soleil et avec peu de touristes (comme à l'époque où j'y étais allé avec Raf), c'était vraiment merveilleux, et mes camarades de voyage partageaient ce point de vue. J'ai les photos comme preuve !! ;-)
Finalement, l'Asie ne nous met jamais d'accord, n'est-ce pas Antoine ? ;-)
As-tu quand même apprécié le parc d'Erawan à l'ouest de la Thaïlande que je t'avais recommandé où la malédiction a continué (car j'ai vu que tu t'étais arrêté à Kanchanaburi juste à côté) ??
Bon pour le reste des news, je t'écris en perso !! Bonne fin de séjour, le récit de ton voyage sera passionnant à écouter en tout cas !
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