Category Archives: Epic Journey 2

Hangzhuo and the art of spontaneous travelling

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Hangzhuo’s main attraction without a doubt is West Lake. I can honestly say that it is one of the most magnificent lakes I have ever seen (if you ignore myriads of tourists for a second). The entire lake surrounding area is covered with countless idyllic parks, pagodas and gardens. Looking at all this beauty, I felt completely overwhelmed at times. The amount of work put into something like this is extraordinary. Unfortunately it rained and the lake was covered in mist for two days I stayed at Hangzhuo. Locals kept saying that the lake is particularly beautiful in the fog, which it was, but I was hoping for cheerful weather and beautiful sunset pictures. Beautiful in its own way, but no pretty pictures I am afraid. Hostel did not offer any entertainment, as the only people I met there were a bunch of Chinese people and one dull Canadian guy, so I had to move on.

The next planned stop was Huangshan (aka Yellow Mountain), the most famous mountain in China, but I ended up in Yangshou instead. Only some 1200km apart from each other. It seemed like all the factors were against me going to Huangshan. First I missed my bus stop and spent almost two hours getting to the train station. Figuring out local public buses instead of taking a taxi is way forward by the way. Second, I was not able to buy a ticket Huangshan City, but bought a ticket to a similar sounding place instead (damn tones). The fact that until recently Huangshan City was known as Tuxie only added more confusion. Writing down both places in Chinese on a piece of paper was no use either. Then I walked to a nearby bus terminal hoping it would be the correct one, but no luck there. All that combined with pouring rain and the backpack on my shoulders made me less than enthusiastic to go to Huangshan. Eventually I gave up the thought and bought a ticket to Guilin instead. No problems or misunderstanding here. I have no regrets about Huangshan. Rainy weather does not go well with mountains after all, plus both Shanghai and Hangzhou are definitely places to visit again. And Yangshou is lovely so far. Looking forward into renting a bicycle and exploring surroundings tomorrow.

Whore of the Orient, Paris of the East

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Shanghai is lovely. Not much to see in terms of tourist attractions and history sights, but the general city vibe is amazing. Shanghai is a city, where glass-clad skyscrapers share premium space with European neo-classical architecture and traditional Chinese buildings. Futuristic highways up in the sky penetrate city center and bridges look like they have been borrowed from the Bladerunner universe. While Beijing is conservative and communist, Shanghai is hip, trendy and international. You don’t get stared at here for being a foreigner. All that makes you almost forget that you are still in China.

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I spent five days in Shanghai mostly walking around. Ironically enough lack of major tourist sights make Shanghai quite a budget city – walking does not cost a lot after all. Met a high-school friend, who lives and works in Shanghai (greetings from Petrovich to everyone). Got a food poisoning, which thankfully went away quite quickly. Never got a chance to taste Shanghainese cuisine, but this is the only damage I suffered from the poisoning drama. Managed to check out local nightlife twice. The first time to a jazz club with some live music, which was lovely. And the second time to Shelter club for some minimal techno action from the UK. The club is a former bomb shelter – dark, claustrophobic and filled with loud repetitive techno beat. Just what the doctor ordered. Also attempted to go out on a third night (or rather tagged along) with some random acquaintances from the hostel to a very posh place Bar Rouge with cover charge of 100RMB, but the whole gang was turned away already 10m from the door on the basis of inappropriate dress-code. Not surprising really, as I wore same clothes as I did in Siberia and Mongolia. The rest of the crew were not in any better position, apart from French girls. This must be the first time I did not get into a club because of the dress-code discrimination. woot!

The next stop after Shanghai was Huangzhou and I planned to continue to Huangshan after that, but it turned out not as I expected. More on that later.

Money extracting schemes

One of the most popular scams in China starts with two cute girls approaching you on the street. After a series of generic questions (where are you from? how long in China? etc.), they invite you to a tea-shop, karaoke bar or something along these lines with highly inflated prices. The price list is not advertised of course and such a visit would cost you an arm and a leg. During my stay in Shanghai I met these con artists thrice. These people are so friendly, so that I felt almost bad declining their offer and exposing their scam. When asked directly about their scam, I hoped for a “fuck yoouuuu, I hope you get hit by a car” type reaction as it happened to fellow travelers. Alas, the ones I met were pretty good actors and became all confused and defensive, but lost all the interest and the mask of niceness at the same time. Plus body language never lies.
Another practice involves purportedly deaf people over-eager to help you hanging around ticket vending machines in subway. These people “help” foreigners buying subway tickets by pointing fingers on the screen (even if buying a ticket could not be easier). When you are about to get your ticket along with change, they demonstrate you a card with the message that can be summarized as “I am deaf, give me money”. The kicker is that you already have a couple of yuan in your hands, which makes resisting these artists somewhat harder. Very smart.
In yet another widespread money extortion scheme they get you to write your name and a sum in a notebook for one reason or another. Apparently according to the local customs, once you do that, that equals to a contract and you are supposed to pay the stated sum. Of course being an ignorant tourist, you can ignore local customs altogether (without feeling bad about it). I plan to draw a comic the next time I get this request.