OH DEAR ... I have so much to write nowadays, for my column in Star2 and The Malaysian Insider; I also write for the latest Penang magazine Where2, Essenze and of course the Visit Penang newsletter, that I have so little time to do this blog. However, there are things I like to put in it that don't fit in elsewhere, and it's all my personal experiences of course.
One of the is our recent trip to China, when we flew into Shanghai then took the high-speed rail link to Hangzhou.
Shanghai is so big we had to take a one-hour taxi ride from one airport to another to catch the train, and cost RMB300 or thereabouts - the first-class train tickets for both of us were cheaper than that! It's all very well run, and the train left on time.
It was so fast and smooth the 110km trip too just 45 mins. Luckily, of course, we didn't have a problem like another line did.
Hangzhou is a beautiful city which is situated on the famous West Lake, and it has just been awarded World Heritage Status by UNESCO. We stayed as guests of the gorgeous Shangri-La which is perched on the edge of the lake, and overlooks some gorgeous scenery, and our room was really quite superb.
It was raining cats and dogs when we arrived, and it rained the day we left ... luckily in the two days in between it was dry, and we were able to see how gorgeous it is.
It's famous for its silks of course, and also the Longjin (dragon well) tea, which is picked very young and green then pan-fried over a low heat by hand. The tea which results is light and refreshing. Hangzhou scissors and knives are also very famous, and of excellent quality, and I carted home a boxed set of Zhang Xiao Qian chopper, sharpener, scissors and 3 different types of knives which cost just RMB350 (RM175). They are brilliant, very sharp and well made.
We also went to a few famous and very old temples, including the 1500-year old Ling Yin which is one of the most famous in China, and took a trip around the lake itself - both by boat and also by the little 3-carriage vehicles which go around the banks; we even managed to get a light tan. At night, we watched Impressions West Lake - a spectacular show with hundreds of actors using amazing lights, on the lake itself. Absolutely wonderful.
Food being my forte of course, I was interested to see some amazing street foods in the pedestrianised shopping area of Zing hefang, which is a bit like our Pasar Malam - and some parts smelt like it too, so I didn't really want to chance trying the food there - there is some skewered meat which is like an uber-long satay, but some of it didn't really look too appetising, so we tended to only eat at the hotel and restaurants.
They are famous for their Beggars Chicken, whole chicken braised in lotus leaves with herbs, and West Lake Vinegar Fish, not something I really thought too much of as lake fish I feel isn't as tasty as sea fish, and the flesh is too smooth. The sauce isn't too much to shout about either; it's basically vinegar cooked with soya sauce thickened with a bit of cornstarch then poured over the fish.
However, overall we had a great time, and I can see why Hangzhou is on of the most visited cities in China. It is also one of the richest. China is by no means a cheap place; it seems to me that the east is getting more expensive, and the west is gettng cheaper - in the UK you can buy stuff for one pound at the pound shop, which is about RM5 - in China, everything costs at least RMB20! Maybe the saying is true: one day Europe will become the world's playground.
No comments:
Post a Comment