Thursday, June 18, 2009

International Hostels

If you are on a budget trip in China, international hostels may be a good choice to stay. It's Chinese decoration, western life style, and most of all, it's cheap, few dollars per night if you choose to share the room with several other travelers just like you.



We stayed in three international hostels during that trip. Shown in the above picture, from left to right, hostels in Suzhou, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Shanghai respectively. Quite coincidentally, all of them theme in red, not surprisingly, because red represents energy and vitality in China, travelers, mostly the youngs, are that group of people.


Monday, June 15, 2009

Hangzhou

When people talk about Hangzhou, there's a good chance that they will talk about the West Lake. It is most famous for the TV series New Legend of Madame White Snake, based on a legendary story there. We used to watch that series over and over and over again each summer break and winter break, just as the way how Star Trek works here.



Probably I had too much expectations for it before I was there. It's quite disappointing when I was there only to see towns of tourists heading for the same spot. And every spot you want to visit, you will have to pay for admission fee, which is not cheap. Besides, things are quite different from what I saw in the TV series. Nevertheless, it's quite a beautiful lake, a good place to relax.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Suzhou



This was taken in the ancient city of Suzhou, apparently, it's modernized with all the neon lights and lanterns. But still, it's amazing view from the river. It has been there for like several hundred years now, probably with modern reconstructions on some of the buildings. Now it's a hot spot for tourists, consequently, commercial area.