We arrived into a Shanghai train station at about 9 in the morning, id been awake since 5.30 am as try as i might, sleeping slumped across a seat meant for three people (though in fairness the one guy that was left on my seat was as good as gold slumped up by the window) we stumbled off the train and found ourselves in one of the stations, though we had no idea which one. We bumbled about and managed to find the bus station where we got a ¥68 ticket into Hangzhou. It took about three hours to get there (an hour was taken up just by trying to get out of the city) and it was quite pleasant as I nodded and dozed my way to the station.

Once there, yet again we were lost. No English signs available here, and the taxis were charging a fortune. So us being us, we just got on a bus and hoped for the best. We didnt get the best, after about 30 mins we were somewhere downtown (hangzhou is massive with 10 million people, we expected after looking at the pictures this sleepy little picturesque town) and so we got off the bus. Lost in a massive city. Oh well, let's try this next bus! We got on again, travelled a bit further and again got off confused with where we might be. Armed just with a little map included in the rough guide book and no idea where we were, we headed int this little Chinese fast food type joint and had some lunch (Jen with the poached egg that was a meat dish??).

We tried to get them to help us with where we were, which of course they couldn't really, they had absolutely no idea what we were saying! After lots of miming we asked them (via my speak Chinese app) to help us get a taxi. The waitress patiently. And outside with us and explained to the taxi driver where we needed to go, and we got in and made the 30 min trip to where we needed to be, or so we thought.

The taxi driver told us we were there and to get out (well he indicated it). We were of course in the wrong place, but after wondering around and looking a bit confused for a bit, a lovely Chinese guy came up to ask if we were lost, phone with gps map included. Result!

We explained where we needed to go, and after originally telling us we were far away, revised his statement to say we were close. We just had to walk up and go right. Excellent, thank you mr helpful Chinese man (these guys are becoming one of my favourite people!!)

We found our way tithe street and reverted to the directions sen to us by the hostel to get there, which wasn't too difficult. It was a pedestrian zone which was nice, with paved walkways and a little steam with bridges down the one side of the street. Finally, we were there!

Once inside we made our hellos and handed over the passports to check in. We made our way to our 8bed dorm which was populated entirely by Chinese tourists (hangzhou is a big Chinese tourist spot) and got ourselves sorted.

It was sunny so we sat in the courtyard and had a beer, determined to get wasted tonight, we headed out in search of a bar. Several hours and lots of walking later, we couldn't find one. We did walk down to the lake (after asking for help from a pot bellied Belgian man who told us where to go, and to 'cycle round the lak on biclets the next day for sex punds'. So cute. It was dark but lovely by the lake, all willow trees, cobbles paths with intricate carvings and superb lighting. We walked about a bit, but we were returning tomorrow anyway so headed back, tried again to look for bars and instead settled on grabbing a couple of cans and sitting in this public square where they were teaching Chinese dancing. It was lovely actually, very relaxing to watch these women learning their moves, some to various levels of ability, some great, some just swirling about with no idea what they were doing, but all round a complete lack of pretention.

We headed back to the hostel, tired and defeated in terms of finding a bar. We were knackered anyway. I had a beer and settled in to bed, only slightly annoyed by the Chinese guys in the bunks around me tapping away on their laptops, intent faces illuminated by the glow of the screen.....