Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Hangzhou

A meeting at Shanghai Botanical Gardens to discuss a pretty big arts installation, then off to catch the express train to Hangzhou.

Shanghai's Hongqiao Railway Station and Hongqiao Airport in the west of the city sit right next to each other and look virtually identical. Huge & modern, sleek & clean, travellers walk seamlesly from one to the other. Platforms are devoid of passengers until its time to board through 'gates', luggage gets checked through security, the retail outlets are the same. Even the speeds are comparable. Ten minutes into our journey we're hitting 346kmh.

Hangzhou is the capital of Zhejiang province and is renowned for its beauty: West Lake, Liuhe Pagoda, the surrounding hills... all very picture-postcard but, frustratingly for me, just glimpsed from a car window. Here's the pagoda. Wil have to come back...

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