A pleasant walk along the lake; Hangzhou

Photo: West lake at Hangzhou, China - 11/11/10

In China it is very easy to rent bicycles, and this way of transport is promoted quite a lot to the tourists. After a good night of sleep in the hostel next to the west lake, I decided to go and rent a bike and cycle around town. It's quite a place, and most of the points of interests are spread around the city and the lake. Also I was told by some tourists that it's impossible to go around the lake in 1 day and especially by foot, since it is more than a 10k to get around.

Photo: Beautiful autumn trees - Hangzhou, China - 11/11/10

The day before while walking to the hostel on please autumn tree-lined road, I saw a few bike rental places along the streets; those places also being used by locals who own a chip card, press it against a chip card reader and one of the bicycles is being unlocked. I noticed as well that each rental place had a little information point and with a bit of luck they rent out bikes to tourists....

Indecisive Chinese train journeys

Photo: Train station of Shanghai, China - 15/11/10

A matter of being flexible in China too. While in a touristic town full with canals and many interesting views, I met an English chap, Ed, who at his turn met two Chinese tourists. The four of us spent the day walking around in the city, and the next day Ed and I where leaving for the train station. Ed taking his train back home to a town outside Shanghai, ready to go back to work teaching English, me catching another train to my next destination.
Ed, being able to speak quite some Chinese, helped me getting the train ticket, and after lunch he left to catch his train.
While I was waiting for my train, I was browsing through the lonely planet and re-reading where I was going, what I planned before. Suddenly I realized that I might not want to go to the little villages I planned to go. I didn't feel in the mood to go to these little villages, which probably are beautiful in the summer as per the lonely planet, but in the winter, well suddenly I had a very depressing image in my head with poor looking people doing hard work carrying heavy stuff etc.