Hello back on this China travel series! If you are still here, it's been an amazing journey (reading and travelling) thus far, squeezing a packed itinerary for only one week. From where we left off, we were still in Wuxi, a Chinese city that was recently promoted to first-tier city, but as we planned for it to be only a day trip, we went back to Suzhou station to head for Hangzhou, our final leg of the trip together.
This was the place in where we left our luggage at Suzhou station, it looks really dodgy and dark, but it turned out to be fine, all fears were indeed unfounded! Things like these made me believe that 99% of the people in the world are good people, and even the 1% of the bad people aren't bad all the time. So yaaaas, trust in humanity, travel with no fear. :>
Here we are in Hangzhou!! Somehow, the moment we arrived, it felt less "safe" than when we were in Suzhou, certainly because it is a bigger city where the crowd is rowdier and the station itself is also humongous. Walking from one end to the other felt like eternity, but in the end we hopped onto the train and walked to reach our accommodation, a 3-star hotel, Bokai Westlake Hotel (effort points for finding it!!) No pictures from this hotel as it really ain't fancy, but it was already considered one of the better ones for its "not so low" price point.
Budget travellers, you can be assured we scoured through Agoda and Tripadvisor to find a hotel that is willing to take in non-locals, with a reasonable price point (less than SGD50/pax/night), good location and decent reviews. Ultimately, the stay was enjoyable enough even though the walls aren't that soundproof... (leave it up to your imagination on what we heard ◔_◔).
博凯西湖酒店
32 青年路
商城区 杭州市
浙江省 中国 310001
Bokai Westlake Hotel
32 Qingnian Road
Hangzhou City
Zhejiang Province, China 310001
We were starving so we went straight for this Haidilao that is opened 24/7. China is just awesome. We literally googled Haidilao and thankfully there was one within walking distance, ha! Albeit it being at a slightly difficult to locate, a fifth floor on a building near the West Lake.
This is also my virgin experience at Haidilao, and it is authentically in China. ͡º ͜ʖ ͡º
海底捞 - 西湖店
135 延安路
涌金广场5楼
上城区 杭州市
浙江省 中国 310001
Haidilao - West Lake (Available everywhere, actually)
135 Yan An Road
Level 5 Yong Jin Square
Hangzhou City
Zhejiang Province, China 310001
Zhejiang Province, China 310001
We walked past a really lovely florist on the street we were on, and my boyfriend got me a rose... :) though with past experiences, flowers that we buy on holidays have a very tough life (Spoiler: we left said rose in the hotel in the end :( Hopefully someone adopted her)
The Bottom of the Sea Dig Dig Dig feast for two!! It was so comforting to drink the delicious soup because Hangzhou was quite cold at night, and I wasn't really prepared for it. I was introduced to prawn paste for the first time in my life and oh gawd it was g double O D J-O-B.
Forcing the man to take picture like he is advertising Haidilao even though he is starving #toughlife
Noodley-dance and feeling super amused with it. Also, half waiting for it to accidentally touch the floor so maybe we can point it out and get an additional serving of it. Hee.
And then we were fed and we went for a walk after dinner 😊 How many times can we get a romantic stroll after awesome Haidilao dinner around West Lake, one of the most romantic locations in the world? An "itinerary" I would do over and over again for sure. Found a cat in the midst of it all~
Tired from travelling the whole day (including climbing 99,999 stairs to see Buddhas) but happy to end the day with a warm hand in mine and twinkling lights.
Twinkling lights from nearby cafes and bars, but we were stuffed with the goodies from under the sea~ under the sea~ so we just admired them from afar and walk past these shops.
One of the famous bridges around West Lake. It is super quiet at night... I was glad we managed to enjoy moments of calm at night, because in the morning, it is just crazy crowded to the point it is impossible to see it as it is in drawings. Isn't it lovely? It is really breathtaking, with a mirror reflection that looks exactly how it would be in traditional watercolour paintings.
More fairylights :)
And then we strolled slowly back to our hotel, ending one of my favourite nights ever :)
Will be back for more Hangzhou updates very, very soon - including a full day of attraction-hopping, a mis-escapade, and going solo :( Till the next post ❤
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I share interesting episodes in life revolving around food, lifestyle, travel and inspirational ideas. If you would like to stay in touch, follow me on my Instagram on @amie.hu and Facebook page!