Today I woke up at 6.00 a.m. and left the hotel at 7.00 a.m. My husband was going out with me for my morning walk. It was raining again, so we were not taking any photos of the West Lake instead we took photos of flowers.
In the West lake Park, Hangzhou, you are not allow to step on the grass so it was difficult to take photos of the the flowers or plants. We either have to lie down on the wet floor or ground and got ourselves all wet. At first, we try to crawl onto the grass to took the photos. When I saw the policeman on patrol and ask for his permission to walk onto the grass to take photos. The kindly policeman granted me the permission and advice me to try or take as quite or as fast as possible.
Enjoyed 2 hours of taking the photos of the flowers then went to the town centre to look for a bank to change some currency to pay for the expenses. There was another $360.00 rem per person for yesterday.
This was not a budgeting holidays, so I do not recommend anyone to travel in this way. It will be cheaper to follow a tour group then travelling in this way. My sisters were used to pre-arrange tours so they were used to moving the luggage from one place to another and looking for a hotel room to stay whenever we reach a destination.
My friend, Lian Heng had to bear the load of looking for the transport to take us from place to place and looking and arranging for hotel rooms for us to stay. Appreciated the hard works, Lian Heng and his wife, Judy good deed. It was too much a load for them to bear especially they also had to pay for this holiday trip.
I don't think I able to carry on this style of travelling as I had already spend £700.00 gbp and worry I won't have enough cash for going back to Hong Kong. Thank to my elder sister, Lancy, kindly arrange to pay for me and my husband's expenses for the hotel rooms for the last 2 days so that will eas my burden.
We went back to the hotel to check out as we were going to the tea plantation in Meijiawu Tea Culture Village. This village is reputed"Ten-mile Meiwu", the village is one of the main producing areas of Dragon Well Tea and the tea culture resort which is surrounded by green trees and scattered with houses of white walls and black tiles. Besides, it is an ideal place to have a taste of Dragon Well Tea and take rural meals.
Took 2 taxis to Meijiawu Tea Culture Village. The taxi fare was cheap with an starting price from $10.00 rem onward and it cost us $48.00 rem to reach here. The journey took around 45 minutes, it took half an hour to look for 2 village hotel rooms. We took 2 rooms the 3 men share with one room and 5 women another room. This hotel was more like a holiday resort and it worth every pence it charge us. One room cost $220.00 rem and with 5 of us in one room the landlady just charge an additional $30.00 rem. The rooms are big and clean with its bathroom.
Left our luggage at the hotel and went to look for food. The weather was horrible due it had been raining non stop. Finished our lunch and we went to visit the Yunqi Bamboo Forest Park which will be closed at 5.00 p.m. Reached this park at 2.00 p.m. and it was raining heavily, we can't managed to go up to the hill to see the 9 creeks flow into the main WestLake.
Walking in the Park for about 2 hours and we were totally soaked and had to go back to the hotel for a bath.
Finished our dinner and went back to the hotel to watch drama show on the television. and settle down for an early night. This is a small village so there isn't any shopping centre or shops open at night. Really appreciate a taste of village life style and can't wait for my next morning, early morning walk to enjoy the surrounding tea plantations. The local food was amazing beautiful and we really enjoy it.
Place: Westlake, Hangzhou and Meijiawu Tea Culture Village
Photos: supplied by Robert Suen and Catherine Tan
Date: 14/5/2012
