This is the price we were offered for purchase of silk quilts. I do think silk quilts are worth it when they are of good quality. I am using a silk quilt at home and I love it!

:smile:

We were also treated to a fashion show at the silk factory.

During our trip to Wuzhen, we got to know a fun and flamboyant Chinese girl who’s studying Export English. She went back with us to West Lake and sent us off on a hired boat. Our boatman pushed us apart, we yelled our promise to keep in touch.

RMB160 for all six of us to take a sunset journey.

Q: How do you describe this scene?

A: Silently.

We walked pass this restaurant a few times but dared not step in. What if it serves dog meat?

Eventually, overcome by hunger, we took a seat. This food appeared in my photo album although I don’t remember eating it. According to Uncle Lee, one of the signage in chinese says it does serve exotic meat. He might be pulling my leg though. I hope this wasn’t an exotic meat I don’t remember eating!

I ordered a bowl of really superb lamb noodles. The meat was so tender, it almost evaporated. The broth was rich in flavors.

We ordered two bowls of wontons to share. Its fillings crunched when I bit in.

We also had two baskets of dumplings wrapped in dumpling skin that’s thinner than tissue paper.

We ate till we couldn’t eat anymore. After resting for awhile, we heaved our heavy bottoms and walked back to the entrance of the village. Along the way, we came upon a humble little shop offering Black Sesame Seed dessert.

The proprietor claims his wife grinds the sesame seeds for half an hour each load to turn it into paste. What a wonderful wife.

We decided not to let her hard work go to waste. The sesame seed paste is fragrant. We sprinkled it with sugar.

After all that eating, we some how managed to squeeze through the door of the bus back to Hangzhou. Along the way, the bus stopped us at a silk factory. It was just as Uncle Lee, a seasoned China traveler, had told us to expect. :grin:

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It was as though God have turned back the clock on China. I felt surreal to be surrounded by such ancient architecture.

The primary means of transport here is by your own legs or by rickety boats.

We decided to walk to immerse in the full village experience.

Villagers claim that their home is 7000 years old. Historians claim that the oldest bridge is 2000 years old.

Here’s a man who might know the truth about the age of his village.

But looking at what’s hanging around, I decided not to ask.

Peek-a-boo takes on a completely different meaning here. It might not be the sort of game I played when I was young, but it was still fun watching them peek. :smile:

Villagers may have prospered slightly thanks to tourism, but every cent earned still came from hard work.

This lady from Wuzhen sells combs made of buffalo horns. Who knows how many hours she works to carve and polish just one.

The entire package including entrance fee costs RMB120 per person. However, before we could get to Wuzhen, we were invited for a complimentary cup of tea at a tea factory along the way. According to a fellow traveller, the free cup of tea at the tea factory was made compulsory by the chinese government who owns the tea business.

Near the end of the highway, the bus detoured down a sidestreet and pulled to a stop. We stepped down the bus and was ushered by Mao Mao into a small dining room. We were served with glasses of “Hang Bai Ju” i.e. Hangzhou White Chrysanthemum Tea.

Here’s dad victoriously holding up his second glass. Refills are also complimentary.

As we sat down and slowly sipped the hot tea, two smart-looking chinese ladies briefed the entire group about the advantages of Hangzhou’s famous White Chrysanthemum Tea.

Ancient people believed that White Chrysanthemum, which was able to endure very cold weather, must have attracted “the soul of the sky and earth”.

A book from the time of the Han Dynasty (206-220 BC) said there used to be a village named Gangu in Central Chinas Henan Province where people drank from a nearby stream that contained the petals of chrysanthemums. The petals had fallen into the stream up in the mountains and all the villagers lived to a great age, some as long as 130 years.

White Chrysanthemum Tea was also used as a tribute to imperial court in late Ming early Qing period. It was named as Jinzhu Tribute Chrysanthemum. According to traditonal chinese medicine, White Chrysanthemum Tea helps to detoxicate, relieve rheumatic pains and is a natural green drink popular everywhere in China.

(These iinformation copied from various sites on the internet)

Wow, what a miracle healing drink. Let’s take a closer look at the cuppa.

Mmmm… heavenly.

Besides inviting us for the complimentary glass of tea, the chinese government further invited us to heal ourselves regularly by buying home a few packets of tea. I was impressed. This is truly a government that’s concerned about the health and well-being of its citizens and tourists.

After we escaped from left the dining room, we walked towards the bus, passing by a maze of stalls selling various items that the chinese government must have also felt would be beneficial to its citizens.

We did not buy any Hangzhou White Chrysanthemum Tea but knowing that we will be climbing Mount Huangshan in two days, we bought some rice wine to bring up the mountain and warm our bodies.

Back to the bus, Mao Mao saw us and was pleased thatnone of her 6 Malaysian tourists got themselves kidnapped by terrorists in the factory. The bus roared back to life and continued the journey to Wuzhen again.

Throughout our tour of Wuzhen, Mao tirelessly poured out her deep knowledge of the entire history and culture and social behavior of the entire village of Wuzhen for the past thousand years.

Here’s Mao Mao calling out for her six Malaysian tourists to make sure they do not to wander too far away without her. Mao Mao worries that her six Malaysian tourists will easily lose their way in the labyrinthian village of Wuzhen.

Wherever you go in Wuzhen, you should always make sure Mao Mao is within your sight. There are many local tours here and the six Malaysian tourists can easily end up following the wrong group and boarding the wrong bus that travels to the other end of China.

Following Mao Mao is not as easy as it looks. For example, can you find Mao Mao in this picture? Tip: not every one who carries a flag and speaks into a loudspeaker is Mao Mao. It could be another group’s tour guide for Wuzhen.

So, for the rest of our visit, we six Malaysian tourists were very careful to follow Mao Mao closely along with the rest of her herd.

We got so close to Mao Mao, by the end of the day, we were terribly disheartened to have to part ways. We were not ready to break up with Mao Mao yet, but it looks like we have no choice but to look around and start dating again.

“Yes, we are the six Malaysian tourists,”

“Are you still eating? You were supposed to board the bus at seven. It’s seven-fifteen!”

My sleepy eyes widened by a millimeter. I have never heard anything more preposterous. Our designated tour leader, Simon, informed us we were going on a local tour to the thousand-year-old village of Wuzhen but the bus was only supposed to pick us up at seven-thirty.

Simon patiently explained to her the original arrangement, only to be reprimanded.

“Yes, but none of you have a local number I could call to inform that the time have changed to seven!”

I pierced the roast potato with a fork and popped it into my mouth.

My dad who had been silent suddenly spoke up.

“Can you wait for us outside the hostel? We will board the bus at 7:30am.”

I hid my smile as I continued chewing the potatoes. Around me, I heard four muffled giggles.

Hearing this, Mao Mao, the petite chinese lady with the piercing voice, relaxed. She smiled a genuinely warm smile and encouraged us to move faster.

“Just hurry. We’ve got a lot to see today. Waiter, can you help them pack their coffees into takeaway cups?”

:smile:

At 7:30am, we boarded Mao Mao’s bus to Wuzhen.

When I saw the food provided, my mind woke up instantly. Here’s a tray of steaming hot scrambled eggs with ham and cheese. My favorite!

Then there’s roast potatoes with herbs and spices, another one of my favorite. I’m in heaven!

Bread, buns and ham. (A toaster is provided).

I “kiap” my bread with thick layers of onion mayo and boiled eggs from the salad bar, heheh!

Then there’s milk, oatmeal, and fruits, which I didn’t eat.

Local rice porridge flavored with preserved vegetables. Looks good but I didn’t try this either.

So sorry that these photos are crooked. Despite the fabulous smells, my eyes could hardly open!

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Instead, this is the sight that greeted us. Bet this tree can tell a lot of stories, if only it could talk.

Despite that it is only early spring / end of winter, it is still gorgeous at West Lake. We saw barren trees all in a row.

Every where we went, we heard shutters clicking. Even a lady dressed like a farmer came with her own DSLR to snap scenic shots of West Lake!

The sun was beginning to set but we were not ready to go home yet.

We saw a magnificent pagoda standing high in the distance. It looked like a light house. It could be a light house shining giving light to every individual, but for now, it is merely a pagoda.

We tried to negotiate for a boat ride but was told the water’s too choppy. The great wind is billowing today, no wonder my legs are freezing!

We continued our walk around the lake, guess what came out of the blue to surprise me? Here’s a tree with its branches heavy laden with thick flowers. This, while surrounded by bald and barren friends!

The gorgeous pink flowers are genuine plum blossoms my friend, not the hard plastic type we buy in Malaysia to decorate our house for Chinese New Year!

The flowers felt soft, cool and petal-ly. I love how it feels between my fingers!

(this last photo from my dad’s camera).

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Min Yee and I met up with Simon, my Dad, Uncle and Aunty Lee at the reception area. Together, we headed out. The sky was clear, the weather cool. About 10 minutes walk away, we stumbled upon three little shops offering local food. We stepped into one and sat there holding our stomachs in our hands.

Since Simon is our designated tour leader, we left it to him to rush the food out.

At the table behind me was this giant bowl of ingredients meant to be folded into dumplings. It looked so good, we ordered Simon to order a basket of dumplings.

Here’s how it looks like after folded into the dumpling skin. Pretty, isn’t it? It tasted really fresh too although the skin was rather thick. The shopkeeper shared with us that the skin is supplied by a wholesaler. In the next few days, we’ll discover that almost all eateries seem to use the same dumpling skin supplied from the same wholesaler as the texture and thickness are the same.

This is the young lad who took our orders and brought out the food. An elderly guy in the kitchen did all the cooking. We teased him that he wouldn’t be able to fold the pretty little dumplings into such lovely shapes. He laughed at us at laughing at him and demonstrated to us his dumpling folding skills in person. What a great character! We enjoyed chatting with him much.

Halfway through eating and chatting, a young lady came in. She sat down, ordered her food, and casually joined our conversation. The locals here are so friendly!

This wonderful lady is from a nearby town, she came her for a job interview in an “export” position. Exporting seems to be the big job with big career opportunities over here. Even a student whom we’ll bump into the next day is studying “Export English” as a language.

Well, let’s not get distracted by the lively conversation. Back to the food, here’s the pork noodles we ordered. Served with a small bowl of Add-Your -Own-Chili to spice it up as you please. The soup was delicious, the meat tender. Although, I have to admit, I felt a bit icky about the plastic bowl. Will it leak Bisphenol A into my soup? Hmm…

I love the old clock, the little treasure chest and the blooming flowers that decorated the waiting area.

We stayed in many great hostels throughout our trip. This one is my favorite.

Not only is it exquisitely beautiful, it is located by the scenic west lake which means most rooms get a wonderful view. On top of that, it is near a host of excellent restaurants, bars and cafes, yet far enough from them to be private and secluded.

Here’s my dad checking his email as we waited for Simon.

Here’s my really enthusiastic, outgoing and fun roommate, Min Yee. She’s just chilling out by the flowers as we waited.

Here’s more information about each staff member that I was reading as I waited. I discovered some staff with terrific sense of humor and some with great love for drinking and gambling. :wink:

Here’s my room key card, at last.

And now, a beautiful view of my room! If I draw back the shades of the skylight over my bed, I can actually view the stars in the sky as I lie in bed at night.

Outside my window, I see the crimson red Qing Temple of West Lake. I’ve got everything I need here – a comfortable bed, hot water shower, electric heater, electric kettle. Aaahh, if I could just live forever…

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