Back in Shanghai
The West Lake Youth Hostel is definitely the best hostel we have stayed at here in China. We were picked up at the train station by Kim and the driver in an expensive looking car (it was probably the owner's own vehicle). The amenities are great, the food at the restaurant was good (we've eaten there more than in town as it is much cheaper than at regular restaurants). The service was first class. The two staff members, Kim and Susan, took the time to remember our names, so everytime we needed help they would call us by our first names (we never heard them call out the other guest's names while we were there). We highly recommend this place to anyone visiting Hangzhou!
Woke up to a clear blue sky staring at me from the sunroof of our hostel room. The past few days I would awaken at the sounds of the children playing right next door at the kindergarten school. It is such a nice sound that my day would begin right. For the past 3 days the weather has been pretty warm yet remained clear and dry during the daytime. This morning it was the same.
We checked out early and had one of the staff, Kim, to call us a taxi for the train station. It was slightly traffic due to the morning rush hour but the driver got us there in no time.
The main train station is much bigger and more modern than the other train station we came in from (Hangzhoudong). We found our way to the CRH waiting area for our fast train (D698) to Shanghai - only 1:18 travel time with max speed of 140km/h. The train is very modern, clean and fast. This time Peter and I sat next to each other (last time we were both in the aisle seats across from each other), but facing a young Chinese couple - in the train cars half are facing one way and the other half the opposite way.
We arrived in Shanghai at 11:06 a.m. but didn't get to the subway station until 11:30 a.m. There were so many people in the station, most of them crowding the ticket machines, including Peter. Turns out the machines only take coins and Peter was 2 yuan less so he had to go to the main ticket counter to purchase our subway ticket to Caoyanglu.
Fortunately, the Shanghainan Zhan is the first stop for the Line 3 Metro so it wasn't difficult for us to find seats. We had about 8 stops to Caoyanglu.
The weather in Shanghai was very muggy. We quickly walked to our hostel and checked-in, went straight to the room and took cold showers. We were in need of sustenance but decided to cool off first in the room, take a nap then go out later in the day. When we woke up at 3:30 p.m. the sky was dark and rain was pouring hard outside. Thank goodness we didn't go out before that. So we ended up eating here at the hostel's traveller's club restaurant (all hostels that are under the Utels network offer more or less the same food at the same price).
This Shanghai City Central Youth Hostel has a great big common room, decorated in a kind of mediterranean look with colorful cloths draped over rods along the roof, the sofas are huge and plush, the dining tables are the usual Chinese-style chairs and high tables (perfect for Peter). You can also watch DVDs right there in comfort - all Utels or other hostels offer lots of DVD choices for guests to watch.
Our lunch was fried rice, stir-fried chicken with mushroom and peppers with rice, drinks and a dessert of pancake with fruit. It was good enough to satisfy our hungry bellies, and to just keep dry from the pouring rain. We'll probably have light pupus later tonight as we have no plans of going out.
Tomorrow we leave for the airport at around 8 a.m. for our 12 noon flight to Hong Kong.
The West Lake Youth Hostel is definitely the best hostel we have stayed at here in China. We were picked up at the train station by Kim and the driver in an expensive looking car (it was probably the owner's own vehicle). The amenities are great, the food at the restaurant was good (we've eaten there more than in town as it is much cheaper than at regular restaurants). The service was first class. The two staff members, Kim and Susan, took the time to remember our names, so everytime we needed help they would call us by our first names (we never heard them call out the other guest's names while we were there). We highly recommend this place to anyone visiting Hangzhou!
Woke up to a clear blue sky staring at me from the sunroof of our hostel room. The past few days I would awaken at the sounds of the children playing right next door at the kindergarten school. It is such a nice sound that my day would begin right. For the past 3 days the weather has been pretty warm yet remained clear and dry during the daytime. This morning it was the same.
We checked out early and had one of the staff, Kim, to call us a taxi for the train station. It was slightly traffic due to the morning rush hour but the driver got us there in no time.
The main train station is much bigger and more modern than the other train station we came in from (Hangzhoudong). We found our way to the CRH waiting area for our fast train (D698) to Shanghai - only 1:18 travel time with max speed of 140km/h. The train is very modern, clean and fast. This time Peter and I sat next to each other (last time we were both in the aisle seats across from each other), but facing a young Chinese couple - in the train cars half are facing one way and the other half the opposite way.
We arrived in Shanghai at 11:06 a.m. but didn't get to the subway station until 11:30 a.m. There were so many people in the station, most of them crowding the ticket machines, including Peter. Turns out the machines only take coins and Peter was 2 yuan less so he had to go to the main ticket counter to purchase our subway ticket to Caoyanglu.
Fortunately, the Shanghainan Zhan is the first stop for the Line 3 Metro so it wasn't difficult for us to find seats. We had about 8 stops to Caoyanglu.
The weather in Shanghai was very muggy. We quickly walked to our hostel and checked-in, went straight to the room and took cold showers. We were in need of sustenance but decided to cool off first in the room, take a nap then go out later in the day. When we woke up at 3:30 p.m. the sky was dark and rain was pouring hard outside. Thank goodness we didn't go out before that. So we ended up eating here at the hostel's traveller's club restaurant (all hostels that are under the Utels network offer more or less the same food at the same price).
This Shanghai City Central Youth Hostel has a great big common room, decorated in a kind of mediterranean look with colorful cloths draped over rods along the roof, the sofas are huge and plush, the dining tables are the usual Chinese-style chairs and high tables (perfect for Peter). You can also watch DVDs right there in comfort - all Utels or other hostels offer lots of DVD choices for guests to watch.
Our lunch was fried rice, stir-fried chicken with mushroom and peppers with rice, drinks and a dessert of pancake with fruit. It was good enough to satisfy our hungry bellies, and to just keep dry from the pouring rain. We'll probably have light pupus later tonight as we have no plans of going out.
Tomorrow we leave for the airport at around 8 a.m. for our 12 noon flight to Hong Kong.
posted by Mimi | 10:27 PM
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