Heading to Huangshan

Friday, May 14, 2010--Hangzhou   We've run into problems with the weather. There have been floods in southern China. Well rain is now in the area where we are. Yesterday, there was light rain much of the day. And the forecast is for rain for the next several days. Since we are supposed to leave tomorrow for Huang Shan where we have planned to climb the mountain, we pulled out the guidebooks and looked for alternative plans. However, nothing seemed obvious. Therefore, we are just going to continue to that area and see what develops. We got online and made a hotel reservation in Tunxi for the first nights in that area. There are old towns to visit that will be okay to see even if it is raining. As the days pass, we will decide whether to continue to the mountain or not.   After leaving the hotel, we spent part of the day investigating how to get to Tunxi tomorrow. There is no train to there, so we had to figure out how to get to the Western Bus Station to catch a bus. We tried to go to a tourist office, but it wasn't a REAL tourist information place; it was a travel bureau wanting to sell package tours. So we walked to the train station where we knew there was a helpful tourist desk. The woman there told us that we should take Bus 49 from the train station. But that location is a long walk from our hotel and is in the opposite direction from where we need to head. Therefore, we walked following the 49 route until we found a stop near our hotel. It's only about 3 blocks away instead of 10-12 blocks to the train station.   By the time we finished all of that, we were surprised to note that it had remained cloudy without any rain starting. We decided to spend the rest of the day further exploring the lake area. We walked completely around the lake following the shore and a couple of causeways. The route is lined with nice shade trees, has wonderful views of the city and the mountains, has beautiful spots with colorful flower gardens, and has nice statues along it. By the time we returned to the room and checked the distance on the map, we had walked 15 km (9 miles). We were so tired that we ate a freshly-made pancake made at a sidewalk stall and then just stayed inside and had instant noodles again for dinner.     Sat., May 15, 2010--Hangzhou to Tunxi   We were pleasantly surprised to see that it was not raining yet this morning. The skies were cloudy, but otherwise it was fine. After having breakfast earlier than usual, we checked out of the hotel (having to wait first for the usual problem of a Chinese person pushing ahead of us). We headed for the nearby bus stop where a 49 bus immediately arrived. Fortunately, there was room for us and our luggage without inconveniencing others. We arrived at the bus station 45 minutes later and were able to buy a ticket for a bus to Tunxi leaving 55 minutes later. Because it was dry and rather warm, we folded up our coats and put them away in our luggage.   The bus trip was a pleasant surprise in two ways. The guidebook had said it was a 6-hour trip from Hangzhou to Tunxi, but it proved to be only a 3-hour trip. And second, not only did the rain not come, but the sun even came partially out among the clouds.   Coming into Tunxi, I saw the International Hotel which we had seen while researching hotels yesterday. That gave me some bearings for knowing where we were. I'm glad, because the bus did not go to the station that was marked on our map. We followed the signs to turn right as we left the station, and we stopped at a hotel to ask further directions. Then we saw a sign for the International Hotel. That's when it became clear where we were and how we needed to go to get to our hotel. Then it became a nice stroll along the river the rest of the way without worries about where we were.   We are staying at the Old Street Hotel. Tunxi has an old shopping street that is a major tourist draw. Our hotel is at one of the entrances to this street and is built in the old style. The facilities seem similar to all the other hotels where we have stayed so far. All are 3- or 3 1/2-star places. But this time there are wooden floors. That relieves us of the strange problem of dirty carpeting we have had elsewhere. I don't know if vacuum cleaners are ever used here in China. The floors don't look like it. Apparently the carpets are never shampooed. It is strange for a hotel room to be nice while having dirty carpeting.   We went walking to the train station to get information about going to Nanjing from here and to a special office for getting permits to go to the World Heritage Site ancient villages in the area. A young agricultural student accompanied us part of the way to the train station. When we got to the PSB to get a permit, however, it was closed. Fortunately, a policeman was parked outside and spoke English. He took us inside the building and called a man outside. The man looked at our passports and told us that we did not have to have a special permit due to having our passports with our visas in them. That was important for us, because we wanted to go tomorrow and were afraid to go without the permit that the guidebook had said would be required.   After thanking the men who helped us, we explored the Old Town on our way back to the hotel. It is a nice one and a large one. It is similar to the one in Hangzhou, but the street seems more authentic. It is paved with huge, old stones rather than modernized with new pavers. And the buildings have nice shops in them while looking definitely old.   The clouds have returned, but there still is no rain. We plan to take each day as it comes and see what we can do. We would like to climb the mountain on Tuesday if possible. In the meantime, we will go out for dinner tonight and will try to go visit the nearby ancient cities tomorrow. The mountains and the ancient cities should be beautiful. This is the area where the popular film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was filmed.