After five years working in London, I decided it was time to move back to Los Angeles, but not before taking a year off to see the world. I gave up my great job with Lehman Brothers in Administration and a fantastic flat (and roommate) I’d lived in for over three years, packed up all my belongings into some 60 cubic feet of boxes and said farewell to the wonderful friends I made in London. Before setting off for Asia, I spent seven weeks in the States including a weekend getaway in Chicago with my best friends from high school, corrective eye surgery in Philadelphia, Aud and Rob’s wedding in Bermuda, 13 days in Israel on Birthright (with a side trip to Petra) and time in quiet Oak Park with my parents and sister. Then, on July 18, 2010 at 1am, with only 13 kilograms in my 50L backpack and a small shoulder bag, I boarded a flight to Singapore. The goal of my adventure is not one of self-discovery or mending a broken heart but a journey of true desire to explore the world, experience new cultures, taste various cuisines, explore beautiful wildernesses, meet local people, and maybe learn some Spanish along the way. What lies below are my stories (or more of a daily recount of events) from the road.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Hanging in Hangzhou

Monday, September 6, 2010
  • Taxi to train station (I'm wasn’t feeling too good), modern train to Hangzhou
  • Arrived at train station, huge taxi line, waited with a guy from San Diego who is in China on business and doesn't really speak English
  • Finally got to hotel, dad really hungry, ate at buffet since the hotel is on West Lake and a bit away from town
  • Walked around the stunning hotel grounds, which were formally used by the Party (get first China bug bites)
  • Taxi into town for dinner where we got off at mall and found an H&M (bought stuff tanks)
  • Not too hungry ended up having (expensive) ice cream where a rude lady tried to get a sample before I finished ordering; I showed her!


Tuesday, September 7, 2010
  • Today we spent the entire day on our own in Hangzhou.  Our first stop, Lingyin temple, is a Buddhist temple built in the 9th century and rebuilt many times.  It survived the Cultural Revolution and has the largest sitting Buddha in China at 20 meters; walked up to top of Temple; were about to leave when we saw the cable car to top of mountain; it was so cloudy that we couldn’t see the views, but we met a nice family visiting from Singapore and Kuching, who made some local recommendations
  • Taxi to Old Town for lunch, restaurant recommended in article but food only fair (tried the pork something)
  • Walked around Old Town, ice cream at Hagen Dazs; friendly woman there walks us to the residence
  • Explored the beautiful residence of X?
  • Taxi to Pagoda, not really where we wanted to be but asked the tourist office about bikes
  • Tried to get a taxi to the main strip but none were stopping, so we ended up walking
  • Walked along water and ended up taking a boat on West Lake for an hour
  • A little more walking where we happened upon the restaurant we thought of going to for dinner (recommended in a book of mine) and it looks closed; stopped into a hostel around the corner and figured out that it is closed; sad but at least we found out before we tried to make a reservation
  • Relaxed for a little at the hotel
  • Go to Lou Wai Lo at 7pm thinking that there is a 9pm show of Impressions of Hangzhou; food is pretty good but not so much as everyone raves about
  • Turned out there was only one show so we walked to Shangri La hotel to get dessert at the Italian restaurant, yummy!
  • Taxi back to the hotel
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