Day twenty one
After an amazing day on the mountain yesterday, it was time to move on to Shaoxing, famous for its cooking wine and little canals.
By now, an avid reader knows that there will be photos of high-speed trains or stations, so here we go:
The trip took about an hour, but there was a small snag. I had my bag with me, and no hotel was booked in Shaoxing. It's meant to be a visit-while-traveling kind of thing.
There were no lockers at the train station, so I had to take a BRT bus to the first metro station and transfer to the metro. I exited at the "Main" train station, but it was also void of lockers. Thankfully, station staff was able, through translation apps, to point me to a metro station that had lockers. Success!
You need the WeChat app to unlock the locker, and you pre-pay for time, which you get refunded if you use less.
The bag was stowed; it was time to explore the city. First, some canals.
After an hour, there was this nagging feeling... Did I follow all the locker instructions? Was it actually locked (I didn't check..).
So I looped back, just to make sure (it was, and there is even a "take stuff out" mode, which doesn't void your payment!).
Time for more canals!
There's also a famous poet who lives here, and you can visit the home.
It turns out that I can't read any Chinese poems, so it was all a bit lost on me. The gardens were nice, though!
Looking at the clock, I realized I would never make my booked onward train. Luckily, it's easy to rebook, which I didn't even bother with since the price for a new ticket was 2 euros.
It was time for dinner, and while browsing the signs on the storefront, a helpful staff member came out and explained the menu in English.
A noodle dish sounded nice, so I ordered that, only to immediately hear they were out (then why explain it in the first place!). The alternative was rice, potatoes, and meat, and it tasted so good! I could eat this for days!
With the weird ordering and dishes not available, I completely forgot to pay, so I was chased down by staff when I left, and I still had no clue why until they pointed at the payment QR code D'oh!
After dinner, I still had a ton of time left till the train, but I was tired from yesterday and just wanted a lie-down, so instead of taking the train, I took the metro to Hangzhou as the metros of Shaoxing and Hangzhou are connected (and yes, I bought two train tickets that I didn't use).
The hotel wasn't great; it was the first one on this trip that wasn't up to standard. I booked two separate nights in two bookings and could cancel the second night with a full refund, so I did that and booked a hotel closer to the airport for tomorrow.
