I am not sure if I am correct in citing sheer indulgence, or was it a fact of soul searching. Nonetheless, I did pack my bag and braved Hangzhou at her bitterest winter. I chose the place because of its’ peace and tranquility, or more precisely, I fell in love when I was watching “If You Are the One”. I couldn't help it but seeing the main actor cruising amongst the deity willow trees along the banks of the wetland is more than enough than anyone can possibly ask. With that, I left Hong Kong for Hangzhou in the early noon last Friday. It was 7C when I left Hong Kong and -3C when I reached Hangzhou that afternoon.
I have never been to Hangzhou, be it for work or for leisure. For as much as travel is concerned, I never found difficulties in getting from one place to another. But Hangzhou turned out to be a nightmare for poor travelers like me. First, the taxi meanders from what was supposing a dual 3 lane carriageway to what I am most certain to be a dual 5 lane carriageway designed for buses, and speeding like Formula One. It came to no surprises if the taxi driver comes to screeching stop just millimeters from a potentially fatal accident. Throughout the journey, and it is 2 hrs from the airport to my hotel, I had, on several occasions, decided upon the various mode a person can get killed in a foreign land, leaving the rest of the time toying with regrets that I hadn’t done my WILL should anything happened to me. By the time I made it to the hotel in one piece, daylight has long become a forgotten past. The only consolation is what Banyan Tree can offer to tired, scare and undignified traveler like me. It was shivering cold when I entered the 5 storey lobby hall, with a cold draft trailing my back as I came in from the front entrance. I am not sure if I can push the wooden door with all my might under that cold spell but I probably can’t do it even on the mildest winter. It is rock solid wood as high as three storeys which, makes you wonder how the hell the doorman did it!
The first night wasn't much of an adventure except my room is the classic Banyan Tree “pamper oneself to death” type of interiors. I say this because it takes eternity to walk from one end of the room to the other, not forgetting the bathroom is a few times bigger than my whole apartment put together. The Hangzhou banyan tree went one step further, apart from the conventional bathtub; they gave you the tantalizing Elliptical Ofuro wooden tub. Is this sheer indulgence or what? One thing for sure, never ever does that if you are under 5ft 5 inches or more precisely if you have short legs. The height itself is a deterrence of shorties or wannabies. Then again, if you fancy a greater fall than Humpty Dumpty, be my guest!
The Xixi Wetland tour turned out to be more like an anti-climax because of the overly advertised picturesque setting in the movie. Alas, what I didn't know was the director had chosen Spring/Summer time to vividly account the beauty of Xixi as the backdrop. Here, I was confronted with branches and twigs, occasionally snow-capped, if not for the waterways, an arid condition. And yes, what you see in the movie aren’t necessary real. They are, in fact, the concoction of photography and carefully chosen angles. But I had my fun snapping what I believe Director Feng would have chosen had “If You Are the One” was shot in winter.
Though Xixi wasn't as beautiful in the winter as it would be in the summer, the hills of Hangzhou offers the best winter scenes I have ever experienced in my life. I braved myself through slippery icy and winding roads to the hill-top just to savage the essence of LongJing tea. I am not sure if it was the tea or the water or both that made the savoring the unique taste. That was the better part of the story, and the other part was, I am pretty sure I was slaughtered over the price of Longjing tea. You pay for what you think it is worth. There isn’t an upper limit, that I am very sure. The lower limit could be you ended up not taking any Longjing downhill.
There really is a lot to do in Hangzhou and I will definitely be returning again to see the places I haven’t had the chance to see in this bitter winter and most importantly to come back in the summer. But from now on, whenever I look into going on a holiday it will definitely be based around sheer indulgence. And, why not?
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