Back from Xiandu

Got back last Sunday from a marvelous trip to Xiandu (Zhejiang province) just a couple of hours away from Hangzhou. For the people interested in checking out sceneries outside the tourist traps and without hassle, then Xiandu is the place! It's has everything you need - greens&fresh air, old villages, bamboo rafting, trains, and Guilin-like scenery. I mean what more do you possible want out of a weekend trip??

After a 7 hour train trip, we basically went straight to hotel to go to bed, until we found out that there was only one room available (out of the three that we made the reservation for) Luckily they found another room in the hotel, but two of us had to sleep in a nearby (shabby) hotel. Let's just say so shabby that Bernard was not able to sleep at night, because his neighbors couldn't stay quiet...

Anyway, next day up in the mountains - wonderful 2,5 hour hike up in the mountains, with stunning scenery. After a big lunch we decided to do the bamboo rafting down the river. Well, that was something that the WildWater boats in theme parks could learn from:-) Man, I mean I was soaked! It was good fun.

Second day, it was raining cats and dogs in the morning and hung out in a local cafe most of the morning. Luckily the skies cleared a bit around 11:30, so we decided to go buy some rain coats and go to the old village anyway. After a near death experience (that is- not for the passengers but the pedestrians walking down the street) we arrived at the gates of the 200-years old village, walked around and had lunch at a local family's courtyard (since there weren't any restaurants we just asked one family if they wanted to prepare some food for us)

Check out some of the pictures I've taken there:

XianDu

Thank you again Daisy for organizing the trip!