Unusually I was invited to do some work down in Hangzhou and it was handy as I had already decided to go there for a few days to give my lungs a break. A few nights in a plush hotel with a suite including kitchen, washing machine and more, was just what I needed.
I got there early on Wednesday so that I could spend a bit of time on the lake. It was worth the £4 just to escape the madness by sitting on the back of a boat in the sun. Unbelieveably, fluke weather conditions meant it was warm and sunny and there was no better place to be than floating on the West Lake in Hangzhou treating my lungs to if not pure air, at least cleaner than Nanjing’s.
Hangzhou has a sparkling new Metro line which I took advantage of when the predictable difficulty of finding a taxi happened. It took me an hour to get from the centre to the hotel using Shank’s pony and bus 24 and the metro. Hangzhou definitely needs more taxis.