I
love the fact that my three-year-
old is learning Mandarin in school.
Unfortunately, she rarely gets the chance
to practise speaking it here, so that made
for a great excuse for sneaking her out of nursery
and off on a mummy/daughter excursion to
mainland China! Frankly speaking, Hangzhou
wasn’t high on my list of places to visit, but I
changed my tune when a cheap flight appeared
on Dragonair’s weekly flight sale.
Hangzhou is in the south-eastern province
of Zhejiang, under two hours’ flying time from
Hong Kong. In addition to Dragonair, you can
also fly with Hong Kong Airlines and China
Eastern. You will need a China visa, so don’t
forget to allow time to organise this; ours were
easily arranged through the China Travel
Service and took less than a week.
Picturesque pagodas
A 45-minute taxi ride from the airport landed us
in the greenery of Hangzhou’s famous West Lake
area. Famed explorer Marco Polo described
Hangzhou as “without doubt, one of the finest
and most splendid cities in the world”, so it had
quite a reputation to live up to! We were staying
at the Shangri-La, the first Western hotel on the
shore of West Lake, set in 40 acres of gardens.
After marvelling at the hotel, we immediately
headed out to explore Hangzhou’s famous
waters. Having spent time in some of China’s
other major cities, I was really astounded by
A quick trip north provides a perfect place to
practise those Putonghua skills, writes
Nicola Burke.
Hangzhou
Hanging out in
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