On our last night in Ningbo we had a nice seafood dinner and then some karaoke (and then some of the students continued). The morning bus transfer and train ride was a struggle for some.

For many of the students, this was the first experience of Chinese train travel, and I had purposely booked economy (‘hard seat’) tickets rather than first class (‘soft seat’) tickets, which really are not that much more expensive (and a bargain by UK standards).

Actually, train travel here (at least in my experience in along the east coast is not as bad as people might assume. Sure, the scale is daunting and the stations busy.

The hard seat sections are crowded and on long journeys one can get a bit restless (as there is not enough room to work). There is always the completely unnecessary rush and crush when the gates open. But the trains are sturdy and reasonably punctual.

The selection of food is typically Chinese convenience food, tea, water, instant noodles, packet nuts and seeds. Each carriage has a hot water urn for people to refill their tea or fill their noodles (these urns can actually be found in many public places).

Our hotel in Hangzhou is very central to the lake and the weather has turned on a treat. The lake area in Hangzhou is justifiably claimed to be one of the most beautiful central city features in the world and there is a pleasant relaxed buzz about the place and people enjoy their weekend. Wandering around parts of it, relaxing for food and coffee was, indeed, an ideal restorative from the busy last few days.

In the evening a few of us stumbled across a bustling night market that gave a strong sense of ‘authentic’ — at least in the sense that there were very few tourists and nobody offered us a copy watch. Stores were selling traditional and modern clothing, art works, lots and lots of street food vendors. Again the bustle was pleasantly distracting and relaxing, though unfortunately, difficult to capture on the camera.

Now its time for lunch!