My Stroll in Hangzhou.

Monday 31 March, 2014 

¥3.00           Breakfast (Uni Restaurant)
¥4.00           Lunch (Buns)
¥50.00         Paper (For painting
¥25.00         Easel
¥10.00         Scarf (Viscose, all 10RMB along Hefang Jie)
¥9.75           Carrefour (Pea snacks and Reeses)
¥399.00       Nike Free Runs 3.0 (2012 make?)
¥42.70         Overpriced Fruits (4 mangosteens, 4 bananas, two pears)
¥15.00         Dinner (Uni Restaurant
¥4.00           Yoghurt 

Total: ¥532.45 ($95.60)

Weekly Total: ¥532.45 ($95.60)

Total Spend: ¥18387.15 ($3472.10 AUD)

- - -

I started off this chilly Monday thinking this would be the week that I would be on budget. Suddenly a wild Nike Factory Outlet appeared and I found a pair of sneakers that were exactly what I needed and then that thought quickly disappeared.

After my hectic weekend in Shanghai, I thought it would be nice to take a stroll in Hangzhou to really soak up the difference between the two cities. (Actually I just really needed to go back to the art store to pick up paper, and it's close to He Fang Jie ~ a typical tourist's haunt).

Two interesting things happened today:

1. I was walking down He Fang Jie with my camera out taking snaps, when suddenly a local chinese couple (in their early 20's) approached me and asked to take a photo. The girl was quite shy at first and stood next to me, which made me confused as naturally I thought they wanted me to take a photo of them. Then she ran back to her boyfriend and was shaking her head and refusing to, all while the boy encouraged her to. At this point I was very confused. Then the boy explained that the girl's mum doesn't like her going out with him, so she needs to send her mum a photo of her with her ''friends''. I gladly took the photo with her.. if only I could hear what story she made up about me in front of her parents!

It was an interesting encounter because I didn't think this sort of thing was such a big deal, especially when you're in your 20's already. I guess it still happens in China.

2. I decided to detour and go into Carrefour to check out the international goods there. As I walked out I saw a small Nike Outlet store and it was selling shoes for a lot cheaper than store prices, so I went to try them out. I ended up getting a men's size (how embarassing.. not really, everyone here has baby feet / also I was the smallest men's size so nyehhhh) , and the guy working there was very helpful. 

As I went to pay the guy asked me if I was going to buy a pair for my boyfriend (I never mentioned no boyfriend before..) and I think it was a very cute and subtle way to ask if I had a boyf already. Sheeeeez..

Anyway one bad thing about Hangzhou compared to Shanghai is the public transport system. Hangzhou relies a lot on buses, which also means you end up getting stuck in traffic a lot. Even though the city centre is only 5km away, it takes 45 mins on the bus to get there.

I really could show better photos than food and shoes since I took some on my camera today but I'm a bit lazy. Also what is better than food and shoes!

Hey look it's orange!

Hey look they are the same kind of orange! This is a sign! Actually I just get excited by matching colours very easily (especially when my socks match other things) ... I really like socks.

Ma shoes!