There has been an unusual lull in the blogging space of 9over90 since the post last year. The regulars of this blogging space seem to be absorbed in their hectic lives - Dhanya hopping on from Bangalore to Delhi to Canada to God knows where next, Ravi, still busy hobnobbing with prospective girls, the rumor mills busy figuring out who the next “bakra” (or “bakri”?) is, Arun, taking his new DOF role a tad too seriously and Karthik, busy at the casinos!
So, I have taken it upon myself, the new bahu (I’m entitled to this title till the time that Ravi doesn’t get home the new bride!!) the task of creating some flutter here (with a long post).
We are back from a weeklong trip to Hongkong and Hangzhou!
Hongkong- Love it, Live it!
If you put aside the nauseating odor of the Chinese food and the markets, Hongkong is a rather charming place. Extremely clean, systematic and well organized, with a great public transport system, it was not hard to see why Arun considers Hongkong his second home! We did all that we could in our 3 day stay- Hongkong University(which had Arun hopping around like a kid), Disneyland, the giant Buddha in Lantau, the Star Ferry(and the symphony of lights) and of course, how could we miss the delicious food of the langar in wan chai. For those of you who are planning a trip to HK any time in the future, DO NOT miss Disneyland (if you haven’t already done it in the US/Paris). You absolutely don’t need to be a kid to enjoy it! The symphony of lights is also a beautiful light and sound show. The light beam from the sky scrapers along the Victoria harbor in perfect synchronization with the music is a sight which cannot be missed! And the best part? The show is for free!! :)
Below are some snaps from HKU and Lantau Island
The Enigma of Hangzhou
From Hongkong, we proceeded towards the city of Hangzhou (pronounced as Hung-Jo).
I had my first panic attack on the way from the airport to the hotel, a good 45 min drive, when I noticed that not one sign board/shop name/street name was in English! To think that I would have to spend 4 solitary days in this strange land with strange people (who kept giving you even stranger stares!) speaking an unknown language was a little unnerving, I was relieved to find some of the hotel staff did speak broken English, though the only words the house keeping staff, kitchen, and room service staff seemed to know in English were “hello”, “thank you” and “Sorry”! I had no choice but to communicate with them in sign language for the rest of our stay.
Hangzhou is considered one of the most scenic places in China, renowned for the “West Lake”. The West Lake is in the centre of the city and as painstakingly explained by the concierge at the hotel, was only a km from the hotel
I wanted to acclimatize myself to the surrounding before venturing too far all by myself. So armed with a map of Hangzhou city, and a note of “West Lake” written in Mandarin, I set out on foot to find the west lake. Once into the streets, i realized there was no point carrying the map because none of the landmarks or road signs was in English (which, though I had noticed before, still amazed me!). Nevertheless, I did make it to West Lake (which was definitely more than the 1 km distance) not before encountering loads of curious stares, some non cooperative, even hostile people who refused to even acknowledge my “hello”, some of the more friendlier people who helped me out with the directions and some people even clicking random snaps of a strange looking woman in the streets!
The West Lake is supposed to have ten scenes or scenic spots. It did turn out to be a very scenic place and a HUGE lake. After walking around for more than 2.5 hours, I realized that I had only covered one of the 10 scenes; hence I decided to walk back to the hotel. After all I still had 4 days to explore the lake. I walked half way to the hotel and took a Chinese version of an Indian auto the rest of the distance (Taxis are invariably ALWAYS full in HZ). Attached are some snaps from the west lake.
The highlight of the trip to Hangzhou, was the visit to the Song Village and in particular, a spectacular show, called the “Romance of the Song Dynasty”.
The Song dynasty ruled China for more than 100 years and during their rule the capital was moved to Hangzhou. The song village is depiction of what life looked like during the rule of the Song dynasty.
The show “Romance of the song dynasty” is supposedly compared to the “Moulin rouge” of Paris. The sheer opulence of the show, the huge stage, the brilliant performers, the psychedelic colours, the beautiful costumes (and the girls!), the digital images, the 3-D effects, it all took my breath away.
The show was divided into 4 parts. The first part showed the culture of the China or more specifically the Song culture. The second was the celebration of the emperor’s birthday. The second part had beautiful forms of dance, belly dancing, the traditional Song dynasty dance and acrobatics.
The third part was called “the armored cavalry”. The props, the digital images, the 3-D effects on the stage could have put any Bollywood movie set to shame. The Battle had some breath taking moments with cannons and bomb blasts and horses running across the stage. the photos below show the enemy soldiers attack a child, the child is saved by a soldier. The soldier ties the child around his waist and fights his way valiantly through the enemies. The part is beautifully concluded with the mother looking frantically for her baby and finding him safe in the soldier’s arms.
The next part is the “West Lake Legend”. Towards the end of the battle, when the lights were dimmed, I suddenly felt the auditorium temperature decrease by a couple of degrees. Just when I was wondering what was on the stage this time, the lights are turned on, and Lo!! What a sight! Half the stage is filled with water flowing from the roof! And just so we feel that we are part of the entire atmosphere, there are light showers through the entire auditorium! Speechless! This is followed by graceful ballet by the dancers.
The last part of the show is the Flourishing Song Dynasty. All of a sudden, the rain stops, the water recedes and the stage is full of tea plantations and tea pickers. The dancers emerge from all over, from within the audience, from backstage, from some area below the stage! The show concludes with memorable scenes - dancers dressed as butterflies, depicting sea life, the greenery of Hangzhou and the beautiful west lake.
Though the return back to the hotel from the Song Village was a nightmare, with none of the taxis willing to take us back (a Pakistani guy with a driver and interpreter finally came to our rescue), I would still say it was the high point of the trip!
I also made it to the West Lake impression show (a light and sound show apparently also depicting a love story which I found difficult to understand), this time with the DOF’s. And though the rest of the group thoroughly enjoyed the show, it would not be hard to imagine why I kept comparing it with the “Romance of the Song Dynasty” and felt it fell short on a number of counts. However, the West lake impression show did have its moments, the enormous structures emerging from the lake and the play of colors, the synchronization and the grace of the dancers and the beauty of the west lake in the background.
The Song village, according to me, wins hands down! It’s a pity that it is not as widely advertised in Hangzhou as the West Lake.
More snaps from the trip coming soon!
In case anyone has managed to survive through my maiden marathon post, do throw in some comments!Love,
Mekhala
