Day 62 - The Anchang Mission

Today was definitely a day we can define as an adlibing mission of a day. Once again, the bus we had been advised to catch to the East Bus Station (from where our bus to Shaoxing would leave from, in order for us to get to the water village of Anchang, approximiately 2 hours away) didn't turn up! Thinking she was very clever, Liv advised a very hungover Adam that there is also a train to Shaoxing, and that we should just go to the train station because we knew the bus number that got us there! We got on the right bus, but we also happened to spend the next hour travelling all the way around the lake to get to finally make it to the train station an hour later.

At the train station, we were welcomed into the most hectic train station we have seen so far. Eventually making our way through all the people up to the ticketing office, we were told that the next train wasn't leaving until 2pm. This setback was not what Adam needed - last night was the first time that Adam reached the dozen beer mark on these travels, and he knew from the first bite of the peanutbutter and banana sandwich that this was going to be a hard day - compounded even more by minimal sleep and the heat, sweating out much needed hydration!

By this time, we were no closer to the East Bus station than this morning, and had no idea how to get there. Eventually spotting a minibus with a East Bus Station sign, we boarded it and made it to the Station almost 2 hours after we had set out from the hostel! Good things take time (or so we keep telling ourselves). At the bus station, we bought our Shaoxing tickets, and were on the bus less than 10 minutes later. Shaoxing was once a beautiful bustling water-town, but recently has slipped below a mountain of construction - like a lot of small towns in China.

Venturing to Anchang village, a village within Shaoxing, we were dropped off by the local bus at what they said was an entrance to the village - and we soon found ourselves exploring the village without coming across the ticket office we had expected.
In Anchang we walked along one of the two main riverside paths lined with boats - the river is now green and highly polluted - past the concrete bridges and quaint old homes that line both sides of the river. We had an enjoyable time here, as it was very relaxing and quiet - not yet crowded by tour busloads of tourists like many of the other villages we have visited. With not much else to see, but the character of the village, we sat down to a riverside meal and watched time slip by, as it has done so here for hundreds of years.
Retracing our steps, we wandered back to the road, in the hope of finding another bus to get us to Shaoxing's South bus station, and from there to the Long-distance bus station, from where we would eventually catch a bus back to Hangzhou! However, after finding our first bus, our trip to the South station was halted when a minibus pulled in front of our bus so that one of its passengers could come on. Our driver took offence to this and refused to let the guy in. We spent the next hour waiting for the police (yes they called the police) to come (yes the police actually came) and sort out a classic example of chinese men 'saving face' - the bus driver wasn't budging, and neither was the minivan. The funniest (and most annoying) thing was that during our wait for the police, 3 buses heading to the same place passed us by. Back on the road (the bus driver won, by the way), the rest of the bus-hopping chain was successful, making it back to Hangzhou without anymore incident.

Back in Hangzhou, the dramas continued, starting with our first run in with pickpockets - almost losing our camera. They managed to get one zip of the backpack undone until Adam realised something was amiss, spinning around and staring the culprit straight in the face. Not knowing what to do, we figured all we could do was rearrange our bag and pack the camera further down. After all the warnings about pickpockets in China, we guess 2 months until our first experience is pretty good, and this has served to put us back onto high alert around busy places.

Trying to get back to the hostel was to be our last mission for the night (it was dark by now), which was made worse when all the people we asked informed us there was no bus to Nanshan Lu (our street). We decided to catch a bus that went close, with the plan of navigating from there (close means under an hours walk). Despite leaving us a fair distance from home, the bus happened to drop us off right at the Wushan Lu night markets next to the Qinghefang Old Street, which we wanted to see anyway. We browsed the markets, before almost dying of starvation - our noses leading us to the nearest cheap noodle joint. Fuelled up, we only had 3/4 of an hour walking ahead of us, until we reached the hostel - and only one icecream stop on the way!

Back at the hostel we packed up ready for an early morning departure tomorrow, which will hopefully not be as drama-filled as today!

An adlibing mission to the water town of Anchang.