Hey Hey and a Big G'Day toya,
 
I awoke with and remembered that I had forgotten to think of where to go next when I made my decision to leave Nanjing last night. This adventure has been a real 'wake up and decide' adventure. After chatting to Amigo and I decided to head to Hangzhou which is further south in Zhejiang Province.
 
Amigo told me that the Chinese people consider both Hangzhou and Suzhou to be 'Heaven on Earth'. Unbelievable, I looked up both and they were the exact words used to describe them. Well quoted LP! Why not, I think I could use a few days in heaven. So I packed and after saying good bye to the staff I headed to the bus station. On the way I stopped and had Yangzhou Fried Rice for breakfast and decided, hey why go to Hangzhou when I can go to Fried Rice City!
 
What do I actually mean by this?
 
Well, the fried rice and special friend rice we get at 'our' Chinese Restaurants back home actually comes from what is known here in China as Yangzhou Chaofan...or Yangzhou (city), Chao (fried) and Fan (rice). Even now as I write this many hours later I have a bowl full of it and it's wonderful. It's well known all over China and what you get usually depends on the cook and not the area you are in like with many dishes.
 
Ok, the bus station.
Which bus station does one go to to get from Nanjing to Yangzhou?
Of course it's the furtherest and most difficult one to get to.
 
Its located well behind Zijin Shan and it took about an hour to get there! I had to go to Guanzhou Lu, take Bus No: 65 to Taiping Beilu and then grab Bus No: 2 which took me all the way here. The ticket to Yangzhou was 30 Yuan and that is for a beautiful air-conditioned express bus that took around an hour and twenty minutes. When I arrived I decided to have a look at the room a guy was offering for 80 Yuan at the big hotel across from the West Bus Station.
 
It was a little out of the way and I would have to catch a bus into the city but hey!
 
My plan was to head to the Sister Hostel of the one in Nanjing but after viewing my hotel room I've decided to go back to Chinese Hotels. Here I have free water, a kettle, towels, a TV and free internet in my room! How much? All for the price of 70 Yuan a night. In Nanjing I was paying 120 Yuan with nothing but air conditioning and my own bathroom.
 
The hostel here was to be the same price for the same accommodation.
Bugger than mate!
 
The bus ride into the city is only 1 Yuan and takes around ten minutes on a nice double decker bus. After checking my email on my free internet located in my air-conditioned room with everything I need I decided to jump on double decker Bus No: 66 and head into town. I could also catch Bus No: 20 but why take a normal bus when you can ride the double decker bus!
 
I got off at the main round-a-bout that has a huge stone pagoda in the middle. Here I found all the usual big stores along with Mc D's, Pizza Hut and ElcheapO coffee providers KFC which of course was my first stop where I transferred my LP map onto my new Chinese map. As there was bugger all on the LP map it took around three minutes to locate everything and write them in.
 
This city really is bicycle city.
There are thousands of the buggers on the streets.
 
I spent the rest of the evening walking along Wenchang Zhonghlu up to Taizhou Lu where the main city finishes at the river. I then began heading back and found an old section behind the big coffee shops somewhere near the Ge Garden area. I walked until around nine thirty and decided it was best to catch the bus home or at least see what time they finish. So I boarded Bus No: 66 from Wenchang Zhonglu and off we went.

Are you ready for this?

I had shown the driver my map and pointed to the West Bus Station.
He said yes but soon after when everyone got off he told me No and to catch Bus No: 26.
This I did and showed the driver my map and where did I end up?
The bloody train station!
I showed the driver my map again and he laughed and apologised.
 
OK, my map does say West Bus Station as I checked the characters. There are also no train tracks near the West Bus Station on my map so how could two bus drivers get it wrong. I seriously don't understand. They were in no hurry, they are Chinese and my map is in Chinese!
 
HHHmmm!
 
When I finally located the right road and was waiting for my right bus a girl explained to me that at night Bus No: 66 turns into Bus No: 66 W. Oh, the old add a letter and change the bus route. How smart is that? Seriously! Why not just give it an entire new bloody number if it goes on a different route? Go figure that one out! So at night I'm to catch Bus No: 20 which thankfully does the same thing all day and night.
 
It's not a double decker but it at least it'll get me home.
 
How much time did I waste?
About an hour and a half.
Now do you see why I walk everywhere!
 
Beers N Noodles toya.....shane
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The soundtrack to this entry was The Cardigans
The album was 'First Band on the Moon
There is an awesome cover of Sabbaths 'Iron Man' on there!