We left Chengdu at 6am on Sunday morning on a highspeed train going to Hangzhou. China has the most extensive high speed rail system in the world. Their train stations in major cities might handle 100,000 or more passengers a day and are incredibly efficient. The US is still in the choo-choo train age by comparison and by the time California gets its high speed rail from Los Angeles to San Francisco constructed I believe China will be on the road to next generation Maglev (magnetic levitation) or better. The train we were on hit speeds of 150mph and the ride was very smooth. No clickety clack of the rail, just amazing acceleration and speed. We arrived in Hangzhou (near Shanghai) at 12:19 pm – 12 hours later at the scheduled time and got checked into our hotel.

We are staying about a ten minute walk from West Lake so early Monday morning we went for a walk. There were many people practicing taiji including this gentlemen who appeared, by his form, to be a serious practitioner.

There were also many other groups and individuals practicing. Here’s a few pictures of them.

I like looking for people practicing Taiji and sometimes if there’s an opportunity I’ll use my limited Chinese to tell them they are very good. If we talk they mostly want to know what country I am from.

A word about Chinese hotels. One thing I have always enjoyed in my travels to China is the very nice hotels that are reasonably priced. In the USA I can’t afford a five star hotel and even a $200/night hotel in the US may not be that special. But just for comparison, here’s the lobby of the hotel I am staying at in Hangzhou.

As you can see it is very nice with rooms to match and our room is $200/a night* – basically a Five Star Hotel comfort level I can’t afford in the US. Just to be fair I have stayed in some pretty funky cheap hotels in China also but that’s another story. I do prefer the nice hotels. I have traveled in China on tours and with friends. If you are new to China travel I recommend you book a tour. I’ve used cytstours.com several times over the years and the destinations and travel arrangements have always been excellent. So I always like to recommend them.

*Correction: I found out I was mistaken and the room we are staying at is only $140 per night because we prepaid the room, not $200, making it even a better deal!