Hangzhou, Wuzhen, Suzhou: An Adventure Unfolds
Here I am again, continuing to share the remaining fun-filled days of my 11-day solo trip in China!
Day 6: Hangzhou - Temples and Towers
In the morning, I grabbed a Luckin Coffee right in the lobby of my hotel. I saw this coffee chain again in Suzhou, so it must have branches in Shanghai too, though I didn't notice them. The coffee is affordable and delicious! It's super popular, with tons of orders coming in through their app, so we had a bit of a wait. Afterwards, we bought instant noodles for breakfast at a Family Mart opposite Hangzhou Station.
Next up, we tried to book a DiDi (the Chinese equivalent of Uber) to Lingyin Temple, but we couldn't get an internet connection. We ended up asking for help. We ran into a male student eating a sweet bread outside Hangzhou Station. While we were asking him, another guy overheard us talking and warned the student to be careful because we might be scammers 😞.
My sister told me what he said, and though I was annoyed, I could understand where he was coming from. My sister explained to the student that we had cash and would pay him directly for booking the DiDi. He seemed like a genuinely kind person and believed us. So, the three of us walked together to a spot where he could get a ride through DiDi.
🚗🚗 It took a whole hour to reach Lingyin Temple because of crazy traffic! Even though it was a weekday, it was packed with local tourists. We bought tickets for 50 yuan each. Reaching the actual Lingyin Temple requires climbing a lot of stairs, so we decided to skip that. Instead, we visited a nearby temple and bought souvenir bracelets (you can find some for around 39-80 yuan, though there are pricier options too). Afterwards we booked a DiDi to Leifeng Pagoda, again getting stuck in traffic. I managed to sneak in a few selfies in front of Fayu Temple 😉 while the car stopped. Entry to Leifeng Pagoda cost 40 yuan, then we had time to explore, snack, and take great photos from the top of the pagoda. Then, we headed back to the hotel to rest.
🦐🥗 Around 9 PM, we planned to visit Wulin Night Market. The driver couldn't drop us off right at the market, saying it was a short walk away. Without internet, we were lost like blind people and hungry, so we randomly chose a restaurant for dinner. But the food was delicious 😋😋! We ordered seafood congee, stir-fried vegetables, and prawns with garlic sauce (the picture looked small, but the dish was huge! We barely finished it, and the garlic was a bit salty). The congee was amazing – sweet and savory, with fresh shrimp and oysters, it was the best congee of the trip! The stir-fried vegetables were similar to water spinach in Vietnam, but crisp, sweet, and not stringy. The restaurant's name translates to "Qiao Street Night Food, Fengqi Road Branch." We were done eating at 10:40 PM, so we skipped Wulin Market and went back to the hotel to rest.
Day 7: Hangzhou to Wuzhen
We started the day with Starbucks next to the hotel. Then we went to Qinghefang to buy souvenirs. We bought silk scarves 🧣 (a Hangzhou specialty) for family, nightgowns 👗, and Longjing tea 🍃 for friends. Next, we checked out of the hotel and headed to Hangzhou East Railway Station to buy high-speed train tickets to Tongxiang.
My sister and I almost got separated here 😟. I stayed with the luggage while my sister went to find where to buy tickets. Hangzhou station is huge, and we spent almost two hours wandering around. When we finally found the ticket counter for Tongxiang, the employee told us the tickets were sold out! We went to the taxi area to ask if we could use someone's hotspot, but no luck. We ended up taking a taxi which cost 330 yuan 😭! If we had known, we should have just booked a DiDi from the hotel – it would have been much cheaper. What a waste!
We arrived at our hotel in Wuzhen and relaxed. At 5 PM, we got ready to explore, buying tickets to enter Wuzhen for 150 yuan each (our hotel was outside the main town). Wuzhen had a peaceful atmosphere in the evening, and it was stunning at night with the glowing lights, open spaces – it was breathtaking (repeating the importance kkk). But, disaster! I forgot my power bank, and my phone was at 22% battery and died after taking only a few pictures by 7:30 PM 😣😣. We walked around enjoying the lively atmosphere and met some very kind girls. We saw performers doing juggling and cheered them on. We enjoyed ourselves and returned to the hotel to rest. Opposite our hotel was a fresh fruit stand. We bought strawberries 🍓, Jabuticaba grapes 🍇, and a weird yellow fruit to try.
Day 8: Wuzhen to Suzhou
We had wonton soup at a shop opposite the hotel, then strolled around, bought mandarins 🍊, and t-shirts 👕 as gifts. We checked out at noon and took a DiDi to Suzhou for 159 yuan + 30 yuan toll fee (the toll between the two cities).
We arrived at our Suzhou hotel around 3:20 PM. We dropped off our luggage and found a hot pot restaurant to eat at. We ordered a divided hot pot. After scooping out a whole bowl of chili peppers, it was still too spicy for me. I could only manage three bites before my eyes started watering 😅. I stuck to the tomato-based broth. Afterwards, we went back to the hotel to rest. At 6:30 PM, we strolled along Guanqian Street, which was full of food stalls, snacks, and souvenirs. We stopped for some delicious blueberry yogurt 🍨🫐. You should try it if you get the chance! We bought affordable bracelets and keychains and did some clothes shopping. Converting to Vietnamese currency, the clothes are inexpensive, costing between 180k to 470k VND per item. At 9 PM, we ate Korean food next to our hotel and relaxed.
Day 9: Exploring Suzhou
In the morning, we took a DiDi to Shantang Street. We bought pastries 🥧 to snack on for breakfast, then stopped to buy mandarins 🍊, strawberries 🍓, and coconut 🥥 (lots of water, but not very sweet). We strolled along the riverbank, bought souvenir fans, admired porcelain items and cute souvenirs, then went back to the hotel to rest. We had a lot of snacks, so we skipped lunch. We were getting tired after days of trains, buses and walking around Shanghai. My legs were aching, so I didn't want to go out. At 4:30 PM, we went to the Korean restaurant next to the hotel again, then went for a walk around Guanqian Street, buying some pastries as gifts and some more clothes, then we relaxed at the hotel.
Day 10: Suzhou to Xiamen (Layover)
We bought some sweet pastries 🥮🥯 at Guanqian Street in the morning, grabbed some noodles 🍝 nearby, and drank cheap (6.8 yuan!) but delicious milk tea 🧋. After a rest at the hotel we checked out. Then, we went to Suzhou Station to buy high-speed train tickets to Hongqiao, as we had a flight to Xiamen that evening, for an overnight layover on the way back to Vietnam. Here we had another issue. The self-service ticket machines didn't accept my passport, even when I used the English interface. Luckily, another guy helped us! He asked where to buy tickets and waited for us to bring our luggage before taking us to the ticket counter. After we bought the tickets, he left. We were fortunate to meet so many helpful people – like we had guardian angels!
🚄 Arriving at Hongqiao Station, we had dinner at the airport and checked in for our flight to Xiamen. We landed in Xiamen at 11 PM. The Xiamen Airlines counter for free layover hotels was closed, so we decided to pick a hotel on Trip.com. Luckily, we could connect to the airport wifi (it was spotty, because we didn't have a Chinese phone number). We were exhausted, so we quickly chose a hotel. We took a DiDi to the hotel, but the driver said the hotel was in a narrow alley and he couldn't drive there. He pointed us in the direction. It wasn't that simple... 😣 It was late, and we had to ask for directions. Luckily, a guy selling roasted pork knuckles helped us.
The hotel owner kept saying the room he gave us was the best. It looked nothing like the pictures 😫! I showed him the pictures of the room I booked on the app, and then he finally took us to another room, which looked acceptable. We encouraged each other, saying that we only had one night to get through, and we would be flying back to Vietnam in the morning.
Day 11: Homeward Bound
We woke up early at 5:30 AM and went to the airport to check in. In Xiamen, the staff had already printed our tickets, but they didn't say which gate to go to. My sister asked at the ticket counter for our flight, but the woman told her to queue. After waiting for over 30 minutes, the male staff told her to go to another place. So annoying!
🛬 Upon arriving back in Vietnam, the immigration lines were very long. Each officer gave different directions, making things even more confusing. I asked other people in line and joined them. The automated immigration gates were closed. When it was my turn, the officer asked why I didn't use the automated gate, saying it was faster and you could use it with the same passport for future trips. I didn't say anything (thinking why didn't those other officers tell me that? I spoke Vietnamese. I wasted two hours in the hot airport 😒).
That's how our trip went! Thanks for reading! This post is for people who want to travel solo but lack experience and need a guide.
Note: I planned out the itinerary and locations for each day, but because we lacked internet access, it got messed up. We just visited where we could. Maybe I'll visit the places I missed later. I've noted restaurant locations under the photos.
```