Entries from August 2008 ↓

 The hotel is dotted with willow trees, like the West Lake side

the West Lake

I’ve been to this hostel, so I am not bluffing here. Also, if it is a hotel that is intended for entertaining state leaders in China, that must be something. What I am talking about is the Hangzhou Xihu State Guesthouse (杭州西湖國賓館). As the name suggests, it is in Hangzhou, and Xihu means the most famous sightseeing spot of the city – West Lake.

Situated to the west of the beautiful West Lake, and surrounded at three sides by the lake, the hotel commands unparalled location. Its beauty lies not only in its furnishings of the hotel rooms, or the architecture of the buildings, but most importantly, in its garden area of 360,000 squre meters with quitessential Chinese garden designs. The garden dates back to the late 19th century and was redesigned by one of the most prominient Chinese architects Dai Nian Ci (戴念慈) in the 50’s, and remodified again in the late 90’s. The area of the hotel is dotted with willow trees, flowers, water, pavilions and bridges, evoking poetic lyricism. It has a gold course, a tennis court, a lakeside tea house, etc.

The hotel has entertained three most important figuers in the contemporary China – Mao Zedong (毛澤東), Deng Xiaoping （鄧小平）and Jiang Zeming （江澤民）. In fact, the hotel was not open to the public before. But since China’s opening up to the world, so is this hotel. So if you are looking to stay in a five-star hotel in Hangzhou, you should really consider coming to this hotel. It is much better than Hyatt, or other luxury hotels in the city. Because the hotel setting is so unique, not only in Hangzhou, but across China.

The hotel’s website:
http://www.xihusgh.com/en/index.htm (english)
http://www.xihusgh.com/flash/index.htm (chinese) - for the full picture of the hotel, you must come to the Chinese website – content is a lot richer than the English website

You can make bookings through the hotel website, but it is not direct booking and there is no price showed. For direct booking, you can go to Ctrip:
http://hotels.english.ctrip.com/Domestic/ShowHotelInfo.aspx?hotel=2002&StartDate=2008-08-31&DepDate=2008-09-02

The price ranges from RMB1150 to 2300 per room.

 photo: Assocciated Press

These days China likes to flaunt everything that is big and grand. On 28 August, the world’s third tallest skyscraper Shanghai World Financial Centre (492 meters, 101 storeys), after Burj Dubai and Taipei 101, was open for business. And tomorrow (30 August), the observatory on the 100th floor of the Centre will open, becoming the world’s tallest sightseeing facility.

Besides the 100th floor, the 94th and 97th floors will also offer observatory facilities with top-to-bottom glass windows.

But it won’t be free – in fact, it will be expensive. Visitors will be charged RMB150 (USD22) to enter the observatory.

Since the strict visa policy imposed by China to limit number of visitors for the security of Beijing Olympics, the question of when the normal visa policy will be resumed is raised by people interested in visiting the country or who have business connection with the country. Here’s the news from Hong Kong Chinese newspaper Mingpao,which said on 23 August that, reportedly, the normal visa application process will be resumed, at the earliest, in September.

So if you are expecting a speedy recovery of the normal China visa policy after the Olympics closes on 24 August, you may need to lower your expectation.

In the same report, Mingpao said that Hong Kong’s visitor number has been dropping since last June, with August’s drop expected to reach 10%. This is because under China’s strict visa policy, fewer foreigners are visiting China, who would have visited Hong Kong in the same trip.

In major China cities such as Guangzhou and Hangzhou, taxis are equipped with fare meters and machines to print receipts. Ask for a print receipt when you leave the taxi, which usually shows the taxi fare, the taxi number and the license number of the taxi driver.  This receipt would be useful if you suspect that you are ripped off and want to lodge a complaint.

Nowadays, because of the rise in fuel price, many cities allow for taxi fuel sub-charge ranging from RMB0.5-1.0 per journey. Say Guangzhou, which imposes on passengers a fuel sub-charge of RMB1 per taxi journey. So do not be surprised if you are asked to pay RMB1 more on top of the charge shown by the taxi meter.

Let me introduce two properties that are located relatively far from the city centre, but yet are in rather nice seaside or countryside living environment, with shuttle bus service or connection to the public transport.

If you don’t mind the distance and want to live in the countryside like environment, they may be your choice.

These two properties are run by two of Hong Kong’s main property developers, Sino Group and Hong Kong’s tycoon Li Ka Shing’s Hutchison and Cheung Kong Groups.

Gold Coast Serviced Apartments, at Gold Coast, New Territories

These apartments have sea view, and require a minimum of one month stay, from HKD16000 per apartment.  Nearby is a beach.

It provides shuttle bus service to different points in the city centre, and takes about 30 minutes to reach Central on the Hong Kong island.

Harbour Plaza Resort City in Tin Shui Wei, New Territories

Tin Shui Wei area is known in Hong Kong for frequent occurrence of family tragedies where the poor families do not get enough support from the Government. So this “resort city” is inherently not really belonging to the area’s landscape. The place is a bit far from the city centre, but it is on the railway line, at the Tin Shui Wei Station of the Hong Kong MTR station. Travel time from Tin Shui Wei to, say Central, is 44 minutes by train. Monthly rental of the apartment is from HK$5900.