China - Shanghai and Hangzhou

Shanghai

Shanghai is badass. There is just a really good feel to it. Lots of culture and an amazing skyline. If I were to choose a place in China to live, it would be Shanghai. 

view from the Bund

 weird cold fruit thing

Biran: Chinas next top model

Artsy

 Financial District at night

The Bund

On our way out of our hotel, we asked what was the best way to get to Hangzhou. Not one person said bus, so we taxied to the train station. Some bro grabbed our bags, and told us there was no train for two hours. He lead us to a bus station, charged us 3x the normal price and then asked for a tip. Brooooo. Looking back we made some retarded decisions on the trip and its no wonder why they target the tourists. Oh well. So, we chucked our bags on the bus and then almost got into a fight. someone was sitting in our seat, and we were in someone elses. Biran almost threw down. About 20 minutes into the two hour bus ride, Biran was busting to pee. She was contemplating peeing in my bag. You know you're desperate when you consider peeing in a bag. Probably some bladder damage, but im glad she made it.
It was an interesting journey.

Hangzhou

On our hotel voucher, they described Hangzhou as 'Paradise on Earth'. Clearly there was a mistake in the translation. To me, it was dirtier than any other place I have visited and it wasn't some small lake-front community. It is a massive city on a tiny lake. We checked out the main attraction, West Lake. Living half my life in Canada and the other half in New Zealand, the scenery didn't do it for me. However, I suppose it didn't help that it was winter. It would be much more beautiful when the trees aren't bare and the lake not frozen. 

Escorts -After weeks of travelling, dragging my suitcase through massive crowds, my back was stuffed. I could hardly stand. We made our way back to the nicest hotel of our trip and headed to the spa. At the reception we asked about the different massages and the lady gave us a very vague description of each. Thai massage is harder than the Japanese massage, and the chinese massage was the most gentle. We decided on the Japanese massage and were put in different rooms. Biran asked if we could get the massage done in the same room but the request was rejected. Biran waited with me so she could explain what was wrong with my back. We were sitting on a chair, munching on some sugar cane, drinking green tea when this little, young girl popped her head through the door only to retreat straight away. weird. Seconds later another girl did the same thing. Somethings up. Biran asked again whether we could get the massage done in the same room. They looked tempted but a little unsure of the whole thing. They then asked repeatedly if I was Biran's boyfriend, to which Biran answered, yes. One of the girls then told Biran to tell me to take off my clothes and put on some plastic shorts, then told Biran to go wash her feet. This is when we knew our suspicions were true. The clues were there, we were just a little slow. After few moments of questions and answers back and forth, Biran told me this place is indeed what we joked about: a whore house. No thanks.

I felt dirty just being there. The girls were so young, the massages were as cheap as going to a movie, and they were actually considering doing sexual acts for both Biran and I, in the same room. In China, if you have any little suspicion whether or not it's a whore house, it is.

Onwards to Harbin