“Truly unique, charming and open-minded”

Tuesday 5 June

At this hostel in Hangzhou, every morning at 7.40 we hear the throbbing sound, complete with drums, of a full marching band. This is because there's a primary school next door to our hostel, and the drum call is the school's equivalent of a bell signalling the start of school. I don't know if the children march in or not, as we cannot see the school from our window. The hostel have a little warning sign up on the bar, apologising for the wake up call.

Today is a catch-up day; we have another parcel to post; Reg is sending home 2 pairs of shorts and all his travel books, which weigh a ton (well, almost) as he collects a new book in practically every new place we visit. I'm glad as when we're travelling, the backsack with the books in is something I carry. We send the parcel by surface mail, which will take 2 – 3 months.

The China Post is near the lake and we ponder whether to go out in a sampan, the boat manoeuvred by one oar; the cost, complete with boatman is 360 yuan or £ 36. We decide to leave it for now, and to catch a bus back to our hostel, from where we can walk to Hangzhou Silk Museum instead.

Museums are something the Chinese do well, and they are usually free. The Chinese were the pioneers of silk production (hence the term “The Silk Road”, which carried the silk fabrics from the

East to the West). It is fascinating to learn the different processes involved in the making of silk fabrics, then and now, and to see beautiful examples of these fabrics, and especially of Chinese embroidered clothing from times past.

Most of our walking route to and from the silk museum is on a countryfied path, by ponds, parkland and weeping willows, and it's enchanting just to sit on a bench and take in the scenery.

In the evening I want to answer a couple of emails, but as the wifi is only available in the lounge/bar area, I know we'll get talking to people and this won't get done. We chat to a young Swiss woman who is travelling alone, and learn that the cost of living is so expensive in Switzerland that people travel across the border to France to do their food shopping; in fact many also buy a house in France as they can't afford to buy one in Switzerland.

We are joined by a young Chinese man, called Bowen (his real Chinese name), who speaks excellent English – he has been studying in Malaysia, where English is the language spoken on his course; he's also lived in Canada. He's open-minded and very interested in England, Europe, America and the Western world and Western culture in general. We have an extremely interesting discussion on Tibet (the Swiss girl has recently been there). I don't go down the road of asking him his views on Chairman Mao though.

I see that Bowen is wearing a teeshirt with “Canada” written on it, and tell him we've found it fascinating to see some of the English slogans written on the teeshirts of young Chinese people. We've also noticed that some Chinese young people wear spectacle frames without lenses in them – Bowen laughs and says it's a fashion thing; also young people think it will make them look more intelligent.

I've made a list of some of the teeshirt slogans we spotted while walking around West Lake, Hangzhou; here are just a few of them:

“Truly unique, charming and open-minded”

“DESTROY, DESTROY, DESTROY, DESTROY, DESTROY'

“Touch them” (written across a young woman's chest)

“Spruced up”

“Merry Christmas”

“That slipped my heart in youth” (??)

“What a sic concept”

“Memory dream and love”

“Go to hell..... for Heaven's sake”

We believe that most of the people wearing the teeshirts don't understand what's written on them.

Tomorrow afternoon we leave Hangzhou on the night-train for Guilin, our last destination in China before we travel to Hanoi, Vietnam .