China 2015
I attended the ICCE conference in Hangzhou from November 29 to December 5. It was my first trip to China and I was not sure about what to expect. Here are my impressions of the main aspects of my visit.
Walking around the hotel
The conference was held at the First World Hotel, across the river and about 12km from Hangzhou. I stayed at the First World Leisure Hotel, a slightly-less-overpriced annex of the main hotel. It was all part of a large amusement and residential development which wasn’t as successful as envisaged. Around this was a mix of large, gated and guarded new apartment buildings and old style suburbs.
I did lots of walking around the area during breaks in the conference programme.
The conference
The 2015 ICCE (International Conference on Computers in Education) conference was held at the First World Hotel, a five-star hotel with an opulent safari theme.
Hangzhou
I managed to visit Hangzhou twice; before and after the conference. It was a sprawling city with large blocks on which apartment complexes and office buildings were dotted. Polluted. A new, very efficient subway system. Western brand stores were quite popular, selling made-in-China stuff for more than in Japan. Lots of people who wanted to show the world how much money they had. It was (felt) really safe walking around. Very few foreigners, but I was never stared at or fussed over. Very little English spoken. Really expensive department stores but the small shops seemed reasonable. Everyone had a smartphone.
I couldn’t see the other side of the lake on the first day I visited, but it was nice the second time.
The food
I mainly ate at the hotels, which consisted of a very basic breakfast buffet and quite good lunch (at the conference). For dinner I went to a variety of places, unfortunately I forgot to take photos.
Maccas was interesting. No cheaper than Japan, but I noticed that some people seemed to spend their days / nights in the downstairs dining area, eating people’s leftovers and as they put away their trays etc. Pretty sad, really.
Souvenirs
China is probably the most difficult place in the world to buy souvenirs, as pretty much everything is already in the local supermarket at home (usually for less). I ended up buying some biscuits at one of the airport duty-free stores, and they were truly disgusting. Raw flour and sugar pressed into a square shape in a factory somewhere. I threw them away, embarrassed to give them to anyone.