Golden Week: The Honest Survival Plan

October 1–7 is not a week to "see" Hangzhou. West Lake, Lingyin Temple and Hefang Street fill to a level you have never experienced — shoulder-to-shoulder on the causeways, two-hour queues for a temple ticket. Do your big sightseeing before October 1 or after October 7, and treat Golden Week itself as a week to stay local.

Here's what locals actually do, and it works. The west side of the lake — Yang Causeway (杨公堤), Maojiabu, Yuhu Bay — is a ten-minute ride from the crowds but nearly empty, even on October 2nd. And early October is osmanthus season: 满陇桂雨 (Manjuelong, "osmanthus rain") is the single most Hangzhou thing you can do all semester. The whole valley smells like it; you walk a lane lined with old tea houses and it's quiet, because the tour groups are all standing at Broken Bridge. As for the week itself, ZJU's international student office usually runs trips and events around Golden Week — ask them in September, and know that every first-timer is equally intimidated. It's not just you.

For the fuller crowd-avoidance map, I wrote a separate piece on **surviving Hangzhou during Golden Week**.

What to Eat: The Local Shortlist

The green tea (龙井) is the famous one, and it's genuinely good — but the dish tourists almost never order and locals eat constantly is 片儿川, a noodle soup with pork, bamboo shoot and mustard greens. It's ¥15–20 a bowl, it's on every neighbourhood menu, and it's the taste of Hangzhou at its most everyday. Then work through:

- 葱包桧 — crispy scallion-wrapped fried dough, a street snack with a good story behind it - 东坡肉 (Dongpo pork) — the melt-in-your-mouth braised pork - 龙井虾仁 (Longjing shrimp) — shrimp stir-fried with the local tea leaves - 藕粉 (lotus root powder) and 定胜糕 — two sweet, very local snacks

For breakfast, go where locals go: 知味观 or 新丰小吃. Order the 鲜肉大包 (pork bun) and a bowl of wontons. It's a ¥10 breakfast and it's the real thing, not the hotel version. One rule of thumb for noodles: the best 片儿川 comes from the hole-in-the-wall shops with a handwritten menu and locals spilling onto the pavement at lunchtime — if a place has a laminated English menu, you're paying two or three times the local price. I keep a full **must-try list here**.

Weekend Trips, Ranked

You said every second weekend. With Hangzhou as a base, the corridor is excellent. My honest ranking for a September–January semester:

- Anji (安吉) — yes. Bamboo forests, tea terraces, ~1.5 hours away. The best autumn weekend on your list. - Nanxun (南浔), near Huzhou — skip Huzhou city itself; Nanxun old town is quieter and prettier than Wuzhen, and far less crowded. - Yellow Mountain (黄山) — absolutely go, just not during Golden Week. Aim for November: quiet trails, possible sea of clouds, snow on the peaks by December. Budget 2–3 days. - The Great Wall — feasible from Hangzhou: fly or HSR to Beijing (~2h flight / ~4.5h train). Go November, on a weekday at Mutianyu, and you'll have it almost to yourself. Avoid October 1–7 entirely. - Shanghai & Suzhou — trivial weekend trips by high-speed rail (Suzhou ~25 min, Shanghai ~45 min). No planning needed, just buy a ticket.

Train schedules and prices shift with the season, so double-check before you book — but none of these are hard to reach.

Apps, SIM Card & Getting Online

You already have Alipay, WeChat, DiDi and Amap set up — that's the essential four. Add 美团 (Meituan) for food and delivery, 大众点评 (Dianping) for restaurant reviews, 12306 for official train tickets, and Trip.com if you want an English booking interface.

For a phone plan, any of the three carriers works — China Mobile, Unicom or Telecom. Take your passport to a carrier store near campus and get a monthly plan; a five-month stay doesn't need anything special. Campus Wi-Fi will cover your laptop most days, and your phone's hotspot covers the rest. On the internet-access question every student asks: don't stock up on solutions before you fly. What works changes every few months, and your exchange cohort and the international office will sort it out together in week one.

Quick Reference (Trains, SIM & Money)