2 event staff picked me up at the airport and we started driving to Hangzhou. It is a good 4 hour trip, talking to the staff they say they will make the trip to Shanghai 3 or 4 times a year so you couldn't really call Hangzhou a suburb of Shanghai. We made a pitstop along the way and had lunch then arrived in the city. I was surprised to see how much of a visual precence the event had with banners along the highway as you can see in thee picture above and even statues erected on street corners.