Amy's Reflections

It's snowing today. Or at least it was. For a moment. Seems everything around here lasts about a moment. Not just the weather either. Amy was here for two weeks and now that has passed, too. What a blur.
It was a trip being a tour guide, such as I was. My language skills are rudimentary, but coming along. And I got to see her relive my first two weeks here. In awe at the weird things in the supermarket. The six foot towers of stuff loaded on a bicycle. The chaotic traffic. The constant assault on the senses. And then we come home to a quiet apartment and cook the strange things we found. Like mushrooms galore. Must be eight different kinds. And greens I've never seen. And in the morning, we do it all over again, with an occassional stop at Starbucks for the kind of coffee you just can't get anywhere else. Enjoy her musings and remember, you too can have some of your own, but you'll have to visit first. Xin Nian Quai Le (Happy New Year or close enough...) Now: Here's Amy:

China - I came with little knowledge and few expectations. The plan was to have no pre-conceived notions, to take the experiences as they came.

I leave feeling that Hangzhou, China is a dichotomy. Old and new, rich and poor, eastern and western, modernizing and stuck in the past.
The people are patient and friendly. A police man spent 5 minutes trying to understand John as he pantomimed ballroom dancing... we were attempting to find out when people danced at the pavilion on the edge of west lake. John, in his red winter's hat, pretending to waltz on the busy sidewalk - just short of hysterical!

But lookout in the grocery store - if you expect to get your produce weighed and priced you better have your boxing gloves handy. People will push from the back - totally edging you out. There is no such thing as queuing in China.

Hangzhou is modern - one street houses high rise buildings and Prada stores, KFC, McDonalds and Hagen Daz
But one block away, a street corner serves as a store front for shoe and clothing repair complete with an ancient sewing machine and resole-ing apparatus. The streets are swept free of any trash or leaves with old tree branches. Pavement is dug up with pick axes and shovels.

Cars and scooters have become more common, crowding the streets - yet pedestrians and bikes seem to have the right of way. People walk out into traffic - bikes swirl around them, the cars accommodate and stop. As a result traffic flows slowly - weaving in and out.

Every morning, hundreds of people would be practicing Tai Chi and various other martial arts in the parks surrounding West Lake. But these were the older generation, people mostly in their 40,50, 60's. The younger generation instead could be found on Ya nan street shopping in the seemingly endless clothing and electronic stores, waiting in line at McDonalds or eating pizza-like things or these candied, caramelized fruit things on sticks from street vendors. Will the old traditions be lost on this generation?
The busiest hospital seemed to be the TCM hospital - (Traditional Chinese Medicine) and acupuncture is common. John receives acupuncture a couple times per week. I even tried it. First of all - those needles are long!!!!! I was amazed at the "zing" that occurred when the needles reached their proper place - the meridian or energy stream I suppose.

Hangzhou was about 1 million people 10 years ago - now the population has surpassed 6 million. I was told it was China's 3rd richest city. New millionaires are made every day in the import/export trade. Yet farmers from the west will come work in the city for 30 RMB/day - about $4.

John's yoga studio is totally upscale with beautiful studio space, a fancy juice bar and heated toilet seats. "Attendants" are at your calling. Yet a few blocks away are trough toilets that smell so bad you really can't breathe.

Westerners are un-common in Hangzhou. Many people in the streets would stare at us - the Chinese are not shy in that regard. John and I could create quite a crowd - silly Americans doing silly things. John and I did this dance video game at an arcade. The goal was to dance in various ways, to the beat of this awful dance music which somehow scored you points (at least that's as best we could determine...) By the time the session had ended, a crowd of 20 had gathered.

John has made friends with an 80ish year old man that grew up in Hangzhou and lived through the Cultural Revolution. His family were wealthy, property owners. But most of their land was taken "for the people" He had to hide his intelligence from the government. He spoke of secretly listening to foreign radio on short wave radio to hear of foreign news and to learn English. He told stories of being questioned by government officials and neighbors following visits from relatives that lived in Taiwan. Now - he feels free to have political conversations, to discuss the government, to have friendly relations with John. He lives in the remnants of his home - a crumbling old mansion built into the hillside. A hospital was somehow built around it so you actually have to go thru the hospital to enter his home.

I, of course, made it a priority to try every food item. Noodle soup from pots boiling on the sidewalk. Street vendors selling candied taffies, rice treats and sesame cookies. Steamed buns and more sorts of tofu then you can imagine. Lovely eggplant, winter melon and rose tea. The veggie steamed buns and scallion pancakes were my favorite

Hangzhou is a vibrant evolving place where everyday was an adventure - something new to be seen and experienced.

Thanks John for sharing the experience!!!!!

---

---