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Published: June 19th 2012
Hangzhou at night
beautiful tree-lined streetsWhere do I even begin to explain the amazing fun that was 24 hours in Hangzhou? I'll start with first impressions - this city is stunning. Forests, mountains and water. You could spend way more time and not get bored. So much to see and do and so relaxing.
Our hotel was a quaint little hotel down a pedestrian walkway on the West side of West Lake. It was clean but the rooms were pretty tiny. Oh well, one night and I didn't have to pay for it - my work did!
Humphrey arrived around 7:30pm and when he got there we both needed food and beer. We got in a taxi and headed to the East side of the lake where there was a main street area with lots of restaurants and shops. We found a place that served traditional Hongzhou food including this clay pot chicken - a tiny chicken baked in a clay pot. It was all really good. We also had a couple of beers because I needed to celebrate the end of my boredom and Humphrey needed to celebrate week 1 of his new job.
We then
headed back out into the bustling street. We came across a booth where you could get dressed up in traditional Chinese clothing and have your photo taken. It was only 20 RMB ($3) so of course I decided it was time to be a tacky tourist. This was hands down one of the most hilarious moments of my entire time in China. I IMMEDIATELY drew a GIANT crowd of gawkers. I was photographed by at least 20 Chinese people. "WHITE GIRL DRESS LIKE CONCUBINE! MUST TAKE PICTURE!" There were two little Chinese girls also dressed up and they asked to have a photo with me as well. They were adorable. Humphrey tells me they were calling me "sister" which is apparently a sign of respect. Nice. But seriously, I am the most famous person in China. It's just hilarious. Sooo many people have my photograph right now.
Of course this hilarious moment was made even more ridiculous when my co-workers walked by. They laughed. I was laughing so hard at all the commotion I barely had time to say hello. I felt kind of guilty because they had invited Humphrey and I to hang out with them
but they knew Humphrey spoke Chinese and I knew it would be them speaking to him in Chinese and Dafne all alone and bored and lonely so we refused their offer. So I fel a little bad that we'd ditched them but whatever.
We kept walking down the street and decided to play a game where you throw balls into bags in front of geishas. We won this fire hydrant which we learned the hard way shocks you when you push it. What a horrible prize! That would so never fly in North America, parents would freak out if they handed this out to kids. Anyways it's pretty hilarious regardless.
We got some more beer on the street and took photos with a giant buddha. It was just all-around a hilarious night. Before going to bed, we headed down to West Lake - Hangzhou's most famous tourist attraction - to see it at night. So pretty.
There is a lot to see in Hangzhou so we decided the most efficient way to spend Sunday was to rent bikes. Our hotel had bikes for rent but they didn't have rain shield things
on the back tire which wasn't ideal on a drizzly day. So we walked 1km to the public bike rental place. Only to not be able to rent because we didn't have some card we needed. WTF China? Why didn't our hotel know about this? They were the ones who'd sent us to this public bike rental place! Anyways we walked back to the hotel and got their bikes and headed on our way. Humphrey of course didn't check the weather so he had to borrow my windbreaker since he brought no jacket of his own. It's from high school and is not waterproof anymore. But it was better than no jacket. Though it fit him quite snug.
Our first stop was the Su Causeway, which is a pathway across West Lake. It was really pretty though the views were not ideal since it was so cloudy and rainy. The first time I stopped to take pictures, I had a random man tell me I was beautiful. The second time, I got SWARMED Forbidden City-style by people wanting to have their picture taken with me. I AM SO FAMOUS HERE!!! HOLY CRAP!!! (And I'll bet these people
Clay pot chicken
They give you the head too...just in case don't even know I was in People magazine.) So ya my ego is getting big and I'm feeling very attractive. I guess if you only ever see people that look one way different people are either hideous or beautiful. Clearly I'm the latter.
The next time we stopped for pictures Humphrey bet me lunch that someone would ask me for a picture but no one did. Free lunch!
Once on the other side of the lake, we headed East back over the bustling side of West Lake to find some food. By this point it was just pouring rain. We stopped into a tea shop on the way and got some great tea. Then we found a place which had a covered patio so we could watch our bikes while we ate. China needs some more bike racks, especially since soo many people bike! We had a beer with lunch because we were just so wet we needed it.
After lunch we headed back into the pouring rain. The afternoon was just the wettest experience ever but we were laughing so hard we didn't care. We biked around the entire lake
and arrived back at the hotel completely drenched to the bone. Well, my upper-body was mostly dry since I had a good jacket but my shorts were completely drenched. We borrowed some towels from the hotel and changed into some dry clothing. It felt good to be dry. But altogether we biked 20km in 5 hours. And probably 10 of those kilometers were in the POURING rain.
After drying up, we headed to the train station to go to Shanghai. We were both so just done with this rainy day we wanted to be on the earliest train possible. And after Humphrey's experience in second-class coming to Hangzhou, he insisted we upgrade to first class for this trip. It was only marginally more expensive. Well, when we finally got to the front of the ticket line the only seats left for the next train to Shanghai were in the highest class possible - to go first class we'd have to wait an hour and half. F%$# that, we just sprang for super-fancy class.
China's high-speed rail system is really, really amazing. The trains are super-modern and look really sleek. Now combine that with super-executive-fancy
class and holy crap what a good way to end what was kind of a ghetto, drenched day of bike riding. The seats were huge and made of really nice leather. They reclined all the way back into a bed. There was a TV screen but in just 1 hour there's no time for TV! The bathroom had not only toilets but toilet seat covers! It's like being back in America! We even got free water and cookies! We seriously wanted this ride to last longer. But cruising at a speed of 300 km/h, we made the 200km trip in just 1 hour.
More stories from Shanghai to come!
-Dafne
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anonymous
non-member comment
Chinese architecture is good, but too expensive and timeconsuming, a lot of woodwork, and not a lot people can do it now. Modern design doesn't mean Western design. it's more simple and easy to do the work ( whole bunch ready-to use materials).