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Hanzghou is a beautiful city on the eastern part of China, in Zhejiang province. It was once one of the world's most populous cities, and many emperors came here to marvel at the views. Even to this day it is one of the hotspots of Chinese tourism. The main draw is the west lake, right in the center of town and surrounded by parks and temples. I stayed at the Mingtown Hostel which was lakeside and a great location. Lakeside is always lively with many performers and attractions. Hanzghou has a similar setup to the Bixie Bike service back in Montreal, there are stations of distinct red bikes throughout the town. I hired one and rode around the lake for a few hours taking in all the sights. Definitely one of the greener places this side of China. The food here is also famed for freshness and flavour. I ate many local delicacies, in fact I ate a lot while I was here. I also saw Iron Man 2 in the evening at one of the only cinemas that shows some English films and new ones at that. It was good but nothing like the original sadly.
I also took
a boat to one of the islands in the middle of the lake. While there I could see some nice views of Hangzhou city proper and of course the famous stone buoys that have been immortalized on the back of the 1 yuan note. While on this island I saw two people fall into the water, the first began with female shrieking and I ran over to see her daughter, who must have been climbing along the walkway, was being pulled out completely drenched. The second happend when I mother was chasing her little kid and tripped and fell over. It was a funny sight, on both occassions. After perusing the island for a short time, I took another boat to the other side of the lake and then walked into a nearby forested area near a tall pagoda. There was some nice hiking to be done here, going of the paved paths onto the paths less travelled. Unfortunately at this point it began to rain. First a light drizzle which intensified into a total downpour. I took cover under some trees and had to remain there for at least a half hour waiting for it to subside. When it
did finally let up I continued on my hike for a while, got lost for a short time and then came out somewhere and made my way back lakeside. I walked through the city, stopping for all sorts of food, then checked out the Arts Academy nearby the hostel which reported to be one of the best art schools in the country. I retreated back to the hostel as the rain was increasing yet again.
In the evening I was poking around online and found out the Habs had indeed eliminated Pittsburgh and are advancing to the Confrence Finals for the first time in seventeen years. Awesome. I also found out about the rioting afterwards which was typical. I regret not being there to bask in the atmosphere, and although thanks to the wonders of technology I've been able to see all the playoff highlights to date, I'm going to have to figure out how to see some live games of the coming rounds!
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