Hangzhou

We woke up this morning in Hangzhou
It is so warm and wet here. We were soaking wet from head to waist
within an hour. We had breakfast at a noodle shop that reminded me so
much of a place in Toronto called Mother's Dumings. This was the real
mother's dumplings! We had noodles, dumplings and a chicken with rice
aswell as a small soup with seaweed and very tiny (dried?) shrimp. The
flavours we're quite gentle so it was perfect breakfast food. Three of
us ate for $34 ¥ which is about $5.34 Canadian. It was only 9:30 am
but the air was already heavy and damp and very hot. It was going to
be a rainy day. But it wasn't so bad since it was so hot! After
breakfast we took advantage of the city bike rental system which
allows you to pay a deposit and use a card to scan to unlock and
relock bikes at basically every two blocks. We biked down most of the
length of the Lake which Hangzhou is most famous for. Once we reached
a point where we could go no further with the bikes we locked them and
decided to follow a stair trail up into a hilltop which had a temple
on top of it. When we started it seemed so far away. But we made it.
After seeing the temple and a few small and quiet houses and
restaurants we kept going and eventually found a huge pair of boulders
that we climbed to get an amazing view of the whole lake and the city.
It was breathtaking. Unfortunately it was so damp and foggy that the
pictures didn't do it justice but I did take a few. Back down the
hillside we came. Mosquitos, bamboo forest sections, horses standing
quietly tied to trees, slippery rock faces, mud and more green than I
have ever been surrounded by I'm my life. We definately ventured off
the beaten tourist path and it was so worth it. Next we had lunch back
down with civilization. I saw a woman frying these long donut like
things aswell as sesame balls. We sat down with these aswell as more
dumplings, and two pork buns that they served out of a huuuuge bamboo
steamer. It cost 9¥ for the three of us to eat until we were full.
That's about .90 cents.

Next we biked completely across the city asking directions as we went
to find the train station to buy our tickets to Shanghai tomorrow. The
train station was SO enormous. And the traffic downtown was hectic and
confusing. Not like the dozy lakeside. We made it there and stood in
line for our tickets. This took an hour as the place was jammed. We
got alot of stares as we were the only non-Asian tourists around.
People here are so friendly. They have helped us with everything from
how to unlock our bikes to actually biking us back to the Lake from
the crazy downtown traffic that we got a bit lost in.
Tonight we have another room in the same hostel We have a view from
our beds of another huge temple on a hill. We leave for Shanghai in
the morning.
Tonight we are going to a small market to get some dinner and browse
the trinkets. Then I will absolutely collapse into bed. Can't wait to
get to Shanghai. I'm thinking it will be very busy and hectic. I must
rest my eyes. They are the most tired part of me. Too much to see.
Wide open all the time ! :)