Hangzhou

amazing reflection

pure reflection..insane!

tara

giant lily pads

pineapple rice....don't mind us being super sweaty and nasty..so hot out at 8 pm!

crab on a stick

this is my buddy....notice some ppl have stolen some of the lil ppl off of him

meat on a stick

made out of palm fronds

A few weeks ago, my friend Tara and I took a train to Hangzhou....about 2 hrs outside of Shanghai...on a lake.  We got to the train station around 815 am to hopefully get on the 930 am bullet train.  The lines were soooooo long.....people were trying to cut, but we gave them dirty looks...hey...it helped a lil.  hahaha.  45 min we got our train tickets, but they were for 1130, not 930. Oh well, at least we got a ticket.  We could only buy a one way ticket, we had to buy our return ticket when we got to Hangzhou.  Tara and I hung out in train station and waited for the train.  We got some snacks and breakfast.  There were hot water dispensers all over the place, for free.  People were all lined up filling up their tea bottles and their ramen bowls...classic.

While we were waiting in line to get on the train...seriously felt like a herd of cattle....we met two girls that have been teaching in seoul korea.  They are from the states...it was fun to chat with them while waiting to get on the train.  We soon found out we did not have seats on the train, so we got to stand for an hour and 45 min...good times.  At least the train was super nice and air conditioned.  We were on the bullet train, it got up to 135 km/hr.

We got into Hangzhou around  1 pm, went thru the maize of the train station and bought our return tickets for the following night.  Tara had printed the directions to the hostel out in Chinese...so we just handed it to the cab driver.  Hangzhou is a big city...but we stayed at a cute hostel on West Lake.  We were very happy to see water, but we were not excited with how hot it was.  The cab said 44...not okay...so humid and nasty.  But, we checked into the hostel, put out stuff down and ventured out.  Alot of restaurants were closed mid day....so we wandered for a bit til we finally found a place.  We split a giant fruit bowl and some meat, soup and noodles.  The fruit was beyond amazing.  We then made our way down to the old part of Hangzhou.  There were lot's of cute lil stores and handicraft booths.  We eventually made it back to the hostel and immediately took showers, we were beyond disgusting.

One of Tara's friends recommended a place to go to dinner to get this really good chicken.  On our way out there were 3 people getting ready to go to dinner with us, so they tagged along.  One guy from Denmark, another guy from Germany and a girl from Switzerland.  It was fun chatting with all of them.  We wanted to get a cab to take us to dinner, since the walk was bout 35 min and it was still super hot, but it was hard to find a cab that would take 5 of us.  We eventually found the restaurant..her friend failed ot mention it was a whole chicken...so we didnt end up eating there.  We found a street that had all street food.  So many random choices:  whole crabs, quid on a stick, meet on a stick, duck heads, pigeon, rice, noodles, dumplings.....u name it they had it.  Tara and I split pineapple rice that was in a pineapple...so good.  It was so hot out...we both weren't too hungry.  We went back to the hostel, hung out and chatted with ppl and then were ready for bed by 10 pm.  The heat killed us!!

We woke up around 930 am....but were in lazy mode.  We had some granola and yogurt at the hostel and then showered and got on our way.  We took a local bus a bit up the road and then wandered thru the greenery.  There are tons of spots to hike around in and great views of the lake.  It was another uber hot day.....so the shade was a must.  We had a great time wandering....having no plans sometimes is the best.

We got back to the hostel and were wiped out.  Tara wanted to go back to old town to buy some stuff, so I took a nap on the couch.  When she came back..it started to rain.  There was no chance of us getting a cab b/c it is rush hr from 4-6.  We took a local bus, which we were told loops around the lake and takes about an hr to get to the train station.  We waited about 20 min for the bus...luckily there was a covering b/c it was pouring.  Some of the loudest thunder and lightning I have heard so far!  We were in awful traffic on the bus.  Instead of an hr, it took almost two hrs and we missed our train.  Luckily an English guy was in line in front of us at the ticket office and asked if we needed him to translate for us...um yes please!  We were able to exchange our tickets and get on a later train...thank goodness.  Oh and we had seats on the way home...yay!

People watching is amazing here in China...always something going on.  Tara and I had a great time venturing out of the city.  Here are some pics:

standing room only on the train

u fill up that ramen bowl with the free hot water, do it!

another use for a ramen bowl...pillow

west lake

pagoda

west lake

 no idea what it says