Hanging out in Hangzhou

Have you ever seen the Hastily Made Cleveland Tourism video on YouTube? If not, please copy and paste this link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysmLA5TqbIY

I feel like that video was really made by Hangzhou natives. Cleveland only has 3 buildings. As we drove into Hangzhou, the skyline kept going and going and going. Downtown Hangzhou has a population of roughly 4 million people, but including the "suburbs," the population is 8.1 million. Poor Cleveland :(

We arrived into the city around 11:30. It was interesting because we weren't really in a downtown area. The parkway we were on was green and tree-lined. There were office buildings and high-rise apartments on each side, but everything was spaced out. We crossed over the Qiantang River on the way in. It is part of the Yangtze River Delta. The entire city was on our right side, to the east, and West Lake was on our left. West Lake is yet another national park and there are many scenic places to stop to take pictures or just enjoy the view.

We ate lunch at a resaurant located just across the street from West Lake. Our afternoon involved a boat ride around the lake and walking through the gardens.

To get to the boat, we had to walk along a man-made "causeway," the Sudi Causeway, which is open only to pedestrians. Our boat ride was 40 minutes on the Xihu Lake. West Lake is actually several smaller lakes that have been joined together from flooding... with man's help, of course. It was a very relaxing ride. We saw Leifeng Pagoda and Huxin Pavilion, which is featured on the 1 yuan bill. There is also a great view of the Hangzhou Skyline.

After the boat ride, we got to check out the Flower Harbor Park (Huagang Guanyu). Some of the students feed the fish at Red Carp Pond, even though they were so big, they probably don't need anything for a year. We also checked out Peony Pavilion, which has a great view of the entire park. It was a very beautiful place. I took a picture of everyone in front of the pavilion, despite their protests :)

We were supposed to meet our driver after that, but he didn't show up. We started to walk to the next location, the Hangzhou Botanical Garden, and hoped to flag him down as he drove by. Well he drove by- and kept going! John and Sam started to chase after him! How he missed a group with a bunch of Americans is beyond me, but at least we caught him. We went to see the Lotus in the Breeze at Crooked Courtyard. This is the time of year that the lotus (lotuses? lotusi?) bloom in China- and the garden had a lot of them. We walked around on the Crooked Courtyard, a winding concrete platform through the middle of Yuehu Lake. They hold concerts there in the summer, on a stage that rises up out of the shallow lake.

The kids were all tired and cranky by this point. The best way to describe this tourist area is to say it is like Disney World or Cedar Point at the end of July- it was hot, it was humid, there were TONS of people in tour groups (ok we're guilty of that)- just making it a draining experience. Personally, I hate crowds and "touristy" locations, so I was exhausted. Many of the students just wanted to stay on the bus. HOWEVER, once the tour guide said it was time to go shopping, EVERYONE perked up!

We went to He Fang Street, which is the oldest section of Hangzhou. The only remaining city gate is in the middle of this shopping district. The students have been looking all over for cheap clothes, so maybe this wasn't their place. But I LOVED it! An hour wasn't enough time to just look around! I didn't buy anything at all- just loved the old buildings and looking at the market-style shops and carts. They had silk, tea, and pearls, as well as a variety of handcrafted items. I spent forever in a shop that was just items handmade in Nepal. I hope that Shanghai or Beijing has something similar.
We went to dinner and, yet again, it was so crowded. I'm so not used to this; it is so normal to everyone who lives here, but I need personal space- especially in this heat! We waited after dinner for our bus driver- the traffic here is a lot worse than Linhai- then he almost got stuck pulling into our hotel. All the kids really miss our chain-smoking bus driver who was always early and drove worse than the taxi drivers.

We are finally settled at the hotel after a long day. It is really nice- very modern. The bathroom door is glass, so I hope everyone gets along with their roommate! The hotel is located on the fashion street of Hangzhou, so we gave the students the option to explore from 8-9. Coco (Ana's host) said that the stores are "not for students," meaning they are too expensive. Blair (Thomas' host) on the other hand, did not pack ANYTHING for our overnight stay- he was planning on buying a brand new outfit to wear tomorrow!

Tomorrow we will tour Wuzhen, which is a historic scenic town just north of here, then we will move on to Shanghai. I am not sure when our host friends will be leaving us. It will be sad to say goodbye because they have all grown SO CLOSE, but it is nice to know that we will see them in just 1 month.

Have a great Saturday!