Hangzhou
This hostel is great! The room is okay ad the bed was pretty hard, but it is more than made up for by the beautiful courtyard and the western breakfast. It is also right along West Lake, which makes it easy to go touristing.
I had been thinking about getting up at 4:30 to watch the sunrise over the lake, but when I checked the weather it predicted thunderstorms all day, so I decided to sleep until 8am.
After arising I basically did noting until 10. I took a shower, had breakfast in the courtyard, packed my stuff up, and generally wasted time being slow and lethargic. Hangzhou is definitely a place to hang out and relax.
I finally decide that enough was enough at 10, if I didn't get my rear in gear then I would just end up doing nothing all day and I would miss Hangzhou. So I set off on another walk around the lake.
Yesterday we skipped past the part of the lake with all of the gardens and it was raining most of the time anyway, so I really didn't see a good 3/4 of the lake.
Today I started off walking in the direction that we hadn't taken the day before, so that I could see all of the sights that I hadn't seen before I got tired.
I started at the temple next to the hostel and just walked, taking pictures as I went. The path was lined with beautiful willows, fragrant magnolia trees, tall pines, and a multitude of flowers. And to top it all off there was GRASS! Large areas of beautiful, green, freshly cut grass. I'm sure you don't see why grass is one of my favorite parts of Hangzhou, after all grass is just grass and you can find it anywhere. Thats what I thought too... Before I went to Beijing. Beijing is a concrete city, even is parks you are more likely to find gravel than grass. The dogs in Beijing go to the bathroom on the concrete like it is nothing, and when they DO encounter grass they don't know what to make of it. So when you have lived for several months in a grass less city you will also understand how grass can be Hangzhou's crowning glory.
There were pagodas and bridges and no end of people trying to sell you stupid things (but they are no where near as pushy ad people else where). It was all beautiful, and I took pictures of everything.
There was a guy who was selling boat rides who was apparently bored, because he offered to take my picture (for free) when I said I didn't want a boat ride. He also seems to be something of an amateur photographer because he took 14 pictures and wasn't happy with any of them.
I kept moving, still wandering but with a specific goal in mind; I wanted to get the the pagoda that I had seen across the lake. I got "lost" once and accidentally ended up on some posh hotel's property. I'm not sure if it was my grungy clothing of my lost look that did it, but a guy from the hotel came out and told me that "this is a hotel, not a park." Either way the meaning was the same, "Go back where you came from." I think it was probably me looking lost that did it, because for the most part a white person can walk into any posh establishment and no one would think twice about it. The automatic thought process is white person, white people have money, people with money belong in posh places, so this person must belong here. I can walk into the Hyatt any time I want and use the loo (with soap and toilet paper!) and no one ever things that I might not belong. My Asian American friends, however, do get stopped.
When I finally did get to the pavilion I decided not to go in. The entrance fee was 40元 and there was no student discount. I might have paid it if the weather had been better, but it was overcast and gray so I doubt that the veiw would have been that awesome.
The pavilion was the "Leifeng Pavilion", but to my dismay had absolutely nothing to do with my favorite communist new man. This "Leifeng" means thunder something, and the pavilion was built in 900 AD. It was demolished and rebuilt in the 1900s, but that is as close as it gets to communist anything.
So I moved on, but can say that I successfully achieved my goal. I did GET to the pavilion, I just chose not to go in because I'm a starving college student.
My walk took me through some nice parks where Chinese people came up and took pictures with me without asking. And they took pictures of me when they thought I wasn't looking. So I got pissed off at the stupid Zhongguoren (中国人: Chinese people). They kept walking into my pictures too. I smile and play along with them when they want a picture with me, but when I want a picture without people in it they wont move. The parks were pretty, but they were people mountain people sea.
I moved off of the main road into another park in an attempt to get to a cool looking monolith but here I failed. I did manage to come across some photo sessions for Chinese models, some bridal photos, and some old dead communist's house.
It is ironic that all of these famous communist leaders had big, posh, expensive houses. Corruption anyone?
I also got pestered by some Chinese guys who wanted to "help" me. And by help I mean scam the stupid, rich, white girl. They said "Where are you going? We'll help you get there! Do you want a boat? A taxi?" I told them that I was walking and looking around. So they responded "Okay, we'll take you to Leifeng Pavilion for cheap." They obviously don't understand the meaning of "ziji zou" (自己走: walk by yourself).
I think if I had left yesterday I would have felt the need to come back to Hangzhou, but as it is I feel like I have done enough to have a good impression of the place. The things that I would still like to do aren't that important and would not warrant a return trip next week.
I sat out and watched the sunset. I hadn't expected it to be good at all, because the sun hadn't broken through the clouds all day. But right above the horizon the sun finally managed to break through. It was burning bright orange in the sky and it lit one glimmering orange path through the water. It wasn't the most spectacular sunset that I have ever seen, but it was beautiful in it's own right and I was positioned perfectly for it. I'm quite a bit upset that I let my camera battery die right before the sun broke through. Stupid me for looking at my pictures.
At the moment I am sitting in a restaurant getting dinner. The place I chose is called "Butterfly Laguna" and it seems to be a kind of new age Asian fusion restaurant. It is a trendy little place that is in a grove of restaurants, the the area is so full of trees that really feels like this place is kind of secluded.
I have two hours to kill here, as well as a hearty appetite, and I think I picked well. the way this place works is for 68元 you can eat as much as you want, but you can only order small dishes in sets of two. There are certain things that you can only order once, which is fine. Why would you order something twice when there are so many dishes to try?
I'm sure that this restaurant will almost always profit (it would take a really big eater for them not to) but at the same time I get to try lots of different foods and I am almost guaranteed to be able to waste two hours!
Food that I have eaten: Lamb chop with curry, potatoes with herbs, chicken with Malaysian curry, fried rice with pineapple, baicai with some sauce, a kabob of some sort, fruit salad, Korean eel rolls, Malaysian style sauteed green beans, mango pudding, white fungus and papaya soup, pan fried coconut cake, ice cream with fresh fruit, and sweetened sago pudding with mango.
Every now and then they will come by and give me some random dish that I haven't ordered.
Where they really clean up is on drinks, which are seriously overpriced. Just on can of coke is 12元, while normal restaurant prices are around 5. Alcohol is crazy: a small Tsingtao (read Qingdao) beer is 25元, at a grocery store you can buy a large for 3元 and at a normal restaurant you can get a large bottle for 10元 or so. Even water is 3元 per glass. I guess they figure that if you sit there for a while you will drink quite a lot, but I am trying to cheat the system by periodically ordering fruity dishes.
The music is all pretty bad, old American pop. So far I have heard Avril Lavigne, S Club 7, Carlie Simon, and Bryan Adams. Okay, it isn't all bad, and it is a definite improvement on "good" Chinese pop, but for some reason I've really been wanting some country. If I could hear "Tequila Make Her Clothes Fall Off," "She Only Smokes When She Drinks," "My Little Girl," or "Here's To Findin' A Good Man" I would be so happy! It really sucks because my iPod only has one of those songs!
It is obvious when they have decided that you have had enough. The servers start to be really slow, trying to get you to give up and go... But I have plenty of time to wait them out. Of course, It doesn't hurt that the longer you sit the more full you feel.
The curries were all excellent and the mangoes were perfect! Some of the other stuff was just weird. Like the white fungus and papaya soup which smelled a little like vomit and tasted like sugar water. At the end of the meal you get a cheap tacky little butterfly hair clip, the kind that had wings on springs so they move around and were popular in Junior High. Peachy.
I had been thinking about getting up at 4:30 to watch the sunrise over the lake, but when I checked the weather it predicted thunderstorms all day, so I decided to sleep until 8am.
After arising I basically did noting until 10. I took a shower, had breakfast in the courtyard, packed my stuff up, and generally wasted time being slow and lethargic. Hangzhou is definitely a place to hang out and relax.
I finally decide that enough was enough at 10, if I didn't get my rear in gear then I would just end up doing nothing all day and I would miss Hangzhou. So I set off on another walk around the lake.
Yesterday we skipped past the part of the lake with all of the gardens and it was raining most of the time anyway, so I really didn't see a good 3/4 of the lake.
Today I started off walking in the direction that we hadn't taken the day before, so that I could see all of the sights that I hadn't seen before I got tired.
I started at the temple next to the hostel and just walked, taking pictures as I went. The path was lined with beautiful willows, fragrant magnolia trees, tall pines, and a multitude of flowers. And to top it all off there was GRASS! Large areas of beautiful, green, freshly cut grass. I'm sure you don't see why grass is one of my favorite parts of Hangzhou, after all grass is just grass and you can find it anywhere. Thats what I thought too... Before I went to Beijing. Beijing is a concrete city, even is parks you are more likely to find gravel than grass. The dogs in Beijing go to the bathroom on the concrete like it is nothing, and when they DO encounter grass they don't know what to make of it. So when you have lived for several months in a grass less city you will also understand how grass can be Hangzhou's crowning glory.
There were pagodas and bridges and no end of people trying to sell you stupid things (but they are no where near as pushy ad people else where). It was all beautiful, and I took pictures of everything.
There was a guy who was selling boat rides who was apparently bored, because he offered to take my picture (for free) when I said I didn't want a boat ride. He also seems to be something of an amateur photographer because he took 14 pictures and wasn't happy with any of them.
I kept moving, still wandering but with a specific goal in mind; I wanted to get the the pagoda that I had seen across the lake. I got "lost" once and accidentally ended up on some posh hotel's property. I'm not sure if it was my grungy clothing of my lost look that did it, but a guy from the hotel came out and told me that "this is a hotel, not a park." Either way the meaning was the same, "Go back where you came from." I think it was probably me looking lost that did it, because for the most part a white person can walk into any posh establishment and no one would think twice about it. The automatic thought process is white person, white people have money, people with money belong in posh places, so this person must belong here. I can walk into the Hyatt any time I want and use the loo (with soap and toilet paper!) and no one ever things that I might not belong. My Asian American friends, however, do get stopped.
When I finally did get to the pavilion I decided not to go in. The entrance fee was 40元 and there was no student discount. I might have paid it if the weather had been better, but it was overcast and gray so I doubt that the veiw would have been that awesome.
The pavilion was the "Leifeng Pavilion", but to my dismay had absolutely nothing to do with my favorite communist new man. This "Leifeng" means thunder something, and the pavilion was built in 900 AD. It was demolished and rebuilt in the 1900s, but that is as close as it gets to communist anything.
So I moved on, but can say that I successfully achieved my goal. I did GET to the pavilion, I just chose not to go in because I'm a starving college student.
My walk took me through some nice parks where Chinese people came up and took pictures with me without asking. And they took pictures of me when they thought I wasn't looking. So I got pissed off at the stupid Zhongguoren (中国人: Chinese people). They kept walking into my pictures too. I smile and play along with them when they want a picture with me, but when I want a picture without people in it they wont move. The parks were pretty, but they were people mountain people sea.
I moved off of the main road into another park in an attempt to get to a cool looking monolith but here I failed. I did manage to come across some photo sessions for Chinese models, some bridal photos, and some old dead communist's house.
It is ironic that all of these famous communist leaders had big, posh, expensive houses. Corruption anyone?
I also got pestered by some Chinese guys who wanted to "help" me. And by help I mean scam the stupid, rich, white girl. They said "Where are you going? We'll help you get there! Do you want a boat? A taxi?" I told them that I was walking and looking around. So they responded "Okay, we'll take you to Leifeng Pavilion for cheap." They obviously don't understand the meaning of "ziji zou" (自己走: walk by yourself).
I think if I had left yesterday I would have felt the need to come back to Hangzhou, but as it is I feel like I have done enough to have a good impression of the place. The things that I would still like to do aren't that important and would not warrant a return trip next week.
I sat out and watched the sunset. I hadn't expected it to be good at all, because the sun hadn't broken through the clouds all day. But right above the horizon the sun finally managed to break through. It was burning bright orange in the sky and it lit one glimmering orange path through the water. It wasn't the most spectacular sunset that I have ever seen, but it was beautiful in it's own right and I was positioned perfectly for it. I'm quite a bit upset that I let my camera battery die right before the sun broke through. Stupid me for looking at my pictures.
At the moment I am sitting in a restaurant getting dinner. The place I chose is called "Butterfly Laguna" and it seems to be a kind of new age Asian fusion restaurant. It is a trendy little place that is in a grove of restaurants, the the area is so full of trees that really feels like this place is kind of secluded.
I have two hours to kill here, as well as a hearty appetite, and I think I picked well. the way this place works is for 68元 you can eat as much as you want, but you can only order small dishes in sets of two. There are certain things that you can only order once, which is fine. Why would you order something twice when there are so many dishes to try?
I'm sure that this restaurant will almost always profit (it would take a really big eater for them not to) but at the same time I get to try lots of different foods and I am almost guaranteed to be able to waste two hours!
Food that I have eaten: Lamb chop with curry, potatoes with herbs, chicken with Malaysian curry, fried rice with pineapple, baicai with some sauce, a kabob of some sort, fruit salad, Korean eel rolls, Malaysian style sauteed green beans, mango pudding, white fungus and papaya soup, pan fried coconut cake, ice cream with fresh fruit, and sweetened sago pudding with mango.
Every now and then they will come by and give me some random dish that I haven't ordered.
Where they really clean up is on drinks, which are seriously overpriced. Just on can of coke is 12元, while normal restaurant prices are around 5. Alcohol is crazy: a small Tsingtao (read Qingdao) beer is 25元, at a grocery store you can buy a large for 3元 and at a normal restaurant you can get a large bottle for 10元 or so. Even water is 3元 per glass. I guess they figure that if you sit there for a while you will drink quite a lot, but I am trying to cheat the system by periodically ordering fruity dishes.
The music is all pretty bad, old American pop. So far I have heard Avril Lavigne, S Club 7, Carlie Simon, and Bryan Adams. Okay, it isn't all bad, and it is a definite improvement on "good" Chinese pop, but for some reason I've really been wanting some country. If I could hear "Tequila Make Her Clothes Fall Off," "She Only Smokes When She Drinks," "My Little Girl," or "Here's To Findin' A Good Man" I would be so happy! It really sucks because my iPod only has one of those songs!
It is obvious when they have decided that you have had enough. The servers start to be really slow, trying to get you to give up and go... But I have plenty of time to wait them out. Of course, It doesn't hurt that the longer you sit the more full you feel.
The curries were all excellent and the mangoes were perfect! Some of the other stuff was just weird. Like the white fungus and papaya soup which smelled a little like vomit and tasted like sugar water. At the end of the meal you get a cheap tacky little butterfly hair clip, the kind that had wings on springs so they move around and were popular in Junior High. Peachy.