Hangzhou: Day 1, Part 2

Okay, when we last left off, Charles and Adeline and I had just arrived at the hotel. We relaxed there for a couple hours and thought about what we'd like to do next. Adeline suggest a boat ride or climbing Baoshi Shan (Gemstone Hill), a small mountain/hill directly behind/next to our hotel. No one could really decide, so finally I was like "mountain!" and off we went.

We started off leaving the hotel and going through one of the small alleyways on Beishan Lu onto one of the back roads. We passed by a temple or two and some other alleyways on this road:





I'm not even sure there was like an official entrance to the mountain or anything like that. All I know is after about 20 minutes, we turned a corner and were confronted with this:



Awesome :-)

There's not much to tell about the climb itself. I mean, it wasn't really a "climb." There were stairs and beaten paths and everything, so we just walked uphill. As we climbed, we encountered fewer and fewer people. The woods became thick and really, just really really beautiful. I ran out of words, so I'll let my camera do the talking.







You have to understand that Shanghai is a megalopolis, a sprawling, flat, dirty mess of concrete, glass, and neon where a blue sky is a rarity and the greenest thing you ever see is maybe some advertisement for tea on the side of a bus as it whizzes by. So the contrast between my daily life and what I was seeing on Baoshi Shan, and had seen thus far around Xihu, is immense.

Eventually we reached a sort of clearing, kind of a midpoint up the mountain I suppose, with an insane view of the lake, the city, and Baochu Pagoda.We stopped for a bit to take some pictures:









That's Baochu Pagoda there on the right, with the Hangzhou skyline in the distance.

From here we just kept on going up, walkingwalkingwalking. I had a Snickers bar (or two). Eventually we reached was Adeline described as "the top". It was a flat expanse of ground overlooking the city. There were lots of wide, flat rocks on which a couple people were sitting, either quietly by themselves or quietly while chatting with friends.







It was very idyllic and peaceful, and a great way to end (or so we thought at the time) our climb. There were a couple people thwacking around a shuttlecock and a guy walking around clapping his hands for no apparent reason:



We realized the sun was beginning to set, so I was like "hey let's stay here and get some pictures of the sun setting!" The day was pretty cloudy, and Hangzhou is polluted, so we didn't end up getting fantastic pics, although we did get some. But more importantly, we sat down and rested for awhile. Charles and I laughed because there were trees all around us, blocking the great view down into the city and different parts of Xihu. We were like, "damn nature, always getting in the way of photography!" Haha.

If you look at the picture of the pagoda above, you'll see some people standing in it. They were singing. After about 5 minutes of sitting there and resting, their tune all of a sudden popped into my head. I did a double-take (well, an auditory one, if that's possible) before realizing they were singing "Silent Night" in Chinese. I confirmed the tune with Charles, and then Adeline also confirmed it (I had to do this because, as we all know, I am not Christian :-) Anyway I thought it was great, just a perfect little unexpected thing to hear on Baoshi Shan, so I took a video:



We stayed up there a little while longer until the sun was about halfway down. Then we decided to move on and try and make it to Baochu Pagoda. This is where the fun part begins. immediately after we left the pagoda area, we encountered some more stairs that led up to these huge boulders. I immediately clambered up them, while Charles and Adeline stayed behind perhaps out of safety concerns. (It wasn't really that bad, I swear!)

And this is where I felt the true feeling of being on a mountaintop. Because in the previous "top" area, with trees all around, I felt really hemmed in, like I was still on the side of the mountain. However, once we got up on top of the rocks and boulders, we were above the treeline -- so there was nothing around us but sky:










I felt moved to take a little video, which should give you a sense of how large Xihu is:



From there, we walked along the tops of the rocks some more, all the while getting closer to Baochu Pagoda:





The following shot is a great one of Adeline, I think:






Night started to fall, and the lights hidden in the trees began to turn on:







And then all of a sudden, we entered this small enclosed wooded area, and there it was: Baochu Pagoda. A little anticlimactic, but the journey was the point here. It was dark by this point, so I had to lengthen my exposure times, which resulted in some unsteady pictures. I tried to post some of the least blurry ones:





To get that last pic I actually lay down on the ground, on my back, with my camera pointed skyward, just to steady my elbows and hands on the ground :-)

We stayed around that area for a little bit, then headed down the mountain in a different direction. As we went, Charles noticed a really awesome photo op of Baoshi Shan surrouned by lit trees:



We wandered down through Baoshishanxia Yilong ("Lower Gemsone Hill Lane"), which we realized was the more tourist-y way to see the mountain. It's lined with souvenir stalls, small eateries, and even some apartments. There were definitely none of those on the route we took up, for which I am eternally grateful.

We got down to the bottom, hailed a cab, and headed over to Grandma's Kitchen for dinner with some of Adeline's friends. It's a really popular Hangzhou place, with like 7 locations in the city. However we went to the original one, which was mobbed, so we had to wait outside for like half an hour. While we were there, a little kid, maybe like 10 years old, came up to me and asked if he could take his picture with me. Of course I said yes :-) I don't have the picture, Charles does, but hopefully I can steal it from him at some point and post it here.

I was really amused that someone wanted to take their picture with me. But apparently there aren't that many lao wai in Hangzhou, even though it's a hot tourist spot. Adeline said it's more for Chinese people, they are more apt to know about it than lao wai. I find that unlikely, given that it's been ranked as the #1 tourist destination in China, but who knows. Anyway, I was approached for more photo ops on day two -- which I'll write about tomorrow maybe :-)

This was the dinner where I ate jitou (chicken head/brains) because I thought it would be funny and, you know, adventurous, and possibly tasty. It wasn't very good, and it was really tough to get the meat out of the neck and skull (not to mention I had to spit out pieces of skull), and I didn't much feel like cracking the damn thing open like an egg, so I gave up after a couple bites.

I felt like the Highlander, haha. Like the bees, there's a video somewhere that Charles took - again, I'll make sure to get it from him and post it online.

After dinner, which was nice to chat with Adeline's friends, we left back to the hotel. Charles fell asleep in the cab because he was still jet-lagged: he'd arrived from Austin only the day before. Back in our room, I tried to get the TV to work, but gave up after like 20 minutes. The menu system was in English, so that was easy enough to understand, it's just that I couldn't get a movie-on-demand to play. But then I remembered I had my iPod. So I watched two episodes of The Simpsons and then passed out.

More on day two tomorrow!

We interrupt this Hangzhou broadcast for some baseball

So tomorrow I'm going to see the Beijing Tigers come play the Shanghai Eagles in some, you guessed it, baseball. I invited my Chinese co-workers to come watch, only to have some of them tell me that they have no idea what baseball's about. Understandable. So today I held a small meeting and explained the game to a couple of them. I wish I'd videoed it, because I think I did a good job. The best part came when I explained the infield fly rule :-)

Who knows if they'll show up tomorrow, but even if they don't, I know a couple expats will. I plan to take many pictures myself :-)

Re: Hangzhou: I 've been working late most nights this week so I haven't felt like posting much, especially not the long entries I know that Hanghzhou will require. But I want to document the trip in textual form, and give ya'll something to appreciate what it was like besides the pictures, so I'll probably finish it up tomorrow before the ball game, as I'm digesting fried matzah :-)

Hangzhou: Day 1, Part 1

Saturday morning I get up bright and early, at the ass-crack of dawn (as the saying goes) at 4:50 AM. I shower and meet Charles at the Renaissance Hotel at 5:30. From there we walk to the subway and take it two stops to Dongchang Lu, where we meet Adeline.

From there we go to People's Square, transfer to Line 1, and go to the Shanghai South Railway station. I realize that this is the first time, I think I've been on a non-metro train. I may have taken one back in the DC/MD area: but if so, I can't remember. I mean, in America, first you get the bikes, then you get the cars, then you get the airplane. (Women are always there, though.) So no trains, at least not for my life. So this will be an adventure :-)

We mill around the station for a little bit and buy snacks and some drinks. I eat the first of many Snickers bars. (Actually I've been doing that a lot lately. It's like my only source of sugar in this country besides my morning coffee, hah.) Adeline informs us that we're taking the 'D' train, which is the nicest and fastest of the trains. Below that is the 'T' train (which we take on the return trip) and some others I can't remember. Ah yes, only the best.

We board around 7:20 and take off at 7:40 AM. I've had a little coffee (they sell cappuccino in plastic bottles, like soda, over here) so I'm not as tired.

The trip takes just over an hour, which is great. Adeline sleeps, and Charles and I talk most of the way. It's like an airplane, only on the ground (duh) which, surprisingly, removes much of the anxiety of the trip, although I still feel like I should feel I'm on an airplane. Does that make sense? Probably not. But that's how it is :-) The best part is seeing an "Airsickness bag" in the back pocket of the seat in front of me. So I know I'm not alone in equating this trip with an airplane ride ;-)

We arrive at Hangzhou just after 9 AM. We trek through the train station to the cab stand and get in a long line. We're still underground in a tunnel, so we're wondering what the weather is like. Not for long though -- after about 20 minutes we start seeing cabs come through the tunnel spattered with rainwater. D'oh! Well, we don't control the weather so it doesn't make sense to complain. We'll just do whatever.

We catch a cab and get out into the downtown area. I don't feel it's any different from Shanghai. In fact, the traffic might be worse! There are lots of signs advertising "Harmonious West Lake". I love Chinese. Adeline points out landmarks as we go by, including a restaurant she wants us to eat at and the China Academy of Art:



As we get closer to the lake, the streets become lined with trees that form an archway over the road; it's very scenic and beautiful.

The driver lets us out on the southern edge of the lake, along Nanshan Lu (South Mountain Road). From there we walk through a small park with the lake just ahead, seeing the first of many pagodas:



Even though it's drizzling a bit, I can tell we're in for a treat. Soon enough, we're at the lake itself:



Um, I don't have a panoramic lens or anything, and I didn't have the presence of mind to take multiple sequential shots and then stitch them together in software, but let me just say, Xihu is BIG. Haha. Certainly it looks even bigger after being in Shanghai, the urban jungle, for three and a half months. I suppose any body of water would look large under those conditions, but I think Xihu's pretty big. It's certainly the most famous of all the "West Lakes" in China.

There are people everywhere, but it's not too crowded. We walk along Nanshan Lu for a bit, westwards, then turn off the main path and enter a small series of parks:







It's so beautiful. I realize that I can smell the woods -- you know, like freshly cut grass -- and simultaneously realize I haven't smelled that in a long time. It was pretty awesome. I begin to understand why so many people come here all the time :-)





The rain is going on and off now, but it gets a little heavier as we exit the park back onto Nanshan Lu. Then it actually begins pouring. We walk back eastwards a little bit and come across the Qian Wang Si (King Qian Temple). We pay the 15 RMB each and go inside:









Here I actually sit down and relax for a bit, because we've been walking for something like two+ hours. Being in the temple, with the tapering off rain and fewer tourists wandering around, is very relaxing.

After a little while, we're starting to get hungry, so we go off in search of lunch. As we near Xihutiandi, the uber-slick version of Xintiandi in Shanghai. I really don't want to eat there, as they don't need my money, but the rain is coming down in buckets now so we decide to go inside. We end up in Butterfly Laguna which is, strangely enough, a Thai restaurant. The place is your typical 'luxury' set-up: small, expensive dishes that aren't very good, although the restaurant is beautiful. Again, I would rather have spent my money at a less hoity-toity place, but I don't know how possible that is in the Xihu area :-)

We head back out and I take a few more pictures around the lake:





We decide to walk around the China Academy of Art campus next:









After this, we got hungry again! Surprise surprise. Plus, Adeline wanted me to eat some durian, which I'd had in Shanghai but which is supposed to be way better in Hangzhou. So we stopped by a place that's known for serving good durian and just had a couple of snacks. I have to admit it was really, really good -- even if it did stink a little bit. Hehe. It's making me look forward to eating some chou dofu in Suzhou :-)

We also orderd some mango pudding, which came annointed with a little Hangzhou-style umbrella, made out of paper. I took this and put it in my pocket -- it's one of two souveneirs I got from the trip. For me, something like this has way more meaning than buying something plastic at one of the kajillions of souveneir stalls around the lake.

Now it's getting to be 2 or 3 PM, so we decide to check into the hotel. I can't remember what the name of it is, but it's up on Beishan Lu (North Mountain Road). So, we walk half the distance of Nanshan Lu to get to the east edge of the lake, all the way north to Beishan Lu, and then halfway west on Beishan Lu to actually get to the hotel. This is about an hour of straight walking around the edge of the lake, all while dodging people coming in the other direction because the lake is super crowded. But it's nice and cool out, and there's a breeze, and I am full from lunch, and I get some of the best photographs of the trip:









We arrive at the hotel, and I'm pretty exhausted, so we check in and relax for a little bit.

... And, that's where I'm going to stop here. I'll continue tomorrow with the rest of Saturday's adventures :-)