Back from Hangzhou

I have been back for three days, from my exciting, but short-lived visit to Hangzhou.


Friday
Shannon, Charlotte, and I left for the train around 3pm on Friday, finding out that we paid way too much for a train ticket. Of course, we were seated in the highest class, which really is nothing to complain about for 10USD. We sat by a traveling flute group who ended up entertaining us the entire train ride to Hangzhou. They played their flutes, chatted with us, and sang for us. In return they wanted us to sing a song for them..Sadly, the only song the three of us knew lyrics to was the Star Spangled Banner, and I'll be the first to tell you how embarrassing it was. Especially to have the conductor tell us we were too loud!

Fortunately, all the entertainment on the train ride made 2 hours fly by. When we arrived, we grabbed a taxi towards our Couch Surfing host's house. Took about an hour due to traffic, but after getting confused where we were for 30 minutes, we finally found our lovely homestay. We dropped off our stuff only to then be picked up by my uncle for a dinner with him and his daughter. We walked around the corner to a hotel's restaurant where we feasted on scrumptious food.

Thereafter, we met our host at a local winery, where they were celebrating the one year anniversary of the cellar. Hangzhou's standard of living is much cheaper than that of Shanghai, considering cocktails are priced 15RMB as opposed to 50+RMB of Shanghai's nightlife.

Hitting midnight, I planned to head home first since I was meeting my extended family early in the morning. Shared a soft and comfy king size bed with S and C, and we all slept soundly.


Saturday
Woke up around 8 without disturbing my fellow bunkmates. Visited my aunt and uncle who lived within 5 minutes proximity. My aunt showed me around her apartment complex, which were bountifully filled with flower gardens and beautiful scenery. She then took me to see my grandpa's younger brother and his wife. It's great to see how my grandpa's brothers all look and act alike. Seeing them made me really think of home. Snapped a few photos with them then headed out with my aunt and uncle for a nice lunch north of West Lake.

After they dropped me off, I waited for Shannon and Char to get back from the wondrous American style buffet brunch (extremely jealous after they described what was on their menu). It was already late in the afternoon, but we decided to walk to West Lake (Xi Hu), which was about at 30 minute walk from the apartment. There we, and our host's friend, rented bicycles to ride around the lake. We rented 3 bikes for 20RMB/hour (3USD/bike/hour). I can say, I will never ride a bike in China again. First of all, the tourism in Hangzhou is out of control, especially around West Lake. Second, the traffic is horendous. Put 4 girls single-file biking into the picture, unsure of where they were biking...disastrous. Ok, so it wasn't that bad, but it was definitely dangerous. I would be much safer on my motorcylce in the streets of Northampton.

We walked home after an hour around West Lake and we picked up some Taiwanese dumplings on our way home. I think the most exciting time in Hangzhou was the happenings of this night. Our CS (Couch surfing) host knew a underground music scene in Hangzhou, where local artists would be displaying their art, and a few bands would be playing. It was interesting because Charlotte and I knew one of the bands playing: Boys Climbing Ropes, a band that opened for Hardqueens in Shanghai. There was another band whom all of us loved called Retarded Reptiles; their music was a mix of techno and alternative...quite interesting.
We were getting tired so headed back to the apartment where we all konked out and didn't wake up til morning.


Sunday
I got up early again, around 9 while the other two got up around 11. Unfortunate for us was the weather was dismal: cloudy and rainy. Because the other girls woke up so late and the weather was atrocious, we grabbed lunch at Subway and took a cab to Hangzhou's cheap market. There I bought 4 sweaters 35RMB (~5USD) each, a yellow blazer 60RMB (~9USD), and some necklackes 10RMB (~2USD) all of which got tangled together and are unwearable.

Knowing that our train was at 4:50, we prepared to leave the apartment around 3pm, which on a usual day would give us ample time to arrive at the train station. But of course, there were no taxis willing or able to take us to the station. We stood outside in the rain, lacking umbrellas, with all of our bags, waiting for a cab. Fortunately, I have relatives in Hangzhou, so I called my uncle hoping he could take us to the station. He could, but we waited another 45 minutes for him to drive through what normally would be a 10 minute ride, due to traffic. We got to the train station in one piece at....4:52 pm. Our train had already left.

I went to the ticket office and requested that our tickets be changed...but of course they couldnt because the ticket wasn't a direct way to Shanghai, so I had to get it refunded. I waited in another line to get it refunded, only to find out I could only get the first half of my trip refunded, because it was outgoing from Hangzhou, but the arrival into Shanghai ticket could not be refunded. We were left with 23RMB of an originally 60RMB ticket, each. With that money, I went into yet another ticket line to purchase new tickets to Shanghai, only to be denied when I was two people away from the window...."没有票去上海了" (No more tickets to Shanghai). So we were left with one last option...take an illegal bus back to Shanghai. I definitely did not think it was a good alternative, yet there were many people lined up for it. So, we took out another 40some RMB to pay for the 65RMB bus ticket back to Shanghai. We were all soaked, wearing skirts and shorts, sitting in the back of a charter bus riding through the traffic of Hangzhou back to Shanghai.

Well, I'm home and safe aren't I? Just remind me next time I go to Hangzhou that I should hire a driver.


This upcoming weekend, Alliance is taking the Shanghai Fudan group and the Beijing group to Yunnan. All of us are so excited to go. I am most looking forward to Xishuangbanna because it is considered to be the Hawaii of China. I saw our itinerary and we will be floating down the Mekong river in a raft for three hours. I am so ready for a tan and ready to leave the Shanghai pollution behind!

Until next time.

Bronzed and Back on Track

Well, it's about time for another post. It's been a week since I last indulged you in my physical well-being. I haven't been so well, considering I still have a crazy cough and can't sleep at night sometimes because of it. The doc is definitely too far away, so I don't think its worth it, since he's probably just going to say I have a bacteria infection. As of now, I'm doing well, fortunately, no cold symptoms.

Over the weekend, I met up with my mom's cousin's family. Yay for relatives and Hongbao (Red envelopes= $) Let's just say I probably don't have to visit the ATM any time soon. I met my grandpa's older brother, and they look so much alike! They talk and act the same, too! Learned a lot of family history about my grandpa's family as well. Quite interesting.

Yesterday, we only had an hour of class, and Alliance took us on a field trip to Shanghai's Flower Port. When we got there, I felt I like I was in the Netherlands rather than Shanghai. There was a plethora of tulips, all colors, and all hybrids (stood oddly tall). Spent the day there, and they finally dropped us off back home around 5pm. Ate some MaLa Tang for dinner, then proceeded with next weeks homework.

We got a new book for Chinese class, filled with surpisingly interesting topics. Our first lesson is about the KFC franchise in China and how it is prospering. Our second lesson is going to be about Starbucks. Finally, a good and funfilled textbook!

The weather has just been PERFECT in Shanghai. Today was encroaching on 80 degrees, just a tad bit humid, but nice and sunny. I definitely got my bronze back on, and somewhat of a tan line :( boo. I hate tan lines. Shannon, Charlotte and I went to a travel agency to purchase our train tickets to Hangzhou, which saved us a long trip to the Shanghai South Railway station. Then, I got some passionfruit green tea with coconut jelly and pearls to enjoy out in the sun where I studied for my test and Shannon, Eric, Kyle, and Mike threw a frisbee around.

S, C, and I are taking a train to Hangzhou (about an hour and a half by bullet train). We decided to couch surf this trip because there were no more hostels open. We figure the living situation would be the same if we were in a hostel, but this would be much more comfortable. We're staying with a 23 year old American female who loves boating and art events, sweeet! I will let you know how my first couch surfing experience goes.

I better get back to studying since tonight Shannon, Amber, her two friends from back home, and I are going to Volar to get free manicures and free martinis (I'm in for the manicures) for their Fashion Industry Night promotion.

Tata for now.

Death by Air

As morbid as it sounds, I am pretty sure I have lost 5 years of my life by living in China for a year. I am sitting in Economics class struggling to pay attention because my lymph nodes and lungs are swollen. My lungs and trachea are filled with mucus and I'm having a hard time breathing. Apparently, the three main things that can cause respiratory issues is 1)environment/industrial pollution, 2) cigarette smoke, 3) indoor air pollution...all three of which China facilitates...

Well, just wanted to rant about my physical health. Other than that, I get MSG headaches daily..I think that my time in China is about to expire. Take me back to the States, land of SALADS AND HEALTH NUTS, and real clean air.

Bye Bye Break

So, spring break is coming to a close, and I have not really "relaxed" this entire time. As much as I wanted to get away from the Shanghai pollution, destiny had me stay right where I am. On Monday, Amber and I discussed going to Sanya in Hai Nan Dao, a beautiful region of China, a southern island in the South China Sea. Unfortunately, we checked the weather forecast, and most of the time it was going to be raining with thunderstorms. Even though the tickets to Sanya were cheap, there was no way I was going to spend money on a vacation in a hostel.

Then, we thought about going to HangZhou, which was definitely more plausible, considering you can purchase a train ticket the same day, and it only takes an hour or two to get from Shanghai to HZ. But of course, just my luck. When I went to the ATM machine, the machine rejected my card...even though I have plenty of money in the bank. I called B of A for 3 days but they kept saying that my card was fine, and so was my account. So after Mike left, I was left with 50RMB...so I had to survive off of that amount for four days...Some days I only had one meal and usually it was from sketch alley.

Didn't really do anything eventful except go to a CD release party for a Shanghai band called "HardQueens". At first, the cover band made me feel like I wasted my time and money going, but once HardQueens began to play, I really enjoyed it, minus all the smoke in a completely fire-hazardous club. The music was like punk-rockish Beach Boys. It definitely reminded me of being back in California, where I hear the weather is beautiful right now. Extremely jealous.
Didn't really accomplish much this break, except for submit maybe 10 more internship apps which I will probably get denied, oh wait, already have within the week, lame. I know that I have one already, but who knows what other opportunites there are.

Got hooked on Gossip Girl, which was NOTHING how I expected the show to be, instead it's much better than I imagined. Got hooked on Scrubs too; guess it was a week of new addictions.

The weather forecast for Shanghai is sunny this next week, in the high 60's and tomorrow it will be a high of 70! Pretty excited for the heat, but definitely not the humidity.

I should probably head to bed, considering there is class in the morning...lame since it's a Chinese national holiday tomorrow, and yet my CHINESE teachers, will still be teaching.

Ok. Off to rest.