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.