Hangzhou -- Hot, Humid, and BEAUTIFUL

Hello May!!! This is our last full month in China. Time flies!


This past weekend we ventured to Hangzhou. It is known for it's beautiful, lush, West Lake -- as you will see just shortly!

Getting there was less than pleasant. The slow trains here are extremely unreliable. We got to the train station on time, but it was delayed 2 hours! I don't think I would have cared quite as much if we would have been able to spend those 2 hours in the nice, bright station -- but no -- we had to sit in the dirty, dark and smelly station (the joys of being cheap and taking slow trains!). To put it another way, this is the type of place that has a trench for a toilet. See --

Aim for the trench. Suddenly you'll see a flood of water go underneath you. Scary huh?

Eventually we arrived late that night, after a tight 4 1/2 hour ride. On the "T & K" trains you sit facing other passengers so most of the time, your knees are smooching the other persons knees across from you. After 4 hours it gets old! But sitting that way saved us a whole $15 :)

Saturday we took advantage of their awesome bike system they have there. They have bike stalls all throughout the city where you can get bikes. You basically pay a deposit then are given a card. With the card, you can go to the various bike stalls, swipe the card then it releases the bike to you. The first hour is free, so you can get a bike ride it around for 45 minutes, return it to a different stall somewhere in the city and pay nothing. Walk around for a bit, then get a new bike and do the same thing. We did this all day, touring around the city, traveling miles and miles either on foot or bikes. It's about 6 miles around the lake, with long causeways to walk across, all lined with trees and shops! We returned the bike cards later that day, got our deposit back and did pay a single penny to ride the bikes. It was so awesome! 

Here's our day in picture detail --

We loved the tree lined areas! That guy looks like he's just taking it all in :)

Relaxing by the beautiful "West Lake"

This tree was growing up through the Starbucks! Tons of the buildings had trees growing into them, so they just build around them.

Bamboo Forest

Umm any FRIENDS fans out there?? I was shocked and thrilled when we saw this place!! The day this show ended was a very sad day. We had a season finale party at my house (so many people showed up I can't even remember who. Even Joey says he was there! Too funny.) and after the show ended I remember Brooke and I just sitting there, completely saddened that our favorite show had ended. Oh how I miss those days!

They even had the show playing in ENGLISH when we walked in!! The place was so cute and all of their food items were named after the cast!
"Monica's Cookies", "Joey's Pizza", or "Jenn's Cobb Salad". Loved it!

The not-so-fancy red bikes we rode for FREE all day

This is my "yummy in my tummy" face. We ate at this Indian Place.
I know I've said it before, but WE LOVE INDIAN FOOD!

We tried to walk on this grass and some policeman blew his dang whistle at us! Busted!

Isn't this place beautiful?!!

Sunset at "West Lake". Our travel book told us not to miss this time of the day and boy was it right.

Joey's new car. Lamborghini anyone?

The Phaeton is a $90,000 Volkswagon!
This street was lined with all of the fancy car dealerships. Maserati, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Rolls-Royce, Porsche, Mercedes and more. 

The city nightlife glow

By Sunday, our legs were just beat from the previous days adventure but we still made it out for a few hours of exploring through some chinese shops and alleyways. The alleys are lined with tiny shops, or stalls rather, and sell the local meat. Chickens and ducks were crammed in cages awaiting their slaughter, while other stalls had tubs full of eels, fish, and SNAKES -- all alive, just waiting for the next hungry belly to come along and purchase them for dinner. Eww.

Rainy day at West Lake

Chicks for-sale!

Not sure why this piggy soldier had boobs!

Inside a McDonalds!! It was 3 stories and slammed with people. At least it was pretty!

Strange architecture

I don't know how many big bellies we've already seen with the start of the warmer weather! Men just walk around with their shirts pulled up!! It's just icky. I even saw a cook at a food stand -- shirtless -- but still wearing his apron!

We love trees!

Relaxin on one of many bridges

We endured a run through the rain to the train station that evening and made our way back to Changzhou. 

While it was a short trip, we packed in what we could. Including a ridiculous amount of baked goods from the nearest French bakery! YUM! :)

We don't teach on Monday or Tuesday this week so we're just laying low. 

We'll have 2 whole days of teaching this week :) then HELLO weekend once again!

China is beautiful