Il Divo on tour

I’d been searching for some dumplings. I’d been told they had really good dumplings somewhere by the side of the lake. Like the best dumplings in Hangzhou, and there were a lot of dumpling places in Hangzhou so that was saying something. After a pitiful forty-five minutes of roaming the side-streets and creepily staring at all the street vendors to suss out if they were the ‘ones’ I wandered back to the side of the lake and plonked myself on a bench. I don’t want to sound overdramatic but I’d given up all hope. I was also quite annoyed that I was sat on a bench next to a loud bunch of children, rather than on one of the conveniently placed deckchairs facing out over the lake. These were all filled with aged locals, looking like they’d not risen from said deckchairs in about ten years.

Just as I was contemplating heading back to the stall with the suspiciously cheap noodles and then taking them and myself back to my mosquito filled hostel, a jet of water squirted out of the lake. Then another; then another. Then a soundtrack came on from what felt like the heavens above and the lake started to dance along in time. Now I don’t know my arse from my elbow when it comes to classical music so the best I can say is that it sounded a little bit like Il Divo, but that’s not really doing it justice. The chorus of male tenors (or maybe sopranos, who knows) warbled in symphony as the jets swooshed back and forth rhythmically and created an ethereal mist. There was crescendo after crescendo and still the water was forming shapes and patterns that I didn’t know could be achieved with what was essentially a water fountain on steroids.
Now I knew why the locals hadn’t moved from their spots in the last decade. It was genuinely moving and as the children next to me grew quiet and the crowd swayed their heads in unison to the jets, I couldn’t help feeling pleased that my search for dumplings had led me to this place so that I could appreciate this spectacle.

This experience was a hidden gem for me as it was exactly that – hidden. And when it happened I was elated and amused all at once and lifted from my sulk. I don’t think if I were to plan it out and know what to look for it would have the same effect, you have to be willing to let the surprises surface. Mind if I was do visit again, I would get there early, mug an old lady for her spot in the front row and sit back and enjoy the show. And eat beforehand. Definitely eat beforehand.