PHEW! Despite our better judgment we got lulled into forgetting that this was Asia, and darn near missed our train. I am happy to report that I am in my seat (we thought we might have bought standing tickets by accident) on the train and that we have all of 5 minutes to spare!
We had called a cab to pick us up at the hostel with what we believed was plenty of time. Haha. Where is our cab? Where is our cab? No seriously, where the hell is our cab we leave in 25 minutes from a train station 20 minutes away. Turns out the cab is waiting at the next hostel over.
In hindsight, we should've expected this. In our defense we sort of did, as we are catching the somewhat earlier train to ensure we have a buffer to connect when we are in Shanghai. But, it would have been uncomfortable to have to use that buffer (which we might yet need) to catch a later train here. But we should have expected this, because our hostel is sort of new, and apparently doesn't have a real address. Two days ago when we got here it was 31 degress centigrade (about 88) and humid. Not the best weather for hauling a 40+ pound backpack around. But the train was air conditioned, and we opted for a taxi rather than a bus on the other end. “Very near the zoo” said the hostel webpage, “if you get off the bus at the zoo, walk back 200 meters.” Well, the cab came in a different way, 90 degress to the bus, and we got dropped at the zoo, and had a 50/50 chance. We picked North. After walking what felt like 400 meters in the heat, I dropped Susan in a shady spot and jogged into a bank to try and get directions. Now I think I have the address of this place, but we could only get a Chinese translation of part of it. “No 3 Shin Jing Wu / Hangshou Road / Near the zoo” is all I had to go by, along with a Chinese translation of the last two lines only, for some reason. The desk staff at our last hostel was nice, but not all there, I think. So after doing my best with the guard at the bank, who seemed to understand that I wanted “Number 3” he pointed me back the way I had come. “The other side of the zoo?” I ask. “yes” with a point. “this side of the road or the other” and confirming my gesture that it is this side. OK, good, off I go. I scoop up Susan and my bag, back the 400 meters we came, and another 200 meters the other way. Hmmm. Nothing here, and it doesn't look like anything ahead. Maybe “200 meters” is promotional webpage for “400 meters”. Again a shady spot, and Lars unencumbered by rucksack scouting ahead. The road winds along with deep green forest on both sides, very pretty, but very steamy, and very empty of hostels. At the next parking lot I find a guard/policewoman/whatever who is very nice, speaks what seems like much better english than the last guard. She doesn't know where I'm going but asks around. Finally, someone realizes my “Shing Jing Wu” is “ShuzenOOO” or something and I get confident directions, translated by Hangzhou's finest. Back the way we came, other side of the street, past the bank, a little road at a right hand angle. Realizing now that my last guard had understood nothing I said, but saw “near the zoo” on my sheet (in Chinese) and had very helpfully pointed me back to the zoo, I trot back, scoop up Susan and my bag, and head off cocky with how my superior male direction-asking skills have saved my princess from more trudging in the swelter.
Across the street, past the zoo (and the bank) we find a little signpost “Shin Jing Wu Youth Hostel” and an arrow. Up the hill, along a ... sketchy looking road. “Well see, this must be right” we had kinda figured that the hostel might be marginal. Up the hill, and up, and up. The hill is clutch-burning steep and we're still hauling packs. 106, 80, 70, 68 ... we're about halfway to number 3 and the road levels out. Ah look, a hostel sign! Oh, but this is number 68 and it says “Happy Eyes” not “Tour'an”, must still be farther, but... the road ends. Um...
Shady spot, Susan, bags.
I go inside. It is REALLY cute, with a courtyard and little lily/carp pond, a cat (not sure how those two go together) and a dog asleep in the corner. The desk staff is very nice. Hello, well, I don't know actually if I'm staying here. They've never heard of tour'an. I get Susan. With much discussion, and booting the laptop so we can check email on their wireless we piece together that we are NOT staying in this nice cute little place, and they call our hostel for us. “Someone will come and get you”. Oh thank you! But we're a little bummed that we aren't staying at cuteness central. It's a little cooler here up the hill.
We wait outside for our ride, happy that we don't have to haul our packs anymore today. And wait. and wait. And then a nice young Chinese woman walks up. “Hello. Susan?” Damn. Packs on, and we're on our way back down the hill. We start getting close to the really sketchy part again “I have a bad feeling about this” whispers Susan. We pass the really sketchy part (phew). Finally, 200 meters from the bus station (not the zoo! D'oh!) we walk into our cute but not AS cute hostel.
But the room was clean, cute, by no means small, we had A/C and after a shower felt like new people. God love Susan, never a flinch or complaint. I was at the point of “whatever, let's just stay here” at the last place “if they can't give us a real address then to hell with them”. But Susan's unflappability bought us the extra 15 minutes of patience needed to save paying for two rooms and staying in one.
Still, I should have realized that the “3 Shing Jing Wu” meant as little to the Chinese as it did to me, and I should have figured that the cab would need a few extra minutes to find us (or more correctly, we it).
So aside from an inauspicious arrival and a departure that is either lucky or unlucky depending on the fullness or emptiness of your glass, Hangzhou was a pleasant counterpoint to Shanghai.
The big thing here is “West Lake” and it's surrounding parks.
The first night we only dipped in our toes, our delayed arrival plus the necessitated shower and nap put the sun behind the horizon before we could explore. So our first exposure was out the window of a bus as we head into town for dinner. We ate at a cool little food street that spurs off of what can only be described as a Chinese 3rd street promenade. It's about 6 blocks of shops specializing in tourist crap from the really crap to the actually kind of nice. Hangzhou is a big weekend or holiday spot for Chinese tourists, and it was busy at 5:30 on a Saturday night.
The food street is about 4 meters wide, but the middle two-and-a-half meters are rows of tables where about a hundred people can eat. Along both sides are food stalls selling little bites for about the equivalent of USD1 each. For those at you following at home, that leaves about 75 centimeters of space on each side for the remaining 300 people to order, eat, and walk by. It's cozy but really fun.
About USD8 later we were stuffed, and $2 of that was the coke I bought at McDonalds because nowhere else had anything to drink. We started to head back, and well timed too, as the rush was only just then beginning.
Sunday it rained. We took it as an excuse for a lazy breakfast. It was a blessing, as the rain brought the temps down to something pretty comfortable. We actually put on long pants for our walk. It started it stopped, it started it stopped. We waited it out at a cute little coffee shop and had a great discussion about our host country and home and Aldous Huxley, but I'll post those observations when and where my exit visa is not dependent on the good will of those reading my email. The coffee and food were good, if a bit pricey. Then I realized it was about $10 for both of us, including my lunch, and Susan's pastry. Basically everything here is cheap except things that are imported. This makes sense, if you think about it. The value of the Yuan is artificially devalued against foreign currencies by the central bank here in order to keep export prices cheap in the customer countries. But that means that anything from overseas; cars, clothes, or coffee ends up at almost the same price as you would pay in the US. Huge bowl of dumplings, 10 Yuan. Decent cup of coffee, 20 Yuan.
Timing a lull in the rain we got back out for a walk through the park. The gardens here are pretty, and the view reminiscent of Chinese room dividers with their mist shrouded mountains and silhouetted pagodas.
The garden was relatively empty in the unpredictable weather, and we were free to enjoy the sights and sounds. The latter of which included piped-in music. It was very Orwellian, walking in the park with music everywhere; “Today you will enjoy your day in nature, and tomorrow you will return to the factory rested and more productive...Today you will enjoy your day in nature...” OK, not literally with the voiceover, but it felt that way to us.
Eventually the route got more busy as the rain seemed to really have stopped and this brought out the crowds. By the time we were nearly getting run over by the little electric trams and were weaving through group-tours in their little red hats we decided to go back to the hostel and play cards (Susan won, grr) and plan our next step.
We've got Hong Kong booked but had our doubts about the rest of China. Lots of research online and talking with a fellow traveler seemed to confirm the same thing; “If you're traveling in China, these are things to do” but nothing that says “this is AMAZING, you HAVE to see this beautiful/fascinating/moving thing. No matter what we're going to Beijing later, both to see the historical sights and to get to Mongolia. So we started researching other options; the Philippines, Laos, Northern Marianas, South Korea. We're going to get some quotes about flights in Hong Kong, but are leaning towards South Korea. More news as it develops.
I ate a really mediocre meal at the hostel, and we trekked back to the food street for dinner round two, but both of us were really just craving fresh food. It's been hard to find the last week, as Chinese food is seasoned and cooked hard and the western food is usually not that good. We were both sort of turned off by the idea of another really salty meal, and while we pecked at a few things we ended up buying a couple of oranges.
Back at the hostel we chatted with our new friend Maikem from Denmark. She's on a 6-month trip and is loving China after her 3 months in India. Note to self, skip India.
Breakfast was crappy, really oily and off-putting, and then the adventure with the taxi. I'm having a big salad when I get to Hong Kong even if I have to go to the Four Seasons and pay $100 for iceberg.
