Today we went to Hanzhou which is one of the most beautiful cities we've seen in China. It has a lake called The West Lake, and there is a road that goes around the whole thing. We rented bicycles and rode around the lake, stopping at various places to check them out.
Getting to Hanzhou was interesting, and we were ready to avoid missing the train this time. We ended up ninja running to the train station to catch it on time, and nearby people in Shanghai thought it was pretty funny. On the train we ended up having a long, tedious conversation with a couple of Chinese guys, and explained to them how Brad is a halfie, and why he can't speak Chinese. It's so much fun talking to people in broken language when you're the one who can't speak or understand. I also showed off my Cantonese for the first time in China, which got most of the people on the train laughing. Works every time. =)
After renting the bikes at a bargained half price, we rode around to various places in Hanzhou. First we got our silk sheets sewn up at the ends (to stop fraying) for only Y30, so cheap! We then stopped at a couple of gardens and a fancy restaurant to take in the scenery.
We had lunch at a small restaurant where the food was alright, and where the beer was weak. You get a 500mL bottle of beer with anywhere between 2.5% and 3.6% alcohol in China, so it takes quite a bit of beer to start feeling it. Even with my low tolerance, I haven't felt much of a buzz in this country yet.
At a local temple we watched a bunch of monks humming and lighting incense while taking photos of them. The temples garden was under renovation, so we didn't get any shots of it, but the rest of temple looked pretty amazing.
Later Brad and I went to a park that had a huge stone staircase to the top of a large hill. We estimate that it must have been about 3000 steps, and with the intense heat humidity, we were more wet with sweat than with the rain that was pouring. At the top we were greeted by an old lady with an angry dog guarding some building, so we just ended up walking down in the end.
After our adventures in Hanzhou were finished, we had to return the rental bikes and head back to the train station. We learned from our trip to Suzhou to buy return tickets in advance, so we had to get back to the train station by 10pm. When we got back to the bike rental place, it was closed and the owners had fled with our deposit. Totally screwed. However, we found a Chinese guy nearby who spoke fluent English, and he offered to help with our problem. To make a long story short, we ended up talking to some other bike rental vendors and the local police station, which involved about 10 different people in total to resolve the situation. The police ended up calling the bike vendors, sorting out the price, and offering to return the bikes for us the next day, while giving us back our deposits. The police in China are so eager to help, and will spend so much time trying to solve your problems. We were shocked and amazed. How lucky can you get?