After a beautifully relaxing weekend away (more on that in a
moment), this morning’s metro ride felt like a slap in the face. As we descended to Line 2, I saw more people
waiting than I have seen yet. When the
first train arrived, people were pressed up against the doors and windows due
to the sheer volume already on board.
Only a handful got off, to be replaced by double that amount. It took us two trains before we could squeeze
aboard, aided by the crush of people behind us and an attendant at the door who
was helping to jam people into place.
Oh, hey Shanghai, so nice to see you and your 22 million residents so
early on a Monday morning. But, the city
still manages to endear itself to me.
When I emerged from the metro station in Pudong, a city worker was on
his hands and knees, with a bottle of spray cleaner, scrubbing the sidewalks
clean. Not terribly efficient, but you
have to admire the effort.
Anyway…
This weekend I went to Hangzhou and Moganshan. There is an old Chinese saying, which says “In heaven there is
paradise, on earth there are Suzhou and Hangzhou.” In Hangzhou is West Lake, which is a UNESCO
World Heritage site and a popular tourist destination in the city. We set out for Hangzhou on Friday night, and
arrived around 2 hours later at a very hip looking little hostel. With Bob Marley posters on the walls and
comfy, colorful chairs inside and out, it was cozy and cool. When we arrived, they prepared a dinner for
us, after which we hit up the bar, playing pool and foosball well into the
night. We even got our tour guide, John,
to play a drinking game with us.
The next morning we all gathered in the main area out front of the hostel
and began our first trek of the morning – a 2-mile or so walk out to West Lake,
where we would take a boat ride. Of
course, even leaving at 9am to get out to the lake, it was already boiling hot,
and the air outside wouldn’t have been out of place inside a Turkish bath
house. As it turned out, it got up to
102 that day, and we were out hiking around town in it, all of us soaked in
sweat and pouring water bottle after water bottle down our throats. However, it was worth it. West Lake is absolutely beautiful, and the
boats we rode on were fashioned after ancient Chinese boats.
There is also a lovely shopping district not
too far away, which we wandered around for a few hours before and after
lunch. I found a fantastic bracelet/ring
combination piece at one of the shops that is absolutely stunning and only cost
me about 10USD.
After checking out the city, we walked up to a Pagoda. By this time, I actually thought I was
melting, and walking up a big hill was incredibly unpleasant, but the Pagoda
was beautiful, and there were amazing views (and a fantastic breeze) from the
top of it. In fact, when we all got to
the top floor of the pagoda, we all just leaned against the wall, looking out
over the city and West Lake and letting the breeze cool us off a bit. By the time we got back down to the bottom of the Pagoda, however, a sort of heat-induced delirium had settled over us. I imagine that, given the heat, it was some sort of "brain melt" that resulted in uncontrollable laughter and general incoherence.
After the Pagoda, the bus took us back to the hostel, and it was a good
thing, because as soon as we got on the bus, the sky opened up, the temperature
dropped 16 degrees (celcius) and it absolutely poured. When we got to the hostel, we rushed up the
hill to shelter, and while most people went to go nap until dinner, Lauren and I opted for
cocktail hour, since we figured that if we fell asleep we wouldn’t get back
up. After a little while John and Alice
joined us and John told us some fun stories about traveling around China. Cocktails outside under an overhang in a
comfy chair while a thunderstorm rages a few feet away have never felt so
relaxing.
For dinner, we made and grilled our own kebobs, which were delicious. We then decided to go to Reggae Bar
(suggested by John, since none of us knew the area) for a few drinks. The bar was fun, and we stayed there playing
drinking games for a while until John gathered us all up and told us he was
going to the club, if we wanted to join (of course we did). The club was crazy. At one point, the DJ cleared the dance floor
and 3 scantily clad girls got up on stage to dance to Moulin Rouge, after which
the DJ got up and asked if there were any Frenchmen in the room. We all pushed John on stage (he had told us
earlier he was from France). He said
some things in French, had a French flag draped over his shoulders, sang the national anthem of France, and then
all of us jumped back on stage and started dancing. It was kind of weird to be celebrating
Bastille Day at a Chinese club, but there you have it.
That night, we also discovered the dreaded squat toilet for the first
time. They are awful. That’s all I’ll say about them.
We left the bar at around 2:30am and had the most terrifying cab ride back to the hostel. The guy was
FLYING down the road, running red lights and going over the bumps in the road
at high enough speeds to get air time.
Apparently everyone had a similar experience, too, so I guess cab
drivers get a bit wild late at night in Hangzhou.
Sunday morning we packed back onto the bus and headed for
Moganshan, a village near Mogan Mountain.
When we got off of the highway, the roads were impossibly narrow, and
our bus driver demonstrated some serious driving skills as he wove through the
hills. Rice fields dotted the landscape,
and the hills were thick with lush, green bamboo trees. It was the perfect escape. After about an hour creeping down winding,
narrow roads, we got off the bus and walked about 15 minutes to a lodge for
lunch. It was gloriously cool outside
and the lodge was nestled into a hill, with gorgeous views all around.
Following lunch, we set out for what was probably about a
four-mile hike through the bamboo and down some dusty roads. Our destination? A lagoon tucked away in the hills. After a little over an hour, we arrived to
find an impossibly blue lagoon. It was as big as two football fields and
surrounded by cliffs and bamboo trees.
We all leapt in and set out across the lagoon, enjoying the cool
water. The far end of the lagoon
resembled an infinity pool, with a man-made wall that looked out over a valley. We all grabbed onto the rock wall and
enjoyed the view for a bit before swimming back across.
 |
| Part of the Lagoon |
Overall, it was the perfect getaway weekend.
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