West Lake

So Jason, Krystal and I took a taxi to the Shanghai Train Station and took the bullet train to Hangzhou.  It only took just over an hour and the train went about 175km/h.  Pretty fast.  Jason had booked us a room at the Sheraton 4 Points so we found a taxi, ate and went to bed.  The hotel was amazing as usual even though I am pretty sure I saw a rat in the restaurant.

The next morning we took a taxi to West Lake.  This is a very large man made lake that is very old in the center of the city.  It was really nice.. even though there were a ton of Chinese tourists because it was the weekend.  We walked across the lake using the causeway and then ate a huge fancy breakfast at the Shangrila hotel right on the lake.  By now I should not have to mention it.. but Jason paid.  We then found some rental bikes and pedalled around.. huge westerners scaring the Chinese.  West Lake compared to a real lake is not big.. but for a body of water in a city.. its huge.  The city is called Hangzhou.. I know.. I know.. you have not heard of it.. oh.. it also has 7 million people.  Every city in China has so many people its always funny to look at the populations in our book.

We then hired a boat and toured around a few of the islands in the lake before almost finding a cab.  Everything in China is a battle.   There is no  lines anywhere.  You have to fight and claw to get to the front.  When we hailed this taxi Jason got in.. and a Chinese guy tried to get in the back seat with him.  Ridiculous.  Originally our train ride back to Shanghai was supposed to be later in the evening but we decided to catch an earlier one back.

In Shanghai we went out for dinner and a few drinks.  We met up with Stu.. a  friend I had played U of A tennis  with.  He lives in Shanghai.. and had seen on Facebook that we were in town.  Welcome to the future.  It was nice to see another familiar face. We played a bit of pool then went to bed.

On Sunday Jason joined us at a knock off market where I  bought some underwear.  Mainly because of a dire laundry situation.  We then went to the Jade Buddha Temple and finally to a very strange Chinese sex culture museum.  Sooo weird.. nightmares for sure after this one.  We went to an amazing western style restaurant.. We actually ate potatoes!!!  We were due for an easy night so we spent the evening watching a bootleg copy of kung fu  panda.. and then listening to Jason play some guitar.  He is really good.

Monday was our last day in Shanghai.  We got up early to say goodbye to Jason (and eat yet another free meal).  I got a 10 yuan haircut (less than 2 dollars) and actually shaved my face for the first time in months.  Krystal was happy.  Krystal also bought me a China shirt for my birthday which is in a few days (send cash).  Up next is a 15 hour train ride and Xian.