Me, Ildi, and our Chinese Adventure - Part 1, Hangzhou!

A big statue of a happy buddha on that walking street. If you look real close, there is a little man picking lint out of his belly button with a long stick!
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After spending the night of the 17th alone (literally – everyone had left Beijing for the provinces, and the streets looked deserted), celebrating Chinese New Year in her room with a pot of tea, Ildi and I set out for HangZhou. …Our first excursion in China!!

We ended up staying with her Uncle Kevin, a pretty cool guy, but with a really sketchy roommate (but we will get to that later). The first night we got to Beijing we had an interesting dinner. I totally appreciate that Uncle Kevin and his roommate cooked for us, but they cooked foods which I am not accustomed to eating. As I picked up a crab, the roommate tore the shell open and pointed to the roe and brains, saying “zui hao de” (this is the best part). I love eating crab legs, but I’ve always been too chicken to eat the roe and brains. But I did. It wasn’t too bad, but I’m not doing it again. For the sake of courtesy I also at river clams (which look disgusting), fermented tofu, black chicken (which, once cooked takes on a very gooey texture), assorted chicken parts, and - accidentally - frog brains. It was in a desert, and I thought it was overcooked rice in a sweet soup – so I didn’t pay any attention. When Ildi started eating hers, she just looked at me and asked if I knew what I was eating, then her Uncle Kevin said that I shouldn’t ask until after I had eaten it. Sure enough, frog brains. It still grosses me out. I refuse to knowingly eat frogs, let alone frog brains. And now, about the roommate. This guy is 73 years old, has 6 kids (the youngest being 16) and 3 failed marriages. He is 73 but finishes a bottle of “bai jiu” (hard liquor) with each dinner. In the 3 days we stayed there, we saw him tipsy (if not drunk) three times. One of the nights we were there he invited some friends to come over and celebrate Chinese New Year with us. Ildi and I later found out that the 4 girls that were over worked at a foot massage place that Uncle Kevin and the old guy visit regularly; the youngest was 17 and the oldest was 19. Later on – after everyone (but Ildi and I) had gotten drunk we went outside to light off fireworks. Drunk people + fireworks = BAD IDEA. Uncle Kevin now has a burn on his face from being shot point blank with a Roman Candle. On another note Grandpa and the 17 year old ended up making out. EEEEEEWWWWW. The last night we were in HangZhou we all went for a foot massage. Ildi and I didn’t make the connection until we had gotten there, but it was the place where those four girls worked. While we were there, the old man asked the 17 year old out for drinks; Ildi and I couldn’t keep but giggling to each other while staring….its like watching a bad car accident. Thankfully, she turned him down and said that she was too busy with work. That is one sick old man. On a better note, the foot massage place was the nicest massage place in China we've been to yet! I felt really touristy while in HangZhou, but hey, all of the touristy things we did were really fun: 1) We went to the old downtown area and walked along an old marketplace-type walking street. I bought a scarf for 20Yuan (~US$2.5) and a carved wooden pencil holder for 10Yuan (~US$1). Everything is so cheap here, I love China! And, we bought some dragons’ beard candy, which was soooo good! We ended the night at a little traditional teahouse with a bowl of black sesame soup, which was (as is everything we’ve eaten) DELICIOUS. The teahouse itself was so cool: there were servers who twirled long-spouted tea pots to pour hot tea into teacups – all without spilling a drop. The ambiance in the teahouse, and on that little walking street was incredible. Definitely worth the trip. 2) A couple of Uncle Kevins friends took us for a traditional Chinese breakfast (dou jiang and you tiao), and then took us to visit the Ling Yin Flying Peak Temple. This is my favorite thing that we did while in HangZhou. Our timing was unfortunate, since there were sooooo many people there. It was so crowded that we couldn’t go into many of the halls in the temple complex. Since it was Chinese New Year, many people had come to the temple to prey and pay their respects. However, just along the creek that runs by the temple were Buddhist figures carved into the stony hillside. I understand that some of them are more recent than others, but the site itself was founded in roughly 200~300AD by an Indian monk. I’ve attached pictures of some of these on this page. By FAR, the coolest thing I've seen in China so far. 3) Lastly, that afternoon we also visited the famous West Lake (Xi Hu). It was a cool area, but again, far too crowded for my taste. However, the water was a lot cleaner than I expected it to be. We took a boat out onto the lake, and took a walk around one of the islands. It was interesting to see because of its historical significance, but I really don’t understand what all the hype is about.

...just along the creek that runs by the temple....

Some of the carved alcoves at the temple.
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HangZhou is a cool place, definitely worth the visit. *Hopefully* I'll be able to go back someday, and *hopefully* stay somewhere a little-less-sketchy :-D