Well, that wasn't long-lived, unfortunately. A combination of work happenings and a couple of sick days meant that I have virtually nothing to report for many of the days since that last post. Work was busy, and it's great that I'm here. So there ya go.
However, a few of my coworkers and I made plans to go to Hangzhou last weekend and I was determined to make sure I went along! Full photo set here. It started with Joyce and Zhenrong meeting Bill (also visiting the from the US) and I at our hotel. We loaded up in Zhenrong's car and hit the road on Saturday morning.
It's about a 2.5 hour drive to get to the city of Hangzhou. Nearest I can tell, the best pronunciation sounds like Han(as in Han Solo)-Joe(as in a cup of...) We immediately went to a famous restaurant near the West Lake, which is right in the city. Shan Wai Shan offered us tasty food, and we had a great seat. Of course I got pictures of food, and finally somebody got a photo of me getting pictures of food!
Bill watching as I photograph food:
 |
| From Hangzhou - September 24-25, 2011 |
House specialty of fish stew:
 |
| From Hangzhou - September 24-25, 2011 |
Super tasty little shrimp:
 |
| From Hangzhou - September 24-25, 2011 |
After lunch we wandered nearby, as there was a pond and lovely garden area. We had lots of fun playing with photography (the four of us together took a bajillion photos, and we were all snapping left and right). Here's some favorites:
Zhenrong in the window:
 |
| From Hangzhou - September 24-25, 2011 |
Me between windows (by Bill):
 |
| From Hangzhou - September 24-25, 2011 |
A man cleaning moss out of the lake:
 |
| From Hangzhou - September 24-25, 2011 |
After that wandering, it was off to West Lake. This is the lake right in the city, and is a very popular place, particularly in Autumn. Apparently, the thing to do is ride a bike across the path through the lake (with several bridges and some nice areas along the way), so that's what we did. We rented rickety bikes, and made our way across. Way too many photos to post, but it was fun seeing kites flying, and weird seeing the Costa Coffee midway through. Lots of beautiful scenery all along the way, too.
Me with my raggedy bike:
 |
| From Hangzhou - September 24-25, 2011 |
Joyce and Zhenrong pause for a photo:
 |
| From Hangzhou - September 24-25, 2011 |
Bill is showing me his mostly-working bike bell (Photo by Zhenrong):
 |
| From Hangzhou - September 24-25, 2011 |
Not quite what I was expecting in the middle of the famous lake:
 |
| From Hangzhou - September 24-25, 2011 |
Lovely scenery:
 |
| From Hangzhou - September 24-25, 2011 |
Again, there are many more photos of the lake, but it doesn't even make sense to link to them all. You can peruse on your own time!
After the lake we went to dinner at Chamate, which is a chain that has tasty food and the cutest little teapot ever:
 |
| From Hangzhou - September 24-25, 2011 |
From there we wandered around downtown Hangzhou to get to the lakeside and waited for the fountain and light performance on the lake. While we were waiting, I saw a lit up building across the water. And then noticed that it was moving! Turns out to be a restaurant house-boat that gets itself close to the fountain performance.
Here's the restaurant:
 |
| From Hangzhou - September 24-25, 2011 |
And some performance shots:
 |
| From Hangzhou - September 24-25, 2011 |
 |
| From Hangzhou - September 24-25, 2011 |
 |
| From Hangzhou - September 24-25, 2011 |
Once the show was over, we wandered a bit more before heading back to the hotel. We did find some cool lighting in the ground in that wandering, so Bill got a spooky shot of me, Joyce, and Zhenrong:
 |
| From Hangzhou - September 24-25, 2011 |
Now that I've got this far, I think it makes sense to break the weekend into two posts, so I will stop here. But not before reflecting on some of the weird English translations we saw. See, in checking into the hotel for the night, I couldn't help but notice the title of the information sheet. And on the trash cans in the earlier park, I couldn't help but notice the opposite of recycle. I'll save some of the even more fun ones for tomorrow's post!
Live the Guest to Register the Watch (I have a higher res on my other computer... I'll have to fix this one):
 |
| From Hangzhou - September 24-25, 2011 |
Organism goes on the right:
 |
| From Hangzhou - September 24-25, 2011 |
No comments:
Post a Comment