Hangzhou!

Somewhat on a whim, a week or so in advance, a friend told me she was going to Hangzhou, where she used to work and asked if me I wanted to come. So, wanting to travel more before I leave, I decided, yes, absolutely. Though, admittedly, I knew about jacksquat about it before I went. It was one of the prettiest cities I have been in while in China. I landed in blue skies and greenery. Like, I saw large patches of grass for this first time since Australia. While there, we found out something called G20 was about to happen (sometime in August) where leaders from all over the world were coming to Hangzhou to discuss.. things. So, in preparation of that, the city was kind of crazy. For example, it was quite hard to find a hotel that would rent a room to foreigners. Once we acquired one of those rooms you were NOT allowed visitors, local or otherwise. We had a slip from the hotel that we had to show the clerk before even being allowed on the elevator up to our room, we also had to carry that paper with us to prove we were registered somewhere. For the first time in China, at a restaurant, like 9 police officers came in and asked for passports and locals for ID cards, if we didn't have those slips we would have been taken to the police station. What would have happened after that, I have no idea. Also in preparation for the summit, the roads had been redone, bus stops had been redone and (the fronts only) of buildings had been repainted. Anyways, upon arrival, this is the (rather pretty, honestly) airport I walked into. I didn't get a better picture, unfortunately.

On the way into the main city hub, I saw lots of neat buildings (it's hard to take pictures while in a cab...).

Lovely bunny decorations at the hotel!

After arriving and getting a hotel, we met up with a family that Maeghan used to tutor their 8-year-old daughter for. The grandmas cooked us AMAZING traditional Chinese food...and stuffed us to the gills! Speaking of... I ate fish gills for the first time, strange texture, wasn't my favorite, not terrible. There were eggplants and other veggies and beef dishes and it ended with this super sticky rice with sugar that was also awesome. Then, the mother, Yo Yo, and her daughter, Angela, took us to the Lingyin Temple. We didn't get into any of the temples but just walking around the outside was spectacular.

Yo Yo knew a lot of the history and some stories about it, the best part? Angela, her daughter, who is EIGHT, mind you, was translating. This little girl was so impressive!

Lingyin Temple was pretty much where I took pictures in Hangzhou. It was a whirlwind weekend.

That night we went out to dinner at one of the expat spots Maeghan frequented before coming to Guangzhou. I met some of her local and foreign friends from there. 

The next day in the INSANE HEAT, we trekked over to West Lake, which I really wish I'd gotten more pictures of, it was beautiful. I was paying the price from the night before so while Maeghan and her friends went to a movie, I went back to the hotel and took a nap. Later, we went to meet up with her old co-teacher who now works at a Four Seasons in Hangzhou. Free dinner at the Four Seasons? Yes, please. We had chicken, fish, salads and other things, all delicious, and even ice cream for dessert! It was an absolutely amazing time, but, alas a whirlwind and we had to get up around 4 the next morning to catch a plane so we didn't stay out very late. We did spot a place for street tattoos when we were walking through a night market though, had to refuse but there was someone there getting one. Yikes...

Not as clear as I'd hoped but, West Lake at night.