Back in Hangzhou
I was trying to figure out how I wanted to separate these blog posts. I knew I couldn't just have it all in one post--yes I crammed a lot of stories into my Spring Festival posts (Right here!!) but those were all easily split up by location. I could have separated these posts Hangzhou, Shanghai, and Beijing but then we would have the farewell or the salutations right in the middle and that would just drive me bonkers. So I've done a mixture of time and space separation. Hangzhou, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Beijing, Hangzhou... so you're not even half yet (sorry).
March 23rd
On Sunday, we headed down to one of my favorite places in all of Hangzhou--Hefang Street. Yes West Lake is beautiful and that is a place that you have to see if you ever visit Hangzhou, blah, blah, blah... BUT! Hefang Street is MY favorite place to go. It's designed with buildings that look like they are from old China, there is a pagoda towering on top of a nearby hill, and West Lake is only a few blocks away. THIS is the place to go souvenirs shopping whether your like kitsch (like I do!!), artwork, or strange food.
As you first enter the street, you are greeted by a huge Buddha lying back and smiling at you with a bunch of small children playing all over him (I just realized how creepy that actually sounds). I've been to Hefang Street a few times now (usually around Christmas time) and I always stop and smile at the Buddha and take a photo (of course).
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| Christmas 2012 |
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| Christmas 2013 |
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| March 2014 |
Other than the little kitschy things and paper cutouts that I have somehow resisted buying and filling my apartment with (thus far), I love to go to Hefang Street for the food. That is one thing that China does right--street food, finger food, food on a stick that you can just walk around and chow down on. From candied strawberries (think of the strawberries at the China pavilion in EPCOT during the Flower and Garden or Food and Wine Festival), sugar shaped into animals, dragon's beard candy, squid, stinky tofu, duck head, crab, dumplings... from the sweet and delicious to the creepy and disgusting, Hefang Street has got it. And while we were wandering around doing some souvenir shopping and just drinking in the sights and sounds, we ate... Oh boy did we eat.
Some were hits and some were major misses.
The HITS:
*The candied strawberries. I will always think back to my first time having them on Christmas 2012 with Rachel and Olivia. They were freshly dipped and so delicious. I feel like I need to buy the candied strawberries whenever I see them on Hefang Street.
*Dragon's Beard candy. This stuff is delicious no matter what my dad or brother might say to you. I had it for the first time when I visited China in 2012 and instantly fell in love. It's the consistency of (kind of) cotton candy but it has peanuts and peanut butter on the inside. I don't know how to properly describe it but it's really good. One thing I did learn, though, is don't buy the prepackaged stuff to bring home to your family--it is NOT the same. For over a year, my family never trusted me. It was time to get Mama Woomer to believe. When I saw the dragon's beard candy stand, I ran over, bought a box for 10元 and forced her to eat it. She was nervous (who could blame her?!) but after she took a bite, her eyes grew wide and she declared for the camera (yes I needed proof), "That is really good!"
*Peanut brittle, ice cream, taco thing. Yup, I will stand by that name. They take a really flat pancake (think of French crepes), put three scoops of ice cream on it (one of the colors is purple... not sure what flavor that is), and they actually use a wood planer to scrape the peanut brittle candy onto the taco... Sounds strange but it was good. Adam, Mama Woomer, and I all shared it and I think deep down inside, we all wished we had gotten our own.
The Misses:
*The evil crab apple thing pretending to be a candied strawberry. Poor Mama Woomer was the one to get this bad boy. At the bottom of each stick of strawberries there is this little (we think) apple that is also dipped in sugar. It looks delicious and she made the mistake of popping the whole thing into her mouth. Instantly, you could see the regret in her eyes. She started to laugh which turned into screams as she realized just how disgusting it was. Adam and I encouraged her, "Just spit it out on the ground!" There was even a hole in the manhole cover nearby but she refused to spit it out on the ground (polite American). With this nasty evil apple still in her mouth, she dug through her Mary Poppins purse to find a tissue to spit it out and throw away... She was still learning...
*The "squid" on a stick. Now, Mama Woomer is not the most daring when it comes to crazy food and she's not a particular fan of seafood but I came to find that any time Adam would recommend something or attempt to get her to try something, she would listen to him! We saw people walking around with squid on a stick (something that Adam and I both like) so we searched and found a guy who was dancing and singing, barbequing sticks of squid. We added some spices and even got one for free--one for each of us! But biting into it, we quickly realized that it was not squid... none of us could bite it off the stick! There we were: the three laowai failing miserably at eating the Chinese street food. At least we got some good photos out of it!!
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| I love both their faces throughout this whole thing... |
March 24th
Monday was a slow day in Hangzhou--a teaching day. Finally Mama Woomer got to see me work my magic and stupefy my students into thinking that I was an actual teacher. I had three classes but only took her to two of them (the first one is too early in the morning and the students are the type that would not take advantage of a foreigner being in class with them). My other two classes did not disappoint. After a tongue twister activity and their current event presentations, I unleashed them on her, letting them ask any questions they wanted.
"How old are you?"
"How do you like China?"
"Who is your favorite child?"
"Is your son sexy?"
"Dance for us!" <--Not lying
It was a fun and entertaining day and I think that the students really enjoyed her coming to visit.
March 25th
Tuesdays are the most evil day on my calendar. I have to get up at 5am to take an hour and a half long bus ride to the OTHER campus on the other side of the city, Xiasha. I wish that I didn't have classes out there; I wasn't going to make my mom get up at 5am, and so, because of that, they did not get to meet her and ask her questions (there is one class in particular that I adore from that school so I always feel bad when they get the short end of the stick because they are not on the Cangqian campus).
ANYWAY! After I returned to Cangqian around 1 o'clock, Mama Woomer, Adam and I hopped back on a bus (this trip was so exhausting!!) to head out to the tea fields. We stopped at one of our favorite places to grab yummy, cheap food--Pacman--and then we were off!!
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| She's getting better at chopsticks!! |
It was so cool getting onto the bus that takes you out to the tea fields. You're still in Hangzhou but you are driving through so much green--actual forests, a park, the countryside, and eventually you spot people out in the fields, picking tea. It's always a (literal) breath of fresh air to get even just a little bit outside of the city. I hadn't gone out that way since mine and Adam's first date ♥
The tea fields are beautiful and tower over you as they roll their way up the hills. We ventured our way through the town, watching the workers head out to the fields, people drying the leaves, washing the leaves, actually harvesting the tea!! Last time Adam and I had been there, it was like a ghost town so it was so cool to see everyone working... As a result we were like our very own tourist attraction!!
We ventured up and into the fields, climbing higher and higher up the hill. It was certainly a bit treacherous (especially coming down). Climbing up the hill brought back memories of hiking through the Himalayas (not really... but it was still great)! It was like a ridiculous bonding exercise for all of us... and at the top? Surprise hats that we found, stole, and posed with!!
Coming back down to the safety of (somewhat) level ground, we put our feet up and enjoyed a cup of tea... overly priced tea at 30元 a cup... And that was the cheap stuff!! But how often can you sit between your boyfriend and your mother in China surrounded by such beauty, sipping on a cup of hot tea just picked off the hill around the corner?
March 26th
Wednesday was the return of THE West Lake. I swear, with the random nighttime walks with Adam and showing Mama Woomer around, I have seen West Lake more times then I've seen Niagara Falls (not really... but it's starting to feel that way)!! We had a later start so we got to West Lake right around early dusk. We were on a mission. Mama Woomer had only a few requests of what she wanted to see and do while she was in China and one of them was Leifeng Pagoda on the shores of West Lake. Adam had never been and so the gang of three hopped on a few buses and marched our way past the slowly wandering Chinese tourists to make it to the pagoda before it closed.
The flowers were blooming, the birds were chirping, and I'm sure the sun was shining somewhere behind all that pollution.
The pagoda really is beautiful, though nowhere near as big as it might look in photos (kind of like the Brandenburg Gate). It sits atop a hill that you can take an escalator up to the top (no lie) and it probably has the best view of West Lake you can get. It's a great shot with the rolling hills, the boats on the water, all of downtown Hangzhou... And we were lucky enough to be there are the sun was setting.
The story of the pagoda is something like this:
Bai Suzhen, an immortal snake lady, left heaven and came down to Earth. When she got here, it was raining and a man named Xu Xian offered her his umbrella. It was true love and they got married and lived together for years until an evil sorcerer revealed her true form to Xu Xian--she was Lady Snake. Something terrible happened, there was a big war with fish people, and Bai Suzhen was trapped inside the pagoda. She would be trapped here for as long as it stands... but I did read somewhere that it did collapse one day and people saw a beautiful young woman crawl out from the ruins.
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| Acting out the story of THE West Lake for your entertainment |
That night was a memorable night for many of us... but especially Mama Woomer.
We had had a less than stellar dinner and it was time for an after dinner snack... Well what could possibly be better than chicken feet?!?! Adam, the martyr that he is, got two chicken feet: one for Mama Woomer and one for himself (I sure as heck wasn't going to try that again!). I'm not sure, but I think this might have been a bonding moment for them. One thing I am sure of: no one was a fan of the chicken feet.
We ended the night on a pretty lovely note, watching the West Lake water show... As magical as you can get being this far away from Disney World!!
March 27th
Another teaching day. Monday was post graduates. Thursday was my precious freshmen. They are usually too terrified to speak up for anything. When I walked in, they all muttered, "Good morning," like they usually do but they all sat up straight and shouted, "Good morning!" the minute they saw Mama Woomer trailing in behind me.
Not as talkative as the post-grads, I think Mama Woomer was their first foreigner they interacted with other than me... and I think that is pretty cool.
We ended our time in Hangzhou on a nice, relaxing note. Questions from my students who just ate up every word Mama Woomer said, hanging out at DH's apartment, and then street food again for dinner (hey! It was Thursday... It's tradition!).
That was good for us because up next was the wild, crazy, and hectic Beijing!
Until Next Time,
Amanda
