Singing (and Biking) in the Rain

Wednesday, September 14th

So if you're tired and need a good wake-up, the adrenaline of almost missing a flight in a foreign country where you can't communicate will do the trick.  We were twenty minutes later getting ourselves out of the hotel in the morning, then had trouble getting a cab.  So much for not drawing extra attention to ourselves... We were those crazy Americans running through the airport, arms flailing, making a scene.  But we made it with just a couple minutes to spare... Hangzhou here we come!

Hangzhou is located about two hours southwest of Shanghai and is one of China's most livable cities thanks to the many parks and green spaces.  But the major draw is West Lake, surrounded by hilly tea plantations, beautiful pagodas and temples making for a picturesque setting that has been inspiration for Chinese poets, painters and philosophers.  The lake is a popular vacation destination throughout China and I imagine will shortly become well known among foreign travelers as it was the host city for this year's G20 summit over Labor Day weekend.  We missed President Obama by two weeks!

We had prior warning thanks to weather.com, but we were still disappointed when we touched down to gray, rainy skies.  In fact, it looks like we're going to have rainy weather for the rest of our trip.  But we are in typhoon season, so I guess we need to be thankful that we've had great weather up until this point.  It could always be worse!  Plus the hotel concierge told us Hangzhou is more romantic in the rain, so two romantic days with mom ahead... Sorry dad!

We put on our rain coats, grabbed our umbrellas and headed out to explore.  There is a full moon tomorrow night and the Autumn Moon Festival is one of China's most celebrated holidays.  Hangzhou happens to be one of the best places to see the full moon and it's evident that many Chinese families are in town to celebrate, as the tree-lined paths along the lake are dotted with colorful umbrellas of people strolling in the rain.  I like that the Asian culture doesn't let Mother Nature ruin their plans.  We're not going to let it ruin ours either!

Biking around the lake is a popular pastime here.  In fact, Hangzhou was the first city in China to launch a bike share program back in 2008 and today it is the country's largest with 66,500 bikes available for rent.  We were back and forth as to whether or not we should attempt this in the rain, but as we were contemplating, two bikers wrapped in ponchos pedaled past us and we decided, why not?!?  So we rented bikes and off we went.

This would prove to be one of our not so smart decisions as the narrow sidewalks were packed wall to wall with umbrella carrying tourists and then we had to dodge sightseeing trams, scooters and other bike riders.  Every time we'd turn to go down along the lake, a security guard would blow his whistle at us, yell at us in Mandarin and point us in the direction of the major road.  We ended up so far away from the lake, that we got off course and almost got lost, but luckily we were able to navigate ourselves back.  I'm wondering if the pedestrian only areas were set up specifically for the influx of people coming into town for the Autumn Moon festival or if cycling is that restricted all the time... because for a city that promotes biking, they certainly don't make it easy for cyclists to ride safely and enjoy their time on a bike.

But despite the challenges, the bike ride served it's purpose because we got to explore the area and by the time we returned the bikes, the rain had subsided, so we decided to continue exploring on foot.  But first we made a pit stop for dinner at a highly recommended Hangzhou establishment, Louwailou.  Once a fish shack, this restaurant is now the most famous in the Zhejiang province and well known for the city's most popular dish, the Beggar's Chicken, a whole chicken wrapped in lotus leaves and baked in a clay oven.  We sampled this dish, as well as, dates with lotus roots and pumpkin with lily bulb.  We also ordered a small bottle of Chinese rice wine... Let's just say we much prefer wine made from grapes.  We were the only westerners in the restaurant and felt like we were definitely having an authentic experience in addition to a typical Hangzhou Chinese meal.

After dinner we strolled along the lake taking advantage of the break in the clouds.  We found a waterfront spot to grab a drink and people watch and then decided to head back to the hotel to catch up on some much needed sleep.