Weekend Trip..Starbucks and Germans in Hangzhou

Well Nina and myself took a trip to a nearby city called Hangzhou.
What a beautiful city.
It is situated on a lake called West Lake.

We set out Saturday around noon and got there about an hour and a half later.
The bus ride was great...It was very nice bus and only cost about $4.00.
Take that Greyhound!



As soon as we got into town we saw a Starbucks and made a B line for it.
I haven't had a Latte' in two months...
As we sat down I looked over and saw a couple of other foreigners...
You don't see that in Changxing!
I said hello and they replied in a heavy German accent.
I asked them if they would like to join us and they accepted.
Since Nina is German they took off chatting away in German.



Their names were Boris and Simone.
They work for the German company Bosch.
Bosch has several plants in China.
Boris has been in China for about a year so his Chinese was pretty good.

They invited us to hang out with them and they showed us to a nearby hostel.



I have never stayed in a youth hostel before...very Bohemian.
We shared a room with two other people. I never met one of them...she got up early and left. But I chatted with the other girl in the morning...nice Chinese student.
She was visiting West Lake for the weekend too.



Nina has stayed in many youth hostels traveling around Europe.

Boris and Simone waiting as we check in.



Really beautiful place...You can't go wrong with a spiral staircase!



As we entered the market.



Anyway we headed out to market with Boris and Simone...it was very interesting.

Chinese Pharmacy...?




I was a sculptor in a past life so I had to get a picture of this guy.




While we were out another German friend of Boris's met up with us. His name was Oliver.
That's him on the left.



I took 91 pictures in the 24 hours we were there.

These are some kind of animal heads...I'm not sure what kind?




It's a good thing I wasn't really hungry!



Crabs anyone?




Duck feet and other duck parts.





I know there is something in these. But I have no idea what.





Meat on a stick!!





The food market was....well just downright scary.





So many strange things...To me at least.

Lots of people!!




Duck heads anyone?




Meat on a stick...very popular.





A beautiful Pagoda on top of the mountain.





Night market...you need it they got it.









Later went to a place called The Banana Leaf for dinner...Boris did the ordering.





Oliver....CHEERS!!




Great food...whatever it is.





Pineapple craw fish....Hmmm!!





Nina and the Mariachi...Sha na na na na!




I don't know what she's doing with this oyster shell?



They had a mariachi type band that went from table to table playing requests.



After dinner we went to a quiet little upscale bar and had a few drinks and talked about our adventures in China.


Later Nina and myself headed back to the hostel...I didn't sleep very well the bed here are so hard.

The next morning we got up an had some coffee and a croissants and walked around the lake some and took pictures.

I love this boat...maybe I'll take a ride another day.



Nina....



I love this lake.




Lots of people.




Cool water fountain...

This was amazing at night!



The dancing Pagoda...everybody was dancing inside.






At least it wasn't so hot out!




Cute kids!!




Split bottom pants....No diaper needed!!




Everybody wants a picture of the foreigners.





I just like art.




Nina....AGAIN...




It was so strange to see so many foreigners.
Italians, Germans....
We even chatted with some chaps from England back at the hostel before we went to bed the night before.

So 11:00 rolls around and I'm getting hungry so I suggest Pizza Hut. Nina's not a huge fan of pizza but she knew I had done without Western food for two months and as long as it wasn't bulls penis or anything too gross...she was fine with it.
By the way they have lots of Western food here in Hangzhou. And I don't mean cowboy western (MOM).
They have Papa Johns, Dairy Queen, TCBY, KFC (of coarse) and lots more.
The Pizza Hut wasn't like the Pizza Huts back home.
It was like a Pizza Hut restaurant....By 12:00 you needed reservations to get in and there was a HUGE line at the door. Hoity Toity Pizza Hut!

After lunch we went out and got Nina a cell phone and looked for some mustard for me. No mustard in Changxing...Who knew?

By 3:00 we decided to head back to Changxing. After a couple of buses we made it to the buss station and had our hour and a half ride home...we both fell asleep on the way back.

I'm going back again next weekend!!


Jim