Hangzhou ~ afternoon

After the Pagoda, it was lunchtime. And then we headed to an amusement park. It was like old-town San Diego or Old Tucson but with traditional Chinese things, replicas of buildings, people in costumes, performances ... Super cool. It had rides too but they were closed and we only had a half hour to walk around. I got swindled!!! A guy came and grabbed me and sat me in a marriage carriage and they paraded me in a circle with squires playing music. It was really fun - but then they wanted me to pay $30 yuen. What?!?!! So I showed them a 5 and said it was all I had for it. They got mad and grabbed my arm and pointed to my purse, I thought they were gonna open it and dig out my wallet for me!!! Bit just then another girl in my group got "taken" too so they were trying toget money from her and I just walked away. No one followed me and I was feeling like I got away ... Bit then I felt bad, I knew it would bug me. So I swallowed my pride and walked back where they attacked me even worse until I handed them the money!!! Crayyyyyyzee!! But I'm glad I paid and I can own up to the fact they totally trapped me like a stupid American tourist!!! Hahahaha. There were 4 of us that had that happen!!

They had a "strange street" with sideways rooms and upside down rooms. Cotton candy that shrunk like crazy in the humidity! 

And we were off to the "show" - wowww. The show was so amazing!!! It was about an hour long and told the story of Hangzhou with dancing and music and acting. But was so over the top!!! Like it rained on stage, there were real horses galloping by, a WATERFALL on stage - it was just super cool. 

Part of the show

Broken bridge in the show

Waterfall on stage!

Couldn't really capture how awesome it was!

After the amusement park, we went to a Buddist temple up in the mountains. The drive was gorgeous because the mountains are just lush and so green. There are a lot of tea plantations so you see the terraced fields too. 

It was raining, but it made it all misty and cool looking. There are many Buddhas. The main 3 were in this temple. Happy buddah to welcome us, then this giant statue of another buddah (can't remember his name right now) and a medicine buddah along with a buddah that's female and is the buddah of mercy. 

Biggest statue of the Buddah

Female Buddah of mercy with many guardians around her

Medicine buddah

So you walk around and see the different buddahs and then there's a stream and you can wade across the stream and on the other side, there are just stairs to hike around and appreciate solitude in nature. So Melissa and I hiked around not really knowing where the stairs led or where we were going. It was super cool. And then, the last stop was a cave with buddahs on the outside, carved into the mountain.

Stairs on the other side of the stream

Stairs

Caves 

For dinner we went to a very nice restaurant, my favorite so far, where we had typical dishes from Hangzhou. One was a chicken called "beggars chicken" slow cooked in clay. Very yum. The best though, was that I finally had an entire meal with only chopsticks!! (Lunch I did half my meal with chopsticks and then resorted to my fork again). There was also this eggplant that was delicious and tiny little white fish. 

Walking to our restaurant

Outside the restaurant

I forgot to take another picture with triple the dishes you see here!

Happy with my chopstick accomplishment!!

Teeny tiny fish

This is a bread roll. Soft and bland-tasting. I like them. 

Hangzhou ~ "relaxing lady"

Our tour guide says every city in China has a personality. Shanghai is a business man and Hangzhou is a relaxing lady. It's beautiful and has a very relaxed feel to it ~ and it's super romantic!!

We started our morning with a boat cruise on West Lake. It was raining, so the lake was all misty and mystic looking. Pretty magical!  There are romantic legends from Hangzhou. One is about a white snake that turned into a lady and fell in love with a local boy. The bridges and places we saw are part of these legends and it makes it so romantic and charming to know the story and see the setting and let your imagination play along!!

Broken Bridge (not broken ... But broken hearted, awwwww)

Solitary Island (which is not solitary)

Pagoda of the White Snake Lady

From the boat, we went to the Pagoda of the White Snake Lady. The original crumbled from locals taking bricks for good luck. It was rebuilt to ensure balance to the lake. We climbed all the way to the top and had a beautiful view of the lake below. If only it had been sunny!  I went to the top and back down by stairs, not elevator :)

Wood carving of the White Snake Lady. All inside the pagoda you see artwork depicting the legend. 

Shanghai ~ Thursday night

I am so in love with Shanghai. This post will have lots and lots of pictures because I'm in love with the Shanghai skyline!

Our tour bus dropped us off at a street called Nanjing Road. It's a big shopping street kind of like Florida y La Valle in Buenos Aires but looks more like Times Square - about 8-9 blocks of stores and stores and stores!! 

But before walking down Nanjing, we went to a place they call the bund. It's like a boardwalk across from the tall buildings on the opposite side of the river. 

View from the bund (with rain!)

Huge statue of Chen Yi  ... Vines on the wall ... And skyline

Nanjing Road

Macaroons inside a department store full of Chinese food

Roots inside that same store

Some spikey fruit (same store)

Silver plated mural in the Peace Hotel lobby

Giant Chen Yi statue at the bund. 

Close up of wall (vines of different colors)

Shanghai skyline with clouds and mist. SO GORGEOUS!!!!

Me, falling in love with Shanghai!

Cool Gotham-looking statue at the Bund

Then we loaded out cruise boat The Shanghai Scenery. We had dinner and a show and cruised the river for 1.5 hours. The clouds were in and out so sometimes you could see the tops of buildings and sometimes they were covered and misty. The lights were beautiful and it's just hard to describe HOW ENCHANTING it was. Maybe the pictures will show it some, but you have to multiply it by 100 to know how I felt actually being there. 

El Capitan ;)

Giovanni & Chris

After the cruise, we jumped on the bus and had a 3 hour drive to Hangzhou where I collapsed into my bed (that felt like a box spring without a mattress on it! Nice and sturdy!)

Shanghai - Silk Factory

After Old Town, we went to lunch at a Mongolian bbq restaurant! Score!! It was really yum!!

You grab everything you want (raw meat, veggies and sauces) in bowls and they cook it up for you. 

After that, we went to a silk factory. They showed us how the moths lay eggs, become caterpillars & spin the silk cocoon - at which time they are harvested or whatever the word is, to make silk thread. When they get twin cocoons, they use it for batting, because it's impossible to get a single thread from those. The single cocoons are microwaved to kill the moth and thrown in water. Usually they use 7 cocoons for fabric thread. Or more (30-40) for thicker thread. 

Cocoons being turned into thread. If you look carefully, you'll see the thread going up. 

Holding the string. 

Twin cocoons being stretched. Dead moths to the right (sad face) 

Stretching the batting (for blankets) - its so very very soft!!

Batting as a hat. I was bored while everyone was shopping, so I was being ... me! 

Funniest thing I saw in there: a silk Sponge Bob nighty ... Or shirt ... But, umm, they got the color wrong!

Sponge Bob in red!

Next stop: the bund & Nanjing Rd