Day 27: Slurping Noodles!

Location: Hangzhou, China

We got up early this morning, well, early for me. I think it’s smart to make the best use of my time while I'm in port. I don’t know if I will ever be back. We went to Starbucks, grabbed our drink and went back to the apartment. Bob and Mister Lu were going to be picking us up at 10am. Of course, while I had use of Internet (and it was quiet) I used my time to FaceTime/Skype with Mady, my mom, and Mickey. 

Mister Lu drove us to Hangzhou. It is a town about 150 kilometers from Shanghai. Driving in China is somethin' else. As we are driving down the highway, just as I'm getting sleepy, Mister Lu swerves the car to another lane. There was a car in front of us going in reverse down the road. The driver had missed his intended exit and apparently was not willing to continue down the road until the next exit and then turn around. 

Once we arrived in Hangzhou food was a necessity. (Grampa is right; it does sound like I’m eating my way around the world!) The traffic to get to Hangzhou was worse than Bob had predicted so we ended up just grabbing a quick lunch at a restaurant. We had noodles with a little bit of meat in it. The meal was absolutely delicious. I'm not sure if that is just because I was starving or if it really was. I'm going to guess it really was. I have decided that one of my least favorite foods to eat with chopsticks is noodles. It is a joke. Luckily at this restaurant they gave us a spoon. So I would pick up some noodles, let them sit in the air to cool down, and then plop them onto the spoon we were given. From there I would just use the spoon to feed myself. (Dad and Bob did the same thing so I'm not such a newbie). If you attempt to just use the chopsticks to feed yourself the noodles you end up slapping yourself in the face with noodles. That can be very hot and messy. No thank you. It is also almost an expected thing to do in Chinese and Japanese cultures to slurp your food. For an American it is obnoxious to do that in public. (It would make you crazy, Mom!) I wanted to try to do it in these cultures when it was considered acceptable. I tried a time or two until I got sick of wiping my face from the mess I was making after every time I put food into my mouth!!

Bob took us to a pagoda tower. This particular pagoda had been rebuilt. The remains of the previous pagoda can be found on the inside of the current one. The original pagoda was built over 1000 years ago. 

The Leifeng Pagoda in Hangzhou

The view from the top was spectacular. I can't even imagine what it would have looked like had it been a clear day outside. The pagoda overlooked what is known as Westlake.

The view from the top of the Pagoda overlooking Westlake and the city.

It was too chilly to take a boat across or a bike around the lake so instead we just drove around. On the other side of the lake was our hotel for the night. Once checked in at the hotel and walked outside, there was a water show occurring on the lake. Apparently the water show occurs on the hour, everyday.

A little glimpse into the show.