The Day Off

I woke up early today and thought I should check my email before going back to sleep, since I really didn't have to be anywhere in particular today. Unfortunately, emailing went a little long, with a slew of both work and personal emails to attend to, and I never got a chance to get back to sleep. Breakfast/brunch was had in the hotel, but we had missed the breakfast buffet. So I ordered an "Oriental" set breakfast, which was congee and some dumpling. Probably the worst congee I had ever had. No taste whatsoever.

After brunch, I had to wait an hour for Gord to get this stuff together as he was trying to figure out how his wife would get to Hangzhou from Shanghai. It was a logistic nightmare since there was no way for him to get a hold of her, and he didn't want to put her through the train ride of hell. Without much progress, he gave up for the time being.

We taxied down to West Lake, and rented bikes at 8 RMB/hr. For the next 3.5 hours, we took the bikes around the great lake and had a great time mixing in with the locals on their bikes. There's nothing more exhilerating than riding a bike in traffic with the crazy car drivers. West Lake offers some beautiful scenery, tainted only by the hazy low-hanging sky. One can only imagine how astonishing the view would be on a clear day. One reason for the haze is because we are still in the middle of New Year's celebrations, and the smoke from fireworks and firecrackers seem to suspend in the air. Nevertheless, the bike ride was a more-than-welcomed chance to see the famous historical lake and to be slightly active.

Thereafter, we got back to the hotel and met up with Chao Yang, one of our customer's engineers. He took us to a popular restaurant where you buy tickets that you spend like money on menu items. The tables are scattered much like a food court, and you would go to a long counter where food is prepared and placed for you to "buy" with the tickets. This was the reason I love coming to China. The food. There's nothing like having a local order authentic Chinese dishes. I enjoyed most of the items, but Gord wasn't as enthused (he was courageous enough to tried everything, but didn't like most items enough to take more than a bite).

Chao Yang then took us to a tea house, which are popular places in Hangzhou, which is famous for its teas. These tea houses are often larger than restaurants, and have booths where people can sit, drink tea, and talk with friends. With your order of tea, you can also enjoy a large variety of snacks free of charge. It's an interesting concept. Mind you, an order of tea (which consists of a glass with tea leaves and as many refills of water as wanted), runs between 55 RMB - 85 RMB, which converts to about $9 - $14 CDN -- so it's not overly cheap. But I enjoyed the experience. Chao Yang's girlfriend also joined us after she finished work at a travel agency. I also got to try duck tongue, which was a thin slab of meat that forked into two long points (go find a picture of a duck's tongue), marinated on a skewer. With a texture like jerky, it was actually pretty decent, once you block out the fact that it's a tongue. Apparently, it's quite expensive, given that most ducks only come with one tongue.

After close to 5 hours of dinner and sipping tea, Gord and I returned to our hotel, where I am now writing my update. Gord will be heading to the Hangzhou Railway Station shortly to pick up his wife, Jan. Hopefully she made it there alright.

Kevin, signing off from China... the place where cold water stinks as well, kids begging often make more than adult workers, and sometimes the only way to cross the street is like Frogger.