When we woke up on Sunday morning, we went down to the complimentary breakfast. It was interesting to see the spread- they had eggs and french fries and donuts, and then they had green beans and cabbage and lomein as well as rice porridge and steamed dumplings and another dozen or so dishes, none of which looked particularly breakfast-like to me. The variety fascinated me, and I tried a little bit of almost everything.
After we checked out of the hotel, we took a taxi back to the restaurant where we ate the night before to meet up with Luna's dad again. An interesting note: When we flagged down a taxi, two of them stopped, and we got into the second one. When we stopped at a traffic light, the taxi we had not chosen pulled up next to us, rolled down his window, and yelled at us. Did I break some kind of code of taxi etiquette by picking the second taxi?
Either way, the taxi we did pick dropped us off and a few minutes later, Luna's dad arrived. He had his bike with him and we walked until we found a bike rack and Luna and I rented a couple of bikes again.
The plan was to ride the bikes out to the XiXi Wetlands and then bike through them. It was pretty far and it was very hot that day, and I am not used to riding a bike that far, but I was feeling pretty good and I was enjoying seeing the city and the breeze on my face.
The Wetlands are beautiful and peaceful. I've noticed an interesting trend in China, where there will be speakers playing traditional Chinese instrumental music in parks and things. The wetlands had this too. I also enjoyed riding through the wetlands because, periodically, there are signs posted with messages like: "Wetlands: Water, Life, Culture" and "Care for Environment, Benefit Humanity." There are a number of stopping points along the path, with helpful little signs that tell you it would be a good spot to stop for a photo and, of course, because we were with Luna's dad, we stopped at every single one of them so he could take a picture of the two of us. We also stopped at the little gift shop village to take a look at the dragon boats that are kept there. They were making another candy specialty of the area, so I bought it and got myself full of some kind of caramel thing because I didn't know how to eat it. I tried watching the five-year-old who got a candy before me for a clue, but he wasn't much help because he didn't mind getting himself all sticky. Luna's dad took a picture of me failing before he told me how to do it properly.
We biked to the end of the park and back again, then took the road back into the city. By this time it was around 1 o'clock and they asked if I was hungry. I was getting really tired, so I said I didn't know, but they tried to find a restaurant anyway. We wound up eating at a KFC, where I got french fries and an ice cream. The KFC was insanely crowded. KFC was the first foreign fast food chain in China and it is SUPER popular. I'm not sure why, but Chinese people, especially kids, love to eat KFC.
After lunch, to my dismay, we continued biking. Originally, the plan was to ride to the Botanical Gardens and see them before heading back to the train station. I had no idea how long we had been biking for, but at this point, I was so tired that I started muttering curses to myself- cursing the bike for only being one-speed, cursing the various hills for not all being down, cursing myself for being so out of shape- and I fell far behind Luna and her dad. They would periodically stop and wait to make sure I could catch up, but they would always pull ahead again. I didn't want to complain, so I just doggedly pushed on, hoping we would stop soon.
After what felt like forever, I realized that we had ridden far away from the lake itself and so at a red light, when I caught up to Luna, I asked her where we were going and she told me that it was almost time for the train, so we were riding to the train station.
Oh.
We were close, though, only a few more blocks and the station came into sight. We rode another block looking for a bike rack that had open spots to return Luna's and my bikes. At this point, I had a headache and I'm sure I was dehydrated. Luna's dad went into a nearby supermarket and bought us some water. I asked if we could sit for a few minutes and rest.
That's when Luna's dad noticed that I was hella sunburnt. The line where my shirtsleeves were during our ride that day was very distinct. He found this very funny, so we took a picture. I asked how long we had biked that day...
30 kilometers. That's 18 miles! No wonder I felt like I was going to die! I am so not in shape enough to bike 18 miles in a day! But hey, I did it. I'm not planning on doing it again anytime soon, but I did it!
After I was able to move again without collapsing, we walked into the train station and prowled around until someone else got up to leave, and we pounced on their seats. I fell asleep during the train ride home, and I can tell you, I have never been so glad to see my shower and my bed.
I loved my weekend in Hangzhou, and there is still so much I haven't seen. I never got a chance to go to the other famous temple, I didn't get to see the Botanical Gardens or the silk factory, I didn't get a chance to visit the tea village that is nearby, where they grow longjing cha (dragon well) tea, and there are dozens of hiking and biking trails up into the mountains around the lake. I could have easily and happily spent another few days in Hangzhou. I'd like to go back again and also take one of the boats for a ride on the lake, in addition to all the other things that I missed. As it comes time to leave, I realize all the things that I have not had a chance to do, and it makes me want to come back next year so that I can.
Also, as we were leaving, Luna and her father invited me to go to their town, Jiaxing. So that's another opportunity that I could take!
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