Here’s a rad parking structure!
I spent much of Friday morning reading, and in the early afternoon Deborah, an acquaintance from high-school now working here as an English teacher for Loma Linda, and I ran down to the wet-market. I only wish we had more of these in the states. The food is fresh, grown locally, a quick walk away, and cheap! Just be sure to cook it. Here you can obtain just about anything you’d want to eat, including fish, eel, turtle, duck, pigeon, squid, shrimp, all fresh and still live if you like, or a host of produce.
for the carnivores: corn, cheese& bacon biscuit
Later, after my dad finished work, we went off on bicycles to cruise around the city. Riding bicycles in Hangzhou is possibly on par to the same fun as karting. If people drive “crazy” by American standards, they ride bikes in that same fashion to a higher level of intesity. Even in the bike-lane, which is on the street, but separated from traffic with a barrier, you are constantly weaving in and out between other cyclists and grazing pedestrians when only going at a moderate pace! It’s quite fun, and there, again, is no road-rage really to speak of. I find it most enjoyable to pass the electric scooters and squeeze through intersections between traffic. It’s too bad that this would never work in the states.
our g-rides. I was cruising on the baby-blue girl bike, doris
bike & scooter parking in front of Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital
Silk Market
Mandatory attire for sub-freezing cycling in Hangzhou
Yesterday, Dad and I went to the Lingyin Temple, again by bike. At the far-end of West Lake, it is one of the oldest temples in china at more than 1650 years old! Incense has been burning there since it’s inception, and some of the largest buddhist sculptures in the world are housed here, including a Buddha over 60 feet tall! Another note-worthy item are all the relief carvings in the limestone hill adjacent to the main temple. This is a truly serene place.
A tea plantation near the temple
what appears to be an agitated squirrel
a large relief carved on "flying peak from afar"
victim of a revolution, or time?
Some statues at the temple. Photography wasn’t allowed inside the more sacred temples, but Dad took some in October when he didn’t see the signs, so I’ll borrow them from him later, and upload them to photobucket & facebook.
Serenity now!
And last night to cap it all off, Dad and I went off for a leg/foot/shoulder massage down the street. We have walked and hiked many miles on this trip, and my god what a blessing this was. It’s almost amusing though in that these little women, probably 110-115 pounds at most, had to put all there weight into it to get deep on our shoulders and necks. Even more amusing was trying to communicate with them, since they only spoke Chinese, and didn’t know any Chinese save, “hello, thank you, and good bye.” We were all having a good laugh about it though, and afterwards we were so loose we could barely make it to tea before bed.
Tonight, my last night in Hangzhou, we’re going to dinner and a Jazz show. It ought to be fun. Tomorrow my flight to Beijing leaves at 5 pm, and I arrive back in the USA at 4:30pm where Greg and Jen have been kind enough to offer to pick me up (Greg thinks trains are for hobos). I have enjoyed my time here, especially my time with Dad, and seeing the diversity and character of the Chinese people, but as always I do miss my friends, family, dog, and the familiarity of being able to converse with the people around me. China is a beautiful place full of mystery. I hope to explore more of it the next time I visit, and I plan to make more of an effort to explore different cultures across the world in the coming years as well. There is so much to see and experience outside the small comfort zone we call home!
As always, more photos can be found on my photobucket album entitled "China"
No comments:
Post a Comment