quick recap!
Thursday, April 1st. Spent time in the OR watching c-sections. Nothing much else happened at work. Went to class and was supposed to go to the night market after with Grace, Li Jun and Audrey but ended up getting out of class late. Today's lesson was about xiao long bao and la mian which made me really hungry. So Jenny told me about this place nearby the school that had la mian. I walked around for a while before finding it. It was really fun watching the guy pull the noodles. I got chao la mian which was kinda like eating spaghetti. It came with a bowl of soup too. Jenny says that fried noodles/rice often comes with a bowl of soup because fried food is sometimes hard to swallow so the soup is there to wash it down. After eating, I went home and was about to go to bed when Grace came by. She showed me all the stuff she bought at the night market. I was sad I didn't get to go.
Friday, April 2nd. Last day on OB/GYN so I brought my SLR around with me all day. Got some good pictures of the cafeteria. Spent the morning watching c-sections and the afternoon talking with Judith and Dan Yan. Eventually stopped by Audrey and Grace's office to say hi. Went back to my room to clean up and ended up taking a nap. I thought I was going to have dinner with Grace and Li Jun but they ended up eating without me which was fine because I was so sleepy. They came by after dinner and we went to Li Jun's apartment and met her husband and daughter. Their apartment was super clean and they gave me a dumpling and some amazing fruit to eat. I learned that when people buy apartments here they come completely bare--as in cement floor, walls, and ceiling that they have to decorate themselves. So expensive! After that, Li Jun's husband drove us to the Wushan night market. It was super crowded. I'm so glad I went with Grace and Li Jun because they helped me bargain. I hate bargaining. We bought bags, wallets, earrings, hair ties, and had a great time looking at all the other stuff. There were sunglasses, perfume bottles, flip flops, paint brushes, fans, scarves, watches, socks, underwear, contact lenses, contact lens cases, luggage bags, umbrellas, key chains, jewelry, antiques, paintings, blankets and lots more. It was so crowded and loud. Per Grace and Li Jun's recommendation, I had to try and only speak Chinese and also put my large camera away so we could get better deals on things. :) We stayed till they closed at around 10. We tried to catch a cab, but we ended up taking the bus instead. There was a food cart grilling meat 'n veggies n i got enoki mushrooms and some bok choy. Had to take it on the bus since it came right when my food was ready. It was so crowded on the bus and my hands were full so I had to wait till we got off to eat. IT WAS SO GOOD! :)
Saturday, April 3rd. We woke up early to go to Wujin, a village along a canal that has been changed into a tourist spot. -__- It's about an hour and 15 mins north of Hangzhou. The ride there was fun cause I got to talk to Audrey about her travels to all the continents and her experience as a pilot. We stopped on the way there to experience the usual tourist tea tasting. I can't remember if I had actually been to this place before or if it was just because it felt like previous tours of China, but it was not very exciting. I wish I could have understood what the tour guide was saying but I still need to learn more Chinese. For lunch we chose the "better" looking restaurant on the main street and ended up finding small bugs in our vegetables. Grace also had ordered drunken shrimp which ended up being really gross. Basically it was a bunch of live shrimp in a tiny bowl with some red sauce on top. The shrimp kept moving around and flicking their sauce on us. A couple even flung themselves out of the bowl. We had to cover it with another bowl. I was too disgusted to try to eat one. We tried to get a picture of Grace eating one and while she was holding it in front of her face, the shrimp wriggled itself out of her chopsticks and onto the floor. We all screamed. Worst meal of the trip thus far. After lunch, we walked around looking at all the souvenir shops and then eventually went back to the bus to head back to Hangzhou. On the way back, we stopped at the usual tourist silk factory. Since we had all seen this before we decided to leave. We wanted to take a cab, but apparently from 4-6pm, the cabbies are all changing shifts so it's very difficult to find a cab. Seems like a bad time to be changing shifts, but that's how it is. Also, there's no number you can call to have a cab come and pick you up. We found a map and saw that we were very close to where my Chinese school was so we decided to take my usual bus back home. It was horribly crowded the whole way back--the worst I had ever seen it. I guess it was because it was the weekend. I think they all hated the ride a lot. By the time we got home, we only had about 45 minutes before we had to leave to go to West Lake to see the Impressions night show. Grace and I went to eat noodle soup in the caf, Li Jun went to eat at home and pick up a sweater and Audrey went back to her room to eat carrot sticks and rest a bit. We all were going to take a cab but Li Jun's husband offered to drive us yet again. After we picked up our tickets, we went to the entrance to have them scanned. The security guard stopped me because apparently my ticket was a child's ticket. That was a mess that took a while to sort out, but thankfully we were early enough that we didn't miss the show. Because it was supposed to rain, they gave us all ponchos. So fun. I had a great seat that was right in the center. The show itself was enjoyable and short. My favorite part was when the ninja-looking people were throwing water in the air. I think it was a story about a couple and the girl dies/turns into a crane. Somehow in the end the man turns into a crane too. I'm not sure why the ninja's were there, but they were awesome. The soundtrack was really pretty. What was annoying about the show is that all the people in the crowd were always talking. It was like they were watching tv or something. They also didn't clap for anything. I felt really bad for the performers because they were performing on the water and it was so windy and freezing cold! Also they were flinging water in the air and/or having mist sprayed on them. So cold! After the show we walked across the Broken Bridge to meet Li Jun's husband so he could take us home. It was a really nice walking around the lake at night. The day was crazy busy but a lot of fun.
Sunday, April 4. Today was Grace's last day in China. We went to go to see a pagoda with Audrey in the morning that was by the canal. It was built in the Song dynasty to help calm the tidal bore that happens every autumn. I wish I could see a tidal bore. The pagoda was pretty neat and it had a great view of the city but it was so smoggy and overcast that all the pictures look dreary. After the pagoda, we went to eat a Grandma's Kitchen. Grace was trying to get rid of all her money so she ordered 13 dishes for the 3 of us. Needless to say, it was way too much food. It was really good though and really cheap! After that we went back to our rooms to exchange pictures and get ready to take Grace to the airport. It was sad seeing her off because the last few days had been so much fun. I really liked being alone the first week and experiencing things on my own and trying to figure things out but it was also really neat to have someone to share the experiences with. That afternoon I cleaned up my room and did laundry. Doing laundry here takes forever because the dryer doesn't seem to heat up till after it's been on for about 40 minutes. Strange. Definitely nice to have clean clothes tho!!
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
I often think of great titles on the bus, but I forget them.
Today I made zero bus mistakes. Zero!! =D Right amount of change. Right buses. Right stops. =D A+!
The other exciting thing about today was that I got to go shopping with two of the students rotating with me on OB/GYN, Judith and Dan Yan. We were all bored with work so we left around 1 to go to find new shoes. There must be a bajillion shops in China. All the streets are lined with shops. They have fancy 8-floor shopping centers with helpers galore. AND they have giant not-fancy-at-all buildings with tiny little shops all crammed together. These little shops are the craziest! Complete fashion overload with shoes, bags, socks, jeans, and clothes all over the place and blaring in the background is the yelling of shop owners and customers battling over the price. I HATE shopping in these sorts of places. Too many options and being aggressive are two things I do not like. Thankfully Judith was a MASTER of bargaining.
Dan Yan and I both fell in love with a pair of red flats at one of the stores. They cost 120 (~USD$20). I was like good deal! But since we were going to buy two pairs, even I knew we could get it for less. So they said they would lower the price to 85 (~USD$14). I was pretty happy with that but Dan Yan wasn't so we decided to go look around at other stores for the same pair of shoes. We found some that were identical in appearance but weren't as comfortable and those cost 75 without even bargaining (~USD$12). We went to another place and they were 65 (~USD$11)!! I was so ready to buy those but Judith and Dan Yan wanted to go back to the first place because the shoes were more comfortable so I followed. Then Judith totally started working her magic. She yelled at the lady and the lady yelled back but Judith kept insisting that we'd only buy them if they were 50 (~USD$8). But the lady refused so we walked out of the store. And then they called us back saying that 50 would be okay.
CRAZY! I've seen bargaining before.. but to go from 120 to 50?! I can't go shopping without Judith ever again cause I'm definitely going to get ripped off! O_O I bought shoes at Marshall's and thought that was a good deal, but with how much those shoes were, I could've gotten 4 pairs of shoes here! Yes, fun fun fun!
I didn't do much else today. I went to work today and ordered fun tun (thin wrapper dumplings) for breakfast. They were pretty tasty. I ate with Joe Kim's family and Melissa. Then went to work a little late and had cake since it was Doctors' Day. That reminded me that I had wanted to get this year's Disneyland Doctors' Day pin since this year I'd actually be a doctor, but I'm pretty sure they're all gone now. Oh well. At least the cake today was super tasty.
My attending/team swapped me to another team so I could finally watch a delivery that wasn't a c-section. So I spent the morning studying my Chinese book and waiting for the delivery. We all eventually went to lunch and when we came back, the baby was already out. -____- suxors! It was after that that I ran into Judith and Dan Yan and we decided to leave.
In between shopping centers, it started raining. we walked down this alley that had so many food carts! It was AWESOME! Pineapple cart. Strawberry cart. Bamboo cart. Dumpling cart. And a cart with this amazing rice cake, egg, meat, onion thing that was SOOO TASTY!! I'm pretty sure it's my favorite thing I've eaten so far. With the rain came lots of colorful umbrellas and ponchos. It was so beautiful!
After shopping, I went to Chinese class which was fun and thankfully the bus home was a lot less crowded than usual. I went to the caf when I got back at around 9 and was excited to learn that the noodle chef was still there; I was so hungry. Unfortunately for me, I had misplaced my meal card. So I apologized and told him I had to go find it but he was so kind and said that I should eat first and that I could come back tomorrow with my card and pay then. I asked him what kind of noodles he had and he said I should try the ji dan mian. It was noodles, lots of veggies, and a fried egg on top. SO GOOD! I am totally going to keep going there at night to have noodle soup till I am sick of soup.
Now I'm back in my room and still can't find my meal card. I'm thinking it either got lost in the dining room at lunch or I left it in the work room. I really hope it's in the work room.. along with my super awesome pen that I bought the other day. =T
At least I have new red shoes! =D
The other exciting thing about today was that I got to go shopping with two of the students rotating with me on OB/GYN, Judith and Dan Yan. We were all bored with work so we left around 1 to go to find new shoes. There must be a bajillion shops in China. All the streets are lined with shops. They have fancy 8-floor shopping centers with helpers galore. AND they have giant not-fancy-at-all buildings with tiny little shops all crammed together. These little shops are the craziest! Complete fashion overload with shoes, bags, socks, jeans, and clothes all over the place and blaring in the background is the yelling of shop owners and customers battling over the price. I HATE shopping in these sorts of places. Too many options and being aggressive are two things I do not like. Thankfully Judith was a MASTER of bargaining.
Dan Yan and I both fell in love with a pair of red flats at one of the stores. They cost 120 (~USD$20). I was like good deal! But since we were going to buy two pairs, even I knew we could get it for less. So they said they would lower the price to 85 (~USD$14). I was pretty happy with that but Dan Yan wasn't so we decided to go look around at other stores for the same pair of shoes. We found some that were identical in appearance but weren't as comfortable and those cost 75 without even bargaining (~USD$12). We went to another place and they were 65 (~USD$11)!! I was so ready to buy those but Judith and Dan Yan wanted to go back to the first place because the shoes were more comfortable so I followed. Then Judith totally started working her magic. She yelled at the lady and the lady yelled back but Judith kept insisting that we'd only buy them if they were 50 (~USD$8). But the lady refused so we walked out of the store. And then they called us back saying that 50 would be okay.
CRAZY! I've seen bargaining before.. but to go from 120 to 50?! I can't go shopping without Judith ever again cause I'm definitely going to get ripped off! O_O I bought shoes at Marshall's and thought that was a good deal, but with how much those shoes were, I could've gotten 4 pairs of shoes here! Yes, fun fun fun!
I didn't do much else today. I went to work today and ordered fun tun (thin wrapper dumplings) for breakfast. They were pretty tasty. I ate with Joe Kim's family and Melissa. Then went to work a little late and had cake since it was Doctors' Day. That reminded me that I had wanted to get this year's Disneyland Doctors' Day pin since this year I'd actually be a doctor, but I'm pretty sure they're all gone now. Oh well. At least the cake today was super tasty.
My attending/team swapped me to another team so I could finally watch a delivery that wasn't a c-section. So I spent the morning studying my Chinese book and waiting for the delivery. We all eventually went to lunch and when we came back, the baby was already out. -____- suxors! It was after that that I ran into Judith and Dan Yan and we decided to leave.
In between shopping centers, it started raining. we walked down this alley that had so many food carts! It was AWESOME! Pineapple cart. Strawberry cart. Bamboo cart. Dumpling cart. And a cart with this amazing rice cake, egg, meat, onion thing that was SOOO TASTY!! I'm pretty sure it's my favorite thing I've eaten so far. With the rain came lots of colorful umbrellas and ponchos. It was so beautiful!
After shopping, I went to Chinese class which was fun and thankfully the bus home was a lot less crowded than usual. I went to the caf when I got back at around 9 and was excited to learn that the noodle chef was still there; I was so hungry. Unfortunately for me, I had misplaced my meal card. So I apologized and told him I had to go find it but he was so kind and said that I should eat first and that I could come back tomorrow with my card and pay then. I asked him what kind of noodles he had and he said I should try the ji dan mian. It was noodles, lots of veggies, and a fried egg on top. SO GOOD! I am totally going to keep going there at night to have noodle soup till I am sick of soup.
Now I'm back in my room and still can't find my meal card. I'm thinking it either got lost in the dining room at lunch or I left it in the work room. I really hope it's in the work room.. along with my super awesome pen that I bought the other day. =T
At least I have new red shoes! =D
Sunday, March 28, 2010
West Lake with Nick
March 28, 2010
Last night after finally getting home, I called "Nick" to decide when he wanted to meet to go to West Lake. I wasn't really looking forward to hanging out with him since he had already started getting on my nerves at work but it was very nice of him to offer to show me around. We made plans to meet at 9am.
We took the bus straight to the southwest part of West Lake. This bus trip was more uncomfortable than other ones because Nick kept talking to me in English which meant that I had to respond in English and thus the staring commenced. I definitely already stick out since I'm usually wearing tennis shoes and a backpack, but for the most part, the locals don't stare at me unless I'm taking pictures with my SLR or speaking in English. I like feeling like I blend in so I was embarrassed on the bus ride.
When we got to West Lake, we were going to transfer to another bus but since I hadn't seen this side of the lake before, I asked if we could just start walking there. It was a relatively nice day with blue skies; the only irritating part was the usual smoggy/cloudiness. This side of the lake had a lot more cherry blossom trees which made for very nice pictures. It also had a small pagoda. We walked around talking about China, his life growing up on a farm, how doctors get paid less than dentists in China, why he broke up with his ex-girlfriend, and the odd way Chinese medical schools make you pick your specialty before you even do a rotation in that field. It was quite nice except for the massive crowds of people and the constant mini-buses driving on the walkways. I eventually got hungry and bought lunch which was pretty tasty because they had shi zi tou! I also eventually bought a pinwheel because they looked so fun. I wanted to walk and eat but apparently that's rude because you might drop rice on the ground and also you might choke.
Eventually we ended up at the Leifeng Pagoda and I was pretty exhausted. My cough continued to be pretty bad all day today and I don't think all the exhaust from the mini-buses helped at all. Also, the crowds were getting larger and it was getting hot. We decided to start heading back so we took a bus around the rest of the lake. I didn't realize the lake was so large. We somehow ended up on the topic of soccer and I said that I wasn't a big fan of soccer. He replied, "that's because you are a girl." And I was offended and explained that girls both watch and play sports too. He had nothing else really to say but I was still kind of pissed. I imagined what Abby would have said... she would have been yelling at him. We eventually ended up back on the east side where I had gone on Friday. We bought some candied mini-apples and then headed home.
After we got off the bus stop, I heard the explosion sound I had been hearing all week long and looked up to see that there were fireworks!!! I was super excited. It was strange that they were going off during the day though since it was so hard to see. I decided I would come back later at night and try and get some pictures. I went up to my room and was supposed to take a nap since I wasn't feeling well but ended up chatting online. That was really fun because I got to talk with Andrew, Abby, Andi, Howie, and Jen. It was really neat catching up and finding out what everyone was up to.
After not napping at all and missing dinner in the caf, I decided to go look for fireworks and food. I waited for 45 minutes out in the cold plaza and no fireworks. They did have a bunch of stalls that they were taking down though... I was sad that I had missed whatever it was and that there were no fireworks. It was really windy so I decided to go inside and look for food. Didn't see anything I wanted in the first shopping center, so I bought some groceries and left. This time I figured out how to buy fruit--there's a lady in the fruit area that weighs your fruit for you and puts a sticker on your bag. Fun. Then I went to the other shopping center and had some Korean kalbi tang. It was pretty good and made my throat feel better. Eventually came home and now it's time for bed. I can't stop coughing and my coughs are starting to sound like when you blow air over an empty jug. Weird and really frustrating. :( :(
Last night after finally getting home, I called "Nick" to decide when he wanted to meet to go to West Lake. I wasn't really looking forward to hanging out with him since he had already started getting on my nerves at work but it was very nice of him to offer to show me around. We made plans to meet at 9am.
We took the bus straight to the southwest part of West Lake. This bus trip was more uncomfortable than other ones because Nick kept talking to me in English which meant that I had to respond in English and thus the staring commenced. I definitely already stick out since I'm usually wearing tennis shoes and a backpack, but for the most part, the locals don't stare at me unless I'm taking pictures with my SLR or speaking in English. I like feeling like I blend in so I was embarrassed on the bus ride.
When we got to West Lake, we were going to transfer to another bus but since I hadn't seen this side of the lake before, I asked if we could just start walking there. It was a relatively nice day with blue skies; the only irritating part was the usual smoggy/cloudiness. This side of the lake had a lot more cherry blossom trees which made for very nice pictures. It also had a small pagoda. We walked around talking about China, his life growing up on a farm, how doctors get paid less than dentists in China, why he broke up with his ex-girlfriend, and the odd way Chinese medical schools make you pick your specialty before you even do a rotation in that field. It was quite nice except for the massive crowds of people and the constant mini-buses driving on the walkways. I eventually got hungry and bought lunch which was pretty tasty because they had shi zi tou! I also eventually bought a pinwheel because they looked so fun. I wanted to walk and eat but apparently that's rude because you might drop rice on the ground and also you might choke.
Eventually we ended up at the Leifeng Pagoda and I was pretty exhausted. My cough continued to be pretty bad all day today and I don't think all the exhaust from the mini-buses helped at all. Also, the crowds were getting larger and it was getting hot. We decided to start heading back so we took a bus around the rest of the lake. I didn't realize the lake was so large. We somehow ended up on the topic of soccer and I said that I wasn't a big fan of soccer. He replied, "that's because you are a girl." And I was offended and explained that girls both watch and play sports too. He had nothing else really to say but I was still kind of pissed. I imagined what Abby would have said... she would have been yelling at him. We eventually ended up back on the east side where I had gone on Friday. We bought some candied mini-apples and then headed home.
After we got off the bus stop, I heard the explosion sound I had been hearing all week long and looked up to see that there were fireworks!!! I was super excited. It was strange that they were going off during the day though since it was so hard to see. I decided I would come back later at night and try and get some pictures. I went up to my room and was supposed to take a nap since I wasn't feeling well but ended up chatting online. That was really fun because I got to talk with Andrew, Abby, Andi, Howie, and Jen. It was really neat catching up and finding out what everyone was up to.
After not napping at all and missing dinner in the caf, I decided to go look for fireworks and food. I waited for 45 minutes out in the cold plaza and no fireworks. They did have a bunch of stalls that they were taking down though... I was sad that I had missed whatever it was and that there were no fireworks. It was really windy so I decided to go inside and look for food. Didn't see anything I wanted in the first shopping center, so I bought some groceries and left. This time I figured out how to buy fruit--there's a lady in the fruit area that weighs your fruit for you and puts a sticker on your bag. Fun. Then I went to the other shopping center and had some Korean kalbi tang. It was pretty good and made my throat feel better. Eventually came home and now it's time for bed. I can't stop coughing and my coughs are starting to sound like when you blow air over an empty jug. Weird and really frustrating. :( :(
I'm already forgetting a lot of things that have happened.
Postdate: Saturday, March 27, 2010
Slept in today because I was still feeling sick. Yesterday I felt so much better but today my cough got significantly worse. Since I had missed breakfast and it was too early for lunch, I had a beef noodle soup cup-o-noodle! So tasty! Then I chatted online and looked up maps until about 3pm. Oh well.
I really did not feel like hanging out with "Nick" so I decided that my plans would be to call him tomorrow and spend the day at Wulin Square and the Wushan Night Market. So after I mapped out my route online, wrote it all down, and took pictures of the maps on my small camera, I left. Thankfully my first bus was pretty empty so I could see outside and pay better attention to when the bus was turning.
My cue to get off this bus was after the 3rd right turn and it worked perfectly. I wasn't sure what was going to be at Wulin Square. I thought maybe it would be an outdoor market or maybe a shopping center but it ended up being a huge open area in front of a very tall building that I still don't know the purpose of. Today they were having a car/piano/plant show, so random. I walked around taking pictures of the kids playing with their pinwheels, kits, mini-parachutes, and bubbles, the giant balloons in the air and the tall building. Nothing too exciting.
I ended up following some people into the nearby Hangzhou Shopping Center which takes up 3 or 4 buildings. I found out later that this was one of the most expensive shopping malls in Hangzhou. So crazy. Like all the large other shopping centers, it was so clean and colorful inside with well dressed staff in every department waiting to talk to you. I really don't like it because with the smallest look of interest, they'll come up and talk to me in Chinese and I don't know what they're saying. Then if they had asked me a question, they'd repeat it and then I have to tell them "ting bu dong" (I don't understand) and then explain that I am a "mei guo ren" (American) which still confuses them because I of course, look Chinese. Also, you're not allowed to take pictures inside, so I decided to go to the market on the bottom floor where there was food.
Ended up buying some crackers, cheesecake, ham croissant, and a earl grey tea latte for my relentless cough. Went outside to eat by a broken fountain where I found that the cheesecake was way more cake-y than cheese-y. Still tasty for only 4RMB. After that there were some market stalls nearby where I bought some bracelets... I had the whole conversation in Chinese (so nervous!) and bought two bracelets~!
Decided that the weather was nice enough to walk down to where I thought the night market was so I deviated from my well laid out bus plan. The street I walked down was a boulevard with lots of shops. They had Sephora and H&M, so it felt like home. So many of the stores have sale signs that I don't understand so I took pictures of most of them and am planning on asking my Chinese tutor what they mean... I'm guessing that one of the signs was buy one get one free and that another was spend 400 and get 180 back/off or something. We'll see.
I thought things were supposed to be cheaper but so far everything seems to cost about the same. Maybe once I figure out the sale signs things will be more affordable. I feel like I need to shop for new clothes, new shoes, and a new purse because everyone here dresses so nicely, wears shoes with heels, and has a fancy bag. I went out yesterday dressed in my work clothes and blended in, but today I wore jeans and tennis shoes with my backpack because I knew I'd be out exploring all day... I'm such a bum-like tourist.
Since shopping for fashionable things was too difficult, I decided to buy something easier. I found a really nice bookstore with a stationery shop on the second floor. I think I spent at least an hour to two in there comparing pens and journals. Finally walked out with three medium journals, a small journal, and a choose your own colors 3-ink clicky pen! So fun!! I couldn't believe it was already 8:10 when I left. Oops!
I hurried to where the night market was supposed to be because I had planned on getting there at 7:30 but I couldn't find it. I thought I was right where the map said it would be but there was no night market! I back and forth on the street for a bit and started to notice the crowds of people all waiting at the nearby bus stops. That got me really worried that I'd miss the last bus like I almost had the day before, so I decided to go home.
There were four bus routes that would get me home but two were already no longer running. I walked down two stops to get to a stop that was on both of the remaining bus routes and eventually caught a bus going toward my home. Then I accidentally got off too early. So then I waited and got on the next one. Then I got off one stop after my home. haha, I need to learn what the stops at my home are called but it's so hard learning Chinese sounds. :P
Slept in today because I was still feeling sick. Yesterday I felt so much better but today my cough got significantly worse. Since I had missed breakfast and it was too early for lunch, I had a beef noodle soup cup-o-noodle! So tasty! Then I chatted online and looked up maps until about 3pm. Oh well.
I really did not feel like hanging out with "Nick" so I decided that my plans would be to call him tomorrow and spend the day at Wulin Square and the Wushan Night Market. So after I mapped out my route online, wrote it all down, and took pictures of the maps on my small camera, I left. Thankfully my first bus was pretty empty so I could see outside and pay better attention to when the bus was turning.
My cue to get off this bus was after the 3rd right turn and it worked perfectly. I wasn't sure what was going to be at Wulin Square. I thought maybe it would be an outdoor market or maybe a shopping center but it ended up being a huge open area in front of a very tall building that I still don't know the purpose of. Today they were having a car/piano/plant show, so random. I walked around taking pictures of the kids playing with their pinwheels, kits, mini-parachutes, and bubbles, the giant balloons in the air and the tall building. Nothing too exciting.
I ended up following some people into the nearby Hangzhou Shopping Center which takes up 3 or 4 buildings. I found out later that this was one of the most expensive shopping malls in Hangzhou. So crazy. Like all the large other shopping centers, it was so clean and colorful inside with well dressed staff in every department waiting to talk to you. I really don't like it because with the smallest look of interest, they'll come up and talk to me in Chinese and I don't know what they're saying. Then if they had asked me a question, they'd repeat it and then I have to tell them "ting bu dong" (I don't understand) and then explain that I am a "mei guo ren" (American) which still confuses them because I of course, look Chinese. Also, you're not allowed to take pictures inside, so I decided to go to the market on the bottom floor where there was food.
Ended up buying some crackers, cheesecake, ham croissant, and a earl grey tea latte for my relentless cough. Went outside to eat by a broken fountain where I found that the cheesecake was way more cake-y than cheese-y. Still tasty for only 4RMB. After that there were some market stalls nearby where I bought some bracelets... I had the whole conversation in Chinese (so nervous!) and bought two bracelets~!
Decided that the weather was nice enough to walk down to where I thought the night market was so I deviated from my well laid out bus plan. The street I walked down was a boulevard with lots of shops. They had Sephora and H&M, so it felt like home. So many of the stores have sale signs that I don't understand so I took pictures of most of them and am planning on asking my Chinese tutor what they mean... I'm guessing that one of the signs was buy one get one free and that another was spend 400 and get 180 back/off or something. We'll see.
I thought things were supposed to be cheaper but so far everything seems to cost about the same. Maybe once I figure out the sale signs things will be more affordable. I feel like I need to shop for new clothes, new shoes, and a new purse because everyone here dresses so nicely, wears shoes with heels, and has a fancy bag. I went out yesterday dressed in my work clothes and blended in, but today I wore jeans and tennis shoes with my backpack because I knew I'd be out exploring all day... I'm such a bum-like tourist.
Since shopping for fashionable things was too difficult, I decided to buy something easier. I found a really nice bookstore with a stationery shop on the second floor. I think I spent at least an hour to two in there comparing pens and journals. Finally walked out with three medium journals, a small journal, and a choose your own colors 3-ink clicky pen! So fun!! I couldn't believe it was already 8:10 when I left. Oops!
I hurried to where the night market was supposed to be because I had planned on getting there at 7:30 but I couldn't find it. I thought I was right where the map said it would be but there was no night market! I back and forth on the street for a bit and started to notice the crowds of people all waiting at the nearby bus stops. That got me really worried that I'd miss the last bus like I almost had the day before, so I decided to go home.
There were four bus routes that would get me home but two were already no longer running. I walked down two stops to get to a stop that was on both of the remaining bus routes and eventually caught a bus going toward my home. Then I accidentally got off too early. So then I waited and got on the next one. Then I got off one stop after my home. haha, I need to learn what the stops at my home are called but it's so hard learning Chinese sounds. :P
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Friday, March 19, 2010
Saturday, February 27, 2010
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