Hi everyone!

We have finally moved on to another part of China! YAY!!! Shenzhen was nice (especially that gorgeous park), but it was a little disappointing to be so close to Hong Kong and not be allowed to go there. We’re all in China on work visas, which are single-entry visas….and our single entry was used up when we first arrived back in March. (Hong Kong is a special administrative region and not officially part of China.) So all we could do was admire the views of Hong Kong from our hotel windows.

It was definitely time to move on. After six weeks of Shenzhen and Longgang, we were all extremely excited to be flying to Hangzhou. Hangzhou is a large city (with a population around 7 million) close to Shanghai, known for its beautiful scenery and silk markets. It was a two-hour flight from Shenzhen. We left extremely early—our hotel hadn’t even started serving breakfast—so when we had some extra time at the airport, we quickly sat down at a café. I was intrigued by the “peanut banana pancakes” on the menu…..but 40 minutes later, our food still wasn’t ready, and we didn’t have much time left. The café’s comment card gave us instructions: “If you are dissatisfied, please tell me the door, make us another time to make out for you better!” We ignored their advice and just cancelled our orders.

We arrived in Hangzhou on May 1st, which is China’s Labor Day. In China, holidays become week-long events (many businesses were closed for at least three days!)….and Hangzhou is the #1 domestic vacation spot. The main attraction is West Lake, which is so famous it’s pictured on the back of the 1-yuan bill. So that’s where we headed first. Because of the holiday, it was quite crowded—it felt like walking through Times Square! But it was a good feeling, being amongst vacationers at such a scenic locale. The lake is so large that it would maybe take an entire day to walk around it; fortunately, there are “inner lakes” and “north West Lake” and “east West Lake” that allow for mini-walks. On Tuesday, we started on the south side of the lake and walked up a causeway that had water on both sides. Everything was so beautiful! I couldn’t stop taking pictures.

Bicycles were everywhere along the lake, blending rather well with the masses of people. Tramcars would ring their bells but still drive within inches of pedestrians on either side. (It was quite nerve-racking when it happened to me!) Peddlers were hawking long, shrill-sounding whistles; most kids had them, but everyone else found them annoying. (The following day they were selling devil horns that lit up.) We were occasionally stopped to pose for pictures with locals who marveled at the sight of non-Asian people. Once we reached the north side of the lake, we were all exhausted. I was definitely not in the mood to have school the following day!

Toward the end of the week, I made a startling discovery: There was a post office within walking distance of our theater! You wouldn’t think this would be a big deal, but it definitely was. Back in Longgang, when I asked our van driver to find a post office so I could buy stamps, he started laughing. Our translator explained that in China, it’s very rare for people to write letters or send cards, so the driver found it extremely odd that I should want to mail a letter. He was able to find a post office, but it took quite a bit of navigating. In Shenzhen, our cab driver had to stop people for directions *three times* before he could find the nearest post office. So I was VERY excited to come across a post office that I could visit without transportation hassles.

I’m actually very happy that I brought my own stationery with me to China, because it is impossible to find stationery here, and very difficult to find greeting cards. In Shenzhen, I wanted to buy a birthday card. The local supermarket did have a small selection of cards, but they all said “Merry Christmas.”  Another store also had a few cards, but half of them said “Merry Christmas” or “Happy New Year”, and the other half had only Chinese characters so I had no idea what they were saying.  (Probably “Merry Christmas” or “Happy New Year.”) Also, most of the cards didn’t have envelopes; of those that did, most were mismatched. So after I went card-hunting, I had to go envelope-hunting. I did buy some of the Chinese-character cards, hoping that they didn’t say anything inappropriate, not that the recipients would understand them anyway. But after that experience, I decided to save myself the trouble and just use my own stationery in the future….so THANK YOU to all those people who got me stationery as a goodbye gift!

I will write again soon….I hope you all have been well!

Christine :-)

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