Hangzhou

Ok, So Hangzhou was cool, but I was ready to go home by the 4th hour of bike riding. Let me explain.

Look at all those options!

Getting to Hangzhou was extremely awesome cause we caught a bullet train there! They travel up to 400 km/hr and we arrived at Hangzhou from Shanghai in about 55 minutes. The decision was to do Hangzhou in the one day. Unfortunately the day we chose was a dreary, rain on rain off kind of day. But we didn't let that dampen our explorers spirit! See what I did there, with the rain and the dampen...

Anyways, Hangzhou is famous for its West Lake, and let me tell you, it's pretty beautiful. 

After some pictures in that area we decided to do what all tourists must do in Hangzhou, and that is to rent a bike and ride it around the lake and the city in general. And so we rode.

Our bikey gang

We took breaks amidst the riding to wander about the other tourist attractions of the city.

"Not all who wander are lost," J. R. R. Tolkien. But this time, we did indeed, get lost. And I'm not sure if I'm remembering this correctly, but I feel like the moment we realised we had no idea where we were on the map, was the moment the clouds decided to "turn on" the rain again. But you see, it wasn't too bad in the beginning, it started with a sprinkle, then whatever the word is for a little more than sprinkle but a little less than rain. Then it began to rain...then pour. 

Anyways, thanks to Jenny and her trusty map we were guided back to where we hired the bike. Afterwards, we made our way to the night markets in Hangzhou. The area was quite beautiful, and the lights livened the otherwise dark streets to reveal the cute little stores selling knickknacks and thingamabobs. 

Tired from all that biking

Casually melting glass into different shapes

Finally it was time to catch the bullet train home, and one of the girls in our group ended up telling the taxi driver the wrong station name which meant she may miss the 8pm train home. We had a Jumanji slash Home Alone moment as a group of us ran (Stampede!) to make it to the train. Luckily, all 10 of the us that came to Hangzhou together, returned to Shanghai together.