David: Hangzhou: Paradise at Last!

Last week, we had planned to visit a nearby city called Hangzhou. We had read that it is the "number one vacation spot" for all of China, or at least all of Shanghai. We were ready to get out of town, escape the dust and noise of construction, and relax a bit. Unfortunately, two days before we left, I came down with chills and a 105 degree temperature...just about the time we were reading all the news about swine flu. Thank God I hadn't been anywhere near Mexico! Anyway, I was determined to get out of Shanghai, fever or not, and luckily my symptoms had subsided by the time our train departed. In just over an hour we arrived in Hangzhou, population 6 million--quaint compared to Shanghai. Within 15 minutes of our walk to our hotel, we saw our first sight of beauty. Now that might not look like cherry blossoms, or some amazing garden...but compared to piles of concrete, trucks, and scaffolding, it was beautiful to us! It took us awhile to find our hotel, but we knew we were getting close when we saw construction. As fate would have it, the only construction going on in Hangzhou was happening right in front of our hotel. Perfect. We then recounted our steps and realized that in Kyoto, they were doing construction on the main street outside our apartment. In Sydney they were doing construction at the apartment we stayed at. In Christchurch, New Zealand, they were building a new tower right next to the place we rented. And of course, we avoided Fiji all together because the entire town of Nadi was recovering from a flood. Um, whatever message the Universe was trying to send us, WE GOT IT, OKAY?? Oh, and we recently received an email from the place we're staying at in India: They are remodeling the interior of the room we selected. If it's not done by the time we arrive, they will upgrade us to the nicest room they have. Well, at least there's some good news, even if it includes more construction!

Anyway, we checked into our hotel, and I just had to take a nap. The fever had come back, my head was throbbing, and the veins at my temples were bulging like a Star Trek Kingon. (Hey, I already have the hairline...) Nap helped, and we decided to walk as much of the West Lake as we could...or as much as I could that is, before sundown. When we reached the lake, Allan and I looked at each other with the same thought: We should have stayed here, and visited Shanghai. It was so beautiful! There were tree lined streets, parks with benches, people were smiling and happy, drinking coffee in cafes, walking with their children and eating corn on the cob...it was China Paradise built around a two square mile lake. Here's Allan at the start of our walk.

An old Chinese man approached us, and asked where we were from. "United States", we told him. He was a little old guy, probably in his late 70's, dressed all in blue. He spoke very good English, and was familiar with Oregon. He asked us the usual questions...how long we'd been in Hangzhou, where we were going next, what we did for a living...as he spoke, I wondered where he learned to speak such good English? He pulled out a piece of paper, where he had written some things in English. He wanted to ask us questions about our grammar: "You say secondly, but do you say firstly? Why not?" and "If you say especially, do you also say especial? Why not?" He knew all about adjectives, verbs, and pronouns, and he was making Allan and I feel rather illiterate, unable to explain why we use words the way we do. All this while a crowd had started gathering around us, and I was thinking, why are these people stopping and watching us? It seemed very odd. I asked him what his name was. "Yu", he said. We shook hands. "Most foreigners I speak to will not talk with me. They keep walking. They must think I'm a beggar." He winked and smiled and pointed back to his paper, asking more questions. The small crowd around us would grow and recede, and some stood and watched from a distance, as if we were an act, and would soon pass around our hat for money. We just kept very alert, holding tight to our backpacks, with one eye to the crowd, unsure what was going to happen next...but nothing did happen. When Yu felt like we had answered his questions about English, he bid goodbye, and we continued our walk around the lake. The crowd dissipated. Why did they gather in the first place? We still have no idea. But we felt happy to share a nice conversation with such a sweet old man.

But beggars are here in China, and they can be very aggressive. Twice during our stay in Hangzhou we encountered the same old lady who would not leave us alone. We've both been told (and read in guides) to refrain from giving money to beggars. This is easier than in seems, for when they are in my face, pressing their cup to my body, pleading with me in Chinese...I just want them to go away, and giving them money seems like the quickest way to do that. I did give money to one guy that was sitting on a bridge over the lake, playing a sweet song on a harmonica. When I got closer, I discovered that he had no hands or forearms. He was playing with his elbows, making music out of his tragedy. It was hard for me to approach him, and I realized that I avoided eye contact, like I didn't want to see into his soul, and feel something. I felt ashamed for complaining about my fever and dizziness. Good God, David, you have your arms. What the hell is a fever? Or a sore hip? What do I possibly have to complain about in this life?

But that's not what this blog was supposed to be about. It's supposed to be about the beauty of Hangzhou! So here are a few pictures to illustrate what we saw:

Allan and I walked the north and east shores of the lake, stopping occasionally to absorb the suns rays, and the feeling of peace that permeated the area. Shanghai had been rather fraying on our nerves: the pounding of construction, the speed of the traffic, the rush of the crowds...it was so nice to just BE, and have it be quiet. Although there were crowds, they were not intrusive. West Lake had room for us all! The views of the lake and the surrounding hills was such a treat for us, after having been living in the chaos of Shanghai...On our second day at Hangzhou, we walked the west and south sides of the lake, spending a lot of time in the "Orioles Singing in the Willows" part of the garden by the lake. Eventually we ended up at the Leifeng Pagoda. (If you look closely, you can see Allan and his orange backpack to the right of the person in the teal shirt)The pagoda was originally erected in 977 by Qian Hongchu to celebrate the birth of his son by his favorite concubine. It had been completely rebuilt, and underneith the structure, they left a pile of brick rubble that was the original pagoda. So you could see the old, and yet experience the new.

If you'd like to view more pictures of Hangzhou, we've posted the rest of the photos we took at our Picasa website: http://picasaweb.google.com/home

We couldn't get a cab back into town, so we just walked to the train station...which was packed. This was the eve of a Chinese holiday, and everyone was in transition either coming to Hangzhou, or heading to Shanghai. Craziness! When I came back from the restroom, a young Chinese girl (Tina, her English name) had sat by Allan, and they were engaged in conversation, and they ended up talking for over an hour. So I sat quietly, thinking about all sorts of things, or trying not to think at all. It was sorta hard to leave Hangzhou...I really enjoyed our stay, and deep down I was even dreading going back to the early morning hammers and shouting voices of Shanghai...

On the train, we were seated opposite a Chinese couple in their sixties. They asked us something in English, and we discovered that they were now living in Houston, Texas, though both were born and raised in Shanghai. In the 1940's, his father had died during the communist takeover, and while his mother (who was British) was free to flee China at that time, she couldn't take her young son with her because he was half Chinese. So she stayed in China through all those hard years because she could not leave him. (What a story!) What we learned about their life, how their paths crossed, and how they ended up in Texas, is too much to go into here but it was fascinating to hear about their lives. They hadn't been to Hangzhou for 40 years, and they were amazed at how much it had changed.

Our visit to Hangzhou was brief, but long enough to make me feel better about China, and even better about Shanghai. I can hear Yu giving me a lesson from his small, white piece of paper....
Firstly, look for beauty wherever you find yourself.
Secondly, make music out of the situation you find yourself in.
Thirdly, know that somehow, in some way, everything is just as it should be. Especially when you find yourself in Shanghai, surrounded by a crowd and construction.