Thoughts on China

Link to pix from this post…

I’ve written all the Hangzhou posts on this, my last night in Hangzhou. I’m writing them in Textpad in my room and will go downstairs to where there is wireless Internet connection to paste them into Wordpress (the blog software) and hook up pictures, etc. to them.

My third day in Hangzhou was my best yet. I took the experiences of the first two days and had a good long sleep…not hard after the walk home from the fireworks last night…So, I woke up about 8:00, as opposed to my normal 5:30 or 6:00, and rested for another half hour before getting up. For the second day, I took a shower and then washed clothes in the sink. I got spoiled with the laundry service in Beijing and Xi’an and the washing machine in Chengdu. It definitely takes some time and effort to do laundry by hand in the sink.

Anyway, I had discovered the bike rental here at the hostel, so I went down and, as I mentioned, was pleasantly surprised to see that they had a “Giant” bike, similar to the one I bought in Beijing, with a bell and a basket, that ended up being only Y15 ($2.00) for the three hours I used it for. This was more like it!

It was pretty foggy (maybe some haze in there, too) this morning, but other than that, it was a nice day to ride. I went clockwise around the lake and my first stop was LeiFeng Tower (which looks like a very old pagoda, but is actually a new building, complete with an outdoor escalator to the base and elevators inside). While it isn’t authentic, it is a cool looking building and the style is well done. I see some people sniping at the Chinese for continually rebuilding old buildings, rather than leaving the original ruins. I can see both sides of this argument. I think it is nice to have this cool architecture around as landmarks in a city, though having an escalator and elevator made it seem not very authentic…

Continuing my bike journey, I stopped at a nice spot with an empty bench and had a nice pipe. One reason I sometimes like to smoke a pipe is that it takes about 45 minutes to finish. For someone who is constantly busy, this allows for a time that you have to sit and just relax. This was a perfect place for developing a relaxed mind, with the willow trees, boats going across the lake and surrounded by a peaceful park.

I think meditation, just clearing your mind of all the thoughts that come up, is a very healthy practice, which I find I don’t do nearly enough. Even on this trip, I find that my mind is always engaged in thinking about something. How nice it was, for this short time, to think of nothing…yet another example of what I was talking about the first paragraph of the first day in Hangzhou…

It was 12:30, when I came around to probably the most famous restaurant in Hangzhou, 慺外慺菜馆 (Lóu Wèi Lóu caìguǎn).

So, I waited about five minutes for a table and ordered up a feast! It ended up costing about $31, but it was very good and I’m glad I did. I had what is known as “Beggar’s chicken”, which is basically a chicken, coated with clay and fired (baked). So, it cooks in it’s own juices and the meat literally falls off the bone. In addition, I had fried dofu skins with pork, that were basically similar to cracklin’s (fried pork skins) back in the southern US, in that they were light and fried to a crispy consistency, except I liked the taste of these better than the sometimes rancid (to my mind) taste of cracklin’s. I also had sweet lotus root, pickled vegetable (I’m guessing cabbage), and a hot and sour soup with crab and duck that was very good.

Pickled Vegetable, Sweet Lotus Root and Fried Dofu Skin with Pork

Crab and Duck Hot and Sour Soup

Breaking the Clay the Beggar’s Chicken is baked in (done at the table)

Beggar’s Chicken - Tender and Delicious (but not chewy like 猪肠 (pig intestines), 张文进 ;^) )

I returned the bicycle and went up to my room for a nice, long nap. I woke up around 6:00 PM and went looking for a place for dinner. I had seen another Indian restaurant not too far away, so I thought I’d try the same meal I had at the other to get a good comparison. Well, I have to say, though the first restaurant was a little more expensive and had virtually no customers, its food was much better than the fare I had tonight. There were a lot of customers in this restaurant, and the service was good (they always made sure my water was filled up), the food was only so-so. So, I give the first restaurant 4 out of 5 stars and the second 2 of 5. Oh, well, I had to try…

I am finally caught up on my blog writing! I still haven’t decided if I’m going to Suzhou or Huangshan tomorrow. After I get done posting these, I’ll get more information and make my decision. Good night (or good day, as the case may be!)…

UPDATE: Monday, Nov 5. 10:00AM - Well, Huangshan is rainy and a high of 10� C (50� F) today and cloudy tomorrow, whereas Suzhou is partly cloudy. Let’s see, I think I’ll go to….well, OK, Suzhou it is! See you there!