Chadams World Travel Blog: Hangzhou

On Sunday I went with 5 people from Kijiji to Hangzhou, a little town 2 hours by train west from Shanghai. Although I am calling it a town because I had never heard of it, it has about 6.5 million people. So city may be more appropriate.

When Marco Polo found Hangzhou in the 1200s, he called it “Paradise on Earth”. Most Shanghainese think it is the most beautiful city in China. I agree that it is quite nice – there is a huge lake in the middle of the city called Xihu (West Lake). It has all sorts of lotus blooming in it, mountains rising up all around it, a number of big pagodas and little tea houses, and two really long stone bridges that were built in the 300-400s that lead out to a little island in the center of the lake.

We got to Hangzhou around 11:30 and had a nice lunch in an old Chinese house. Then we walked all along the lake, admired the scenery, took photos and generally goofed around. As I have mentioned before, often decisions get made in Chinese and I am only consulted at the last minute. Around 3:00, I get asked if I know how to ride a bike. Hesitantly, I answer yes. And of course, next thing I know we have rented bikes.

As many of you who have ridden bikes with me in Ireland, the beach, or my triathlon, I am a good bike rider when there is nothing around me, but when there are objects nearby – anything from elderly Asian women to pesky water bottles – I tend to hit them. The thought of riding a bike around packed Chinese streets was a bit terrifying.

Also the bikes that we rented were very small – kind of like a regular bicycle, except you couldn’t turn the handlebars hard and peddle at the same time because your knees will hit them. And there was only 1 gear.

We start out riding on these paths near the lake. Not so bad. Then we go around the bend and there are tons of people and bikers and these trams that shuttle people all around. But I discover that I have a little bell. So I keep peddling along, sweating like crazy, and ringing my bell all the time and just hoping people get out of my way. There were a few close squeezes when the path got narrow. And once I ran into a bush (but bounced out and recovered nicely). No major disasters.

Then we get to the end of the path, and take a turn for a major road. Now we add cars and buses to the mix. I am sure I am going to die. We keep going for a bit, I sort of get used to driving near chaotic traffic, and everything seems ok. Except I am very ready to be done biking and it has only been 20 minutes. Finally, we get to a huge tunnel and which of course we decide to go through. There are two lanes of traffic and a “bike lane” on the right side. A tiny little bar divides us in the “bike lane” from the road. And there is not much room between this bar and the tunnel wall. I am struggling to just stay in a moderately straight line and not tip over into traffic and get run over. Then, this beeping comes from behind me and won’t stop. I quickly look over my shoulder and see a moped in the bike lane! I squeeze as close to the wall as I can and hope for the best. Sure enough, he starts to pass me. He zipped by me, and I bounced off the wall but gracefully managed to straighten things out and keep on peddling. The tunnel kept going and going and going – it was probably only 6 or 7 minutes really – but finally I made it out, and eventually back to the lake. I am done with biking.

One final Hangzhou story – since it was supposed to rain, I brought a rain jacket and wore cargo shorts instead of bringing a backpack. I brought my iPod, camera, some clifbars, passport, wallet, cards, etc. I am not sure exactly why, but everyone was amazed by how much stuff I had managed to bring with me. Apparently, there is a Japanese cartoon cat that has magic powers and can pull anything out of her “pockets” whenever she wants. So now, my Chinese nickname is “Dolae” because I resemble this female Japanese cartoon cat. Great.

More photos later, but for now:

Xihu (West Lake)