Hangzhou Hijinks

A few weeks ago us UVic kids headed out to Hangzhou (pronounced HongJo), home of the West Lake (Xi Hu). Apparently, people have been living in that area for 4700 years, and first officially became a county 2200 years ago! Now you know more.

The city was waaay bigger and more modern than I thought it would be, but once you get to the lake itself you feel transported back in time. At least I did. Maybe it's just because I smashed my head against a piece of wood twice that morning, but that's another story.



The train ride over was uneventful aside from this weird rice ball with pork center wrapped in bamboo leaves that I ate. Not bad. We arrived at night, saw the super romantic lake and ate tons of local food for about a dollar each. We crashed at a really nice hostel next to some famous restaurant where we eventually had breakfast.

The next morning we met up with Kelly from UVic and Debi, a UVic alum. Shameless plug: If you haven't noticed yet, links to their blogs are included on the right hand side of my page. We wandered all day, explored the Lei Feng Pagoda and saw the Mausoleum of General Yue Fei. Alright, I'm going to let the pictures to the rest of the talking. It should be noted that Rian's girlfriend Linda organized everything and to her we remain eternally grateful. It was only $30 for the entire trip.




The group outside the Lei Feng Pagoda.



From left to right: Courtenay, Morgan Freeman, Rian, Linda, Kelly, and Debi.







The Three Amigos (West Lake in background, no Three Stooges comments please)








Lion-riding, a traditional Hangzhouvian pastime, outside General Yue Fei's mausoleum. You may be asking yourself, could he possibly pull his socks up any higher? The answer is, of course, no.