Hangzhou

Warning: This post is kinda long

Yesterday I puled myself to Hangzhou, even though deep inside I knew I should stay in bed for at least another day or two. I took the subway to the new train station in Shanghai - they build it in the past year or two, it didn't exist last time I lived here. I see it from the outside all the time - it's just amazing- it's supposed to look like a big Chinese umbrella and it actually does... you can see for yourself in this picture:

Shanghai South Railway Station a view from the outside

I change metros there every day on the way to uni and back, but I never got to go to the actual station. This place looks totally like an airport rather than a train station in east Asia. It was absolutely easy to find my way around (I think it would be easy for ppl who don't know any Chinese at all too), and it's definitely efficient which is a very surprising thing when talking about China... I arrived there in the morning (after getting a wake up call from Rob at 8:14AM - wake up shmake up- there's nothing sweeter than waking up from a phone call from you tipsy loving boyfriend...) so that drove me to leave on a normal time- being in the station at 11:10AM. I asked for a ticket to Hangzhou - and the teller told me the train leaves in 40 minutes. I was really relieved to hear that there's seats, and that I don't have to wait for long. I bought the the cheapest there was (I guess that's what was left) it cost 25RMB (= about 2.5€） and headed to the entrance to the gates. There I found an x-ray machine (they have one in all the train stations- even the ones you think are so not worth the security coz they look like a dump) went through that and looked for my gate. The nice lady in the entrance told me to go to waiting room number 7 - so I headed there and was very impressed with the inside design of the place too...

x-ray machines even in the crappiest train stations

As soon as I set down on the seat- I noticed that my train was "boarding". I followed the herd and found myself going down an escalator to the platform. I found my seat on cart number 13, and set down. It wasn't the cheapest ticket for nothing: my seat was one out of three crowded seats (out of five in a row divided in the middle making a 2 seats row and a 3 seats row with an aisle in between). My seat was just next to this kid and his grandpa, and here in China I must admit- I haven't figured out a way to tell who cares about those seat numbers on the ticket and who doesn't - it appears to be 50-50 in the population... In the end instead of sitting on my aisle seat- I found myself sitting between a Chinese guy (later on he left and came a young woman) and the grandpa with the 4-5 year old (spoiled like all of these one-kid-per-family-kids) on his lap. The kid I must say seamed kinda smart but as I said- very spoiled. across from us set a middle aged couple that was just as noisy as all the Chinese ppl, and a young guy that while sitting down on his seat was finishing his noodle-meal-in-a-box (it's very popular here as travel food or something to eat at work). The whole time I was being squeezed by the kid / grandpa that were moving around as if it's a new national sport. The kid saw one of the food carts ladies walking through - and told his grandpa that he wanted to eat lunch now (it was almost noon and the Chinese ppl can not go through a day without eating their lunch at noon and their dinner at 18:00. Really - they just can not). He looked at all the nice boxes the lady had and picked them all up looking at them to see if they're nice. He picked a blue box and said he wants that one, but the lady told him that this one is spicy and he should better pick something else. He looked a bit confused for a second, saying that he wants the blue one coz it's just the most beautiful one... but his grandpa and the nosy lady across from us agreed that he should take the orange one. The nosy lady butted in and told him: "it's beautiful, but it's also spicy!". The kid was convinced and there was peace for all. Until he decided he doesn't wanna have more than a few noodles and the chase after him began in the whole train....
After 2 hours and 10 minutes of being a playground for one little kid and one old grandpa, we finally arrived at Hangzhou. By the way- I totally managed to fall asleep on the train- even if it was only between squeezing and only for 20 minutes). To start telling you about the differences between the old east Hangzhou train station (there's a new one in town) and the Shanghai South Railway Station - it's like telling the difference between an airplane and a horse carriage. The smells, the colors (well the lack of colors in this case), the lady who was laying on the platform- not moving when the security guys touched her frightfully... Third world compared with state of the art. Got out of there as quickly as possible and took a taxi to the youth hostel to meet Omri, whom I know from the China forum online. The youth hostel is located in the center of town, right next to the lake, which is a great location. I really liked the streets next to it, and this lake, as touristy as it is- has something special about it - especially under thick mist. I checked in the hostel, got a lower bed in a 4 bed dorm room, put my things in the locker and headed to meet some more ppl.

The entrance to Mingtown Youth Hostel, Hangzhou

We met Diego and Adriana, he's an Israeli who was born in Argentina, she's Colombian. We had lunch and then headed to the place where it's all gonna happen: Adriana's place (lives with a few more lovely girls- just like her) to cook the x-mas dinner. After a lot of ppl in a small kitchen (well, bigger than mine) and a few hours - we had some dishes set on the table- and we dug in... The evening was one of the most pleasant, fun, warm and welcoming I've ever been to. I even got a nice bracelet from one of the girls- as a x-mas present (thank you Cecilia) - this little gesture of giving presents to the ppl you love- I think I'll have to write about it one day too (we don't have a holiday like that in Israel, well at least we just like giving presents for fun...). Even though I still didn't feel totally healthy - I didn't wanna leave. In the end we left at around 02:00 and I was asleep by 03:30 (it takes a while to get ready for bed when you're doing it in the dark to not wake up any of the other 3 ppl you have in your room).

In the morning I met Omri and Diego for breakfast in one of the endless Starbucks coffees in China. This one is just by the lake, and it was really nice walking there on the bank while rain drops were falling on my head (had to say that line from the song...).

A golden ox merging from the lake
West Lake (Xihu), Hangzhou

As it was raining a bit and I wasn't feeling very well - I decided that I'll go back to Hangzhou soon, and of course take Rob with me... I took my backpack from the hostel, and went home...

(still not feeling great- laying in bed since I got here...)