hangzhou with daisy
so my first weekend in hangzhou (this time) has been fantastic so far. friday was rather uneventful, but i did get a gym membership (expensive by chinese prices... i have a bit of buyer's remorse, but it'll allow me to run/swim whenever. and it's 50ft away from my apartment), and wander to the nearby area to get some good ol' chinese food. $.60, just like the days in kunming!
yesterday, daisy came all the way to my apartment in the middle of nowhere so she could show me the way to downtown. the weather was pretty rotten, icy snow (or snowy ice- i'm not sure) and wind. we got on the 3 bus to downtown, pretty full but very fast. once we got down there, the weather had turned even worse (i imagine because we were near west lake), so we stopped in for a cup of coffee at a starbuck's. they are very expensive here, but the mocha was good, so i had no complaints. i still need to find a good hole-in-the-wall coffee shop that i can go to to kill time.
after coffee, we walked down by west lake. it was quite beautiful-- the snow was falling thick enough that you couldn't see too far over the lake, but just enough to show the calmness of the water. there were tons of people there, mainly couples, walking slowly under an umbrella. it was quite nice.
so, after nearly falling on my ass a handful of times and walking into shops to avoid the snow, we found ourselves in front of a japanese restaurant, daisy's favorite in hangzhou. it was a pretty nice place, fairly little, and the atmosphere was very relaxed. not too expensive either, which means it's definitely on my list of places to return to (the restaurant near my apartment, by the way, is super duper expensive. probably because i have a big nose). we got lots of food and a little sake, and it was great.
we wandered around west lake again for a bit, crossing fun little bridges and going through areas that must look magnificent in clearer weather, and found ourselves at the super market. i bought lots of food, all of my chinese home-made favorites, and we took a cab back to my apartment. we hung out for a bit, cozy after trekking through the cold ice/snow, drank some tea and alternated between american music (bob dylan, nine inch nails) and some chinese music.
we went to dinner at a place within walking distance of my apartment, a place i imagine i'll go back to with some frequency. it was a big restaurant, and since it was a saturday, it was loaded. but well worth it! daisy showed me some local specialties, and we had some old favorites as well. delicious!
so now, sunday morning, after a great day with daisy, i have to go to work. i hope to get a quick run in, as i don't need to go til noon, and we're gonna grab some lunch beforehand. i'm not too excited about work, but this still was a great weekend.
thanks, daisy!
comments:
bu ke qi. it's my pleasure!
daisy | January 28 @ 4:48am
da bizi dink
Saulemander | January 28 @ 2:19pm
Luke, don't kill the name.
Will | January 29 @ 4:34am