Bye-Bye Boat

Lesson #4: Don't underestimate traffic.

Seriously, folks. Hop up and down, wave your arms boldly, dance like a chicken! Whatever it takes to get a taxi... especially at rush hour. Yesterday, after a 20-30 minute ride on Hangzhou's very cheap, convenient Bus (a system I've yet to figure out completely), we arrived at Hefang jie (何坊街).

Imagine a street with everything. That's where we were. There were shops filled with traditional Chinese clothes for kids, jade jewelry dealers, a shop just for umbrellas (I'm now the proud owner of a beautiful purple Hangzhou 雨伞), bakeries, street performers, outside stands with thousands of trinkets, and one very special tea shop.

They make it impossible for you to pass this tea shop. It is not just a quiet dwelling for tea-sippers. No. This is a performance designed to attract passersby. While one person sits by a giant bowl of tea leaves yelling out for people to enter the old, wooden-built dwelling, another shop worker shows off his skills pouring tea from a teapot half his size. A third man, in a bout of twirls and kung-fu like moves, pours tea from a spout at least 3 feet long.

Naturally, we had to go in. We didn't exactly drink tea. We sort of ate it. With raisins on top.

After we had eaten our fill of tea, we proceeded on, past the wild colors of hanging tassels...

Past the giant smiling statue...

(No, he's not Buddha, but I don't know what his name is.)

...and into a state of realisation that we were becoming dangerously close to not getting to the boat on time. This is when we picked up a few buns from the bakery for dinner and filled our bellies on the road, searching desperately for a taxi to bring us to the boat on time. Finally, success! We clambered into the taxi and rushed towards the boat, only to hit traffic. Well, after a bit of crawling, we eventually reached the 西湖 (West Lake).

Side note: It is VERY hot and VERY humid where we are, and being a cold-blooded, snow-loving, light-faired soul, I hate the heat. 怎么办呢？ The only thing I can really do is try and stay as cool as possible and DRINK LOTS OF WATER. So, that's exactly what I've been doing. Mind you, 2 full bottles of water in less than an hour and a half do have a rather significant effect on the bladder.

Needless to say, we got to the boat and I found a bathroom to be quite necessary. So, after consulting the leader waiting for us at the boat, I decided to run across the street with my wonderfully knowledgeable, faithful, and considerate Chinese roommate (who, incidentally, had to pee, too). After a relieving experience at the across-the-street hotel we sprinted back to find the boat in motion, on the lake, without us...

But wait! A shining ray of hope! Amy, a Middlebury friend, and her roommate, along with our group leader were standing on the shore waiting for us. Why? Apparently we were not the last people to arrive! Our leader was waiting for more than 20 students who had not turned up yet. It seems they had also underestimated the commute.

We boarded the boat while we waited. And waited. And waited. Finally a few people trickled onto the boat, but we were still missing a few students and their roommates. By the time the boat was ready to depart many people had turned up, but there were still a few who were MIA. The boat took off, and just as it did the last few stragglers finally made it! We waved and laughed at them throughout the whole U-turn that the boat driver was nice enough to make to pick up our poor, late students. Lesson learned.