Kaisa and Fred had been traveling together in China for a while before we met them, but they themselves had only met for the first time on their travels. These kinds of friendships crop up all the time when traveling, especially with solo travellers.
Fred’s decision to join us in heading to Hangzhou, only a couple of hundred kilometers south-west of Shanghai, was made close to the last minute, meaning he had to take a later train. Kaisa, John, Gearoid and I had no problem in getting a taxi and finding our hostel, but poor Fred made a brave attempt to use local buses and ended up having to take two taxies (the first one had no idea where the hostel was).
The hostel itself was one of the highlights of our time here, a serene place away from the tourist hustle and bustle with a Chinese garden and communal area combined adjacent to the dorms. But the highlight of Hangzhou is undoubtedly West Lake (Xi Hu).
Almost all the time spent outside the hostel was spent on the shores of this picturesque tranquil reservoir. You couldn’t help but lower your heart rate strolling around it’s edge, in direct opposite to the Shanghai effect. I could see why it was so popular with Chinese tourists, although I can’t imagine it being quite as tranquil when they arrive in their hordes (all Chinese have their holidays on the same days of the year - meaning that on those days the entire country is a swirling mess of holidaymakers - we were to experience it ourselves soon).
Slowly making our way back to the hostel, down a street awash with money (with upmarket clubs/bars, as well as Ferrari, Porshe, Maserati and Aston Martin dealerships, no less), we came across a vendor cooking the best street food I had in China. Watching the noodles, vegetables and egg being expertly fried together in the wok right in front of me was a pleasure in itself, though nothing compared to the actual eating.
The new five-member group dynamic was working well - so well in fact that we spent the entire next day just hanging out together in the hostel. We had plans to go out in Hangzhou that night, but it started to rain, so we just played bullshit instead. Not exactly top blogging subject matter, but for me this day was memorable just for the fact that all day we did nothing yet had so much fun.
The next day wasn’t exactly the most active of our trip either, thanks to the inevitable post-bullshit hangover. Kaisa, Gearoid and myself did make a new culinary discovery though - Taiwanese food is amazing. We found a tiny food place not too far from our hostel. Unbeknownst to us, the cook (and his son - both pictured above) were from Taiwan, and they cooked food from their island. A post-meal chat revealed their friendliness and gave a glowing endorsement to Taiwanese people. In my head I added Taiwan to the list of places I want to travel to.
Complications involving extending Kaisa and Fred’s visas meant the following day was spent wondering/worrying whether they would be able to continue travelling in China with us, while at the same time finally getting our arses in gear to walk around the lake and see the far side (which we hadn’t managed yet). When we returned to the hostel the news was good - they were able to get their visas extended. All of us were getting sick of big Chinese cities, so for our next destination we decided for a change of scenery.
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