3-
We got the front seats on the top of a double-
Luckily, they had a spare room we could sleep and leave our stuff in.
Sarah took us to a restaurant that was right outside her front door. We ran into some of her friends who bought us lunch and shared stories with us over a table outside. After that we headed towards West Lake, the main attraction of Hangzhou. We had to go over a mountain to get there and at the base of it we found older folks dancing, singing, and playing board games. They all looked really happy and it the surroundings were lovely.
We made it over the mountain and were in for a surprise when West Lake was truly beautiful. Whoever is in charge of the grounds keeping there is a master. The spacing, textures, colors, and landscaping was really impressive. It was expansive. We walked for hours, got lost, had to yell at some dipshit who practically spit in Rachel’s face when he sneeze/laughed at the exact moment we passed each other. The prick didn’t have enough common sense to stop staring for a second and direct the shit in a different direction so I had to embarrass him in front of his friend.
We went to The Chinese Tea Museum and did a quick lap of their displays because it was about to close. The surrounding fields were beautiful. We made our way back to the West Lake and almost made a full circle around it until we both felt tired and hungry. We had noticed a Mexican restaurant in a expat magazine and were attracted by their description as “authentic.” So we found the place and were disappointed to find that it was anything but. Warm margaritas, no onions, cheese, or beans in anything. Rachel had stewed carrots in her vegetarian burrito. No peppers, no “authentic.” I felt like emailing the magazine with a big “WTF?”
We got “home” and had a chance to talk with Joel and Sarah, nice people.