August 24, 2001

Okay, so now this can kind of be considered part 2 of our little vacation because the next couple days are like in a different package or something (special request by the parents). Therefore, in the morning we had breakfast in the revolving restaurant again and then went downstairs to meet our new tour guide, driver, and our accompanying party member, the brother of one of the lady who makes pork buns at New Asia Market. We got on the car and it was a 3 or 4 hour drive to Hangzhou, our first destination. Well, car time = sleep for me!

Once we got to Hangzhou (which is where my grandma’s from…my dad told me) we stopped at some Buddhist temple (of course I had no idea what was going on…and Eric decided to wait in the car…he did that a lot). So, since I have no idea what we were doing in that Buddhist temple, I won’t comment on it. However, what I will comment on is the cave area that we explored before we went to the Buddhist place. Inside these caves, there are all these carvings of Buddhist stuff that I did not understand (surprise, surprise). Caves means low clearances, meaning someone is bound to get hurt…that someone was my mom. When we were walking under this place, my mom thought it was safe to look up because she thought she was outside already. However, she wasn’t and hit her head pretty hard against the rock (just a bruise…thankfully). She almost fell to the ground, but Xu shu shu caught her (thankfully number 2). Man, people smoke here too! Smoking plus a cave = no escape…ahhh!!! Anyways, moving along, our next stop was West Lake.

Let me just tell you that it was humid, and we were on a boat moving very slowly, meaning no wind, no cooling…aiye. The only spot we visited was this island inside the lake. The Chinese call this place “In the lake, there is an island. In the island, there are lakes” because that is exactly what it is…an island in the lake, lakes in that island. We took a little walk around the island and along the way we crossed over the lake and saw all these gigantic goldfish swimming around eating bread. All the lilypads had 1 jiao coins on them…people have some pretty good aim I must say…but then again there must also be a bunch of coins on the bottom of the lake too. We also saw these three pillars in the lake with 5 holes in each of them. Supposedly, at some point during the year (Mid Autumn Festival I think), one can see 17 moons…5 moons through each hole (5*3 = 15), one reflected by the water, and one in the sky. I wish I could see that, must be really cool.

Our last stop in Hangzhou was the museum. However, in China most people leave work at around 4pm, and being that it was past 4 by the time we got there, we couldn’t see the museum. Instead, we went into this connecting building and saw a fashion show put on by these college students (part-time job). They came out wearing all these sorts of silk clothing such as qi paos, modern stuff, and evening wear (I won’t comment =P). Then we moved along to a silk sheet place. The guy who worked there and showed us around was missing an index finger (freaky). He showed us silk worm cocoons, and the process of making a silk blanket (stretching the wounded silk), and the final product of a silk blanket…so soft…so comfortable. Well, one of my parents’ wants from the beginning of this trip was a silk blanket, because my aunt suggested it to them, so of course they bought one.

Our next building was a clothing store where, again, the moms were looking at outfits for their chorus and spent only half an hour this time browsing. By the end, like before, they didn’t buy anything and we left for Suzhou (my dad lived in Suzhou before moving to Taiwan).

Can I tell you that our hotel in Suzhou was AMAZING!!! We stayed at the Sheraton Suzhou (of course it was 5-star). On the outside, the hotel looked like some kind of temple. On the inside, there were like courtyards with gardens, there were indoor and outdoor swimming pools, the lobby was on the third floor (only 3 floors total), and more…but best of all…a Nintendo 64 (with only 3 games though). The rooms…ah the rooms…the bathroom was the best part (hahaha, ask Terry or Eric…we all took pictures). The bathroom was like all marble, there was a shower AND a bathtub (separate), and of course it was large. The TV channel selection was excellent too =P.

Now, in this hotel, the moms again went on their chorus outfit hunt again, spending hours inside the hotel store bargaining and searching for an outfit. They finally found one and they bought a couple (they didn’t have the quantity they needed), and told them that if they could get in more inventory and mail it to them they would appreciate it or something. Of course, there are more places to go, meaning they may just find more choices. Okay, that ends that day.