First off, I realized I didn't really need to move out on Tuesday to go to San Francisco and instead could have taken early rides there and get back at a fairly decent time so that I could hang out with all of you. But that's besides the point. I "trained" for two days doing some background traditional medicine stuff and Chinese etiquette...along with meeting one of Alex Quach's old high school friends (whom I plan on playing many tricks on), doing a random scavenger hunt in Chinatown, singing KTV, and watching the Lakers v Magic game. Then there was the weird in-between time of flying to China and the 15-hour time change and almost immediately after arriving, we all went out on an adventure.
After some light exploring of the nearby streets, we decided to go to Xihu (West Lake), which is supposed to be really pretty. It's like a 20-30 minute walk away but we decided to try out the buses and go on an adventure! The bus map is really confusing, but after a while, they decided on one and we all boarded--or so I thought. I was the first to go in, so I put in my fare and went to the back to sit...but apparently someone didn't have the full fare, so everyone else got off. I was in the back and as the bus pulled away..I saw their smiling/?!?! faces as they waved me off.
Rapid texting and calling ensued and one of the guys told me to just stay on the bus and that we'll all meet up at Xihu. So this lake is supposed to be really big and pretty, so I thought I would see it and just get off then. But I really had no idea what I was doing, so after about 15-20 minutes of riding on the bus, I get a call and Vincent starts freaking out on the line. I get off the bus and I am utterly lost in a city I have never been to or have really seen the map to. People have no idea where Xihu is either..I got such contradicting directions. (The roads are terribly confusing too. Several streets are named the same thing, streets change randomly, street signs are sparse..etc) After about an hour and a half of wandering around, I finally find my way and we go on to see Xihu. We went on a cool boat and saw the pretty scenery:
We get back around 8, went out to dinner, and we're all exhausted at this point because we haven't gotten a good night's sleep in ~2-3 days. But being crazy, I wanted to go to this neighborhood social dance thing (apparently a lot of people gather and synchronize dance in this one area), a night market, and this club thing that was advertised in the lobby to have a random asian boyband come...or so we thought. But only one guy was willing to go with me, so we were trying to plan out stuff since we were tired and didn't want to stay out too late. We decided on going to the club, since it was a one night thing, and then going to the night market since it was close to the club. We tried taking a bus to the club, but that didn't work. We were about to take a cab, but thought that walking would be fast and easy. Fourty-five minutes later of being confused, looking at a map, wandering through random streets we didn't know the names of, and going through this really roundabout tunnel, we finally found the club. It was pretty cool, with flashing blue lights. Then we realized that the whole boyband thing was a figment of our imaginations and that it was probably really just some promotion for an alcoholic drink.
It's ~11 at this time and we decide to take a cab back because we're not really sure of HOW to get back and didn't want to spend another 45 minutes doing so. The driver drops us off at this random place because I'm an idiot and we spend another 15 minutes walking back because we weren't really sure where we were and the place we got dropped off at was actually a little aways from the hotel. So the "quarantine" really isn't a "quarantine;" it's just a "don't enter the campus for a week."
Does this not look like a boyband visiting a club poster?
Congrats to those who've read to the end of this. How have all of your summers been? :) I'm going to sleep now because I'm super tired...
Oh, btw, isn't it oddly coincidental that there's a guy named Alex in the group who's also Polish?
3 comments:
oh, so you're in hangzhou? i've been to xihu before.. racked up like 12 mosquito bites from the standing water haha.. and my mom got hit by a bird pooping on her arm.
anyways, i doubt any of us has had as interesting a summer so far as you, haha.
All I got from this story was that Tiffany went to a club with a guy.
:P
What I got from this story is a near heart attack. Lost in China? I'M GLAD YOU'RE ALIVE!! And that your "quarantine" is an adventure. :)
P.S. Someone reading this probably wants to make a crack about me being scared that Chinese people were going to attack Tiff. Too bad I preempted you! Muahahahaha.
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