上有天堂，下有苏杭

April 21st. Aggie Muster. This is one tradition I was incredibly excited to discover does indeed live even in Beijing. While it was a great deal more informal than many other places, it was nice just to meet and chat with some Aggie Alumni in the area. We met at Tim's Texas BBQ (I place I had searched for and failed to find on multiple previous occasions) and as soon as Bailey and I walked in we looked at eachother and grinned. Texas NFL and NBA team jerseys, A&M and UT football helmets, and Big 12 paraphernelia adorned every wall, the waitstaff was dressed in Texas flag shirts, and there were 4 kinds of margaritas on the menu. We were right at home, and knew immediately it was going to be a good evening. And it was.

This week I also happily discovered there are places in China far more beautiful than Beijing. This came as no surprise, but it was a lovely reprieve from my usual loud, dirty, smog-filled life in Beijing.

Friday we went to Hangzhou. The overnight train was less of a party than on the way to Xi'an (thank god) and involved a lot more sleep. We nonetheless arrived exhausted at 8am, and immediately set off to find breakfast at our hotel. We ate, dropped our bags in the hotel and were herded back onto our buses to go to West Lake (西湖). We took a boat ride around the lake, enjoying the beautiful day and the fabulous scenery. Then it was on to family style typical Chinese lunch which was punctuated by a little girl's incessant use of a little plastic bird whistle every street vendor was selling for 1元. There were more than a few of us a little displeased with her parents, but lunch was very nice.

Back onto the buses, and this time we were off to a temple. The 灵隐寺 (Lingyin Temple) is the largest and wealthiest Buddhist temples in China, and the area was gorgeous. We had a great afternoon exploring the place, and looking at the massive Buddhas, rock carvings and grottos.
We also lit some incense outside the temple (or just played with the fire).

Dragging our tails a little by this time we stumbled back onto the buses for one of the quietest bus rides yet. Although it may have just seemed quiet because i was passed out and drooling.

Back at the hotel I passed up an opportunity for a nap in favor of a foot massage. =] Wonderful. Then I showered and went to a popular Chinese restaurant for some great local cuisine. We then walked to the West Lake, the boys stopping at every street vendor to buy and shotgun beer. It was a beautiful night, and the water looked fabulous, so I jumped in. Probably not wise, at least judging from the crowd I gathered, but I couldn't help it, I'd been wanting to since i saw the lake! and the water felt great.

The next day we explored the touristy stuff and the snack street on He Fang Jie. It was a really cool street, and there were some really interesting looking snacks. Lara decided to test out the crabs fried on sticks, where the entire shell is supposed to be eaten.
A little too crunchy for me, but the seasoning was so good. We walked around and shopped until we were supposed to meet back to catch the train back to Beijing. The train back was equally uneventful, we arrived in Beijing (to the groans and dismayed looks of just about everyone) at 630am, bused back across town and were told to go to class. I tried, honest, but as soon as I hit my bed at 9am I was out like a light.

(note: 上有天堂，下有苏杭 loosely translates to "Above there is Heaven, below there is Suzhou and Hangzhou" This saying refers to the beauty of Suzhou and Hangzhou, and their place as 'heaven on earth' in China. I haven't seen Suzhou, but judging from how incredible I thought Hangzhou was, its pretty high on my list of places to go.)