We arrived at Xiaoshan International Airport with no real plan in mind. No hotel, no way from the airport, and against what we usually do, no maps. We were just going to wing it. The Missus found us a shuttle bus from the airport into Hangzhou, and while on the bus, the Missus spoke to the inevitable bus attendant, who also sold tours, and of course, had a large list of hotels. We were told of a decent low-mid range hotel, given her card, and told we would get a certain rate. Of course when we arrived at the front desk, the very, very, young woman, had no idea what we were talking about, and quoted us rates 30% more than what we were quoted. The Missus was now in Her element, this was a challenge, and of course She met the challenge head on…… and of course we got the rate we wanted.
The next mission; find West Lake. West Lake, Hangzhou's most famous, and popular tourist attraction shouldn't be hard to find, right? I mean the lake in the dead center of Hangzhou, so how hard would it be? Well, it ended up being more difficult than first thought. Starting at the hotel we were given a set of directions South. A couple of blocks down the street, we had an inkling that we weren;t headed in the right direction. So the Missus started asking around a bit. It appears that there's a bit of "tourist fatigue" in Hangzhou. After being ignored, and waved off, the Missus asked one of the women cleaning the streets….who had no clue! Finally, someone pointed us East. After a few more blocks, I had a feeling we were off track, and we started asking again. This time we were told to head West. When we came to a pedestrian street, head South, then West again on "Old Street". After a while, we finally found the pedestrian street in question.
The street looked new, and most of the shops were closed. There were several stops along the way that displayed excavation below the streets, and went into detail as to the different historic locations on the street.
Even though most of the shops were closed, the ones open were the shops selling the very popular Jinhua Ham.
This dry-cured ham has been produced in Jinhua, about a 2-3 hour drive from Hangzhou. The dry-cure process used for this ham was first documented around 713 A.D. In fact, in what amounts to a potentially volcanic, but humorous discussion, folks in China claim that along with pasta and tomatoes, Marco Polo brought the technique to salt, then dry-cure the legs of pigs back to Europe with him in the 13th Century! I'm staying away from that one……
Unfortunately, we ran out of time before tasting Jinhua Ham, but since you can get it everywhere in China, I'll not let another chance slip away.
A few blocks later, and we had arrived at Qinghefang Historical Cultural Street. Which seemed to me to be made up of tons of silk and souvenir shops. There was of course, the tourist entertainment thing going on. These folks were handing out fliers…..
Parallel to the pedestrian walkway is a street full of restaurants. Most of them seemed to have just about the same menu….Dong Po Rou and West Lake Fish.
I'm sure that the Muslim Chinese stand must be really good since the line went down the street.
But we just didn't feel like standing a long line.
So we opted for one of the many restaurants lining the street.
And here we had the first of many experiences with apathetic service. When you enter a restaurant that is manned by wholly by young people in China; chances are you'll receive little, if no service. Most times, the kids are not from the area, they are simply in that city to make money. With little incentive, and a pretty demanding audience, it's human nature to try to do the least amount possible for the most reward. I really don't blame them, but man what it took to get a simple pot of tea……
Even though the Missus and I were hungry, we didn't want anything too heavy. After spending the previous week and change in Beijing, QingDao, and Jinan, the combination of temperature (it really wasn't that hot) and humidity was getting to us. We decided on two seasonal vegetable dishes, we loved the wild mountain vegetable we ate in QingDao, so we looked forward to our dishes.
And so our dishes arrived. First the two vegetables.
Notice the difference between the two? Or perhaps no difference? Well, we couldn't taste the difference. And these were pretty dry as well. And when the Missus asked, we were assured that these were two different vegetables. I'm fairly sure however, that none of these two were "Crown Daisy", aka Shingiku, something that I'm familiar with….
The Missus also ordered the Stinky Tofu Hot Pot.
Oh my….. Oh my…. To me, this smelt like sewage. And placing a spoonful of this concoction in my mouth confirmed that it was. The Missus however, thought this was a wonderful savory ambrosia, and She wiped out the whole pot, along with our first bowl of rice on this trip. I've often mentioned that the Missus says: "If you can eat ChouDofu (smelly tofu) then it's no good." In this case She is 100% correct. Recently, during the course conversation with a good FOY (friend of yoso), the topic of Chou Dofu came up. This FOY, a frequent traveler to China, told me that she loves Chou Dofu, but her relatives in China won't let her eat it. The reason? Because, whether documented or not, or perhaps basing judgment on anecdotal data, she was told that restaurants and producers were using fecal matter to produce Chou Dofu. I could only nod in agreement…… I could understand where they "were coming from"…..
For some strange, or perhaps not so strange reason, I left the restaurant not very hungry at all. And we made our way back down Hefang Street.
We had still not found West Lake…….
Still, undeterred, we kept headed West. As I looked up on what I was later to learn is Wushan Hill.
And told the Missus, "that's interesting, I wonder what that is?" I heard a voice talking to the Missus……
To be continued……..
