Probably my favorite day spent in China was when we traveled to Hangzhou by train. It's not a very common tourist destination for foreigners, which we realized after seeing a grand total of nine foreigners there besides ourselves, but the day we went it was packed with Chinese. The city itself was smaller and quainter than Shanghai (though in reality it's larger than New York City), but the real sights to see were in and around the West Lake, which is surrounded by pretty hills and little pagodas.
We also stumbled across a fun little artsy and craftsy street with stalls and vendors. And that's when we really got a taste of Chinese tourism.
It took a while for me to notice, but it always seemed really crowded wherever we were, although there was plenty of space elsewhere. Afterwards, dad told us that he really enjoyed standing back and watching as people would swarm to whatever booth we were visiting. This particular guy was melting glass into cool little figurines. And, at this particular stand, Colton was having his picture taken (discreetly) by little Chinese school girls in matching green jumpers. One of them would stand slightly behind and next to Colton and then another would go to the other side of the crowd and take a picture! Later on, three teenagers (literally--they had to be sixteen or seventeen) came up and flat out asked if they could take their picture with him. He's a heartbreaker, all right.
Later on, I made the mistake of trying to get my mom to take a picture of me through this little bird fence thing. She was having some issues focusing properly, and within the span of two minutes or so, five to ten Chinese people stopped to take a picture. Of me. Notice the clenched hands.
Others were a bit more discreet throughout the day. Someone would be taking a picture of something behind us and then would slowly follow us with their lens or phone as we walked past.
But by far the best at drawing a crowd was mom; she was a little up the road from us one minute, and the next she was being swallowed by a large crowd of people.
My dad managed to avoid such treatment, whether it was due to the lack of light hair or just his stoic expression.
Apart from our momentary fame, the lake really was pretty, despite the unfortunate overcast sky.
We took a fun boat ride...
ate some black corn...
and fed some crazy carps. (which was also photographed by the mobs around us)
So if you find an odd picture of us somewhere, don't be surprised.
PS: This will be my last blog about China. Kenny has been very concerned that all of these long China posts several months past the actual occurrence will bore my readers--all four of them.
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