Hanging out in Hangzhou

Day 29: Lotii, Lotus, or Lotuses -- you decide

The lovely world of China. Life seemingly revolves around work, tea, and flowers here. Throw in a little play and you'll have a Chinese life.

Yesterday, my class and I ventured to the Hangzhou West Lake Lotus festival. The entire West Lake park was filled with lotus. The discussion in my head began to argue about "what is the plural of lotus"? Lotii? Lotus? Lotuses? According to a cooking website, the plural is Lotus. According to a car manufacturing website - Lotii. I like Lotus the best. So, Lotus it is. The lotus were in full bloom. Interesting plants really --they grow in water and we can eat their roots and their buds. Basically the flower grows, petals fall off, and the inside is edible -- There are these beans that you can eat raw or boil. I heard they are good. Street vendors have started selling them, so I'll pick a few up soon.

The entire park was beautiful. I hope you enjoy the pics.


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The entire set

In other news, class has been going a bit better. I'm made my frustrations clear with the staff and they seem to be addressing it a bit. I've also changed to the following: 9-11 AM - group lesson with Mike (he speaks English extremely well) and 1-3 PM - private one on one lesson with ???? This will last until August 17. At that time, I am planning on going to Tibet for 10 days. I'm looking for a Mt. Everest base camp excursion right now. I will back in Shanghai the 28th of August and then in Chicago on the 30th.

A few interesting things happened this week. Monday or Tuesday I was walking down the street and was curious as to why the main road was pretty empty. I live right off a very busy street (4-5 lanes one way) and usually it is a huge traffic jam. I kept walking to school and discovered that water was shooting from the middle of the intersection. I've seen water mains break before -- no big deal, but what I could not understand is that there is no construction safety for the public. A large mass of people were standing around the whole checking it out. I wandered over and checked it out for a minute -- I probably could have jumped in the hole if I wanted.
Funny. It was about as bad as the guy hammering bricks into the walkway down the same road last week -- he was swinging a sledge hammer knocking down a wall into the walkway. No regard for the pedestrians -- just swinging away and bricks were flying across the walkway. The pedestrians had to manage themselves as to how to get around his swings.

Finally, last night I went to a club. My friends Lily and Jennie and I went out to eat at the Banana Leaf -- a place that supposedly has great curries. Ate there -- decent. I'm not a fan of bone-in chicken, but China is. Afterwards Jennie wanted to go clubbing. I'm up for it of course. =) We ended up at some place called the "Happy Hour". At first, I thought they were going to take me to a fancy club where everyone "looks good" and "acts worse". Nope. 10Y to get in and *bam* *bam* *bam* -- sounds like good techno. Walking in, the Communist policemen looked at me like I was out of my mind. But, I had two beautiful Chinese women with me - so I felt much more comfortable. We had a drink and then headed out to the dancefloor. I think everyone stared at me for 20 minutes. I was head and shoulders taller than most everyone. =) All of the sudden, the music moved to something really slow. It was time for a break! Seriously - they took a 15 minute intermission where people slow-danced on the dancefloor!!!! Shocked, I had another beer (I called it fizzy water - because the beer is so tasteless and weak). The dancing resumed. I had an amazing time and Jennie promised to take me back. The club reminded me of Joe Carroll's place near Milwaukee quite a few years ago. Not dirty, but not clean and fancy. Just -- raw. DJ + lights + sound + people. That's it. I was disappointed that I could not order a mixed drink. I'll be back there even though I was weirded out by the Communist policemen standing around the dancefloor randomly flashing their flashlight at people.

One final note -- I can't read my blog, so I don't know if I have mentioned this. I found beer. Decent beer. It has an odd after taste, but it is made by a German. 1828 is the name of the place and they homebrew their beer here in Hangzhou. It is very decent and they have burgers to go along with it. Paul, the manager, is super friendly. I will be frequenting this bar much much much more. =) They have both light and dark and at 55Y per 1.5 liter, it is a good deal.

posted by Mike @ 10:53 AM