Day 36:Getting to Hangzhou

The next morning, after eating breakfast (which consisted of pasta and cheesecake for me...and the boys got both Jessica's and my breakfast tickets for the room as a result of our leftovers), and me again trying and failing to upload the snapchats, we headed out to the train station to get to Hangzhou. Before we left, I ran back upstairs to get the free plush rooster from our room as a souvenir, and found out room service had already gotten into our room. After a bit of awkwardness and language barriers, they gave me the rooster, and we headed out.

We took the subway to the train station, getting there pretty quickly with a transfer. Nick had to reprint his ticket, but found out that we didn't have to be ready until 3 minutes before the train was going to be boarded, so we didn't have to rush too much. We all grabbed coffees (and I noted they had filtered water fountains...which still didn't work).

My travel companions

We settled in for a wait, with the boys getting dumplings to eat. We were feeling restless, so we decided to look around at some of the shops (one called Balabala, which reminded me of Big Hero 6), and right next door was a Disney store. Yes, it was overkill to look inside, but I did anyway.....and since I needed a watch, I ended up getting a classic Minnie watch, which was reasonably priced.
Nick was seriously tempted to buy a oversized speaker, but we managed to talk him out of it.

Getting on the train, I discovered that Dom (like me) had never ridden a train before, and we were both excited. We sat next to each other, and just relaxed, looking out the window and reading. Looking up toward the front of the car, we realized that it was traveling over 300 km an hour, and we were indeed on a bullet train, although we seemed to barely be moving!

After getting off the train, Nick had to get the refund for the extra ticket he had to pay for, which went much better than the snafu with the plane ticket. We also had to find a taxi, which took a bit longer than expected, but not too long at all once we figured out where the taxis even were.

Getting to the hotel didn't take more than an hour, and the taxi was reasonably priced. It was a Best Western Reserve, and we found out it was the best hotel yet, with the best wifi (and I could FINALLY finish uploading the snaps), a sitting room, closed off bathroom, and one free buffet breakfast per room per day. We went upstairs, chilling out for a while, and I asked my friend Rebecca (who was the reason why we came to Hangzhou) if she was free (which she wasn't).

An abundance of fake books at the front desk (a common decoration here)

I asked Rebecca for a recommendation for a restaurant near the hotel, and she sent a place. The others and I wandered around the neighborhood for a bit looking for the place, but we eventually gave up going to a place with an elephant on its front. (Rebecca later told us this place was called "The Elephant Trunk").

Going in, we had some issues with language, and after pointing to the menu several times, the owner let us sit down and look at the pictures. A little bit later, a customer came in and spoke to us in English, telling us that the owner was trying to tell us that prices had increased due to the Spring Festival. We were fine with it, ordering our respective dishes. Jessica's chicken came out first, which tasted like teriyaki chicken. My pork dish came out next, and it had some of the most tender meat I have ever had, paired with a vinegar sauce to dip it in.

Jessica's teriyaki chicken

My pork dish

Dom's dish came out, which was supposedly "spicy", but was literally nothing next to Chong Qing food. But Nick's dish.....it was a whole 'nother ball game. It was a fish oil soup with tofu and sausage, and it had one of the worst smells any of us had ever smelled. It was very, very strong, and Nick said the tofu absorbed too much of the fish oil for him to eat it. Dom tried it, having the same reaction. I tried a piece of the sausage out of curiosity, and it wasn't too bad, but it had a very fishy aftertaste I didn't like. Nick ended up eating the rest of the shrimp fried rice we had ordered, because he couldn't even force himself to eat it.

The dreaded fish oil soup.....never get this in China

live fish tank, including shrimp

After dinner, Jessica and I headed back to the hotel to relax and go to sleep (me grabbing an orange juice from a convenience store), while Nick and Dom wandered around the town,  since Rebecca was due to meet us at 10 in the morning to show us around her hometown.

-Zoe