Wednesday March 23, 2016

Hanging in Hangzhou.

Today was all about playing tourist. First off, Yolanda is a veritable fount of knowledge, rattling off facts, figures, and anecdotes about the surrounding area — and China in general — answering all our random, culturally ignorant questions without breaking either a sweat or character. She operates like a Swiss watch getting us from point to point on a precise schedule, the timing of which only she is aware, so that we see everything within incredibly tight tolerances at a pace only a few steps above leisurely. She runs a tight ship to the point that today was the first time that I can ever recall having another adult tell me that I would have to wait until the next facilities to relieve myself as the one in our current proximity was not on the schedule. But it all worked out in the end, and I can only assume, for the greater good of all concerned.

We started the day visiting the Six Harmonies Pagoda which is an ancient Buddhist building and adjoining grounds, that is equally peaceful and beautiful. The pagoda itself is thirteen harrowing stories tall, and needless to say the kids were totally gung-ho to climb to the very top. The joke was on them however as the stairwell topped out at floor seven, saving me from a totally unnecessary extra six stories of rickety stair climbing. Thank you Buddha for your architectural sleight of hand.

After ascending and descending the pagoda in our strictly allotted 20 minutes (this is not a joke, Yolanda runs a tight ship as I’ve said), we then were driven about 30 minutes away to a local green tea farming community. One thing I have discovered about tea in China, is that not only do the Chinese take their tea seriously — to a level that most outsiders would find fanatical — but also, whatever you thought you knew about tea in general is but a minuscule fraction of what there actually is to know about tea. Such as: would you pay the equivalent of a year’s tuition at an Ivy League college for an amount of tea you could hold in the palm of your hand? No? Well then, you are obviously not a serious tea aficionado. Additionally, the regional prejudices regarding tea quality supremacy is a very sensitive topic. If you ever find yourself in China you should certainly add tea to the religion and politics shortlist of things you should not discuss in polite company lest you find yourself backing a competing region’s tea product and find yourself on the receiving end of a stern lecture on the benefits of aggrieved party’s preferred regional vintage. Here we sampled the highest quality local tea, which we ate rather than drank as the tea is brewed loosely right in the drinking glass itself, and I have to say, as a non-tea drinker, it was’t half bad. The kids did’t share my and Dorothy’s opinions regarding the palatability of said tea, but proved to be troopers and choked down their complimentary glass of tea so as not to offend.

Next we were ushered to another local — and of course, ancient — Buddhist Temple that — and I say this as a decidedly non-metaphysical person — was among the most spiritually moving places I have ever been in my life. There were hundreds of sculptures cut into the living rock depicting all manner of Buddhist personalities, stories, and vignettes that turned whole mountainsides into literal art galleries. These millennia old relics were both artistically and historically fascinating. I have never been to a place quite like it and certainly have never been as awed by something as unique as what I was fortunate enough to see today. After the rock carvings we moved to the temple building complex itself with additional traditional wood, bronze, and ceramic sculptures. And by traditional I mean “holy s**t!” level stuff. Monumental in scale, complexity, quantity, aesthetics, craftsmanship, and inspiration. I think that this may have been one of the all-time most amazing places I have ever been in my whole life. Beyond stunning. Off the deep end of spectacular.

The final stop of the day was a boat cruise around West Lake, which was a nice way to unwind after a long day of hiking up, down, across, and around Hangzhou and the surrounding countryside. I must reiterate the beauty of this place. We all agree that Hangzhou is one of our favorite locales we have ever been anywhere, at any time.

Yolanda dropped us back at the hotel and we rested up for a little bit before heading out for some dinner. The food has been delicious all around on our trip thus far, but the kids were looking for a little variety from the steady stream of Chinese cuisine, so we found a little pub-type place that served western food (think pizza, pasta, burgers, etc.) so we rolled the dice and went in. Now, if you’ve ever eaten a real and true authentic Chinese meal you know that you don’t order per individual, but rather all food is ordered communally and shared amongst the whole party family-style. This means that food comes out of the kitchen to the table on a rolling basis rather than en-masse as is done in western restaurants. So, since we had chosen to dine in a western restaurant, albeit in China, we assumed that the western rules of service would be observed. We assumed wrong. What this meant was that we all ordered our own dishes at the same time, but first Matthew’s dinner came out from the kitchen and we all watched him eat, then Aelex’s arrived at the table and we watched her, then Olivia’s so we sat there while she ate, thence my turn and I ate while the rest of the family observed, and finally Dorothy was served to bring it all home. It was an odd meal to say the least. I don’t think it was an intentionally mixed dining-metaphor as much as it was a string of rookie mistakes as the restaurant struggled to wrap their head around the differences in serving models, so we did’t make a big deal of the oddness but I think from now on we’ll continue to go local and suffer through our stomachs’ homesickness without complaint. The good news is that the food itself was pretty good, so again, there’s that.

Tomorrow we head out to Olivia’s orphanage for what should be another emotional day for the family as we return to our child’s former home. Unfortunately, we just found out that there seems to be some type of mixup in our visit being received as an “official” one. We’re not really sure what this means just yet — the Chinese can be quite circumspect about explaining the true nature of certain things if they believe that the news will be received with disappointment. The good news is that we are definitely going to the orphanage, we’re just not sure what type of reception we are going to get once we arrive. Oh well, things are what they are. At least that’s what I’m guessing the Buddha would have us believe…

Seeing all the sights that are sights to see…