China Day 4: May 12th
After a good night’s sleep, we got up and walked to eat some breakfast, which is only about a block from the hotel we will be staying at. David took us to a restaurant where I ordered some very good dumplings. The dumplings were a steamed dough wrap, filled with a sausage and soup. To eat the dumplings you dipped them in vinegar, bit a small hole and drank the soup, and then dipped the dumpling in vinegar again and ate the rest. I was sad when we were walking to see a duck and two chickens in a cage outside, knowing that they would be killed for food. We also went in to a fish store/restaurant, where you could pick out 
your own fish to buy and make yourself, or for the restaurant to prepare for you. David said to look for the liveliest fish because it means they are the healthiest. David gave us a steamed bread dessert to try. The outside bread dough was very good, but I didn’t enjoy the bean filling (it reminding me of a sweet refried bean). We walked by an international school and went back to David’s house. After spending some more time on the internet talking to friends on Skype and writing our journals to send to the group, we walked back to the subway station, which took us to the train station. After another 45 minute ride back to Hangzhou, we took a taxi to meet 
the rest of the group at another university that they were visiting. I was bummed I missed the tour of Wal-Mart by the manager and hot pot that the rest of the group experienced, but everything I do is a new xperience. I had a good time getting to know David better and his parents, and it was very generous of David’s parents to invite us into their home. The group was almost done with their tour, and we then caught a bus to dinner at a restaurant that Dr. Li said was the first restaurant of the chain, meaning it would be better than the other restaurants and that they didn’t hire just anyone for the staff. We were seated in an upstairs area, and Fiona bought the tickets for our meal, which you would give them based on how many tickets the item you wanted cost. We were told to order for our table, and while not excited about it, was made to order two orders of chicken feet. We also got an order of dumplings and a piece of pork with the fat. The dumplings were very good; however, I didn’t try 
the chicken feet because I feared my gag reflex would take over, since that isn’t a part of the chicken we eat in the US. The pork was very good, although I only ate the meat and not the fat part- I left the fat part for the guys to eat (yuck). At that point of dinner I was kind of upset, not having eaten lunch and figuring that was the end of dinner and I would still be hungry; however, our table ended up ordering more food including what appeared to be a pork and vegetable roll and some kind of beef soup cooked with the bones. Dr. Li also had an order of snails, but I think he was the only person who partook in eating those. After dinner, we walked to see a musical fountain show at West Lake, which ended up being really cool. There was a large audience, and the music would pulse to the rhythm of the music. After waiting for a little while, we ended up getting front row seats on the 
lawn chairs, because people would move back when the water sprayed them because of the breeze. Score! Chris was trying to take pictures of what I thought were birds flying around above the show; however, I learned from him that they were actually bats! I guess they liked all the bugs that were around the lake. We then went for a walk around West Lake to see the lake at night. It was beautiful, and the pictures I have definitely don’t do it justice. Dr. Li challenged the group that the first person to the end of the path would get a gold coin from the Shanghai Expo, but knowing that I would not win the race, I focused my efforts on picture-taking instead. After our walk along the lake, we headed back to the hotel to prepare for our early morning hike up the Huangshan (Yellow) Mountain and buy some snacks for our meals along the way.
After a good night’s sleep, we got up and walked to eat some breakfast, which is only about a block from the hotel we will be staying at. David took us to a restaurant where I ordered some very good dumplings. The dumplings were a steamed dough wrap, filled with a sausage and soup. To eat the dumplings you dipped them in vinegar, bit a small hole and drank the soup, and then dipped the dumpling in vinegar again and ate the rest. I was sad when we were walking to see a duck and two chickens in a cage outside, knowing that they would be killed for food. We also went in to a fish store/restaurant, where you could pick out 
your own fish to buy and make yourself, or for the restaurant to prepare for you. David said to look for the liveliest fish because it means they are the healthiest. David gave us a steamed bread dessert to try. The outside bread dough was very good, but I didn’t enjoy the bean filling (it reminding me of a sweet refried bean). We walked by an international school and went back to David’s house. After spending some more time on the internet talking to friends on Skype and writing our journals to send to the group, we walked back to the subway station, which took us to the train station. After another 45 minute ride back to Hangzhou, we took a taxi to meet 
the rest of the group at another university that they were visiting. I was bummed I missed the tour of Wal-Mart by the manager and hot pot that the rest of the group experienced, but everything I do is a new xperience. I had a good time getting to know David better and his parents, and it was very generous of David’s parents to invite us into their home. The group was almost done with their tour, and we then caught a bus to dinner at a restaurant that Dr. Li said was the first restaurant of the chain, meaning it would be better than the other restaurants and that they didn’t hire just anyone for the staff. We were seated in an upstairs area, and Fiona bought the tickets for our meal, which you would give them based on how many tickets the item you wanted cost. We were told to order for our table, and while not excited about it, was made to order two orders of chicken feet. We also got an order of dumplings and a piece of pork with the fat. The dumplings were very good; however, I didn’t try 
the chicken feet because I feared my gag reflex would take over, since that isn’t a part of the chicken we eat in the US. The pork was very good, although I only ate the meat and not the fat part- I left the fat part for the guys to eat (yuck). At that point of dinner I was kind of upset, not having eaten lunch and figuring that was the end of dinner and I would still be hungry; however, our table ended up ordering more food including what appeared to be a pork and vegetable roll and some kind of beef soup cooked with the bones. Dr. Li also had an order of snails, but I think he was the only person who partook in eating those. After dinner, we walked to see a musical fountain show at West Lake, which ended up being really cool. There was a large audience, and the music would pulse to the rhythm of the music. After waiting for a little while, we ended up getting front row seats on the 
lawn chairs, because people would move back when the water sprayed them because of the breeze. Score! Chris was trying to take pictures of what I thought were birds flying around above the show; however, I learned from him that they were actually bats! I guess they liked all the bugs that were around the lake. We then went for a walk around West Lake to see the lake at night. It was beautiful, and the pictures I have definitely don’t do it justice. Dr. Li challenged the group that the first person to the end of the path would get a gold coin from the Shanghai Expo, but knowing that I would not win the race, I focused my efforts on picture-taking instead. After our walk along the lake, we headed back to the hotel to prepare for our early morning hike up the Huangshan (Yellow) Mountain and buy some snacks for our meals along the way.
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