China Day 8: May 16th
Today we traveled to a place called the First Village, which is the wealthiest village in China. Our tour guide took us around the village, only problem being that she didn’t speak English! Luckily, Xin was able to translate for us, so that those of us who don’t speak Chinese could understand what was going on. Thanks! One of the first things we did at the village was eat lunch. While I’m not sure that everyone in the group enjoyed the lunch so much, I really liked it because it had a lot of tofu dishes, and I love tofu! Outside the restaurant where we ate, there were some very large bells, much bigger than me, as you can see 
from the pictures. It would have been cool to ring the bells, but it would have cost 100 Yuan for the largest one! We also walked by a sculpture garden that had sculptures for each of the Chinese calendar years. I learned that being born in 1990 means that I was born in the year of the horse! We toured through a greenhouse at the village, and it was 
really neat to see all the plants hanging from the ceiling. I was especially impressed with how large some of the plants were. After the greenhouse tour, we had the opportunity to take a tour of a farmer’s house. We walked by a house that was a first generation house at the village, as well as got to go inside a house, and meet the farmer. It was very nice inside, although I was surprised at how empty it seemed. We climbed to the top of a pagoda at the village, and got to see how huge it is! There were rows of 
houses that were all identical, and you could see the square from where we were standing. Walking around the entire deck of the pagoda, you could see a birds-eye view of the entire village. Heading back to Hangzhou, we stopped at a rest stop to take a look at a large lake along the roadway, but it was disappointing that the lake disappeared into the background 
and was barely noticeable. We went and quickly changed before heading to dinner with Fiona’s friend at a place Dr. Li described as being “like Venice.” At the dinner we met Fiona’s friend Linda, Linda’s parents, and Linda’s best friend. They were very gracious hosts and provided us with a lot of good food. At one point we thought we were done eating, and then Linda’s dad ordered us one of the most expensive dishes! They also brought a bottle of mao tai and 
another liquor for each table, which some people seemed to enjoy very much (one was 104 proof and the other 106). I also learned, and was shocked, that Chinese people drink so much at meals! Apparently it is common, especially in business, to drink a lot- and it is not polite to refuse the offer, demonstrated by how unwell Dr. Li was feeling the next day. While most of the group went out with Linda after dinner, I headed back to the hotel to catch up on journals and sleep.
Today we traveled to a place called the First Village, which is the wealthiest village in China. Our tour guide took us around the village, only problem being that she didn’t speak English! Luckily, Xin was able to translate for us, so that those of us who don’t speak Chinese could understand what was going on. Thanks! One of the first things we did at the village was eat lunch. While I’m not sure that everyone in the group enjoyed the lunch so much, I really liked it because it had a lot of tofu dishes, and I love tofu! Outside the restaurant where we ate, there were some very large bells, much bigger than me, as you can see 
from the pictures. It would have been cool to ring the bells, but it would have cost 100 Yuan for the largest one! We also walked by a sculpture garden that had sculptures for each of the Chinese calendar years. I learned that being born in 1990 means that I was born in the year of the horse! We toured through a greenhouse at the village, and it was 
really neat to see all the plants hanging from the ceiling. I was especially impressed with how large some of the plants were. After the greenhouse tour, we had the opportunity to take a tour of a farmer’s house. We walked by a house that was a first generation house at the village, as well as got to go inside a house, and meet the farmer. It was very nice inside, although I was surprised at how empty it seemed. We climbed to the top of a pagoda at the village, and got to see how huge it is! There were rows of 
houses that were all identical, and you could see the square from where we were standing. Walking around the entire deck of the pagoda, you could see a birds-eye view of the entire village. Heading back to Hangzhou, we stopped at a rest stop to take a look at a large lake along the roadway, but it was disappointing that the lake disappeared into the background 
and was barely noticeable. We went and quickly changed before heading to dinner with Fiona’s friend at a place Dr. Li described as being “like Venice.” At the dinner we met Fiona’s friend Linda, Linda’s parents, and Linda’s best friend. They were very gracious hosts and provided us with a lot of good food. At one point we thought we were done eating, and then Linda’s dad ordered us one of the most expensive dishes! They also brought a bottle of mao tai and 
another liquor for each table, which some people seemed to enjoy very much (one was 104 proof and the other 106). I also learned, and was shocked, that Chinese people drink so much at meals! Apparently it is common, especially in business, to drink a lot- and it is not polite to refuse the offer, demonstrated by how unwell Dr. Li was feeling the next day. While most of the group went out with Linda after dinner, I headed back to the hotel to catch up on journals and sleep. 
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