China Friday

China Friday
Up at 5:30 am. Packed to leave Hangzhou today. 50 lengths in the 7th floor pool. Another great pool with plenty of length to get in a nice early morning swim followed by a few sets in the weight room to release the back and shoulders from the bus travel confines. All set and down to breakfast. Another great western breakfast. Actually, breakfast could have doubled for lunch as there were Quasi lunch items among the buffet choices. Our proximity to Southern Tropical China again provided and excellent choice of melon and fruit. 

We loaded up and left the hotel at 8:30 headed for the West Lake area. My camera memory card of 8 GB was finally full and I bought another 2 GB at the first stop. We arrived at the Buddhist Temple and had only a 1/2 hour to freely observe the activities. There were many who practice Buddhism here, purchasing incense to observe Buddhism rituals. There was a lot of smoke. We were told not to take pictures Inside of the temples out of respect. We were allowed to take pics from outside. 
This place had a special peace about it. It was especially remarkable considing the number of people that were visiting. The buddha figures were 40-50 feet tall. The intricate Backdrops were remarkably ornate. 
We left the temple for the tea fields of Dragon Well tea plantation. Dr. "T" (related to mr. T presumably) edutained us regarding green tea. He demonstrated green tea's antioxidant capabilities using white rice, he poured iodine (an oxidizer) into the rice turning it black and thus oxidizing it AKA showing toxins. He then added plain water to show that water alone does nothing to combat toxins. He then showed that green tea when poured into the blackened rice water converted it back to a nearly clear water and whitened the rice. His presentation wove American expressions thru the presentation while spoken in ChinEnglish. A polished crafted and persuasive event ,leaving no question that everyone would naturally want to buy the $200 Pound of Dragon Well Best quality green tea. At least 10 did. I wish that my camera had enough memory to video capture this. It would be a classic sales training tool. 
We went on to lunch (more Chinese) I could only eat white rice and coca cola today. It paid off. I felt good after lunch. We then went for a boat tour of West Lake. It was very busy with tour boats. Surprisingly, as caucasion travelers we were in the extreme minority. Most tourists were Chinese. The lake is smaller that I expected, only about 4 square miles. It reminded me of the Finger Lakes in NY with small mountains running to the edge of the water. The city of Hangzhou boarders the lake giving one end a very commercial feel, set in among pagodas, mountains, and a budding tree lined walk way. 

Finally we are back on the road toward Shanghai for 2 nites. The trip is 4-5 hour bus ride. We arrived at Shanghai at 6:3o and checked in and in the rom by 7pm. The lobby of the hotel is on the 25th floor. The hotel itself has over 40 floors. Mine is on the 30th floor. There is a Starbucks on the diagonal corner from the hotel. The intersection reminds me of times square. Shanghai is over 6000 square kilometers with a population of around 18 million people.