Chinese Takeout

Another busy day in Hangzhou. Being as though I haven't done much exercise and have a marathon to run in four months, I decided to go on a little run this morning. Close to the school, a nice path runs next to a canal that is off the street and usually pretty empty. My run felt so good but the humidity quickly made me too hot! There is no happy medium here between cold and hot and being from Montana, my tolerance of sticky weather is not so high, but the run did feel great.

We met up with her and a close friend of hers that came to the University of Montana from Hangzhou many years ago. It was fun to see Hangzhou from a local's perspective. We walked around a lot and then took the bus to have lunch on the other side of town. Driving here is just crazy and I got a little nauseous on the bus. We traveled to the higher end side of town that is very quiet compared to my neighborhood. For lunch I had rice wine soup and these wonderful pork dumplings. I am starting to become very fond of dumplings of all kinds!

With the impending threat of rain we bought an umbrella and decided to walk the mountain that looks down on the lake. By Montana standards, it is more of a hill, but still extremely lovely. It is covered with bamboo forests and tea bushes. The heavy rain and greenery reminded me so much of Glacier Park in spring. I became a little homesick but soon snapped out of it with some teenagers wanting to take my picture (being blonde here makes me a tourist attraction to the locals). I plan on returning to the area to explore.