It was still drizzling when we got there, but we still had a beautiful ride on West Lake and a walk around the park grounds before heading to the tea plantation. I'll just post a few pictures of the Lake and park for you here.
I could have spent all day in the park, even in the drizzle! I would love to go back at some point and explore the town more thoroughly. Even the city streets had trees growing in the sidewalks, and the people seemed very welcoming and inviting - not just Mie-Mie. In fact, Mie-Mie told us a saying about recognizing locals and non-locals by the speed they walk. The only thing I can remember is that the people who have lived here the longest walk the slowest! Of course, it also had to do with slowing with age, but I just can't remember the double entendre! I hate writing these so long after the fact! I'm hoping to catch up to everything soon!
After West Lake, we took a ride to the Dragon Well tea plantation, where they showed us the proper way to pour hot green tea! You heat the kettle to just below boiling. I forget what temperature she said, but it's very important that it is not boiling hot! You don't want to burn the leaves! You put a large pinch of green tea leaves in the glass and pour a small pour into the glass. Just enough that you tipped the kettle and straightened it back up. Then, you let that little dollop steep for a minute because you don't want to be rude and make your guest think you're trying to hurry them away! After that, you do three more dollops out of the kettle, and your glass is ready to drink. Ta-Da!!
It wasn't bad tea, and I'm not a big fan of green tea. Chrissy is, though, so we, obviously, fell for this sales pitch, too. I did kind of enjoy chewing on the leaves, though, so I might get some from her.
The grounds were mostly tea fields, but they did have one little garden in the courtyard.
After the tea plantation, we got back on the bus and headed for the hotel, where we unloaded all of the suitcases and most of our group. Some of us sent our bags into the hotel lobby, where they would wait for us while we went back to West Lake for another show. This one didn't disappoint, either! There is a section of West Lake that has a stage built an inch or two under the water, and on that stage, they put on a wonderful show. This show was created for the G-20 summit in 2016, which was held in Hangzhou. When it was performed for the visiting dignitaries, it was warm. Dancing in an inch of water (including ballerinas on point) is impressive enough, but it was cold the night we saw it. The little school-aged girl who was singing was bundled up in her winter coat, and I was snuggling my Peruvian alpaca serape around me pretty tightly! I got a few good shots and short clips, but my camera ran out of space before the show was over. I spent part of the show deleting apps that weren't necessary. The most extraordinary and "OOOOHHHH!" moment was with the ballerinas in white tutus. Mie-Mie said CCTV (China Central Television) recorded the whole show and posted it on YouTube, though. I found it, so you can watch it all on this link if you would like. The ballerinas in white tutus start around 22 minutes in. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeeDUDhMZOs. We didn't have the live orchestra, but we did have lots of singers and musicians floating across the lake, including that little girl (7, 8 years old maybe?) with that great big voice! How I wish I understood the lyrics she was singing!
After the show, Mie-Mie got us a van and took us to the hotel, where George gave us our room keys, and we gathered our bags to go. This time, we were in the Merchant Marco Hotel, which was, again, a very nice hotel with Marco, himself, guarding the lobby.
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