Getting soaked in Hangzhou

Since Jason didn't get to go to Hangzhou (hahng-joe) when my parents were here ... we decided to sneak over on the speed train on Tuesday.  We hadn't really checked the forecast, but should have known ... it's been raining here for days and there does not seem to be an end in site.  It rained the whole day!  We still had a great time (water logged shoes and all) - it is amazingly good for the spirit to get away from the noise and chaos of Shanghai and be able to see more than just a brief glimpse of nature. 

The fishermen were out in full force -- this man had quite the catch!  His wife came by on her bicycle, they shoved the still flopping fish into her bike basket and away she went!

We thought that perhaps because of the rain we would escape the crowds ... not so!

Sadly, we did not get to go for a ride in the dragon boat ...

Walking around West Lake

My parents headed home on Thursday and I'm working on getting caught up on life and on photos from their time here.  It still seems hard to believe that they were actually here - even though they stayed for two weeks, it went by SO SO fast!  Now I can re-live their visit through a few photos - love the memories together!

While in Shanghai, we decided to take a day trip to Hangzhou to walk around the famous West Lake.  This trip used to take nearly 3 hours by train, but can now take as little as 45 minutes due to the new high speed trains that are running.  Hangzhou is a small town by China standards with a population of around 7 million.

The station was just a bit crowded!

Hangzhou has a cute old town area with plenty of shopping.

West Lake at sunset.