day1 : sunday!
the day of walking!

My first day in China began late but began fresh n energised. After meeting up with divya(!!!) and a bunch of Melton fellows, we (along with henry, my host) took a bus to the famous west lake in Hangzhou. It is a very beautiful lake with picture postcard scenery everywhere you can set your eyes on. We(div,yvonne(german fellow), joyce(yvone's friend), and a few chinese melton fellows-Jina,Ren,Kevin, Henry and me) chose a long walk and walked for about 30 min along the lake. I was just catching up with everyone as i had just arrived.

The lake i am speaking of is the beautiful "WEST LAKE" . It is a scenic, beatifully located lake which holds an important place in the history of Hangzhou. There is a legend associated with it and its' origin. It is the story of the white snake, a nice love story with lots of mythology added in. It makes for interesting reading and it is even better when narrated to you.(!)
I was told, there are over 30 places of tourist interest around the lake.


I was looking forward to few of them, however, before we had covered about half the distance around the lake it began to drizzle and it was dinner or as it is more commonly known here-supper time! (1800HRS) . Someone then came up with a brilliant idea that instead of getting something to eat outside, we could go divya's apartment and cook indian and chinese food! voila- that was brilliant!

So everyone else left to divya's apartment while henry and me went to his apartment because the new plan was that i would move in with divya that night itself!

Later that night, we were at the height of intercultural activity, in the true sense of the phrase!
We cooked bisi-bele bath, navratan kurma and had it with Dumplings, some tofu and mushrooms! yes, all in ONE bowl! It was great fun turning off the lights, lighting some aromatic lamp, indians, chinese and a german all at one table having indian and chinese food, talking about each other's culture!

coming to the topic of the post, i walked a looooot! around the lake, on my way back to henry's place and then in finding div's place! i've probably walked for bout 2 and half hours all together!

it was a nice first day, and i am looking forward to the rest!