Adventures in the H Zeeee

So I'm spending a week in Hangzhou helping my 'cousins' with an English camp. And while I've been here, there have been some awesome adventures in the last few days. I'll run them down for ya....

- Visiting the beautiful West Lake in Hangzhou. Its considered the most beautiful place in all of China.
- A quick visit to Shaoxing to get my passport and see town with a visiting friend. It was a whirl wind, but a good time.
- Getting a foot massage where I soaked my feet in tea while they rubbed my shoulders, and they got all the dead skin off my feet, and it was most wonderful.
- Rock climbing!! We bussed/hiked up a mountain, and climbed through the bushes to a rock face where we climbed. It was awesome! And yes, it was actual rock climbing with harness, rope, belayer and real rocks with no set route. I got stuck for a few minutes at the half way point as I figured out how to hoist myself over a little ridge and keep climbing. The view from the top was so worth the climb and the sore arms that came a day later. haha.

The view from the top!

The view straight down... you can barely see my belayer.
(he's wearing a blue helmet at the very bottom between the trees)

- Swimming in the Bamboo river. Its a place near here that is in a botanical garden. We swam near a small waterfall and it was warm and basically fantastic. I love to swim and haven't gone since Thailand. I didn't catch anything from the water... so don't worry.

- Visited the tea fields near here. I'd been there before, but it was cool to see again. 

- Whew! Are you tired? Because I am.... Haha. 

- OHH, and I almost forgot we explored a cave! I got dive bombed by a bat. And got a little muddy. But the weirdest part was that as we stood at the exit the air coming out of the cave was so cool that we could see our breath. The temperature difference between in and out of the cave was at least 20 degrees. Crazy!!

The schedule for the next few days includes KTV (karaoke), helping people move apartments, biking and taking selfies around Hangzhou, training up to Xi'an to see the terra-cotta warriors, and climb Mount Huashan (google 'mount huashan southern peak'.... just do it), then training over to Beijing, and flying home. AHHH!! It's getting so close. And I've still not convinced myself that I won't be returning to Shaoxing after my adventures. 

Until next time.