So unfortunately the previous entry I had was kind of the last in regards to the trip I had when my pals were here. The next few days I had to work, so they were left to their own devices for the next two. The good news is that there is another group of friends that should be arriving in June, so expect more hijinx to ensue. It would be twilight zone creepy if we went to the same places and recreated the same photos. Something to consider.

Right well, this is the point where I would mention my trip back to Cincinnati. I don't really want to talk about that since it would just be depressing. But it did give me perspective on how crazy of a place China can be. After a brief stint of normality I find myself back in wonderland. Where people spit, toss things on the ground, and traffic rules are determined by whomever want it more. But here I am until November, so let's make sure I enjoy it. The most recent sojourn was a trip to a mountain in Hangzhou with my roommate and a friend of ours. It worked out well - David is leaving in a few weeks, and needed some gifts beforehand. Our friend, a native named Christina, has a family run business near this mountain. Her brother in law offers to give the 3 of us and her aunt a lift.

Her brother in law is a way cool dude named Hillin. I'd imagine there's an apostrophe after his name, because he's just that cool. Stylized hair, fashionable clothes, sunglasses, love of American music, and drives crazier than any taxi driver I've known. That basically means he treats the road like his own destruction derby, tearing around hairpin turns at 70 kph while rocking out to Lady Gaga and laughing like a maniac. What I'm saying is I dug this guy.

So we make it to Hangzhou in record time, and David purchases some nice jewelry while acting like a fool in women's sunglasses. Before we tackled the mountain though, why not pray at some traditional Buddhist yadda yadda yadda. Jeez, I'm sure this place has some sort of history, but for god sakes (ha, puns!) what place in China doesn't have some sort of history?

We get to the temple complex with incense in hand, because you have to pray at all 6. Otherwise I guess you'll anger the gods, who will make you sit on your keys. Anyway a guide stops us offering to help. My attitude was "Nah we've got this, stop trying to scam us." Christina on the other hand, is quite gullible and was overjoyed that a nice man would show us around out of the goodness of his heart. So we're shuttled around to all these places, and of course the last place we go is a shop. The guy is trying to sell us on all these other things to buy for the temple. This one will give you money, this one will give you love, etc. David and I aren't believing any of this bullshit, but Christina is just eating it up. She comes out with a shopping bag full of fancy paper she burns at each temple. Ugh. Glad it wasn't my money.

Now it's off to the mountain, which happens to be through a tea field. Christina told us that you can pick your own tea here, dry it on these hot coals, and take it home with you later in the day. I thought this was awesome, and it may be something to try. Another very convenient feature of this mountain was the cable car going to the top. This is where I learned David is deathly afraid of heights. Oh, I'm sorry. He's just deathly afraid of cable cars. *cough*bullshit*cough*.

So now we're hiking up this mountain in record time. It is actually a great view from the top, but there's not really much else to do aside from a few photos. It's time for dinner, and I'll be damned if I walk up this mountain and I don't get on a Chinese cable car. David says he'll meet us at the bottom and off he goes.

It turns out going down the mountain is much faster than going up, and we more or less meet David at the same time we get to the bottom. After a quick dinner, we all meet up with Hillin who takes us ontop of his family's shop. Their maintenance sheds are those fancy looking buildings on the roof. In short, I dug him and the place where he works. After a full day of exercise, religion, and food, back we go to Xiaoshan. Of course with Hillin behind the wheel, in record time.