The Return to Hangzhou

Today began with a very hurried packing and leaving the hotel via taxis to the Beijing Airport. Our group leader, Professor Lin, knew that we needed to get to the airport early to beat the large group of other people that were in the hotel with us because of the cancelled flight. We didn’t beat them, but we were able to get on an 11:45 AM flight back to Hangzhou ahead of them because Professor Lin went to a different window to get us booked. I got to witness what happens in China when things aren’t going well in an airport--lots of yelling and screaming! The flight left on time and we were back in the hotel by 3:30 PM. We had about an hour until we were to meet some local Chinese college students and have dinner with them. We were to have spent the entire day with them seeing Hangzhou, but because of the cancelled flight the night before, we only had the evening. Jose, Jessica, Katie, and I met Ariel (the girl from the dinner on July 4th) and Cynthia and went off to visit the local Yue Fei Temple and Tomb before having dinner near the old Hangzhou section of town. After walking a bit through the shops in the old section, we said good-bye to our new Chinese friends and went back to the hotel. The four of us are pictured with Ariel and Cynthia below at the temple.