Happy International Labour Day (as opposed to Labor Day)...
After spending the morning at the hospital I was talked into lunch at the Hyatt for "The Best Buffet in Town" - as I've been mostly on the sofa for 5 days now this seemed like a good plan assuming I could get a taxi, which didn't actually take too long.
Lunch was good although 'All I Could Eat' was hampered by not wanting to get up to eat more than twice. Afterwards we walked/hobbled the 100 metres to the edge of the lake, with the 'dancing fountains' in full swing. Not surprisingly, this being a national holiday, there were a simply staggering number of people by the lakeside (I was, of course, just staggering by the lakeside...).
Now Hangzhou is becoming a more and more cosmopolitan place with larger numbers of people from all over the world living and working here so the locals are much more used to seeing us about than they were a few years ago. These days you only get the occasional cry of 'Laowai!' (foreigner!) or 'Hello!' (although a couple of weeks ago I went out for a meal near my apartment and on the way someone shouted 'Sorry!' and on the way back someone else shouted 'Good Morning!' (at 8pm)).
The tourists from other parts of China are clearly less used to us and today this was visibly evident. In the three minutes we were at lakeside we were sneakily photographed by 6 or 7 people, including this guy who then obliged by posing for me to take a reciprocal photo. We were also asked to participate in a group shot with another bunch. Sadly I missed my photo opportunity to capture an old guy wearing pyjamas, slippers and a suit jacket.
No comments:
Post a Comment