A Journey along the River

By Sofia Gronvall

Hangzhou is the town called by the natives, "the paradise city" and a place where business men from Shanghai, located one hour away, go to relax and get energised.

Every year a tea festival is held to honour the famous Longjing tea, or Dragon Well tea, and the West Lake. This year is no exception. As a group of women singing traditional Chinese songs the show begins. Next to the stage the men are demonstrating the old way of producing the tea. In deep pans the tea leaves are being fried whilst the men frequently twist and turn them with their bare hands not to burn any parts of the surface. Personally, I find the procedure fascinating.

The area around the West Lake is quite extensive so in order to see every part we travel by cart. Although they're rare I even spot a few foreigners walking along the riverside which always makes me ridiculously excited. Women dressed in cheongsams smile when we drive by and I just want one.

As the cart moves on a building with a style of ancient Rome appears from nowhere followed by another one that brings my thoughts to Space Mountain, Disney Land. These contrasts are something I seem to pick up in every part of Hangzhou.

A pagoda catches my full attention moments later as the striking building of most traditional Chinese kind is to be seen on the other side of the river. What I find amusing however is that people keep on shouting "the Eiffel tower" at me. The piece might be an eye catching attraction but it sure isn't anything like the symbol of Paris, I want to tell my Chinese colleagues. When written in pinyin I don't see the compelling resemblance between the two, but when spoken "Lei Feng tower" actually sounds a lot like its French equivalence. Makes me wonder if it was meant to be, and in that case, who was first?

As tiny as they're loud I suddenly find myself surrounded by Chinese scouts when after getting out of the protecting cart to stretch my legs. "Hello" I hear probably a hundred times before the wave of kids disappears whilst their intense laughter takes a long time in doing likewise.