hangzhou

I've spent the past day and a half in Hangzhou, a town about 2 to 3 hours from Shanghai, famous for it's West Lake, green tea, and silk.  I've had pretty bad weather, just drizzly, cold, and generally "winter" weather which isn't ideal for a town that's known for it's cruise around the lake and through the tea plantations.  Don't worry, I did those things anyway, and the (still) fall colors on the trees were beautiful.  Probably not as beautiful though as they would have been if the sun had been out.  In general, the town was nice, but nothing to write home about.  The only notable thing really was that they seem to have more (secular) Christmas cheer than even the U.S.  Every blasted restaurant seems to require that it's employees wear santa hats.  Which is hilarious.  Traditional Chinese costume below, santa hat up top.  It's like the full-body mullet.