Mandarin Immersion (Part 31)

This entry is part 31 of 40 in the series Mandarin Immersion

June 14, 2023

Mandarin Immersion (Part 31)

By Simon J. Lau

I spent time at West Lake and the surrounding parks. It’s famous for its gardens and has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for influencing garden designs throughout China, Japan, and Korea for centuries. I’ll be spending more time here over the next few days. However, I wanted to walk along the shoreline and see what attractions were worth prioritizing for later (of which there were many).

In the evening, I explored Hefang Street. It dates back to the late Song dynasty and was originally built in the 12th century. Today, it’s the only well-preserved ancient street in Hangzhou and has been converted into a pedestrian walkway.

I should note, I was fortunate to stumble upon lodging here. I regularly filter out hostels from my hotel searches. This one, however, snuck into my results. Although the single room appeared tiny, it was cheap ($24 USD/night), and the location was awesome. I’m glad I tried it! I was also reminded that hostels offer affordable laundry service. I’ll be dropping off a huge load of dirty laundry with them before I leave for Suzhou. 😆

Finally, I dropped by a place called Alley Bar. It’s a relatively new bar (has only been open for two years), and I spent time speaking with the co-owner/bartender, Huangpan. He was relatively young (early 30s?), and I was impressed that he co-owned this bar. It was very classy.

He also put together two very nice drinks for me. One was bourbon-based (Alley) and the other leveraged Sichuan chili peppers to add a kick (Hi! Sichuan). They were both excellent. He then described to me the many other ingredients he used for his drinks, including a local flower that blooms throughout Hangzhou in the fall.

As I was closing out, he asked to take a shot with me. I gladly accepted. For drinks, he chose the liquor made from the local Hangzhou flower. It was very fragrant and came down smoothly. Score: 10/10