Kung-fu!

Tai-ji and Kungfu is a lot harder than I thought it would be. We started off with an ice breaker where we would run around and listen for the teacher to call out a number. We then had to get into groups of that size, whoever was left over would then have to become a bunny rabbit in front of the class. Easy start but once the real lessons started I realized maybe I am not the most flexible of people and so struggled with pretty basic movements. After only half an hour I had worked up a well earned sweat. Our kung-fu teacher was a feisty little woman who could kick you clean in the face pretty easily so I paid pretty close attention for this class.

Kung-fu class

Tai-ji

The most amusing part of the class may be the point where my friend Dan almost feinted midway through the session. Strangely enough he feinted in the lessons where only had to close our eyes and breath. Clearly he had embraced the cheap Chinese alcohol way too much. Midway through the breathing exercises with everybody's eyes closed we opened our eyes to see Dan stumbling around on the spot completely unable to see or hear any of us. I guess you shouldn’t find it funny and I should mention he is now fine.

Next up once again I had another language class, these classes were fairly fast paced and so if you didn’t try to read a little of your notes outside the lessons you would without fail turn up everyday and have no idea what was being said. Nevertheless the basics were finally sticking.

Grandma's Kitchen meal

Cheeky bit of fish

This evening a group of us went out to try a restaurant chain prominent in Hangzhou, Grandma’s Kitchen. Here we were given a private room and luckily plenty of patience. Our favourite places to eat so far in China seemed to be places that have had a menu with pictures. Here we ordered a tonne of dishes including a portion of duck tongues. Although not the worst, I wouldn’t recommend them as it mostly consists of a piece of gristle with skin around it, apparantly there is a skill to eating them and most Chinese people actually love them. The rest of the meal was amazing and as was commonly the case it cost next to nothing. Splitting the bill left us with around £6-8 each for a huge meal and drinks too.

Cant complain.