Ripped off

We took a trip to Hangzhou today. It was my first time taking the train leaving from Shanghai and it was fantastic. The ride was clean, quiet and comfortable. I was very impressed. Once we arrived in Hangzhou, we found a taxi to take us to Xihu. He was a loud and seemingly friendly guy who offered to be our tour guide. We first started at the outskirt of the lake then we drove into the hillside to visit tea farms and a Longjing Tea tasting house. We tried and bought some of this very expensive tea - supposedly it was the No. 1 tea in China. I thought it was good, but I wouldn't know if it was truly the best tea I had ever tasted. Whatever. This was the time we figured out our taxi driver was working with the local business to get commissions if we made a purchase. Next stop our driver took us to the silk house to see if we would spend more, but we walked out without buying anything. He  literally did a 180 on us, turned silent, and said he must leave us at some intersection. He wouldn't even take us to where we wished to be dropped off. He made up some excuse to just take off - I thought what he did was extremely inconsiderate and rude. 

We had lunch at this cutesy Taiwanese + Chinese fusion restaurant by the lake. It was trendy and the food was pretty tasty. We visited my uncle's sister's antique jewelry store and browsed the antique shops on a this long street next to the lake. Finally, around 4 we went back to the main Xihu area to get on a boat and go on one of the most beautiful cruise I'd ever experienced. It was serene, beautiful and emotional. I loved it. Of course, the boat handler ripped us off too. We didn't even get a full 1 hour cruise and we had to pay more than the usual rate. I am beginning to believe that except for dining out in a restaurant, each time we go out and purchase anything while traveling in China, we can expect to get ripped off for sure. It's just HOW much we get ripped off. Sometimes the experience makes up for it, sometimes it just ruins it.

We came back around 10 riding on the train again. It was another wonderful trip :)