Sprung

Spring in Hangzhou came and went in a flash - i woke up and realised its been 3 months since i've blogged - well i've been keeping busy (and facebook is evil).

In the short few months of spring, i saw an explosion of colour in the city. For a start, the trees were a brilliant shade of emerald, then there were cream and pink magnolias in February, then delicate plum blossoms and yellow cole in March before the tulips and a few sleeping lotuses in April. The cool breezes, bright sunshine and fresh colours instantly lighten everyone's moods and most people around me were more amiable and sociable ( i think its called spring fever!)

Well aware that it was probably my last spring in Hangzhou, i made a conscious effort to spend more time outdoors exploring the city with my friends - walks and picnics by the lake, lazy boat trips and lots of hikes around the hills.

April was also tea-picking month, and since Hangzhou is Longjing tea capital, that makes alot of locals excited - its the time of the year where you can enjoy freshly picked, primero grade of Longjing aka (Pre-Qingming tea) - i'm not a tea connoisseur but hey, when in China, do as the Chinese do - so i trooped off to the tea village to sample the brew too.

Before i knew it, the sun started to warm up just that little more that i had to wear sunglasses and shed the jumper, Chinese girls started toting umbrellas to prevent their fair skin from tanning (heaven forbid!), and the buses started to smell just a little bit more ... athletic.

Oh well, spring has sprung.