That's what the rice bombs were for!

That night I lay in bed reading and wondering what the next day would offer. I was actually suppose to leave for Beijing, but I had trouble confirming a ticket on the interned so I felt like I was stuck there for one more day. Before I dozed off I received a few texts from Wade explaining that the following morning was the Dragon Boat Festival- Oh.... that's why all the people were buying rice bombs in bulk! The festival as I was told, takes place about an hour and a half away from Shanghai.

I miraculously woke up early the next day with high hopes for the festival. I ran downstairs to the front desk to enquire about it. The employees seemed anything but enthusiastic about it and more curious about my enthusiasm to go. I also had them give me Harry and Yuin's room number to see if they wanted to go.

It was 9 am and I was knocking on a dorm room- I would have hated me! But it was no surprise that Yuin was also enthusiastic to go and Harry once again opted to sleep. Yuin and I once again pressed the front desk employees for help. We seemed to get the town name and the train station needed to get there. With Chinese characters on paper in hand, we hailed down a taxi and we were off! (please note how early this adventure started).

We got to the train station, it was old looking and packed with people. I think this further convinced us that we were on to something by going to the festival... surely all these people were going as well. We found the one and only English speaking counter as it was so labeled. We went up and asked for two tickets to Hangzhou. He said that it was leaving at 3pm. What?! We would completely miss the festival! We took a step back to talk about it, and before we knew the man was gone- he abandoned our only hopes of getting there. How could this be, that on a day of a yearly festival, there would only be one train in the afternoon?

We left the train station feeling totally defeated, but with serious doubt that this could be true. The more we thought about it, the stronger the feeling was that this couldn't be. Then we had a stroke of brilliance...

We found a close by Holiday Inn and decided to ask the concierge. The concierge was non existent so the front desk would have to do. After much charade action we finally conveyed to them where we wanted to go. Actually, they did not understand the festival aspect of it, but instead recognized Zhangzou. We were in awe that no one knew what we were talking about. Me an American and Yuin a Brit had heard of the Dragon boat festival and all it's fame... why were we having trouble finding it in China?!

The front desk people explained that we went to the wrong train station- thanks Captain's.. useless help! We had them write down the characters and we once again had high enthusiasm and excitement that we would make it to the Dragon Boat festival! Off we were on another 45 minute taxi ride to the new train station.

We arrived at the train station and this seemed more like it. It was a beautiful terminal made of glass and steel beems. It was comparable to all the newer airports. We got on line and managed to get two tickets on the Noon train. It was strange though that our ticket there cost less than our tickets back. We didn't give it much thought though because we felt accomplished and the ticket vendor seemded to understand our needs.

We had about 45 minutes till the train and decided to get something to eat. Seems like an easy task... but then again, we were in China! We followed the pictures of the knife and fork which literally took us all around the station. We made pointless turns, walked buy numerous stores and closed staircases until we made a u-turn and pretty much ended up in the same place we started and finally found the stairs leading up to the dining area. I was next in line for what seemed like the only option of food: a tray of rice, mystery meat and some other food neatly placed in it's boundaries on the plate. It looked like and was served like airplane food. Being next on line (or in line for you non NYers) seemed to not matter as I was completely ignored. Mind you I had made eye contact with the server and I had money in hand. Time and time again the person behind me was served until I finally had enough and grabbed a tray practically out of the hands of the person behind me. Success, but after all why had I wanted the meal to begin with?!

We boarded the train still excited and having a few laughs at our relentless attempts to get to this festival. As Wade had written in a text, it would be a once in a life time experience as the festival would be filled with crew like boats and thousands of on lookers cheering them on- A true Chinese experience of culture and history. We were unsure of how we would recognize where to get off, but figured many others would get off at the same place.

Let me interrupt by saying that we had also questioned the idea that the Dragon Boat festival was on this day as all of the people we had asked for help either looked at us clueless or seemed puzzled at our desire to go. We did however meet a couple with a child who had also enquired, but decided not to go and confirmed that this indeed was the day of the festival.

The train stopped at what seemed like our exit and an English speaking Chinese confirmed that it was. I had the feeling that we might should follow him in the case that we needed translation or help, but in fact this was the town where the Dragon Boat festival takes place, so why on earth would we need further assistance?! Even if we wanted it, we would not have been able to receive it- he seemed to speed off and disappear into in air. As we exited the station we found ourselves in what seemed like a whole other world. There were dirt roads, chickens and only one sign that we could understand... TOURIST INFO. Well if there were to be one sign useful that would surely be it. The only problem is that the sign led us to the parking lot.

We found ourselves standing in the middle of a half full parking lot-no more, no less. Clearly that would not be our lead to the festival, so we sought out new help. This story may seem to drag on and at this point let me tell you, it was! It seemed like we would never get there. At this point both Yuin and I were skeptical of not only our where abouts but how we would ever return to the safety of our hostel. We walked down the chaotic street and found nothing more than all Chinese signs and stores with nothing looking like any sort of tourist center. We walked the other way and found much of the same. We found a newspaper stand which had a woman in front with a map and some sort of ID around her neck- surely she would be able to help us, hopefully more so than the police office we had just tried ot ask.

She did not speak English and once again the assumption was made that Yuin spoke Chinese. As all of our frustrations grew, a crowd grew around us as well. Numerous people were begging for money, trying to sell us something or send us to the Lake. This city or town, wherever we were seemed to have a Lake. I was pretty sure the yearly festival takes place on a River- but ultimately I really didn't know much about it. Even though she nor the others could understand what we were looking for, she kept on insisting the lake was where we should go. I nervously tried to draw a Dragon, and thought to myself that I definitely should have paid more attention in Mr. Mayhew's drawing class because my sketch looked like anything but a dragon! Yuin and I tried to act the motions of rowing a boat and roaring like a dragon, but no, all looked on completely puzzled and I am sure wondered what the heck we foreigners were doing.

We walked off, with even smaller hopes of getting there. At this point we had grown rather angry. Once again we asked ourselves how they did not understand that we wanted to go to the famous festival that happens every year in the same place and attracts oodles of tourists. What else would we be doing there?! We found a store front that looked new, like something was about to open...perhaps a tourist center?! We walked in and asked if anyone spoke English and to our delight there was a woman willing to help.

You would think this would be the end to our crazy search for such a famous festival. No. I think we were in their for a half an hour and she too was convinced we wanted to go to the Lake. We would have believed them if they had understood what we were talking about- but no one seemed to have even heard of the Dragon Boat Festival. Finally the older Gentleman in the place explained that the festival was over. Could we really have missed it?! The girl then kept on insisting that she thought we needed to go down the block and get a map. Rather than just telling us she did not want to help us anymore she insistently suggested we get a map. Knowing what she was doing, it's called giving face, I was more persistent in asking more questions. We finally thought we explained we just wanted to go to the festival even if we had missed it- surely the ending ceremonies or post activities would still be worth this endless journey.

She shrugged her shoulders and implied no more. Yuin had a stroke of brilliance... to look at our train tickets. Why had the return been more expensive than getting there? We whipped out the tickets and realized the first tickets said Hangzhou(with something attached here) and the return simply said Hangzhou. We were in the wrong place. Doh! The girl looked at our tickets and shook her head explaining that we were not only in the wrong place, but very far as well. Yuin and I decided to take a taxi there no matter the cost. We were lost in China and desperate to feel safe again.

In the taxi we laughed at our misfortune and wild adventure. Once again, though exhausted, we had some hope of making it there. We now felt like we understood why no one knew what were talking about, we were in the wrong place. Why else would they not have immediately understood where we were trying to go?! We had no idea what to expect in terms of price and length of the taxi ride. To our surprise it was only 20 minutes away in the main part of the city. It was just the city center station.

Now we were really angry. All of the prior feelings of these people not understanding where we wanted to go set back in and stronger! We were angry at the train station ticket seller for sending us to the wrong station, upset with the front desk employees at each of the hotels for sending us all over the place, and angry with ourselves for not having the foresight to ask the hostel to write down DRAGON BOAT FESTIVAL in Chinese characters. But who knew it would prove to be this difficult?! Surely not us.

We found a hotel in the back side of the new station and to our delight the front desk had a mural in back of it of an ancient dragon boat festival. Easy...point and say we want to go there. We did just that and once again received looks of complete cluelessness. Here we go again. I can go on to explain the many actions we did, the words we pleaded for them to understand and the pictures we tried to draw, but once again it was of no use- they had no idea what we were talking about. We had another brilliant idea; we could use the internet. We used their overcharged services and tried to hunt down this festival; we were still determined to go. Unfortunately all we found that it indeed was the day of the festival and it indeed was in this city. I am not sure if that made us feel better or worse. I have never hated people more in my life than I did at that moment.

We went to the lake. With stupid hope and secret dreams we expected to find the festival at the lake. Instead, we found a lake. At this point we had traveled FIVE hours to get to a lake. We were staving, dehydrated and exhausted. My famous quote when traveling: "Crankiness is the first sign of dehydration!". You can imagine our moods. After we walked the long length of the lake and up the very pretty streets, which we were in no shape to appreciate yet, we tried to find a local spot to eat. We finally settled on Starbucks as our blood sugar level had dropped and no proper decisions could be made. A little rest, food and caffeine did the trick; we were not quite fully restored, but we were in much better shape to explore our where abouts.

After finding some brochures on the lake, it seemed like it offered plenty for us to do and worth the trip in the end. The surrounding area was the prettiest part of China I have seen. It was lined with designer shops and clean facilities, clearly a place for the rich tourists to relax and travel with class. We wandered around the lake and it really was a beautiful view. It had mountain backdrops with single pagoda's and temples popping out of the tree lined tops. We once again walked the length of the Lake trying to enjoy it to the fullest. This place also had the trolley for lazy tourists to adore the scenery. We talked about wishing they had peddle boats to rent as it would be nice to get a little exercise and fully enjoy all that the lake had to offer. No sooner than speaking these words, we found just that at the far end of the massive lake. We rented one for a half hour, put our life vests on, and off we went.

Another laugh.. they weren't peddle boats but motorized imitations. I could crawl faster than this thing went! For further laughs there was a roped off section as to where we were permitted to go on this thing- which was basically a small circle. We noticed that all the other boats contained couples enjoying the small area we were allowed in. What a bore and a waist! We laughed so hard. I think the laughter was not only about the boat but our sheer bad luck to the entire day... all of the events came flooding back in mind as we once again found ourselves in a ridiculous setting. We returned the boat within 15 minutes and the staff was completely in awe that we returned early, why on earth would we do that?!

At this point it was time to get back to the train station, the new one that is. Given our past luck we decided to leave enough time for more mishaps and it was a good thing we did... there is not a funny story here just that it took forever to get a taxi with having to cross many streets and chase after them. We found no humor in this, but finally found success. The taxi took us to the train station with relative ease but having to stop at one particular and telling traffic light. As we were stopped there I happened to look down the street and there it was... red balloons compiled together to make and arch, a river and massive crowds. It was the dragon boat festival one measly block from the new train station.

I apologize for how awful this sounds, but I hated all Chinese and China at this point. All we could do was laugh; that is all we could handle at this point. We made it back to Captain's and decided to end the night on a positive note. Completely exhausted and filled with many other feeling, we returned to our Canadian friend for a good meal and more laughs than you could possibly ever imagine!

I can't believe that we never made it to the Dragon Boat Festival and more over that we had been one block away from it. It was with out a doubt a once in a lifetime experience! Wade, you don't even know the truth in your words!