On the last day of our 2019 China visit, we had an extra day which we didn't have anything planned for in advance. This was deliberate: on every single trip we ever made we ended up learning about some fascinating places along the way, but in Hangzhou, this somehow didn't happen. Plus is was raining, the whole day, so we decided to visit somee museums.
Luckily our accommodation was close to a few museums, and so we decided to walk. That walk suddenly brought a tiny, leftover "village" in the middle of Hangzhou to us: Xiaohe Street Historic Block.
It's lovely, with slightly impossible places, like the coffee "house" - Lareina's - we went into: imagine a small house, where the ground level gets converted into a tea/coffee place, but it still feels like actually walking into someone's home. We were also greeted by an unforgettable little dog, who genuinely didn't want to let go of the new toy it found: the strap of my backpack. Add some in some stereotypical countryside American music, the rain, and you get something unrepeatable.
(Oh, by the way: this entry was written by Peter Molnar, and originally posted on petermolnar dot net.)
