Lost in the Streets of Hangzhou

Okay, so today is the first day where I really got lost in Hangzhou, but it wasn't too bad of an experience.

I went out to eat noodles with my friends for dinner, and after that we went to one of their houses. I ended up leaving the house at 9 PM and went out to take the bus. Before I went to my bus stop my friend's host brother told me where my bus stop was, so I went there. There were absolutely NONE of the buses that I was supposed to go on, so I went to the other side of the street. I also usually take the 118 bus, but it stops running at 9PM. I saw the K194 bus on the other side of the street (which is another bus I can take to return home), so I went to the other side and took that bus. I had about 20 stops until it would get to my house, but for some reason the bus didn't go in that direction. It went past West Lake and then went on this very, very long bridge to another side of Hangzhou I guess. I still wasn't scared at that point because I thought that they would eventually get to my stop. They didn't. The bus stopped at its last stop and everyone in the bus left. I just sat there dumbfounded because I didnt know what happened. I asked someone why everyone was getting off and they said that the bus is done for the day and everyone has to get off. I got off the bus to a totally foreign area. Awesome! It was 9:40 and I didn't know where I was. I went back to the same man I asked earlier about the bus to help me find my way back home. He agreed and helped me find a taxi to get back home. I was scared at first because I didn't want to ride the taxi alone, but what else could I do at that moment? The man walked me over to a larger street and called a taxi over. He also helped tell the taxi where I was headed to, and I gave the taxi driver my address. The taxi driver was very nice, and also very talkative. I was surprised at my Chinese. I could understand about 70% of what the driver was telling me(also sometimes with the help of the Pleco app of course) and I knew most of the time how to respond back. I think my conversation skills are really improving! I was talking with him the whole ride back home, which was about half an hour. I told him about why I'm in China and asked him about Hangzhou. He's from Sichuan Province and told me things about him. I finally got home at about 10:15 PM and told my family what happened. Although it was scary at first, it was a nice experience and I'm glad I got back home! I have to thank that man from the bus for helping me, and I especially have to thank the one who actually got me home safe and sound.

I'm so excited for tomorrow!!!!! I'm going to this HUGE shopping area. There are buildings for absolutely everything. There's a building for clothes, bags, shoes, sock, computers, stationaries, and food; each building is also very large. It's a place where you can bargain, so I can't wait for that either. It will be a day dedicated to shopping. ;)