The Pleasures of Getting Lost

The finest adventures are the ones you make on your own.

Courtesy of the author

I’m standing in a rain-flooded gutter in Hangzhou, an artistically significant city a few hours from Shanghai. Behind me is a hotel that’s much too nice for me, but I was blessed with a hell of a deal for the Spring Festival and I went for it. There appears to be no sidewalk running in either direction and nothing of…