As some of you know, I’ve wanted to come to Hangzhou since I’ve decided to come to China. Explanation? Okay. A couple of years ago, my history professor was telling a story of how he was just standing in Hangzhou one day and just out of nowhere, a couple of ghosts just floated by going about their merry way. So, I too wanted that experience.
Unfortunately, that’s a no go for this particular trip. But as I keep on telling myself, China and I have some unfinished business. So I will definitely be back and much more ready to just learn and explore.
Hangzhou deserves a brief day-by-day description, because that is how much I enjoyed this city. FAVORITE of the four we went to.
Day 1: Heather and I took the high speed train from Shanghai to Hangzhou. It was one hour of pure classiness. The seats were really nice, everything was high tech, and since I was one of the last people leaving, I saw them beginning to flip the seats around for the return trip to Shanghai. They just swiveled around! Too cool. I wasn’t as enthused as I could have been, but looking back, it was neat. Getting to the hostel was relatively easy, and we just ended up exploring the part of the neighborhood our hostel is in. It was a fun area. Definitely for tourists but that just means stuff to see nearby. =) I was very good about not buying souvenirs up until that point too. Dang it, Hangzhou! I knew you would get me.
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| This picture deserves to be a little larger. In one of streets near our hostel. |
Oh! And we got our train tickets to Yichang for our Yangtze Cruise. Which was an experience. Here is what I used.
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| Turn your head a little bit and this is what I used. Characters and some hand gestures with little Chinese. Good times. |
Day 2: Museum Day. A little bit of a bust. Lol And by a little bit, I mean a lot. First, we went to the Silk Museum, which is currently under renovation. So we saw one exhibit. Yep. That one exhibit was pretty cool though! It was on looms. So HUGE. The second museum we went to was the National Tea Museum. Whose main exhibit is closed on Mondays. So we walked amongst the field of tea leaves and saw a little bit of Hangzhou. We ended with some more exploration and some good street food.
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| See the two ladies working on the loom?! HUGE. |
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| Tea leaves! |
Day 3: The First Wandering Day. So while my friend Heather decided to be productive and work on her thesis I was left to wander Hangzhou on my own. So, I decided to go to Lingyin Temple, one of the biggest and oldest Buddhist temples in China. Yeah, yeah, yeah…I’ve said that I’ve had my fill of temples, but I can’t help but fit one last one in. And it was worth it. Lingyin Temple, also known as the Temple of Soul’s Retreat, is located in the area also where you can find Feilaifeng, a place known as the Peak Flown From Afar. Rock carvings and a cool temple. You can’t beat it. A highlight. I would like to thank the best café owners in Chengdu for that suggestion.
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| Rock carvings all along the cliffs. |
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| The most famous of the carvings, the Laughing Buddha. |
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| Lots and lots of incense going up here. |
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| But this was perhaps my favorite. |
Getting there was kind of interesting too. I was waiting for one of the tourists buses when a lady asked me where I was going. She was very nice and showed me which bus to take and which stop, which I already knew, but don’t have to vocabulary or the rudeness to tell her otherwise. So she was great. I knew that I had to pay 3 CNY, but the bus’s tour guide told me to pay a lady sitting down 2 and the bus 1. Which I proceeded to do. And the lady I gave 2 CNY left the next stop. And they didn’t collect that way from anybody else either. Shady. Interesting bus system in Hangzhou.
Day 4: The Second Wandering Day. This was the day that we left Hangzhou, but our train didn’t leave until ten that night, so I just ended up walking around Hangzhou more. And proceeded to walk around a big portion of West Lake. It was pretty cool. It was 3 ½ hours of gorgeous scenery and people watching. And as I walked along, it became less about West Lake and a little more of just enjoying China for a few hours more. Misty mountains, beautiful scenery, interesting people. It’s the Chinese experience. =)
So our Hangzhou portion is done. We just spend 17 hours on the train and proceeded to our hotel where I’m pretty sure our cab driver took us the extra long way and an interesting FAILED check in on my part since they speak no English here at this hotel. At least we got our room. COLLAPSE onto bed. Now, we are sitting waiting for our epic cruise experience to begin later tonight and inching our way back to Chengdu, and for me, eventually back home.
I’ll update you in a few days when I’m on my way home. See ya!
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