China - Hangzhou

We recently had the opportunity to spend 4 days down in Hangzhou because the school was shut down for Gao Kao. This is the Chinese University entrance exam, 9 million competing for 7 million places!

Larger photos and more can be seen here.

The fast train from Nanjing to Hangzhou made short work of the trip at a top speed of 303 km/hr.

Photo courtesy of NY Times.

The Huachen Hotel proved to be good choice in all respects. Only a 10 minute walk to the West Lake and a lot cheaper than the Hyatt on the lakefront. The breakfast at the Huachen has a good international selection too.

The West Lake is a real gem with several kilometres of parks and restaurants. The main feature is the fountain. We first saw it playing at 4.30 pm the day we arrived, then again at 7.00 pm as dusk was falling, then spectacularly at 8.00pm the next night.



The fountain at night



The finale

The West Lake

Most of the photos here shows signs of the pollution affecting China. The sky is a constant shade of light grey. Hence all the photos parts are blown out, however despite this, Hangzhou is really worth a visit if you come this way.



The pagoda on the lake

King Qian's Temple

Inside the temple

Inside temple grounds



Inside temple grounds

Marble guardians in the temple grounds



Inside temple grounds

Gate way next to the entrance to the temple

One of the feature holes, called a "moon gate" in the wall along the lake.



Moon gate, different photographer's perspective



Bridge at Westlake.



Tourist paddle boat

Pagoda on the other side of the lake

Hefang Street is the centre of the ancient  city .This is the central tourist attraction as the people still live and work on the streets. This is famous for its traditional Chinese pharmacies which are still in operation. You can buy a huge selection of souvenirs, even some good quality ones too. 

A few photos below here show what there is here.

The "guardian" of Hefang Street.



Food stall, making sweet cakes



You like tea? Come in and try, we have lots for you to choose from.



Inside a traditional Chinese medicine dispensary

This lady was collecting bags of empty plastic drink bottles. Unfortunately the shot is not composed very well as there were lots of people about and I had to quickly take the shot before she got up and dragged her booty away. Lots of people scavenge in China to get a few extra yuan for their next bowl of rice.

Hefang Street



Hefang Street shop



The drum tower and gate in the city wall.



The huge drum



The drum tower with bronze guards "on duty".

The pagoda across the street from the Drum Tower.

Xixi Wetlands Park

A half hour taxi ride from Hangzhou finds one at the wetlands park. A little disappointing as we only saw around 12 birds but when one considers the air pollution its no wonder there are not more to see, although I might be wrong and it was the wrong time of the year.




Battery boat.

 A fleet of eco-friendly boats silently whisk you around the wetlands stopping on the way to explore the various villages and walking tracks. (The electricity to charge the batteries is mostly likely to have been generated in coal fired stations which contribute significantly to the degraded air quality. "You can't have your cake and .... !")

A distant bridge showing what is is like on fine day!

These old boats are made from cement



The dragon boat course is lined with flags.



XiXi Wetlands village



I am not sure what you would do with just a big pot of water and a fire.
These were everywhere.

The tea maker

This is the traditional way of making green tea. A heated bowl dries out the leaves as they are swirled around by hand. In ancient times, tea would have been made in a similar way using a pottery bowl and fire underneath, low tech but effective. This method of making green tea is widely used in China and is in complete contrast of how black tea is made in India.

More photos and can be seen here.