Hangzhou

Way back in April...you know, when I used to post things on this blog...and when I used to live in China, the family and I took a day trip down to Hangzhou. There have been many people that have told us about how great Hangzhou is and so for our last hoorah in China, we decided to go to Hangzhou.

Since it was a day trip, it was going to be a quick trip to see just a couple of sites. The traffic was smooth getting there, until we got into Hangzhou...where, surprisingly, the traffic was worse then what we got in Shanghai. Believe me, I was extremely salty as we were heading to our first sight…and I thought to myself that this had better be worth it for all this traffic. We were on our way to the LingYin Temple and the Fei Lai Feng Peak to see the temple and buddha statues that have been carved into the side of the peak and it was definitely worth sitting in traffic. Along the peak they have stairs that one is able to climb to see the statues carved all throughout and, while I've seen my fill of buddha statues in China, these were the coolest ones knowing how long they have been here and how, when they were carved, there were no stairs for the carves to climb…Pretty Amazing. The temple was nothing too special, but this is definitely a place to go to see…even if there is a bunch of traffic while you are trying to get there.

After our first stop we headed to the famous restaurant in Hangzhou, Lou Wai Lou (Pavilion Beyond Pavilion). It is famous for the Hangzhou food of Beggars Chicken (chicken with spices, slow cooked in a clay mold), and sweet pork along with some of their other famous dishes. This was not the best Chinese restaurant that we have had during our time here, but the food was definitely worth trying, especially because many of the dishes are hard to find at places outside of Hanghzou.

After lunch we headed out and walked along the most famous sight of Hangzhou, the West Lake. It was a great day to walk around the lake and, for a lake, this is definitely a cool place to see. It is spring time, so seeing the greens around the lake coupled with the pagoda and pavilions that line the lake is a really cool sight. We got a boat for about $10USD to take us out for a quick tour around the lake. Best decision we made all day was taking this boat. Basically you have one guy that rows you around the lake and it was really relaxing plus it gave you a better view of things around the lake.

All in all, Hangzhou was a great day trip and a fun trip to end our time in China.