Hangzhou
MeiZhi or Rose, my brother's colleague and interpreter in the company he worked for here in Hagnzhou, took the day of from work to take us to some of the places in and around the West Lake. She arrived a little past 8:30 a.m. here at the Hostel. Took her about 45 minutes by bus to get here.
We walked to the nearby causeway that runs south to north through the Lake where we took a pleasure boat to the 2 islets located within the Lake: Mid-Pavilion and the one near the "3 pools mirroring the moon." (Hangzhou's tourist sights or unique places have very poetic names like "Golden Bull emerging from the Lake", something like that.) Then we took the boat to the North pier near the Yue Fei (a famous here, General) Temple.
Before we went there we had lunch at Lou Wai Lou. The place was busy with activity, lots of locals and tourists (Chinese and a few foreigners) having lunch and trying out the delicacies: Dongpo Pork (soft, sweetish/salty pork with bun) and Beggar's Chicken (wrapped in lotus leaf, sealed in clay and steamed - result was very tender meat, bones falling off easily and very tasty). Rose treated us to this lunch (we think she got a local price because when we added up all the dishes we ordered it was about 50 yuan more than what she paid. Well, we also treated her to the admission fees as well as the boat fee.
After such a good lunch we walked to the nearby Yue Fei temple and tomb. Then we took a bus, K7 to get to Lingyin Temple and Scenic Area (about 20 minutes northwest). The latter had lots of stone carvings of different Buddhas like Milefu all around this huge rock formation that is west of the main Temple. We didn't go inside the Temple as it required us to pay an entrance fee. We were simply happy with the surrounding sites which were more interesting.
Right outside the Lingyin Temple the bus terminal was located. Taking the bus here in Hangzhou is much easier than in Beijing or the other cities, well at least these buses that go around the tourist areas (they have english translations to the stops). This was where we said our goodbyes to Rose, who had to go to Zheijiang University for here 2nd day of examinations as a translator - (more written rather than oral).
It was great to have Rose around today. She helped us understand what was being said. It also was a good day for her to practice her English (which she isn't able to do in the new company she works for). She was so surprised that there were a number of people hawking around us. It has never happened to her before so now she has experienced what tourists go through. A lot of the people hawking were simply encouraging us to visit the Longjing Tea Plantation, most likely to sell not the real longjing tea. Well, she had a good experience I think and will always remember our day together.
Peter and I took the K7 bus back into town and stopped near Yan'an Road to go to Carrefour. From there we crossed to get to the Lake and had our dinner at Starbuck's (very nice location and good A/C). Then we walked back to the Hostel.
The whole day it was very steamy and we were sweating on our walks. Thank goodness we didn't get heat stroke after being out in the heat. Overall, it was such a pleasant and interesting day.
Tomorrow we have another full day to ourselves. We hope to check out more of the area around the Lake.
MeiZhi or Rose, my brother's colleague and interpreter in the company he worked for here in Hagnzhou, took the day of from work to take us to some of the places in and around the West Lake. She arrived a little past 8:30 a.m. here at the Hostel. Took her about 45 minutes by bus to get here.
We walked to the nearby causeway that runs south to north through the Lake where we took a pleasure boat to the 2 islets located within the Lake: Mid-Pavilion and the one near the "3 pools mirroring the moon." (Hangzhou's tourist sights or unique places have very poetic names like "Golden Bull emerging from the Lake", something like that.) Then we took the boat to the North pier near the Yue Fei (a famous here, General) Temple.
Before we went there we had lunch at Lou Wai Lou. The place was busy with activity, lots of locals and tourists (Chinese and a few foreigners) having lunch and trying out the delicacies: Dongpo Pork (soft, sweetish/salty pork with bun) and Beggar's Chicken (wrapped in lotus leaf, sealed in clay and steamed - result was very tender meat, bones falling off easily and very tasty). Rose treated us to this lunch (we think she got a local price because when we added up all the dishes we ordered it was about 50 yuan more than what she paid. Well, we also treated her to the admission fees as well as the boat fee.
After such a good lunch we walked to the nearby Yue Fei temple and tomb. Then we took a bus, K7 to get to Lingyin Temple and Scenic Area (about 20 minutes northwest). The latter had lots of stone carvings of different Buddhas like Milefu all around this huge rock formation that is west of the main Temple. We didn't go inside the Temple as it required us to pay an entrance fee. We were simply happy with the surrounding sites which were more interesting.
Right outside the Lingyin Temple the bus terminal was located. Taking the bus here in Hangzhou is much easier than in Beijing or the other cities, well at least these buses that go around the tourist areas (they have english translations to the stops). This was where we said our goodbyes to Rose, who had to go to Zheijiang University for here 2nd day of examinations as a translator - (more written rather than oral).
It was great to have Rose around today. She helped us understand what was being said. It also was a good day for her to practice her English (which she isn't able to do in the new company she works for). She was so surprised that there were a number of people hawking around us. It has never happened to her before so now she has experienced what tourists go through. A lot of the people hawking were simply encouraging us to visit the Longjing Tea Plantation, most likely to sell not the real longjing tea. Well, she had a good experience I think and will always remember our day together.
Peter and I took the K7 bus back into town and stopped near Yan'an Road to go to Carrefour. From there we crossed to get to the Lake and had our dinner at Starbuck's (very nice location and good A/C). Then we walked back to the Hostel.
The whole day it was very steamy and we were sweating on our walks. Thank goodness we didn't get heat stroke after being out in the heat. Overall, it was such a pleasant and interesting day.
Tomorrow we have another full day to ourselves. We hope to check out more of the area around the Lake.
posted by Mimi | 2:03 AM
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