Hangzhou
We walked to the nearby Town God's Temple, about a mile away through the Nanshan Lu and cutting through the Holiday Wuyang Hotel to get to the Hangzhou Finance and Taxation Museum. The walk was not that far but because it was hot it felt like we were walking for miles. Armed with our hats and an umbrella we walked along the sidewalks, where it's most shady - fortunately, Hangzhou city has made most of its roads lined with trees.
Walking up to the Wu Hill where the Town God's Temple (Chenghuang Pagoda) sits didn't take that long. We paid a 30 yuan each to get up there. The view from the 5th floor (took the lift up) was great, the breeze very refreshing. We stayed there to cool off then took the stairs down each floor and went around for more views of the City, the Lake and the Qiantang River.
Hangzhou is a huge city bordered on the East side by the Qiantang River, the rolling mountains on the West and North, and both the Lake and the City proper right in the middle. This is also where the Grand Canal ends or begins, connecting with Beijing in the North. China prides itself with beautiful Hangzhou, claimed by Marco Polo to be the most beautiful city. We believe that this city is so far the best place we have visited next to Xi'an (which is a more ancient city).
~~~
Commentary:
Our thoughts or perceptions of China were proven to be wrong. We somewhat thought that the China today was still like the China being shown in movies, with its hutongs, cramped houses, vendors all over, rickshaws along with the cars. All the cities we have visited on this trip are very modern and very well developed. All of them start to meld and look alike with their high-rises, modern cars/vehicles, high-tech stuff we do not have in the US.
What impressed us most is their use of electric bikes and some vehicles around the cities. They are so efficient and quiet. And their cabs/some cars use some sort of gas that do not pollute the air (it's really the coal mines that contribute to the pollution all over the country).
Also their airports are incredibly civilised - no need to remove shoes or dump your bottled water. We were treated better here than in the US.
As Peter said, it seems that the American ideals have spread to the rest of the world while it has almost but disappeared in the US. People here are living exactly how Americans used to live in its hey-day.
We walked to the nearby Town God's Temple, about a mile away through the Nanshan Lu and cutting through the Holiday Wuyang Hotel to get to the Hangzhou Finance and Taxation Museum. The walk was not that far but because it was hot it felt like we were walking for miles. Armed with our hats and an umbrella we walked along the sidewalks, where it's most shady - fortunately, Hangzhou city has made most of its roads lined with trees.
Walking up to the Wu Hill where the Town God's Temple (Chenghuang Pagoda) sits didn't take that long. We paid a 30 yuan each to get up there. The view from the 5th floor (took the lift up) was great, the breeze very refreshing. We stayed there to cool off then took the stairs down each floor and went around for more views of the City, the Lake and the Qiantang River.
Hangzhou is a huge city bordered on the East side by the Qiantang River, the rolling mountains on the West and North, and both the Lake and the City proper right in the middle. This is also where the Grand Canal ends or begins, connecting with Beijing in the North. China prides itself with beautiful Hangzhou, claimed by Marco Polo to be the most beautiful city. We believe that this city is so far the best place we have visited next to Xi'an (which is a more ancient city).
~~~
Commentary:
Our thoughts or perceptions of China were proven to be wrong. We somewhat thought that the China today was still like the China being shown in movies, with its hutongs, cramped houses, vendors all over, rickshaws along with the cars. All the cities we have visited on this trip are very modern and very well developed. All of them start to meld and look alike with their high-rises, modern cars/vehicles, high-tech stuff we do not have in the US.
What impressed us most is their use of electric bikes and some vehicles around the cities. They are so efficient and quiet. And their cabs/some cars use some sort of gas that do not pollute the air (it's really the coal mines that contribute to the pollution all over the country).
Also their airports are incredibly civilised - no need to remove shoes or dump your bottled water. We were treated better here than in the US.
As Peter said, it seems that the American ideals have spread to the rest of the world while it has almost but disappeared in the US. People here are living exactly how Americans used to live in its hey-day.
posted by Mimi | 9:09 PM
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