Hangzhou

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27th Oct: I arrived in Hangzhou in the afternoon and took the subway to my hostel. The hostel is in a great location, just off the major shopping street. At the junction leading to my hostel, there was a stall selling stinky tofu. Oh boy, it stank so bad. It reminded me of being in Suzhou and having the smell cling to my clothes. I spent a while wandering around Hefang Street. It is old school Chinese and filled with shops and little stalls in the middle of the street. There were lots of things to buy. It was a shopper's paradise. I liked the old buildings. It is a really pretty area, but there were about a million people about as Hangzhou is a very popular place with domestic tourists. I also took a wander away from the tourist drag and into some of the other streets. I found a cheap coffee stall and had a coffee, while wandering about. I also found a Chinese fast food place at the end of Hefang Road and got a Kung Pao Chicken meal there. It was pretty decent and filling. While the street is pretty in the day time, it looks even

better at night when everything is lit up. I spent some more time wandering around, I saw some kind of small tower that was all lit up and could see other buildings lit up on higher ground, which I really wanted to find later. But I had done enough for today, so headed back to the hostel to unwind.

28th Oct: The hostel bed was so amazing comfortable, much more comfortable than my bed at home, and so warm, that I didn't want to leave. I slept until late and it was after eleven by the time I dragged myself out of bed. The hostel had a cafe attached to it, so I headed there for some breakfast. They did Western breakfasts, so I had to treat myself. It was pretty decent and made a nice change from eating Chinese food. I decided that I would head down to West Lake, so took a walk along Hefang Street stopping to look at the Copper House and the beautiful stuff they had on display there. I also passed Wushan Square and kept walking. It took about twenty minutes to get there. The entrance is quite pretty,lots of tall trees with long drooping, sweeping branches. I wandered around the gardens first. It was very pretty although the weather was a little cool. It also started to rain, but not too heavily. I came across a temple so went in there for a look around. It was pretty and I enjoyed exploring the different rooms.

From the temple I headed down to the lake. West Lake is massive. The water looked pretty choppy, I don't know if it was because the weather was bad or if it is always like that. The view was nice, but not amazing. I don't know if the weather was dampening my views. I walked alongside the lake, heading back in the direction I had come from. I could see a pagoda and I decided that that would be my destination. My umbrella became a victim to the wind as it got a good battering and kept blowing inside out. There were a few benches to stop and take a rest on, but the weather put me off. I kept walking, going over a small bridge. I followed the edge of the lake and came to Long Bridge. That was pretty. Its not like a traditional bridge, that rises above the water or ground, this one was at water level and you had to be careful walking across it as the water was lapping over it.

I walked for another couple of kilometres and I finally reached the pagoda. Lifeng pagoda is very old, over 1,000 years old. I enjoyed looking around it. There is an underground section, which contains the original structure. I think something happened to it, so it had to be rebuilt. Then I headed up to the higher floors. You can take the lift or the stairs. Since the queue for the lift was a mile long, I opted for the stairs. The different floors have some exhibits on display and I saw some gorgeous wooden sculptures depicting a story which I presume is tied to Buddhism. The views from the top were pretty, although marred by the haze. I could see the river and a cute temple, which might have been nice to explore. From the pagoda, I headed back along the path by the lake and then into the main street leading back to my hostel. I decided to take a rest for a while as I had done quite a bit of walking.

Hefang Street and all the surrounding alleys look great at night, so I spent a while wandering around, taking in what I saw. I loved the old-fashionedness of it. It makes a nice change from the modern China that I live in. There are loads of places selling street food and I got a snack at one of the stalls. It was okay, nothing to write home about. For dinner, I headed back to the same Chinese fast food place I had been to the night before. I ordered the Sweet and Sour Pork this time and it was pretty tasty. The restaurant is situated right by Wushan, which I had seen all lit up the night before and thought it looked pretty. I decided to take a walk up the mountain (it's really just a hill) to work off some of my dinner. The walk wasn't too bad and I was only out of breath a little bit. I miss all the hiking I used to do, I am so unfit now, not that I was super fit before. I headed to the pagoda and paid the entrance fee. I entered the grounds to the pagoda and had a little walk about there. There wasn't too much to see. I headed into the pagoda and looked around the museum part on the ground floor. There was a display of a mocked up city in the past which I took to be Hangzhou and there were some statue of Who I presume to be famous people from olden times, but I had no idea who they were. I took the stairs up the pagoda and took a look around at each level. To be honest, it was a bit lacking. The other floors didn't really have anything to see or do on them. So I headed outside to take in the view. That was pretty, I could see the pagoda and the surrounding buildings lit up and also the lights of Hangzhou below. I did feel a bit awkward as I was walking around the outside of one of the higher level as there is a restaurant up there and there was a family in one of the private dining rooms, they probably didn't expect to see me wandering around outside. The pagoda was nice, but not really worth the entry fee. I headed back down the mountain and back to the hostel.

29th Oct: I got up a bit earlier than I did the day before. I decided to get breakfast at the hostel again as although it was a bit expensive, it was tasty and I probably wouldn't have the opportunity to have a Western style breakfast for another few month. After my breakfast, I checked out and left my bag in storage at reception. I was catching the train in the late afternoon, so I didn't have too long to explore. I decided to stay close to home, so to speak, and I headed back to West Lake. Since yesterday I had walked mainly to the left from the entrance, I headed right this time. I kept walking past the area I had looked around the day before and I must have clocked up quite a few kilometres. It seemed even busier on this side. There were some bridges over the water and there was a golden cow statue in the lake, it was a bit weird as the cow was submerged and looked like it was swimming.

I came to an area, which was filled with little cafes and shops. I probably shouldn't have been surprised to find a Costa and a Starbucks there. I decided to go to Costa and ordered a small Americano, which was on the menu. I was told that I couldn't have a small one and had to have a medium one. Why if something is on the menu, can you not order it? I totally felt like it was a moneymaking ploy by Costa to get a few more kuai out of you, by forcing you to get a bigger size. Needless to say, the lost my custom and Starbucks gained it. I chilled out with a coffee and did some reading for pleasure. It made a nice change as most of my reading is usually work related. I kept walking around the lake. I watched the boats sailing across it. The water looked a bit choppy and I don't think I would have liked to have been in one of the smaller boats. The big ones would have probably been okay though. The gold roofs of the boats really stood out against the grey hazy sky and water. There was a posh hotel right by the edge of the lake. I bet it cost a fortune to stay there. I bet it would be a lovely place to stay, but the millions of tourists milling around outside would totally put me off. I also saw a small pagoda that was next to a lot of lotus plants. There weer plenty of people taking selfies in there. The waves were lapping over the path to the pagoda, so I didn't venture into it, just took some photos of it with lotuses in foreground.

From West Lake, I decided to see what else was about as the area looked quite built up. There were quite a few shopping malls and I had a look around one or two of those. I found a sushi train in the basement of one of them and decided that I should have a late lunch there as my opportunities to visit a kaiten sushi place are very limited. The sushi was good, but it made me long for my up coming trip to Japan where I would be able to eat even more sushi. Since time was pressing on, after lunch I headed back to the hostel via West Lake. While Hangzhou and West Lake are pretty, I don't think that they are that spectacular. Maybe it was the pollution fogging up the sky, but I think the haze did spoil it a bit. The mountains did look mysterious, but a lot of my pictures just looked hazy, unfocused and dirty. Even though I live really close to Hangzhou, I won't be in a rush to return.

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