http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Hangzhou-/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , China , Hangzhou en-us Wed, 06 Jan 2010 13:38:32 +0000 Wed, 06 Jan 2010 13:38:32 +0000 I have wanted to visit Hangzhou since we first went to China 12.5 years ago Today we finally went and it was worth all of the effort. The West Lake of Hangzhou was the best place I have visited in the past 2 weeks There are beautiful mountains surrounding three sides of the lake while a modern city of skyscapers lines the other side of the lake. It sort of reminded me of Seattle We hired a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Hangzhou-/blog-463944.html In this cold winterwearing a pair of ugg boots on your feet is a comfortable things in the worldso itrsquos worth of you to have one pairnow I would like to introduce something related with ugg boots. ugg boots are traditionally made from sheepskin. The wool is tanned into the leather and the upper part of the boot is assembled with the fleece on the inside. The soles of ugg boots are m http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Hangzhou-/blog-456850.html The residence of Hu Xueyan in Hangzhou is an amazing place that is well preserved and seemingly well cared for as well. It was built around 1872 and is made of more stone than wood unlike the palaces or mansions we saw in Beijing. After we visited we found out that much of it was restored in 1999. Hu Xueyan was a businessman in banking military goods and finally herbal medicine. He opened a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Hangzhou-/blog-449896.html Ling Yin Temple was constructed in 326 AD and its Grand Hall of the Great Sage contains a 110ft buddha carved in 1956. Ling Yin has a number of buddha's carved in the hill side as well. Without the megaphones its a pretty and peaceful spot. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Hangzhou-/blog-449887.html After breakfast we met and we all jumped into three of the finest vessels Hangzhou's West Lake has to provide and we went for a ride around Lesser Yingzhou Isle and back. Quite a workout for the rowers. The sky was clearer today and it was a pleasant ride. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Hangzhou-/blog-449677.html Hefang street is full of tourist shops and places to eat. Didi used to shop here with her Grandmother when she was little. We met Didi's family here for our first dinner together. Fourteen of us from Guilin Shanghai Santa Monica Irvine and the Chicago area showed up... http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Hangzhou-/blog-449668.html After another overnight train ride on a much nicer train we arrived in Hangzhou at 8AM local time Friday. We checked in cleaned up and headed out for a bit of walking. Unfortunately it's hotter than normal here and most of us had long sleeves so we suffered a bit across the Su Causeway with its 6 bridges on the way to the pagoda. And we've found that it's a tourist season so Hangzhou is bus http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Hangzhou-/blog-449612.html Our Weekend AwayThis weekend we travelled 1.5 hours out of Shanghai by train to the city of Hangzhou pronounced HangJo much to my parentsrsquo amusement.Hangzhou is the capital of the Zhejiang province and is renowned for its historic relics and natural beauty. It is often known as one of the most beautiful cities in China. It has been ranked as one of the ten most scenic cities in China. On http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Hangzhou-/blog-449071.html Hi And Welcome BackI'm still writing things down from time to time. Right now I'm enjoying the view of my empty coffee mug at Pacific Coffee Company The Perfect Cup in the basement of Hong Kong's citi tower. It's getting cold and I think from tomorrow I will in true German fashion start wearing socks with my Birkenstocks. Outside it's only 29 degrees so that doesn't really help either. I see http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Hangzhou-/blog-445116.html Unser Trip durch China Tourstrecke BeijingNanjingSuzhouHangzhouShanghaiBeijing Kurze Zusammenfassung ber die ReiseDa in der Woche vom 1. Oktober bis zum 8. Oktober hier in China National Holiday ist und wir somit frei hatten beschlossen wir eine kleine gemeinsame Reise zu unternehmen um das Chinaland zu erkunden. Das Problem war nur We're in China was soviel bedeutet wie das die Dinge http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Hangzhou-/blog-443502.html Yellow Mountain Hangzhou and beyond pics only http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Hangzhou-/blog-441421.html Here are some photos http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Hangzhou-/blog-435168.html After being in Shanghai for about two days I head to my destination for at least the next year Hangzhou. Although I had been in China for the past two summers I have actually never been to Hangzhou. Hangzhou is located southwest of Shanghai by about an 80 minute train ride if you catch the speed train. The city is best known for its lake called Xihu or West Lake because the city was origi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Hangzhou-/blog-435102.html This is a blog to update my friends and family about my year in China. A little background about myself to readers who just happen to find this blog. I am from America San Francisco specifically and just graduated law school. I was lucky enough to have an opportunity to take a year off before starting my job so I decided to go to Hangzhou China to study chinese for a year. Although I have s http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Hangzhou-/blog-432893.html So we thought that the plan was to fly from Hangzhou to Chengdu hug some pandas see some temples eat some spicy food and then go to Tibet the next day. Instead the airport in Chengdu had an unexplained power outage which meant our flight could not take off. Here's the rundown830 am leave hotel in Hangzhou for the airport10 am board the plane in Hanghzou1115am deboard the plane in http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Hangzhou-/blog-428803.html I wrote the words Eclipse of the Sun on the whiteboard.Can anyone tell me what the word 'eclipse' meansSir Sir It's when the Moon eats the SunI'm back in Indonesia teaching English after a brief holiday in China. There were two highlights of my trip to Hangzhou seeing my brother David and witnessing the longest total eclipse of the century. It was night time in the middle of the day http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Hangzhou-/blog-428392.html West Lake is the best lake...Then we took a little excursion out to the canal town of Wuzhen a hamlet along the Grand Canal that was very prosperous during the Ming and Qing dynasties and is now sort of romantically decrepit. 2 parts of the town underwent a serious preservation effort a few years ago and they now charge tourists 100RMB per person per partoftown to go see it. But we thought http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Hangzhou-/blog-426834.html Well the time has finally come to say goodbye to Hangzhou our home for the last 7 months. The girls are ready for home especially since their friends here have been gone since school let out. Kevin has mixed feelings but I am very upset that our stay here is ending. Sure I miss everything about home but my time here has been so much more than I was expecting. When we arrived I was not confident http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Hangzhou-/blog-423823.html Never before have I relied so heavily on sign language as the day I had to get myself between two Chinese cities by bus and train without knowing a word of Mandarin. Actually that's a lie I know how to say who farted in Chinese thanks to Carl Barron. For those interested it's Fom paaaah. That said at no point today did I need to interrogate anybody for alleged crimes of flatulence. We la http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Hangzhou-/blog-422878.html Happy Birthday MeganWell on July 17th Megan turned the grand old age of 12. We tease her by saying that she is definitely a member of the preteen club which she thinks is really cool. I think most of the time she actually thinks she is already in her teensThe weather was ridiculously hot so Megan didn't want to go out to do much during the day. We had some things planned for the following http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Hangzhou-/blog-422325.html