Hangzhou

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Two-hour bus ride from Suzhou to Hanzhou through land that looks as if it’s been flooded recently, but which in reality is rice-paddies with occasional farmers standing thigh deep in the water. Older buildings are soul-less grey boxes with prison windows. The newly-emerging architecture is colourful, with arched windows, red tile roofs and small corner-points as an echo of ancient style. Some have a short spire with three shiny steel balls rising in progressivley smaller size. Decoration, or lightning rod? They look like something from Edison- or Tesla-era electrical science.

Hanzhou, a city of about 7 million, is prosperous. The youth hostel is on West Lake, the city’s main attraction, and across the street are side-by-side Ferrari and Porsche dealerships. There are plenty of foreign cars, from Audi, Buick, Cadillac, Mercedes and Mistsubishi, to Peugeot, Toyota, VW and BMW. In India the cars were all scratched and dented, the result of bad driving. Here, they’re all in very good condition. There’s still odd behaviour on the roads, but so there is everywhere at times. Generally, the Chinese obey rules that I recognize.

West Lake is large for local standards, with blue hills rising in the distance on the other side. Boatmen patrol the edge, prowling for visitors who want a boat ride. I didn’t bother, figuring it would be too expensive for what you’d get.

Tea Museum
I rented a thrashed wreck of a single-gear bicycle too small for me and with almost no brakes left and rode it out into the countryside for a look at the hills and the China National Tea Museum. Had trouble orienting myself at first with a Mandarin-only map, but finally found the place. It contains mostly pictures with good explanations in English and old porcelain tea sets: cups, pots, saucers, some chipped and cracked, others intact.

It progresses logically through the history of tea from early methds of spiced-cake tea to the loose-leaf style we know today that was developed around 1200 CE. A few machines were on display and an explanation about how to boil water to best effect.

After the visit I was given different teas to taste, guided through it by a pleasant girl wearing a traditional tight-fitting silk dress. All of her movements were careful, precise and economical. Into tiny cups she poured tea steeped carefully for 30 or 40 seconds: oolong, green, one-leaf, pu-erh and jasmine. As she filled the teapot she splashed hot water all over it to warm it thoroughly. When ready, she transferred the tea to a glass pot so I could see it. No dark colours. Even the pu-erh was only whiskey-coloured. One-leaf tea is an herb and she gave me the leaf itself to taste…very bitter.

The museum is set in a garden of trees, plants and streams surrounded by fields of low, ball-shaped tea bushes. I went to a nearby tea house for Dragon Well tea, the region’s most famous export. It’s a green tea. The museum and grounds were serene and I sat for an hour enjoying my tea before climbing onto the bike again.

I pedalled up to Longjing Village, over the pass through hills densely covered in green forest and lost my way again on the other side. Coming down the hill, I had to brake with my feet, heating up the soles of my shoes in doing so as they skidded along the asphalt. Felt a little like Fred Flintstone. Reading a map in Mandarin takes time and patience and lots of eye movement from map to street sign and back. In the end I found my way and returned to West Lake and the hostel.

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Photos

West Lake
There are 36 lakes in China named West Lake, but this one is the most famous, celebrated for its beauty.

China National Tea Museum
Set in peaceful grounds amidst tea bushes.

Laughing Buddha
Bigger than life size laughing Buddha (the Chinese like this guy) made of brass or bronze perhaps, set on a pedestrian street in Hangzhou.