Hangzhou

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Day 15-16 (March 28-29)

The following day we took a flight to Hangzhou. The weather was still wet but we headed out anyway. First stop of course was lunch - noodle soup, dumplings and peach juice.

We waited for a boat to take us across the lake watching some squirrels play around a tree.

Reaching a small island in the middle of the lake we saw another of the currency sites. It was 3 lanterns set in the water - 3 moon mirror pools. There were some interesting legends involving theft of light and recapturing the light from the moon as well as another that involved a woman who was a snake who fell in love with a man and married only to have a local monk discover them and after several dramatic twists they became local landmarks.

The following day I went with our leader to do some research to the local wetlands. This parkland has become very popular as a famous Chinese movie maker used the site to set his annual movie in last year.

The crowds were huge and looked like it was going to be a two hour wait for the boat tour so we opted for the shorter man powered alternative. The wetlands were very picturesque and we shared the boat with a family of 3 (making it a bit cheaper). There were tea houses everywhere but mostly closed. I could imagine in summer that they would be packed.

We decided to walk to the exit via many winding pathways and exited near a renovated villa and gardens (Goa Villa). The accommodations were impressive but the gardens more so.

Each little turn revealed a different view of the garden and little lake. There were also some great stone pathways all with different designs that I have photographed thinking that one day I might re-use the designs myself!

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