Hangzhou and the West Lake

We arrived in Hangzhou train station after a delay of about 1 hour (looks like the Chinese still have a bit of catching up compared to the Japanese when it comes to punctuality). We then jumped on the metro and made our way to our hotel. What struck us about Hangzhou was what a clean, modern and at least seemingly well-functioning city it was. Something one would expect in Shanghai, but perhaps not in provincial cities... (although Hangzhou, with a population of about 9 million, isn't exactly a village either...)

After checking in, we made our way to the main sight of Hangzhou, the Western Lake. You have probably seen paintings at least inspired by it - this often mist-shrouded lake, with its pavillions, islands and temples is one of the most famous and often-painted landscapes in Japan. The view from the town itself is not that spectacular, actually - one really needs to get out on the lake, which we thankfully did.

We decided to join one of those tacky guided boat tours I normally quite dislike, but this one was definitely worth doing. The views from the boat makes the lake come into its own right. We had a 1-hour stop on one of the most scenic spots on the lake, "Three Ponds Mirroring the Moon" (it is one of the top 10 scenic spots on the lake selected by Emperor Qianlong). It's basically a small island, with three pools in the middle, with walkways that join at a central islet.

Emperor Qianlong was right - the place is stunningly picturesque - a real photographer's dream spot. Just a real pity the place is overrun by tourists (and when I mean overrun, I mean there are basically human traffic jams on all the footpaths - something one just has to accept in China unfortunately). The views both from the island towards the lake are great (especially since the sun was out), but the real attraction is the collection of pools with the pagodas/pavillions built next to the pools. It's pretty obvious why Chinese painters have been drawn to this places for centuries! (we met a few, actually).

Our tour then took us to the tomb of Yue Fei. Yue Fei was a general during the Song dynasty, who heroically fought of various invaders. It's worth noting that Hangzhou was actually the capital of China for a while (from 1132 to 1276) - the capital was moved here since nothern China was occupied by the Jurchens. This was when the city became a favourite for Chinese artists, who quite rightly found the setting quite remarkable.

It was getting dark, so we decided to walk back to the city (well, we didn't exactly decide, we missed the last boat, so didn't have much of a choice...). It was quite a nice walk, with some of the buildings along the lakeshore getting lit up.

For dinner, we decided to follow our guidebook's recommendation, and went to a place called Grandma's Restaurant. It doesn't sound very Chinese, and it's a huge restaurant serving a wide variety of modern cuisine (so doesn't really sound like a grandma type of place). But no matter, the food was excellent, and so was the beer. To finish off a very busy but interesting day, we had a couple of drinks at a Jazz bar. Not that we're big fans of jazz or anything, we simply couldn't find another place that was open for drinks!

Next day, the lake was unfortunately covered with fog. It's quite a usual phenomenon, and actually makes for quite good photos, so no complaints from me, but unfortunately it also started to rain. We did have a walk along the lakeshore and even hiked up to a pagoda located not too far from the city centre. But unfortunately, the fog was just getting too thick, so we couldn't see much from up there, and as the rain was also getting more intensive, we decided to call it a day and head for the bus station and continue our China tour - destination Huanshan.

All in all, Hangzhou was a very interesting city indeed, one which would certainly have merited further exploration. That will have to wait until next time, I suppose!