Hangzhou - Day 8

My, oh my, another big city but what a beautiful one! The main attraction, the lake and surrounding area, is sure worth a visit. We were quite amazed.

Getting Around:

Getting around in Hangzhou as a tourist is pretty easy. There is now a spanking brand new subway that is still being expanded. Don’t be tempted by the subway to stay too far out. To get to the East Hangzhou Station from the main station takes at least 20 minutes if not more! And the stations seem to be miles apart (as they seem to be in most of China).

Hangzhou Metro Station

There are also some “tourist” buses that will take you from the main station to all the main attractions around the lake and all the way to the Yinglin temple (the subway doesn't go out that way). As usual you can buy a travel card. I apologize, but I was visiting relatives and was not allowed to purchase any tickets, anywhere, so I have no idea how much they cost or where to get them from. It might even be possible to use the same card as you did in Shanghai but don't quote me on it. 

Note that the some of the bus routes that are in the current Lonely Planet, China (2013) are already outdated. We caught the Y tourist bus at the main station and it took us all the way around the lake and ended up at the Yinglin temple. 

There is a great bike rental system, which we didn't get the chance to use. They red bikes of all sizes including kids bikes so it's all totally family friendly. The first hour is apparently free so you could technically keep returning the bike every hour and pay nothing for it. I don't remember seeing any tandem bikes but that doesn't mean they don't have them. 

Hotel:

Can't help you with this one! Except to say that you should stay somewhere close to town to save on travelling time. It can take a while to get around Hangzhou. Not because the transport is bad but because it is so HUGE. 

The itinerary below is not exactly what we did. Since we were staying with relatives we had to do some obligatory visits and that meant that we couldn't see all we wanted to. 

Day 8: 

You absolutely have to go and visit the Lingyin Temple. It is amazing but not cheap. Try to get there early before it gets too crowded. Take the tourist bus from the train station to its last stop at the temple scenic area. Take note, that unlike in Europe, in China cars get the closest to the entrance. If you take a bus you’ll end up walking quite a ways. I found this totally annoying! I’m guessing if you own a car, you are wealthy and thus should not be made to walk to far. If you’re taking the bus well then you can walk too! After you get off the bus it’s a bit confusing as to where to go. Basically the ticket office is to the left (when standing in the direction in which the bus arrived) so just go in that general direction. You’ll find it eventually, right opposite a Häagen-Dazs store and some toilets. Take note that this ticket gets you into the scenic area and not into the temple itself. The temple requires a separate ticket.

Once you have your "scenic area" ticket you have to take a picture of yourself with what we liked to call the dragon turtle. He’s sitting in his own small pavilion holding up something or the other. After you've taken the photo, and passed the pavilion, turn left and then right to enter into the paid area.
Once you are in you just follow the crowd. You will soon come upon heaps of Buddhist reliefs (470 in total) in the rocks. You can’t miss them, there are so many of them. All types of Bodhisattvaya's look down at you from the hill which has a bubbling stream, full of red carp, at its foot.

We decided to climb up the hill where the reliefs were. At the top there was nothing but mosquito’s so we came  down pretty quickly. There is no view. This is the so called "Feilai Peak" and legend has it that it was transported here from India. Unless you enjoy clambering up a hill just for the sake of it, like we do, you might want to skip the walk.

Once we were down we bought our tickets and went into the temple. We were each given a few free sticks of incense to burn. It is very clear where you can burn them and if you are observant you will see how to light them without any matches! Although borrowing some matches is much more efficient.

The temple is really huge and we walked all the way to the top taking the left hand side in on the way up. Just before the top, on the right hand side, there is a small pavilion where we sat down to eat our vegetarian dumplings that we had brought for lunch. If you didn't bring any food pick up something from the many stores before you get into the temple. There are vegan options too although the "tofu on a stick" was not very tasty.

After this welcoming break we walked continued to the highest shrine. In the left hand shrine you will find the only female statue in the temple!

Down the hill we went taking in the other side of the temple. Our girls enjoyed hiding coins into the facade at the foot of one of the staircases. It seemed like this was the thing to do! It’s kind of like the equivalent of throwing coins into a pond.

If you have more time I would definitely recommend visiting the rest of the scenic area. There is a cable car to take you to the top of one of the peaks which apparently has really good views of the area and of course there are many more temples. We didn't have time to do this because we had promised to meet up with my husband’s dad and aunt. 

But leave enough time for a short hike (2 - 3 km, some of it uphill) in the hills above the west lake. Take the non-tourist bus K7 from the temple. The bus leaves from the bus stand which is a bit along from where you got off the bus in the morning. You need to get out just before you arrive at the lake and the bus stop is across the road from a huge KFC and at a junction with a road heading up the hill (which incidentally is the road you have to walk up). On the corner opposite the KFC is the mausoleum. 

After finding our way to the mausoleum we walked up the trail to find the caves, look over the lakes and ogle at the pagoda. The trail starts out as a road on the west side of the mausoleum (or east of KFC!). Walk up the road and just keep going straight until the road turns into a well-kept, wide footpath. And let me tell you, the best part about this trail is that there is hardly anyone there. In fact it was so empty that we found it a bit spooky at first. The nature on this small hill is incredible and you cannot imagine that you are just a stone throw away from xxx million people. 

Beware! There are lots of mosquito's get your repellent on before you start walking up the hill. 

Once you've arrived at what seems like the top of the stairs you will see signs to a teahouse. If you are interested in seeing the Ziyun cave then just follow this sign. 

Foot of the Stairs to the Teahouse

You will come across a teahouse (and some unused but well-kept toilets). Walk into the teahouse court yard and head for the left hand corner where you will see a small doorway. Through this door you first enter a shrine area under a rock overhang. 

Don’t be shy, walk down those stairs and wonder around in the catacomb of passages in the cave. We spent our time wondering what they could have been used for in the olden days. Smuggling, hiding from invaders, to attack, to hide treasures, …

Wondering back down the stairs we returned to the path. Here we found it a bit difficult, there are so many junctions, so many paths going off, so many signboards, we were really not sure which road to take. The correct one is the one that goes off up the hill on the opposite side to the caves. Up and up until, on the ridge, the lake suddenly emerges. 

We turned left and walk along the ridge until we came upon the sunrise terrace, an unexpected structure that we were not expecting. I didn't venture up because I sent a scout up first and he said the view was no better than from below! We had a bit of a treat here with a troupe of men practicing their martial arts. The girls were amazed how one of the men did a headstand on the bare rock!!

Sunrise Terrace

Turning left at the top we followed the ridge around looking for the Baopu Taoist Temple. I was really looking forward to seeing it but we somehow missed the turn off. Actually we did see a sign and steps going down to a temple but the name on the signboard was not the same as the name in our tour book so we didn't go down. Turns out there is only one temple in that direction so if you want to go there just head down  the first sign boarded path (to the right) that you encounter. And don’t forget to tell me what I missed!

Following the path along eventually you will come across the pagoda. We were not totally impressed by it L . There were a LOT of people who had come up the other way. 

I was followed around by a very large wasp. He simply would not go away, I tried everything. Finally I walked far away from the kids and sat on a wall, with the wasp buzzing around me, and waited for the rest to be done with their sightseeing and photo taking. On the way down there is another teahouse. It looked pretty well stocked but I happened to be looking for a teahouse that served western style cake as it was my hubby’s birthday and they didn't. 

We walked back down to the lake and took the bus (K7, it was packed) into town where we visited the Green Tea Restaurant. We were a party of 6 and had to wait an hour to get a seat. And then it was so packed and the waiters were so rude that we thought it probably was not worth the while. The saving grace was that the food was pretty good, if only they had brought all our orders out together and not first half, and then when we were done with that half, the other half! I think they just forgot our order.

There was a western style bakery a few doors down and I managed to get a few pieces of cake. It’s probably the most expensive cake I've ever bought and it didn't taste that good. In fact I would describe it as tasting like very sweet and soft bread. On the other hand I would describe Chinese bread as tasting like not so sweet, soft cake!!!