West Lake (Xi Hu) Hangzhou

I found a bit of History of Hangzhou from the "Lonely Planet" website, I should have shared this with you sooner since my writing attempts don't seem to touch on what a major historical city Hangzhou was:

Hángzhōu’s history goes back to the start of the Qin dynasty (221 BC). When Marco Polo passed through the city in the 13th …

Hello long-lost and new-found friends.

First, we've been following what has happened in Denver. Very, very sad. It has also made the Chinese news. We don't know how to respond when our teaching assistants mention that they are "so lucky" that no one in their country is allowed to have a gun. There may be something to that idea. This …

Day 1

Lunch at Grand ma. Ordered 5 dishes among 2 people. Lots of leftover. Good food.

Activity: west lake. Rode the ferry and also a small boat. Painful feet. Guide: Shuzhen Song (1st day at Trinity). She's from Qingdao.

Dinner at Green tea. Excellent food. Good quality.

Walked around the canal in the heavy rain …

After being in Xi'an for a while and doing the usual stuff, it was time to get away for a week. Actually, on four days, Sophia and I had to be back by Friday afternoon for school. There are still a million places in China that I haven't seen. Sophia really wanted to show me Nanjing (where she went to college) and Hangzhou and Shanghai are close …

Am Samstag kam dann das erste kleine Abentheuer. Ich bin mit dem Zug
nach Hangzhou gefahren. Eigentlich hatte ich ein Ticket fuer 9 Uhr. Aber
wir waren am Tag vorher bei der Massage und darum hatte ich am
naechsten Morgen Migraene. Also dachte ich mir, kaufst du dir ein neues
Ticket. Da gabs dann leider nur chinesische …

Hangzhou is a large and dreary city heavily urbanised and one that would very easily be overlooked by tourists if it wasn't for one thing, namely West Lake. This painfully pretty piece of paradise is the pride of the city and has its place as one of China's most picturesque destinations. This ancient city has it's fair share of historical landmarks …

Alright, up bright and early for our day-trip to Hangzhou! We got ready and headed down to the subway and shot over to the railway station. The ride was just under two hours on the Shinkansen-type bullet train and we arrived around 0950 or so. Once we got out of the train and wandered around the Hangzhou station, an amazing thing happened. Instead …

Spent a nice couple of days in Hangzou - a relatively small city of a million or two that surrounds a massive lake. We spent the day walking around the whole lake (about 20km) and stopping off at the various sights there are to see around the edge.

Not much more to say on this place but unfortunately we cant get multiple dots on the map in …

It was a very lazy start to the day as I just had to use the bath. There is no hurry to do anything as I am here for quite a few days. I decided to walk to the Bai Causeway. After finding out which way the lake was, I headed off. It is very close but it is not visible from the hotel. Overlooking the lake is a pagoda on a hill and I could see it …

Today, I decided to go on the boat trip that I missed out on the day before. I headed off down the road and came across the same guy selling the street food that I had previously. He remembered me and smiled and made up the same order that I had before.

The boat trip cost 45 RMB as it included entry to the island and the return journey. …

... people to ask for directions. Glad we haggled a fixed fee though! Hangzhou is another Chinese tourist town; the main attraction here is 'West Lake' which we spent a day at. It took 3 hours to walk round the lake and it is very picturesque. The lake ...

... "Above is heaven, below is Hangzhou." is a famous Chinese saying that describes this beautiful place. This is the famous "West Lake" in Hangzhou. It is known to visitors for its scenic beauty as well as the moving legend which is said to ...

... did all yesterday, and I reflect on the day just been. I've come to really like Hangzhou - walking and, more than anything, watching. Doing the West Lake circuit with me, seemingly with a destination, are many many Chinese: couples, families, groups ...

... bottle of water in my bag. It was not enough water. I read a recent blog from some American misguided traveller who suggested West Lake in Hangzhou is dirty and over-rated. It isn't. It is a fantastic spot with culture in abundance - loads of beauty ...

... Kong.  Huangzhou is one of the most prosperous cities in China and is also famous for its beautiful scenic landscape.  The West lake is amongst its most celebrated areas, and as luck would have it we were staying there. The minibus dropped us ...

... Wall, but which has extended far beyond even its reaches. Really, Yangshuo is pretty hard to live up to. And Hangzhou, and in particular West Lake, so often considered a jewel in the crown of Chinese scenery, and considered Top 5 most splendid cities ...

... . Anyway, I'm still on tour and enjoyed a tour of Hangzhou today. We visited many beautiful sights including Liuhe pagoda, west lake, the dragon wall tea village and lingyin temple. The temple had amazing gardens etc. We learnt all about tea... ...

... , which eventually turned into a barrage of several dozen Chinese people surrounding us and asking us about everything they've always wanted toknow about the West but were afraid to ask! Overall, Hangzhou was worth coming here for the West Lake ...

... through a clean modern city along a river. After an hour we arrived in the center of town and drove around the famous West Lake. There was a Bentley Dealership, hundreds of coffee shops, huge parks, smiling people. It basically looked like a city you ...

... Hangzhou was basically a stop off on the way to our Yellow Mountain trek, but I have to say it is a very lovely place around the West Lake area. The day was spent on a chilled walk around the lake - well as chilled as you can get in 35 degree heat ...