Day 29 to 30: More of Hangzhou
Trip Start
Apr 16, 2009
1
16
24
Trip End
May 31, 2009
Hangzhou,
Zhejiang,
China
Saturday, May 16, 2009
On Thursday, I spent the day with Alice who replied to my group post at the couchsurfing website. I was looking for someone who is also interested in walking around town, doing some sightseeing, etc. She took her day off and we met in the morning for a walk around the north-east bank of the lake. We then took a boat ride to the Lesser Yingzhou Island (don't ask me why it is called like this), famous for its scenery of "Three Pools mirroring the Moon". There are three 2m high towers in the lake with some holes in them. At full moon, it is said that the moon light is mirrored in the lake then in a very beautiful way ... At least we could tell that the place has to be very popular because of the many Chinese tourists around. We then proceeded with the boat to a nearby park and a Red Carp Pond. Again, very crowded, we could watch carps in a pond and tourists being crazy to watch them. Interesting and a bit disgusting for me was the way how these tourists made a sport out of feeding the fish: they essentially spit their food into the pond, and of course the fish were out for that. Not very nice to watch ...
We quite fast left the place and had a late lunch break, also taking shelter as a small rain shower passed by. We then took the bus to go to the Longjing Tea Village, and further on walked to the national tea museum. You can learn everything about tea, there are exhibitions, and of course tea ceremonies held in tea houses and a shop to let you buy overpriced tea. We didn't spend much time there as the museum was already about to close. Still, the scenery around this village was very nice and a definitely worth the trip.
Back at home, we prepared for dinner. This time, I was supposed to meet Peter and his wife. Peter is a friend of Emily - my Taiwanese friend in Vienna helping me out with Mandarin before my trip - and they got to know each other in Austria. In fact, Peter stayed in Vienna for two years studying at the university, and admitted to love Viennese cuisine with its Schnitzel and also its beer. So Peter and his wife, my hosts Sarah and Joel, as well as Alice and me had this wonderful dinner at a fancy (and expensive) place called Xile. We had our own private room for dinner, and enjoyed an exceptionally tasteful and delighting composition of dishes.
Friday then was again very hot. I met Alice again and we first went to the Botanical Gardens before having a breakfast at the Free Mori, a place I have been three times during this week with indeed very good coffee and Western style bakery - this was and is in fact something a bit missing here. We then headed again towards the lake, climbing up the peak of the Yellow Dragon Cave Park, before having a rest at the lake during the afternoon. For dinner - as you see, it is all about eating and drinking here - we met again with Peter and his wife, and with Eric whom I got to know earlier this week. He suggested to go to a farmer's place near the Botancial Gardens, and in fact my friend Robert recommended this place and the food there. The place itself was not that inviting, rather simple in style, but the environment very typical Chinese, and the food exceptionally well done. This time, it was my turn to invite, and also to say good-bye for the time being to my new friends. It was my last evening in Hangzhou as I already bought the train ticket to Shanghai for Saturday morning.
