Hangzhou 杭州

Day 1

Arrived Hangzhou 杭州, the capital of Zhejiang 淅江, with 13 million people, and it’s one of the wealthiest cities in China, measured by GDP as well as the number of billionaires that live here. This city is also home to Alibaba and NetEast.

We stayed at the West Lake State guest house right in West Lake, which is one of the most beautiful places to see in Hangzhou.

Looking around at other guests, this looks like it’s pretty much exclusively for wealthy Chinese and government officials. Which means it doesn’t have the international hotel amenities that you might expect, but it’s a beautiful and secluded place to stay. One example: Kevan woke up the first morning to hit the gym early, only to realize that the gym doesn’t open until mid morning. We asked our Chinese friends about this, they said the gym doesn’t get much use, it’s mostly there for meetings like the G20 when foreign leaders come to town so that they have a gym they can point to if anyone wants to use it, other than that, it gets pretty infrequent use.

The Westlake State guesthouse in Hangzhou has a long history, it was started by a wealthy Guangzhou businessman who developed the property and then passed it to his heirs.

When the People’s Republic of China was founded, the property was taken over by the Hangzhou government, who further developed it as a communist party guest house. It is well known for the number of leaders who have come here to visit, starting with chairman Mao, who drafted the first constitution of the PRC here and stayed here nearly 30 times. This is also where US President Nixon came to meet Chinese leader Zhou En Lai when China began to open to the west and they drafted the first US joint communique about US China relations at this guest house.

Very quiet with beautiful scenery but a little pricey, compared to both international hotel as well as local hotel options.

The gardens by West Lake are a beautiful place to stroll after dinner and enjoy the serenity they offer.

Cha Ren Chun 茶人村

Dinner at this restaurant was fantastic! My favorite was the chicken dish. The skin was crispy and the meat was tender and flavorful. Absolutely the best chicken I’ve ever had!

Day 2

We embarked on an adventure around West Lake after breakfast. Lots to see! Lots to do!

Leifeng Pagoda 雷峰塔

Leifeng Pagoda is the oldest colorful bronze pagoda structure in China. The pagoda is an octagonal structure of bricks and wood, originally constructed in AD 975 under the order of Qian HongChu to celebrate the birth of his son with his beloved concubine Huang 王妃.

It was severely damaged during the Ming JiaQing years around 1200 AD by Japanese invaders who suspected the pagoda stored weapons of war.

Further superstitious beliefs that the bricks on the walls had magical powers that could relieve disease and prevent miscarriages have resulted in people stealing the bricks. This has further weakened the foundation of the pagoda and eventually caused its ultimate collapse in 1924.

A famous literature scholar Lu Xun 鲁迅 wrote an essay comparing the collapse of the pagoda to the collapse of feudalistic social order that had ruled China for thousands of years. The Pagoda was successfully reconstructed in 2002.

The Pagoda is associated with the legendary story of the White Snake which portrays a love story between a man and a white snake. There are numerous versions of this story with various differences in characters and themes, but the overall legend has it that the Chinese scholar XuXian fell in love with a beautiful lady (Bai Suzhen-White Snake) who had transformed from a white snake with magical powers developed over thousands of years, seemingly unaware she was not human. A monk named FaHai trapped XuXian in the pagoda in an attempt to lure and capture the white snake Bai Suzhen. The white snake tried to rescue XuXian but was sadly trapped under the pagoda by the monk FaHai. XuXian went to rescue her and solicited help from her loyal friend XiaoQing, a green snake spirit. Together, they were able to use their scholarly intelligence, martial arts skills, and supernatural powers to beat the evil monk, tear down the tower, and save Bai Suzhen, enabling the two lovers to live together in peace and happiness at Westlake in HangZhou. The story is a beautiful tale of love and eternal friendship and the sacrifices we make for those we love.

Sampan Ride 摇橹船 at West Lake

We went on a sampan ride for 2 hours to tour around West Lake. The sampan with a canopy can sit 10 people so it was very relaxing and roomy with just the 4 of us in the boat.

Beautiful scenery at West Lake!

YueHuang Miao 岳王庙

After taking a wonderful ride on a sampan style boat through the various sections of Westlake in HangZhou, we disembarked and went for a walk around the outskirts of Westlake until we got to the memorial site for the tomb of general Yue Fei.

This general lived around 1100 A.D. and is best known for his wars against the Jin dynasty and the Song dynasty. He was a very successful military commander and was able to regain significant territory that had been lost in previous conflicts. Unfortunately, the emperor at the time (GaoZhong) was misled by one of his ministers (QinHui) into believing that the general was a traitor, resulting in the general being imprisoned and secretly killed while in jail.

However, a number of years later, the next Emperor who came to power righted this wrong and built a tomb in memory of this great hero and his son. YueFei is remembered to this day as a national hero in China. The memorial at this location has been built and demolished and repaired several times. The existing one was built in 1715 during the Qing dynasty and comprehensively renovated in 1979.

The Tombs of Yue Fei 岳飞 and His Son’s Yue Yuen 岳云.

One of the most interesting parts of the memorial are the iron sculptures of the four individuals who plotted the downfall of the general. They are prostrate in kneeling position, demonstrating that they have been captured and executed for their crimes against the nation.

Lo Wai Lo 楼外楼

We had a late lunch/early dinner at Lo Wai Lo 楼外楼. The sweet and sour fish 松鼠桂鱼was delicious! My favorite dish!

Day 3

Lingyin Temple 灵隱寺

It’s a little bit of a walk to get to the temple from the taxi drop off point. Our hosts had the good idea of getting dropped off at the Ammon Resort on the other side of the temple and walking through the hotel resort to get to the temple, which was a beautiful walk-through, a magnificent garden and significantly less crowded than the other way, which was swamped with tourists.

Highly recommend doing that if you visit. But when you leave, make sure to walk out the other direction so that you can go past FeiLai Peak, which is a huge attraction as it includes a number of Buddhist stone carvings on the sides of the riverbank and tucked inside grottoes next to the river.

Ling Yin (translated as “souls retreat “ ) Temple in Hangzhou is definitely the most famous Buddhist temple in HangZhou and probably the busiest temple we have visited on this trip. Tons of tourists even though we went on a Wednesday morning.

It was built originally in 326 a A.D. by an Indian monk named Hui Li, who picked this location because of the amazing forest surrounding
and the mountain peaks which caused him to believe that there were some immortal souls who lived there.

There are a number of buildings in the temple complex, so it will take you a little bit of time to walk around and visit them. The main building is the Hall of Heavenly Kings with a large big belly Buddha statue. This type of Buddha statue indicates that the Buddha is laughing a hearty laugh, meaning that he always tolerates the intolerable and laughs at the ridiculous, sage advice for all of us.

There are many other buildings, including the Grand Hall of the great sage and the Palace of Medicine Buddha, be sure to check them out.

Also visited JiGong Hall 濟公廟 in commemoration of the famous monk JiGong. This hall includes a huge mural depicting JiGong’s legendary life on Chinese scrolls.

Feilai Peak

28 HuBin

A good friend of Kevan’s recommended the Chinese restaurant at the Grand Hyatt in Hangzhou, also known as 28 HuBin Restaurant.

It is right on the shore of West Lake and the food was delicious. They serve traditional Zhejiang recipes but with a fusion twist – the braised pork belly pagoda was amazing, as was the fried rice noodles and the fish. Great choice, good ambience, nice location. Michelin rated hotel restaurant, a little on the pricey side.

Pork Belly Pagoda

Day 4

Last day in Hangzhou! We spent the day hanging out and walking around West Lake, enjoying the beautiful scenery!

Last night in Hangzhou, we went for a walk at the resort after dinner enjoying the night time scenery at West Lake!