hangzhou: six harmonies and sunday sunburns

I had planned on sleeping in this morning, but as you know, “sleeping in” for me means “5:30am”. After waiting for a little while, I woke the little lady up and decided that we should get an early start to our day due to all the crowds I was sure we’d hit. We hit the hotel breakfast buffet first, and then took a cab to Six Harmonies pagoda, which was along the main river that cuts Hangzhou in half. Getting out early turned out to be a great idea. We found Hangzhou to have really bad traffic, and the traffic hadn’t started by the time we got out. So, we managed to get in early, not have to deal with any crowds, and get out fairly quickly.

Here’s the pagoda:





We paid the 10RMB required to climb up to the top, and the climb wasn’t nearly as bad as we were expecting. It was worth it for the views alone.



A hazy morning overlooking the other half of Hangzhou:



The inside of the pagoda wasn’t much to look at, but occasionally there was a bit of art or intricate patterns in the ceiling or whatever.





After we got out, we decided to walk the grounds for a while. This turned out to be really pleasant due to the lack of crowds and the pleasant weather.









They were charging 10RMB to ring this big bell, and the little lady wanted in, so we paid the money and she got to ring the bell six times.







Her hits were pretty weak, but you can hear them if you listen carefully.

This was a really nice area.



All sorts of little towers with Buddhist symbolism/imagery were on the grounds. Here’s an example:



We hiked up to the top of the nearby hill and were disappointed to find that it didn’t have much more than a bathroom, so we quickly went back down and then caught a cab to our next destination: the Xixi Wetlands Park. It took us forever to get there due to the traffic, but once we got in, it was pretty interesting, if unbearably hot after a while.

Here’s some typical scenery inside the park:



We saw a single crane while we were inside. I was expecting more wildlife, but I’ll take it.



There was a botanical garden inside the area, so we bought tix and went inside. Man oh man, do the Chinese go crazy for flowers. We had noticed this at the Six Harmonies pagoda as well—every person with a tripod and DSLR in Zhejiang province had congregated there to get photos of potted flowers. A bit strange, if you ask me.







In one area, they built see-through barriers into the water so people could walk through and see what’s underwater. We took a walk through there, and there were lots of fish to see.





We kept walking, stopping occasionally to photograph the flowers or other interesting sights.







We didn’t stay long. It was super hot and I ended up getting sunburned pretty badly, so we found the nearest exit, searched for a cab for about 45 minutes, and then went back to the McDonald’s near the hotel. The traffic on the way back was horrible, and the driver wasted our time by doing a couple u-turns and trying to find faster ways—none of which worked—to get us to our hotel. I think that was the first time I’d ever seen that before. What a disaster.

We got lunch at McDonald’s and then hung out in the hotel lounge for about an hour. The traffic was so bad that we felt like we couldn’t risk missing our train, so we ended up leaving really early for the train station and then hanging out in the chaos that was Hangzhou Station.



All in all, we saw some great stuff in Hangzhou, but I was a bit disappointed. Hangzhou was much smaller, slower and less crowded when I first went there 12 years ago, and that’s a lot of the reason why my classmates and I loved it so much (at the time, we all agreed that BYU should change its study abroad program from Nanjing to Hangzhou). Now, Hangzhou is very commercial and extremely touristy, and all that slow, small town charm is gone. All that said, it’s a great city and I think I would enjoy living there, but the best things about Hangzhou will probably remain the memories in my mind.

hangzhou: fashion victims at the west lake

Our next destination was the famous West Lake, and it took us forever to get there, too. Again, everyone in town had the same idea as us. Once we got there, though, it was very pleasant and we had a great time just hanging out.



The West Lake is considered one of the most romantic and/or pleasant places in China. It’s not a place you go for action; it’s a place you go to stroll and take it easy. After walking for 15-20 minutes, we got some drinks and snacks and then sat there for a long time. Lots of people stared and/or took pictures of us, and I decided to get in on the action and take pictures of passers-by. This was a great place for people watching and for documenting some of the more ridiculous fashions that you’ll find in China.





Poor kid--look at that haircut:



These shoes were a personal favorite. It’s too bad I wasn’t able to get both feet in a frame, because the other shoe had an American flag or something like that on it and was the better of the two feet.



Orange is a lot more popular in China than in the US. Another thing you’ll notice here is that both girls are wearing similar colors and shoes. Coordinating outfits with friends is not uncommon here, and it’s a pretty strange thing to see.



In this case, same outfits, different colors.



These two were wearing what looked like pajamas or prison outfits.



How about different colors of leggings on the same person?



Some hideous shoes.



Pictures of the lake hadn’t been so great when the sun was up, as the lighting was bad. At dusk, however, things got a bit better.





We walked around a bit more and then decided to walk around the nearby shopping area. As you might expect, the area is fairly upscale and has a lot of high-end brands/shops that you would all recognize. For example:



And yes, we actually saw a Lamborghini on the road in Hangzhou, as well as many Porsches, BMWs and even a Maserati. There’s a lot of money in this town.

We were pretty beat after 2-3 hours of hanging out, so we got a cab and headed back to our hotel. The little lady was hungry and I really wasn’t, so we settled on the McDonald’s across from our hotel and then called it an evening. Yeah, great way to sample the local cuisine, I know.

hangzhou: lord buddha smiles on ling yin temple

Early Saturday morning, we got on a high-speed train and headed to Hangzhou, a city in Zhejiang province that I visited when I was a student here all those years ago. At the time, Hangzhou was my favorite city in mainland China, so I thought it would be a great place to take the little lady on our first Chinese excursion.

The train ride was three hours, and was quite uneventful. When we got to Hangzhou, we went first to our hotel and then took a taxi to Ling Yin temple, which is one of the most famous and popular temples in China. It turned out that most of Hangzhou also had the same idea we did, so the traffic was horrible and the crowds were out in full force at the temple. Still, we had a great time. The weather was good and the sights were interesting.

When you get to Ling Yin, the first thing that you see is a number of statues and stone carvings around the area, most of which are depictions of Buddha and/or Buddhist figures.







The area is very green and woodsy, as you’ll notice in many of the pictures.











Notice how the sunlight hits directly on the face of the middle statue? Cool.





We noticed Sanskrit carvings here and there—a testament to the Indian background of Buddhism, and pretty cool looking, even if they were in very random places.







The little lady got hungry at one point, so we got her some of that corn on the cob she’s been so curious about. It turned out to be a lot tougher and blander than what we’re used to in the US, but she was hungry and ate it all.









We were pretty bummed when we discovered that the tickets we had bought to get in didn’t actually get us into the temple; they only got us into the grounds where all the carvings were. So, after shelling out some additional cash, we got into the actual temple area.

People preparing incense:



The first of the main temple structures:



As is typically the case, we weren’t supposed to take pictures inside the temples. However, other people were taking pictures and the monks weren’t stopping anyone, so we joined in the fun.









This was my first time actually getting photos inside the temples, I think so I was pretty pleased with that. There are many intricate carvings and figures inside, so it was nice to be able to get some photos.





Many of the trees growing in the area were bamboo trees, as you can see here.





People stand up coins in part of one of the temples in an attempt to get good luck.



While super busy and crowded, Ling Yin is definitely worth a visit if you're ever in Hangzhou. Great scenery and lots of cool stuff to see.