iwannagothere.com This is travel, not tourism

Fang is from China. She is fan of Beijing, Tokyo, Madrid, Sevilla, San Sebastián , mountains, and cold weather.

What she likes most about traveling is you can just look and think into deep silence, without any noise and what fang likes least about traveling is sometimes the weather just doesn’t back you up.

Since we knew this would be a busy day we got up at 7:30 in the morning, and decided that before our guide’s appearance we’d better get some breakfast first. I really liked the hotel’s breakfast – a traditional Chinese breakfast buffet – they offered rice soup, eggs, noodles, steamed stuffed buns, vegetables and fruit; they also had coffee, bread and butter in consideration of foreign customers.

We left at 9:30 am and 15 minutes later arrived at the Xihu Lake located west of the downtown area of Hangzhou.

I once looked up information about the lake on the internet. Guess what? The water is 4.37 kilometers square, the total area of the islands is about 6 kilometers square, and the perimeter of the river is 15 kilometers!

Unfortunately it was a cloudy day, so we couldn’t see the beauty of the lake very well; we couldn’t even see the nearest island.

We still enjoyed a leisurely walk on the famous Bai Dike, which is 2 kilometers and was built more than a thousand years ago during the Tang dynasty by the temple minister Bai Juyi who was also a famous Chinese poet. There are many green willow trees standing on both sides of the road and several small traditional boats mooring alongside the bank; it’s interesting that the boatmen wore traditional Chinese clothes. The gray color of the sky, the green trees, the small boats and red kiosks reminded me of a roll of Chinese painting.

Of course in the Xihu tourist zone there are many other interesting sights like the Duan Bridge, the beautiful islands and the Zhejiang Provincial Museum. I’ve visited them during past trips; however, I most enjoy walking along the dike – it’s quiet and touching and you can ponder and dream as you stroll.

After the river bank walk, we drove to have lunch at the Yuhuang Mountain. It’s a natural park not far away from the center. My friend said that the restaurant located half way up the Yuhuang Mt. has the most beautiful scenery and most traditional local dishes; that’s why many businessmen go there to make deals with their partners.

Well, it’s quite true. Although it’s a little cold to sit outdoors, you can clearly see the beautiful landscape around the mountain. For example “Baguatian” (the Eight Diagrams Farmland) which was built by a Song emperor to show the people that the emperor also farms just like them is visible from the restaurant vantage point.

I was very interested in this farm because it’s like a representation of the Chinese Eight Diagrams. In the center is a round shaped land of green trees and if you look at it from overhead you’ll notice that it’s like two fishes end to end. Outside the center there are eight colorful divided farms planted with different things. Many local people come here to buy vegetables on weekends since it’s 100% natural.

We ordered several typical dishes like Tangculiji, made of pork underback and a sweet-sour sauce, it’s just sooo delicious!

I also like chicken hot spot, made of a natural small chicken, mushrooms and bamboo shoots. The soup is so light and nutritious. To tell the truth, that was the coolest meal I’d ever had, plus a perfect ending with a cup of Lurngmern tea.

To see the lake from above, we climbed up to the top of the mountain. An unexpected surprise – there is also a tea house and a temple at the top. A number of people sit in the yard of the tea house chatting with friends. Some old men stood in the high kiosk reading newspapers, just like gods of ancient times.

What’s happening in the temple is quite interesting. It’s a temple of the immortality of wealth of Taoismo, where people come to pray for a prosperous year. This is very typical especially in Zhejiang province where almost all the people are doing business. There are Taoists wearing traditional Taoist clothes and hair styles, which is pretty different from the Buddhists.

We were shocked that inside the temple there was a big band performing. About 20 old ladies in red clothes were dancing and singing with the music in front of the immortal god of wealth. I hadn’t seen anything like it before; I thought it was quite funny because I didn’t know the gods need entertainment just like we do :p

I made a wish into the noise, music and singing, hoping that he could hear me…

I wanna go to Hangzhou!