Hangzhou: Last Night

It's my last day in Hangzhou, and when I woke up this morning, I realized I had too much to do still. Just to name part of the list, I still had yet to see:

Linyin Temple (靈隱寺) & Feilaifeng (飛來峰)
Northern Peak (北高峰)
Southern Peak (南高峰)
Downtown Hangzhou, Xintiandi (新天地)
Song Cheng City (宋成 - where they have show performances)
Longjing Cun (龍井村 - where they collect Longjing tea leaves)
Silk Museum
Tiger Bubbling Spring (虎跑泉)
Liuhe Pagoda (六和塔)
Hangzhou Botanical Gardens
Hangzhou Wetland Preserves
Yue Miao (嶽廟)
The islands in the middle of Xihu
Shan Wai Shan Restaurant (山外山)
Tian Wai Tian Restauarant (天外天)
Yuquan (玉泉)
The Foreign Student Dining Hall at Zhejiang University

Obviously, I couldn't do them all, but I decided to try to cover as much as I could. I first took the bus to Yuquan. After wandering around the outskirts of the Botanical Garden and ShanWaiShan, I decided to just go to Zhejiang University again and try their Foreign Student Dining Hall. The menu is impressively hung on the wall:

The food was quite good as well:



A trail surrounded with bamboo near Zhejiang University:



Next, I walked to the nearby egg-like building, and found that this was actually 黃龍體育中心 (Huanglong Athletics Center), where someone recommended to visit at night, since they serve lots of tasty foods then:



I then took a taxi thru much of Hangzhou city itself:



Like any other city, it has traffic, but at least they plant flowers in the middle of their dividers and you can see the sky. However, like any other city in China, it is developing at a rapid pace. Here is a tower that is under construction:



I ended up heading back to Hefang St. There was an exhibit showing all the Emperors of China for 5 RMB I went in to take a look. One obvious detail that stands out is the obvious changes in clothing from emperor to emperor across different dynasties.

Zhou Dynasty (1045-256 BC) and other early dynasties:



Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) or thereabouts:



The Qing Dynasty (1644-1912 AD), with the Manchus as Emperors in noticeably different dress:



After that, I rushed back to the hostel, then took a bus up to Lingyin Temple. I of course had no time to actually visit the temple as it was aleady 5pm; however, I ran up nearby Northern Peak:



My climb upwards took about half an hour. A pavillion near the top:



And I arrived just as the final rays of light were about to stop shining. A shot of Xihu from Northern Peak:



Unfortunately cloud cover was too heavy. After running back down Northern Peak in near darkness, I took a car to Song Cheng, where I had tickets to see Romance of the Song Dynasty (宋城千古情) at 6:50pm:






The show was quite spectacular, though rather short (only about an hour), and immediately after it was over and the auditorium was emptied out, the audience for the next show would be welcomed in - it was like a well oiled high performance machine.

Song Cheng itself was quite interesting, if not somewhat gimmicky, with everyone working there dressed in traditional Chinese clothing, and working out of buildings designed in traditional Chinese architecture:



I enjoyed that aspect of it though, as I always felt it would be nicer if they retained more traditional aspects of Chinese culture in everyday life. I stopped by a restaurant where they served "Crossing the Bridge Noodles" (过桥米线), which I had yet to try. You could get it with a variety of meats in the noodle soup, including dog meat. I was going to try dog meat as well, but they were out, and I had to settle for lamb:



The meal was quite good, the broth was flavorful and spicy, and the noodles were especially QQ. I chatted with the restaurant owner and his family, as his children were tasked with helping out with the cooking, generating sales, servicing, etc.

Besides good food, Song Cheng had a number of other drawing points. One is this obstacle course that seems to actually be quite challenging. This is a section of it:



I ran across a section of it with bobbing floats chained together, and couldn't help but get wet each time. In addition, they had very interesting playground equipment, such as this human-sized exercise wheel, something we usually see only for gerbils:


You can imagine how much fun this was to run on.

After exiting out of Song Cheng, I realized I had no ride to go back, as pretty much everyone was part of some tour group and they were going back on the tour buses. The public buses have long since stopped running (as this was Hangzhou), and so I ended up having to get a black car taxi instead.

After I finally got back, it was about 11:30pm. However, there was still one important thing left to do: run around Xihu. And so I started, looking forward to the 13-15km journey with great pleasure. The night was cool, and the paths were quiet, devoid of people. I neglected to bring my camera since it was still too large and clumsy an object to carry in a pocket for so many miles. It was a move I would come to regret.

After having routed from the southern side of the lake, all the way around the East, and now across most of the North, I was just about to enter Sudi (蘇堤) when I saw strange lights in the distance. It was an unusual white glow, unlike anything I had seen before around Xihu. As I ran closer, I realized that they were lights, many many lights, shooting upwards, lighting up the sky. It was a play rehearsal, probably for Zhang Yimou's (張藝謀) Yinxiang Xihu (印象西湖), a theatrical performance on Xihu itself.

I stopped to watch - the scene was breathtaking because it was so surprising. It was close to 1am, and yet there were a few actors out on the lake, standing on boats and various platforms. A director's voice thru the megaphone could be heard from the side of the woods. The lights were adjusted to different colors, from white to purple, to blue, to green. There apparently were platforms underneath the water too, making it look like the actors could walk on water. Large, pillar-like structures were also underneath, and they would rise from the lake, as if part of some Leviathan beast.

As I observed, more people came by to gather around, wondering what was going on as well. Together, we watched the reenactment of some scene in a Chinese folk story. The spotlight was on an elegant young girl and her umbrella, watching an approaching boatman row towards her across the still lake. The lights changed, and now she was enveloped in a mysterious green shade.

While I watched, I began thinking to my time here in Hangzhou. I truly will miss this place. I feel this is one place I could really live in and call home. So far nowhere else in China has been able to provide me the same cultural setting, laid-back attitude, beautiful scenery, and clean environment as Hangzhou. It's not just the lifestyle here either. The people are actually normal here. In lines, they don't push and shove their way thru like everywhere else. After security screenings, they don't scramble to gather their belongings as if somebody is about to steal them. And the food is delicious. I can seriously look forward everyday to getting up and walk/run/bike/row my way around, eat great food, then spend the rest of the day reading a book, learning more Chinese, philosophizing, composing music, or writing poems.

And so I ran back across Sudi, back to the hostel, completing my loop. I grabbed my camera and took a taxi back to the same location, but of course now everything was dead silent. Disappointed, headed back with only a head full of memories.

Hangzhou: Gushan and Rowing

I got to know one of my new roommates, and since we both have yet to visit Gushan (孤山) (literally, Solitary Hill), we decided to tour it together.

However, first I decided paid a visit to the Jing Ci temple (靜慈禪寺) next door to my hostel:



There were 3 beggars there who seemed very happy, and after their morning begging session was over, they hopped on a bus as normal people like everyone else:



I then walked to Sudi (蘇堤), which was very, very crowded. Very, very different from the Sudi I walked alone on the night before, with spider webs and everything:



A nice view of a pavillion across from Sudi:



I finally got to Gushan and came in along the back to see an old printing press museum:





We then visited Sun Yatsen Park, which used to be the place (before it was renamed) where Emperors would come to hang out and relax:





Next, is a memorial dedicated to two famous poet-governors of Hangzhou, Su Dongpo (蘇東坡) and Bai Juyi (白居易):

We would also go see the Zhejiang Provincial Museum, which was very interesting, and covered the 7000 years of history of the region. Zhejiang has been the area for a number of states, notably Yue (越) during the Spring Autumn Period (春秋戰國), and Wuyue (吳越) during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period (五代十國).

My roommate and I then went to eat at Louwailou again (at least for me):

We ordered a number of interesting items, including this dish with crab meat stuffed in an orange (蟹酿橙):

This soup (西湖莼菜汤) had very interesting vegetables - the texture was a little slippery... perhaps even slimy, but the flavor was quite good:



We ordered dessert (全湯九釀珍珠丸), which consisted of fermented glutinous rice balls, and came in this huge bowl probably more suitable for 6-8 people:

We couldn't finish everything, as the meal was truly a feast (200 RMB, approx $30 USD for two). Our picture in front of Louwailou (different entrance):

We then decided to go rowing next. On the way, there was a statue:

It read, "Hangzhou. The most beautiful and splendid city in the world. - Marco Polo." And rightfully so. If I recall, Marco Polo gave Hangzhou better marks than even Suzhou.

We finally got to the boats, and had an hour to row around:

However, it was more difficult to control than I thought, especially since I had to do most of the rowing. We would aim to go in one direction, and end up going in a completely different one. After awhile, we started aiming in the wrong direction on purpose so we can go in the direction we really wanted to! Towards the end of the session, we figured it out and managed to make it back in time.

Afterwards, my roommate had to go return her bike, while I stayed to watch the sunset. I found a good location to watch on a bridge:

However, it was not time yet, and so I found a pavillion to rest at for a bit:

I pulled out my Herman Hesse book Knulp again, and enjoyed the quiet, unhurried passage of time.

It is at times like these that I sometimes feel that if we all had nothing better to do in life, maybe we'd all be better people. We'd slow down and have time to really observe each, to really see where others can use help. A lot of times people don't do what they should, and use the fact they are too busy as an excuse. Of course, then again, there are people with too much free time on their hands and end up doing more harm than good to society.

Anyhow, after 10-15 minutes or so, it was time. Sunset pictures:

Meanwhile, my roommate also took pictures along the way:

The story goes, there was a guy sailing on the lake:

Apparently he tried to be too cool by trying to fit his sail underneath the moon bridge as he crossed. It didn't work and he flipped over; now he's stuck as another boat is on top of him:

Later that night we went to Hefang St. again and had some tasty snacks before heading back to the hostel.

Hangzhou: Biking Around Xihu

This morning, I got up early once again due to the sound of activity - there was some construction going on nearby, and the hostel is also next door to an elementary school. After spending some time chatting with one of my roommates, a girl who came to Hangzhou to look for job opportunities, I decided to go biking around Xihu, and visit Zhejiang University, which was the alma mater of one of my friends and former Opera colleague. So I rented a bike from the hostel for 20 RMB for half a day (6 hours), though later I heard that there were places you can go to get bikes for cheaper (there was a place that charged nothing for the first hour, 1 RMB for the 2nd, 2 RMB for the 3rd, 3 RMB for the 4th, etc, very interesting). I got halfway around Xihu before heading up North to Zhejiang campus. At Xihu with the bike:

Zhejiang campus was beautiful, and very large. A few pictures:






My friend had recommended eating at a certain cafeteria at Zhejiang University, but I could not remember the place. However, I was hungry, and so I just picked the first cafeteria I came across to eat at - Cafeteria #2. They had contactless smart meal cards you had to buy - funds are deducted at the checkout counter. My meal (cost: ~20 RMB):


Food was good, though by the time I finished (only 1pm!), they were closing down the cafeteria, turning off the lights and everything. Around that time, a language exchange partner I had contacted in Hangzhou called me, and we arranged to meet later that afternoon. I hurried back to Xihu by bike. A few more pictures:

This is Baidi (白堤), also known as the Broken Bridge (段橋):


It is not really broken, but since it is so low, it may look that way on a winter day when the snow blows over the middle of the bridge.

Baochu Pagoda (保俶塔):



A stunning tree-lined pedestrian path between Xihu & Nanshan Rd:

And so I biked back to Xihu and met my language exchange partner on the east side of the lake. We eventually ended up going to visit Hefang St (河坊街), which is a pedestrian street famous for its traditional and cultural sights:


A very old pharmacy, still in business after hundreds of years in operation:


"Number One Scholar" Restaurant, supposedly the place students go eat at to improve their scores on their national exams:


A music shop featuring the "Chinese Saxophone," a wind instrument that could have possibly been the instrument that was played by the lake that very first night I visited Xihu:


After looking around Hefang St, I went back to Xihu for the sunset. Leifeng Pagoda with the setting sun:


At night, I had heard read about some language exchange "Board Game" night going on at Zhejiang University, but I could not find it, despite searching over an hour for it and asking the locals around the area. Disappointed, I got a taxi back to Xihu, and ended up walking across Sudi (蘇堤) at night by myself. As it was almost 11pm, it was nice and quiet, unlike the tourist bustle during the day. Even the spiders realized that, and they were so quick to spin their webs in those few empty hours that I ran into quite a few of them during my walk.

My self-timer shot on Sudi with virtually no light:



The lights of Hangzhou shining across the waters: