Hangzhou, China

A roller-coaster weekend in yet another Chinese city of eight million that no one in the West has heard of!  Hangzhou is one of the 18 tier-one cities in China, famous for its West Lake (UNESCO World Heritage) and the Longjing tea that is grown in the hills just beyond the city.  We had Asia Miles points that were due to expire, so we decided to go as far as they would take us on a busy Easter weekend.
The trip got off to a shaky start.  A panicked phone call from Joan at the airport (whose flight to Shanghai was delayed by many hours) alerted us to the fact that most flights were delayed or cancelled due to thunderstorms passing through Hong Kong.  At 5 p.m. I checked our flight status, and because there were no posted delays, we decided to leave the apartment at 5:30 - plenty of time to catch our 8 o'clock flight.  The rain and wind were so strong that we couldn't even walk up the driveway to flag down a taxi.  Never fear, Mr. Tong, our concierge, to the rescue!  He grabbed an umbrella, ran up the drive, and hailed a cab that was depositing a passenger right at the entrance.  He hopped into the front seat and directed the taxi down the hill to our building, then hoisted our bags into the trunk, and returned to the front seat, with Jeff and me in the back.  He also treated us to our trip to the airport express station, since he was continuing on to catch his ferry.  On the way, Mr. Tong and I had a nice chat in Cantonese!  I practised asking him where he lives (Mei Foo), and told him where we were going.  (Jeff is very impressed with the three sentences I can speak after 6 months of lessons)  To make a very long story short, our flight boarded at 11:30, lifted off at 1 a.m., went through strong turbulence (and colourful lightening) until 2, at which point a meal was served!!  Arriving at the international terminal,  we all had to walk 15 minutes to the taxi stand at the domestic terminal (yes, another TIC moment), and finally arrived at our very comfortable, welcoming Wyndham Grand Plaza Hotel in Hangzhou.

We slept in the next morning (Friday), bundled up against the chilly, damp weather, and set out to explore West Lake, which was a stone's throw from our hotel.  On our way, we passed an interesting old mansion (ca. 1920), the former home of a prominent businessman.  I'm sure that when the owner and his family lived here, the property was considered prime real estate, but today, the house is located in an alley filled with mundane shops.

West Lake, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is like Central Park in New York, or Beaver Lake in Montreal.  Locals and tourists stroll along its banks.  We originally thought we'd be able to circle the entire lake in one day, but then we discovered that its circumference is about 15 kilometres!  It was also too cold to venture across the lake by boat.

The cherry and peach blossoms added a beautiful touch to the scenery.  However, because of the clouds and mist, we could barely make out the contours of the surrounding mountains.
The most famous landmark on the lake is the Broken Bridge, a Tang dynasty stone bridge that was last restored in 1914.  There are many romantic myths and legends concerning this bridge, all rather too far-fetched to mention in this blog.

Crossing the bridge, we reached a causeway that led to a tree-lined island filled with interesting sculptures.  Wish we were able to read the Chinese inscriptions on the rocks!

The highlight of the island was a museum dedicated to the ancient art of carving the name seals (chops) that serve as personal signatures.  The building originally housed the masters of this craft. These artists were highly respected in ancient China.

We crossed another causeway and found ourselves on a busy thoroughfare (honking is a favourite pastime in Hangzhou).  Our destination was the Baochu Pagoda, high up the hill.  On the way (yup, we were slightly lost), we passed beautiful Art Deco era mansions facing the lake, mostly hidden behind cement walls.  According to the plaques on street level,  these were the summer homes (like Newport, RI) of the rich and famous Shanghainese during the decades of the Chinese Republic under Chiang Kai Shek (1920s and '30s).  Surprisingly, these homes are in Western  style, with some added Chinese features, such as tile roofs.

Baochu Pagoda offers a scenic view of West Lake on sunny days - not when we were there!  By the time we climbed up the hundreds of steps leading to the pagoda, we were really hungry (it was about 2 p.m.).  We were pleasantly rewarded with lunch at a bookshop/cafe next door.  We decided to sample one of the famous local dishes, Dongpo pork.  Swimming in fat.  Not quite to our liking!  The noodles were really tasty, though, and don't you just love the  curly straws in our (bottled) water glasses?

Continuing our long walk (the Dale and Jeff Long March in China), we decided to check out the Silk Street.  According to our pitiful street map, it seemed fairly close to the hotel ... not quite!  The deafening noise of traffic and construction accompanied us on our semi-lost walk to Silk Street.  We did get a sense of this developing city as we ambled along.  One of the big surprises is the popular use of bixi bikes.  Bikes and pedestrians share the sidewalk.

Silk Street is lined with shops selling scarves, ties, lingerie, and other textile products.  It all started to look the same to us after a while, but we couldn't leave without making some major purchases - a few "genuine" silk ties and three small, square scarves (locals were grabbing them since they were on super special - 2RMB (30 cents) each).

And then came another adventure ... we walked to the main road and tried to hail a taxi to return to the hotel.  Friday rush hour.  Not a good plan.  We soon figured out the "system".  Taxis keep loading passengers until their cars and full.  There aren't enough of them, so enterprising locals illegally do the same.  A middle-aged man driving a late-model Toyota Camry stopped for us.  We thought he was playing good Samaritan!  He already had one paying passenger in the front seat.  When we asked how much he wanted to get us to our hotel, he held up three fingers.  Sounded pretty cheap to us!  Fifteen minutes later, we neared the hotel.  I handed the driver 10RMB.  He started screaming that he wanted THIRTY each!  I threw the money down on the seat and we ran out of the car.  We hid behind a group of school girls as the driver angrily sped away.

And on to the next adventure!  Later that evening, the concierge at the hotel hailed a taxi to take us to the most famous restaurant in Hangzhou, Lou Wai Lou, situated on West Lake.  We were confident about the ride, since the directions were given by our hotel staff.  Ten minutes later, Jeff and I realized that the cabbie didn't have a clue where he was going!  He turned onto a wide boulevard, and began to turn into the driveway of a five-star hotel.  Jeff and I jumped out, and ran quickly into the lobby.  As we were explaining to the manager what had just happened, the cabbie came running after us.  The manager calmed all of us down, and then said that the same driver would take us to the restaurant at no extra charge.  We were very apprehensive, but managed to sit quietly in the taxi, and finally arrived at the restaurant.  The driver made a big fuss over us - losing face is the worst thing that can happen to a Chinese person!  In spite of what had happened, we enjoyed our Beggar's Chicken and Longjing tea.

We got off to a fine start on Saturday - breakfast at Starbucks on the Lake!  Back at the hotel, we hired a driver for the day to take us to Longjing Village, home of the famous high-quality tea plantations.  The 10 km trip took over an hour.  The joys of getting around China!

Longjing Village is truly lovely.  A small, old-fashioned town, every inch of the surrounding hills is covered with tea bushes.  There wasn't a cloud in the sky!  We climbed up a steep path, and while I took photos, Jeff leaned over and watched the women picking tea leaves.  Such back-breaking, painstaking work.  Jeff, a diploma-carrying expert in tea, loved every minute of this experience.

At noon, the workers file down the hill with their baskets of tea leaves.  They enjoy a communal lunch, and then trudge back up for the afternoon's picking.

There aren't any true restaurants in the town, so we joined some other Chinese tourists at a guesthouse that was serving food.  A la "Harry met Sally", we tried to order what they were having.  Alas, the server (and our taxi driver) feigned ignorance, and brought us whatever was left over in her kitchen.  Not a memorable meal.

Almost every house in the village sells tea.  I loved watching the little girl playing with the dried leaves.  Jeff bought some high quality tea (called Dragon Well in English) for himself, and also for Mr. Tong, our wonderful concierge.

We were surprised at the Western style of houses under construction.  I was also impressed with the public library!







When we (safely) returned to Hangzhou, we decided to do some shopping on Hefang Old Street.  4 p.m. on Saturday ... no taxis.  The trusty hotel concierge assured us that it was only a twenty-minute walk.  Oof!  An hour and a half later, we arrived at this historic road, lined with small shops selling (very expensive) chopsticks, silk umbrellas, fans, and other souvenirs.  Our main destination was the Zhang Xiaoquan Scissor store, which has been around for centuries.  As I was paying for our ordinary-looking scissors, Jeff reminded me that we would now have to check our carry-on suitcases, since they contained sharp objects.  No problem!  Our luggage has always been waiting for us at the carousels when we arrive in Hong Kong (foreshadowing!).  Once again, no taxis in sight, but we found a quiet side street to stroll along on our hour and a half walk back to the hotel.

One of our travel mantras is not to eat in hotels, however, we were utterly pooped that evening, and we didn't fancy another taxi ride, so we dined at the very good Thai restaurant in the Wyndham.  The restaurant was quiet empty (except for a group of very loud Americans), and the food and service were excellent.

Sunday brunch at Starbucks!  (Yes, too cheap to eat in the hotel - an extra $25US per person for the buffet).  We had the morning to do what the locals do - stroll around West Lake.  On our walk, we passed groups of friends dancing and others singing Chinese opera.  Every square and empty space was filled with smiling people enjoying themselves.  No whining children!

We stopped to look at a large heroic statue, and shared a good laugh at the inscription below: "A statue was set up at the lakeside in 1954 to memorize (sic) the Chinese people's volunteers that (sic) assisted Korea to resist American invasions".  As we were taking photos of this patriot, a very friendly group of locals surrounded us and started talking to us in excellent English!  The square next to the statue is a Sunday meeting spot for people who come to practise speaking English.  If there are no visitors, they speak English to each other.  Many of the people were in their 60s, 70s, and 80s, but there were also younger participants.  We had wonderful conversations about retirement, raising children, Canada, and Hong Kong.

My eyes kept drifting to the group of women nearby who were doing a cha cha line dance.  Who knows me in China??  Of course I joined in.  And then the decks cleared while a charming man waltzed me around the square.  I think I made it to almost every Facebook page in China that day!

Serendipitous fun.  The highlight of our trip.






However, the roller coaster trip was not quite over!  We decided to have lunch at a small cafe next to the hotel.  The menu offered a variety sandwiches.  I ordered tuna, and Jeff ordered cheese.  We were informed that they could only make one sandwich because (we assumed) they only had two pieces of bread (hmm of what vintage?).  We opted to share the tuna sandwich.  Ten minutes later, she returned and said there were no sandwiches.  We left in a huff.  Luckily, one of the charming Eastern-European concierges at our hotel noted our distress, and quickly ordered some nibbles and excellent tea for us in the lounge.  No charge!
We had no problem getting to the airport by taxi, and our flight home was uneventful, but the end of the story is that Hong Kong airport's normally high standard of service let us down.  We had to wait half an hour for our suitcases (with the precious scissors) to arrive.
Travelling to China is never without its adventures!