Continuing the trend of leisure and romance in Hangzhou, we visited various parts of the gigantic West Lake Park in the morning. The sights weren't quite as beautiful as the classical buildings in Suzhou, but this was all natural - and the lake was huge. It's no wonder the emperor wanted it for himself and tried to have it recreated in the Forbidden City.
Going around the park on foot was very relaxing, but the best part was when we rented a private boat to explore one of the smaller islands in the middle of West Lake. The smaller islands are supposedly sinking due to the large number of visitors, so the government has put a limit on the number of tourist visits and special permission has to be given if you want to go to them. I felt pretty lucky to be able to see the lovely gardens and some of the structures they've managed to restore from long ago.
Having feasted our eyes, our tour guide then took us to Hangzhou's tea heaven - the manufacturer of Mei Brand Dragon Well Tea - to quench our thirst. After a presentation of the tea, we learned that the green tea grown in Hangzhou is specially prepared to have numerous health benefits for the tea drinker. Apparently, this tea can help diabetics, people with high cholesterol or high blood pressure, and it can even help lose weight... among tons of other things!
We then had lunch in the famous Louwailou restaurant - filling our stomachs with delicious local specialties including fish and vegetables found in West Lake, in addition to shrimp cooked with tea leaves, and Beggar's chicken (cooked in mud)!
Our last stop in Hangzhou was the Lingyin Temple - another Buddhist temple. This scenic tourist attraction was crawling with visitors by the time we arrived, but it was worth fighting through the crowds to see statues that were created almost a thousand years ago. I couldn't believe they were still standing after all that time - there were signs of deterioration, but the overall structure could still be distinguished. The actual temple housed the largest indoor Buddha in China!
Getting back on the bus, we endured another 3-hour road trip back to Shanghai to visit the Oriental Pearl Tower. It's not quite as tall as Canada's CN Tower, but it was pretty when lit up and we had the pleasure of dining in the revolving restaurant. I was so anxious to see the high tech buildings in Shanghai from the views afforded by the tower, but was distracted by the city's world trade center. It's situated right beside the almost finished tower that will be a few feet taller than Taipei 101. Both buildings looked fantastic as did everything else in Shanghai's nighttime splendour - the most attractive buildings were the downtown 5-star hotels. We also saw the buildings where Mission Impossible 3 was filmed.
Descending from the observation deck of the Oriental Pearl Tower took 3 separate elevator rides, after which we headed to the Pudong Shangri-La Hotel for the night. More of Shanghai tomorrow!
Going around the park on foot was very relaxing, but the best part was when we rented a private boat to explore one of the smaller islands in the middle of West Lake. The smaller islands are supposedly sinking due to the large number of visitors, so the government has put a limit on the number of tourist visits and special permission has to be given if you want to go to them. I felt pretty lucky to be able to see the lovely gardens and some of the structures they've managed to restore from long ago.
Having feasted our eyes, our tour guide then took us to Hangzhou's tea heaven - the manufacturer of Mei Brand Dragon Well Tea - to quench our thirst. After a presentation of the tea, we learned that the green tea grown in Hangzhou is specially prepared to have numerous health benefits for the tea drinker. Apparently, this tea can help diabetics, people with high cholesterol or high blood pressure, and it can even help lose weight... among tons of other things!
We then had lunch in the famous Louwailou restaurant - filling our stomachs with delicious local specialties including fish and vegetables found in West Lake, in addition to shrimp cooked with tea leaves, and Beggar's chicken (cooked in mud)!
Our last stop in Hangzhou was the Lingyin Temple - another Buddhist temple. This scenic tourist attraction was crawling with visitors by the time we arrived, but it was worth fighting through the crowds to see statues that were created almost a thousand years ago. I couldn't believe they were still standing after all that time - there were signs of deterioration, but the overall structure could still be distinguished. The actual temple housed the largest indoor Buddha in China!
Getting back on the bus, we endured another 3-hour road trip back to Shanghai to visit the Oriental Pearl Tower. It's not quite as tall as Canada's CN Tower, but it was pretty when lit up and we had the pleasure of dining in the revolving restaurant. I was so anxious to see the high tech buildings in Shanghai from the views afforded by the tower, but was distracted by the city's world trade center. It's situated right beside the almost finished tower that will be a few feet taller than Taipei 101. Both buildings looked fantastic as did everything else in Shanghai's nighttime splendour - the most attractive buildings were the downtown 5-star hotels. We also saw the buildings where Mission Impossible 3 was filmed.
Descending from the observation deck of the Oriental Pearl Tower took 3 separate elevator rides, after which we headed to the Pudong Shangri-La Hotel for the night. More of Shanghai tomorrow!
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Our TOUR got permission to go to the island! PSH! :) Apparently, our tour has some clout... money helps, of course. :P