Final Days in Hangzhou

There hasn’t been much to report since my return from Beijing. The past few days have been spent exploring Hangzhou and it’s various facets. On Thursday, Dad and I went to the “walking street” to grab dinner at an interesting vegetarian restaurant named “Godly”. After a delicious meal he gave me a brief tour of the walking street; here there are some storefronts in excess of 1000 years old if I remember correctly. Hangzhou has long been a center of tea (famous for its Long Jing tea) and silk commerce. We didn’t spend much time, as the weather was slightly miserable due to rain, wind, and nearly freezing temperatures.

Here’s a rad parking structure!

I spent much of Friday morning reading, and in the early afternoon Deborah, an acquaintance from high-school now working here as an English teacher for Loma Linda, and I ran down to the wet-market. I only wish we had more of these in the states. The food is fresh, grown locally, a quick walk away, and cheap! Just be sure to cook it. Here you can obtain just about anything you’d want to eat, including fish, eel, turtle, duck, pigeon, squid, shrimp, all fresh and still live if you like, or a host of produce.


for the carnivores: corn, cheese& bacon biscuit

Later, after my dad finished work, we went off on bicycles to cruise around the city. Riding bicycles in Hangzhou is possibly on par to the same fun as karting. If people drive “crazy” by American standards, they ride bikes in that same fashion to a higher level of intesity. Even in the bike-lane, which is on the street, but separated from traffic with a barrier, you are constantly weaving in and out between other cyclists and grazing pedestrians when only going at a moderate pace! It’s quite fun, and there, again, is no road-rage really to speak of. I find it most enjoyable to pass the electric scooters and squeeze through intersections between traffic. It’s too bad that this would never work in the states.
our g-rides. I was cruising on the baby-blue girl bike, doris

bike & scooter parking in front of Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital

Silk Market

Mandatory attire for sub-freezing cycling in Hangzhou

Yesterday, Dad and I went to the Lingyin Temple, again by bike. At the far-end of West Lake, it is one of the oldest temples in china at more than 1650 years old! Incense has been burning there since it’s inception, and some of the largest buddhist sculptures in the world are housed here, including a Buddha over 60 feet tall! Another note-worthy item are all the relief carvings in the limestone hill adjacent to the main temple. This is a truly serene place.
A tea plantation near the temple

what appears to be an agitated squirrel

a large relief carved on "flying peak from afar"

victim of a revolution, or time?

Some statues at the temple. Photography wasn’t allowed inside the more sacred temples, but Dad took some in October when he didn’t see the signs, so I’ll borrow them from him later, and upload them to photobucket & facebook.

Serenity now!

And last night to cap it all off, Dad and I went off for a leg/foot/shoulder massage down the street. We have walked and hiked many miles on this trip, and my god what a blessing this was. It’s almost amusing though in that these little women, probably 110-115 pounds at most, had to put all there weight into it to get deep on our shoulders and necks. Even more amusing was trying to communicate with them, since they only spoke Chinese, and didn’t know any Chinese save, “hello, thank you, and good bye.” We were all having a good laugh about it though, and afterwards we were so loose we could barely make it to tea before bed.
Tonight, my last night in Hangzhou, we’re going to dinner and a Jazz show. It ought to be fun. Tomorrow my flight to Beijing leaves at 5 pm, and I arrive back in the USA at 4:30pm where Greg and Jen have been kind enough to offer to pick me up (Greg thinks trains are for hobos). I have enjoyed my time here, especially my time with Dad, and seeing the diversity and character of the Chinese people, but as always I do miss my friends, family, dog, and the familiarity of being able to converse with the people around me. China is a beautiful place full of mystery. I hope to explore more of it the next time I visit, and I plan to make more of an effort to explore different cultures across the world in the coming years as well. There is so much to see and experience outside the small comfort zone we call home!

As always, more photos can be found on my photobucket album entitled "China"

Xi'an, Beijing, and the respective destinations therein

It's 10:20 am on Tuesday morning back here in Hangzhou. My Dad and I arrived back in town at about 9:30 last night after spending a day and night in Xi’an, and then three days and two nights in Beijing and the surrounding areas. I’ve just nearly finished sorting through and uploading the approximately 350 photos I’ve taken since we left Hangzhou on the second. I’m still loading photos as I type this. There’s still a lot to process as the previous four days are a blur of sorts, and much was seen and accomplished in a minimal amount of time. China is a big country, in every sense, and this blog will show it. I think Texans could be humbled here, as everything is done on such a tremendous scale. You would see how it might make one feel slightly insignificant as an individual. More on this later.
We left for Xi’an on Friday, and arrived in the early afternoon. Northern China is quite cold. I’ve never been one to have much trouble with the cold, but with the wind and humidity it really cuts through you. My dad had arranged for us to stay at a Hostel in town, and they had supplied a driver and guide to take us to Qin Terra-Cota fiqures about 30 minutes outside the city, and 90 minutes from the airport. I will let the pictures speak for themselves, and more can be seen on my photobucket. The entire complex is ENORMOUS.
Pit 1





Pit 2



Pit 3




After visiting the museum on site, we made our way back to Xi’an proper for a quick tour through the city.
The city walls


Operating a cell-phone and rickshaw simultaneously is legal in the PRC

The City Center




The big cities here are far different than LA or SF as the culture is obviously different. It’s as if you’re not in your own skin. It’s the sense of not belonging I suppose. I’m obviously not a “big city” type of person, but I don’t have the same feeling back in the states. I suppose it’s just the feeling of being a foreigner, but I don’t feel this way in Hangzhou. I’m rambling now.

On to Beijing! The only thing we didn’t see that we had planned on was the Olympic Complex, but we ran out of time on our last day. After we located our Hotel, we dropped some of our gear and headed back to Tian’anmen Square and The Forbidden City.





Next, we headed across the street to The Forbidden City.








For the following day, we arranged through our hotel for a driver to the take us to the great wall. We wanted to be sure to NOT go to Badaling, as it’s just far too touristy, and the wall is completely restored. Both my dad and I wanted a more authentic experience, so we chose Mutianyu, one of the more remote sites. Realize, that there still is no destination in China that is not geared up for tourists, and we found 10 minutes into our drive that the hotel arrangement included an english speaking guide, and several unplanned stops. There is a great sense of putting the “group” first in China, with less focus on the individual. That, we discovered, was why our fare to the wall and back was only 200 yuan each. We were taking to a cloisonné factory, jade factory, tea house, and herbal store/massage parlor (I got a much needed back massage for $20 yuan, which is about $3.50) as well as Mutianyu and the Ming Tombs. I will spare you the photos from the side treks as there are but a few from the Jade and cloisonne factories. They’re on my photobucket album.
The Ming Tombs:

good luck turtle





And off to the Great wall! If I didn’t mention it before, everything in China is almost a tourist trap where you are persuaded into buying trinkets or shirts. The beauty of it is that you are expected to haggle, and even if you don’t want to buy something, the seller often refuses to not sell. By this concept, on my way out I ended up getting a new North Face 2-in-1 jacket for 135 Yuan, which equates to roughly $25. The seller started at 480 yuan, and I wasn’t interested in buying it, and was going to walk away, but he kept coming down and down until I low-balled him at 100, and he countered with 150. The Jacket is probably a few seasons out of date, but is all gore-tex and never worn! Anyways, on to the pictures...
A cable car is the quickest way to the top, and unfortunately we only had two hours to spend on the wall itself so we took it.



A good hike ahead of us




Waiting for Dad, whose heart is in amazing condition these days considering the prognosis in June!



A far off watch tower from which to spot Mangols. I can see where the wall would make an opposing force want to quit before they started.

As far as we were allowed to go.

Back down the hill. I gave Dad a head start so I could jog down it.

A nice side view of one the armaments


Colonel Klink

Back down, and back to Beijing



We spent our last day in Beijing at the Summer Palace. You could easily spend an entire day there, but we were limited to a few hours because of transportation time on the metro and an early afternoon flight back to Hangzhou. That day was especially cold, hovering around -7 or -8 degrees celsius which left the lake with a thick coat of ice on it.
Seventeen Arch Bridge



Posing on the bridge with Longevity Hill and The Tower of the Fragrance of Buddha in the distance.

Where do you summer?

We explored south lake Island for a bit, and then trekked back towards the North, and Longevity Hill.



Down the long corridor. It spans more than 700m, and each arch and beam have unique murals on them.



Looking up.

Approaching the hill. We decided to head around and flank it from the west.

An outside view of the Long Corridor.

The Marble Boat

And now up Longevity Hill, to the back of the tower.
Here, you can see Dad’s rear

and now a more picturesque vista: the tower’s rear

The Temple of the Sea of Wisdom, adjacent to the tower.

The Tower itself. Unfortunately, like many of the religious or more sacred points in Beijing, photography is not allowed inside.


A view down the hill


A view from the top offers Beijing skyline and a good view of a man walking on the lake!


The face of the tower

An adjacent structre


This is one of the corridors leading back down. One of my favorite shots.

Back at the bottom of the hill, looking up.


We then made our way back to the Metro and found we didn’t have enough time to realistically see the bird’s nest and make our flight, so we transferred straight to the airport express.

Later we would find that our flight had been cancelled and we were moved to an hour later flight, giving us the time we would have needed. That’s all and good because the next time I visit Beijing, I’ll spend probably nearly a full day at the palace and there are still a wealth of other sites to visit.
Sunset in Beijing.