Leifeng pagoda – good place to watch the sunset, but have to pay to enter – by the way, they have an elevator inside!!
The fast train that runs between Shanghai and Hangzhou – can travel up to 170 km/h
The countryside – agriculture land mostly
The tall buildings are apartments
(Notes from Travel China Guide.com)
Hupao Spring is at the foot of Daci (Great Compassion) Hill, five kilometers away from Hangzhou city, which stretches between West Lake and the Qiantang River. A temple named after Daci Hill was erected there during the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907). Legend has it that a monk named Xingkong lived in Daci Temple. Coincidentally, he dreamed one night that an immortal told him that two mighty tigers would move a fountain there, just after he had made plans to leave the temple, due to lack of water. To his surprise, two mighty tigers sure enough came in the following day from Mountain Hengshan and dug a hole in the spot where the spring immediately gushed forth. Hence, the spring was named Hupao Spring (Tiger Running Spring).
Many locals collect free water from Hupao Spring – a man we met told us “to have good tea, you must have good tea leaves and good water”. He goes there every week, walks about 400m uphill to carry water home – he is past 60.
(Note from Wikipedia)
The water from the spring itself seeps out from quartzite and is regarded as the third best in China.[1] The water is popular for brewing teas, such as the local specialty, Longjing tea.
(Notes from TravelChinaGuide.com)
Actually, Hupao Spring forms as the result of underground water seeping through veins and cracks within quartz sandstone that is not eroded by acid materials. Due to its low content of mineralized ingredients and its high percentage of radon (a radioactive element), the spring water, which tastes pure, sweet and cold, is an ideal beverage for good health. Most interestingly, the spring water rises three millimeters above a bowl edge without overflowing even if a coin is put into the bowl, a scientific phenomenon made possible by the high surface tension of the spring water.
Bus Routes : K4, K504, Tourism bus no 5 Admission fee : RMB 15
(Notes from Wikipedia)
Leifeng Pagoda is a tower by the West Lake in Hangzhou which was originally constructed in the year AD 975. It has been a popular tourist attraction since being rebuilt in 2002.
During the Yuan dynasty, Leifeng Pagoda was still well-maintained. During the Ming dynasty, Japanese pirates attacked Hangzhou. Suspecting it contained weapons, they burned its wooden elements, leaving only the brick skeleton, as can be seen from Ming paintings of the West Lake.
Later, due to a superstition that bricks from the tower could repel illness or prevent miscarriage, many people stole bricks from the tower to grind into powder. On the afternoon of September 25, 1924, the tower finally collapsed.
Leifeng Pagoda was originally an octagonal, five-storied tower of brick and wood.
As for whether there was a mausoleum below, this was debated for years until finally radar was used to investigate. On March 11, 2001 the mausoleum was excavated and many treasures were found, most notably a gold and silver coated hair of the Buddha.
In October 1999, the city of Hangzhou decided to rebuild Leifeng Pagoda anew to enhance the scenery of the lake. On 25 October 2002, the rebuilt Leifeng Pagoda opened, built above the ruins of the old one and with documents and exhibits on show for visitors.
This is the village you have to LOOK OUT FOR – they are out to fleece tourists.
The cab driver takes us to this old house and tells us we can buy some tea here and they will give you free tea tasting.
So the lady brings out 3 SMALL cups of tea – supposed to be Longjinq tea and then proceeded to tell us that she had 2 types of tea, one costing RMB600 per 500gm and the other one RMB800 per 500gm. When we told her we were not interested as the price was too high, she told us to pay RMB20 per cup of tea – Allan was really upset and made it known to her and to the driver. Oh well, I’d rather spend a bit more paying for a cup of tea in a proper tea house where I KNOW I am going to pay for the tea than to be tricked like this!
The next day we went to another place and we realized they had the same trick there too – this time we made it clear that we were not interested to buy the tea but they still insisted we tried the tea, Allan tried it to see what would happen after that and ………… guess what? the lady also tried to ask us for some money……… we just walked away!
(All pics, taken by Allan – except the first one)
The West Lake is a great place to just walk and walk and walk. Other than that, you can take a cab or a bus to the 10 traditional tourist spots, pay the entrance fee and see all the re-constructed places or the last way to explore the west lake is to take a ferry to the 3 islands (2 of which are man-made) and just enjoy the ride. There are also 10 newer tourist attractions on the west lake but those are a tad over rated. Found out that although Hangzhou is an ancient city, most of the ancient buildings and cultural treasures were wiped out during the Taiping rebellion in 1861. Sad 
We enjoyed just walking, taking in the fresh air (until a man with a cigarette passes by) and feasting our eyes on the wonders of nature.
There are pieces of fluff flying all over the place and we found out that it came from the weeping willows – (photo below)
One of the many pavillions along the west lake
Colours a-plenty
This looks so peaceful and quiet but the conversation was far from it.
Allan: Don’t move ah
Me: Don’t take side profile – not nice one!! (After a while) Finished or not??
Allan: Wait, wait, wait
Hee! Hee! Hee! So Don’t believe everything you see
The sun is up by 5.30 am – we made a mistake of not drawing the curtains and I thought it was 9.30am at 5.30 in the morning. This sunset was before 6pm
Noticed this church building from the side alley at Wushan Square
XJ would have done a fantastic job taking pictures of these lanterns
The modern and the traditional - drawn together by modern technology
Traditional Chinese peep show Will put up a video later
The artist responsible for our scuplture
the back and side alleys are clean and safe
Spinning/weaving machine
Wushan Square main street
All the buildings here have been turned into shops
Typical old building
We flew to Hangzhou on Air Asia zero fare – still had to pay <RM600 per head – OK la – good deal
Hangzhou is a friendly city with good facilities at the airport – can go shopping straight-a-way and leave your heavy luggage at the “slocker”
‘We stayed at the Hangzhou Southline Hotel, just one or two mins walk to the West Lake, BUT cannot see the West lake from the hotel. Cost us RMB288 for Mon night and RMB318 for Thurs night, they serve breakfast too, had HOT orange in a CHINESE TEA CUP. For hotels on the shores of the lake, you might want to try the sofitel for RMB1388 per night
First stop was Wushan Square……….
Needed to pee – so went into big, strong and friendly McD to use their toilet………….
was amazed that this Mc D had chandeliers!!!!
Had our bust made for posterity – just sit there smiling like an idiot for 15 mins.
Didn’t know that the sculptor specialized in plastic surgery as well – he gave me a nose job – you should see the end result – I have such a high nose bridge! Oh, and he even asked me if I wanted to look younger – (of course I said “no” – haiyah – no need to ask la)
This man is supposed to be the other man’s student – we were told.
Temperature was between 12 – 19 C
Cotton making machine
Old meets new – ATM machine in the wall of an old building
More coming soon…………….
Its been like this almost every saturday! Traffic as far back….. and as far ahead ….. as the eye can see!!
and then there’s the traffic jam that’s caused by humans ….. kay-po (busy bodies) humans to be exact!
This is NOT a traffic jam – YET……….. these cars are actually not caught in a jam- they are causing the jam because they are all parked along the emergency lane of the highway……why? because the drivers just stopped at the side, got out of their cars (yeah, about 15 owners or more) ………to go check out an accident.
There were so many cars parked at the side, I think the ambulance would have a tough time getting through Pathetic!
Saw this notice at the visa section of the chinese embassy when I went to collect my passport.
Watch Davis making triangular shaped sushi for us.
Promised you in the last post that I will reveal the hidden ingredient in those lovely looking sandwiches – well it was wasabi – view the reactions
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