ShanghaiMamas

Hangzhou

Thursday, July 3rd 2008

Author:  albalagot

 

At the very last minute, our family decided to get away for the weekend. We decided on Hangzhou as we had heard such lovely things about it.  We called the night before our departure to rent a car and driver – a choice we were quite happy with.  Hangzhou has so many people and crazy traffic, and we do not speak Chinese well enough to get by.  Having our own car and driver at our beck and call added key flexibility.

 

The driver picked us up on Saturday morning at 9am. The drive there was entirely uneventful. I had looked forward to seeing the landscapes of China, but the drive from Shanghai to Hangzhou looked the same everywhere. We all napped, and I woke up in Hangzhou to a hustling, bustling city! I thought had expected a quaint little town with a big lake - guess I didn’t do my research. This big city holds plenty of businesses, big buildings and TONS of traffic. To reach Xi Hu (the lake), we had to drive through the city; but once there, it was much more what I expected.

 

Our first stop was lunch - Louwailou Restaurant - noted as Hangzhou’s most popular restaurant and highly recommended by others. Louwailou definitely is popular… we had to wait about 30 minutes for a table. We ordered Dong Po pork - fatty pork in a sweet/salty sauce, very yummy. Next we ordered beggars chicken. The waiter delivered it on a cart, and ripped open the newspaper and plastic it was cooked in to reveal a whole chicken in a soy sauce that was so tender it fell off the bone as you grabbed it. We also had the West Lake fish in a sweet vinegar sauce. I’ve never seen my husband attack a fish like that before - he was digging for every last morsel, and it was a decent sized fish. We were very happy with our meal and quite full after.  Our driver met us at the door and began the fight through horrible traffic to find our hotel.

 

We stayed at the Lakeview Hotel, mainly because it had a good location with a reasonable price. We only had to cross the street to reach the lake, but we were also close to food and shopping in the city. By mid-afternoon we had checked in, and were headed to the lake.  It was a gorgeous day - sunny, but brisk and cool. We headed down the path surrounding the lake, and found it amazingly crowded. There were lots of walkers, bikers and even a little tram that drives you around the lake. A bike would have been nice. Despite the crowds, we had a lovely walk and ended up in a little park area where we lounged and played. It was a great spot to picnic, and gorgeous watching the sun set over the hills behind the lake. If there weren’t so many people, it would have been perfect.

 

After the park, we headed to the Lei Feng Pagoda. It’s a newly constructed 5 story pagoda built on the site of the original pagoda. Traffic caused us to reach the pagoda after dark, but its open late and the 360 degree view of Hangzhou at night was quite spectacular.

 

Since we were only staying one night, we wanted to visit the night markets at WuShan Lu, and although we spent 1 hour there, I wish we had more time. We bought Longjin Tea - what the town is well known for - pashmina scarves, a pearl necklace, and a bunch of gorgeous Chinese lanterns and knick knacks. We could have spent a lot of time there as it was huge and never ending. It seems that the market also operates during the day, but it was definitely bustling at night.

 

By 8:30, we were back in the bumper to bumper traffic headed to our hotel.  The room was fine - 2 single beds and an old bathroom, but overall fine for a short stay.

 

The next morning’s breakfast was quite a nice spread, with a good mix of Chinese and Western food. We were quite happy with the selection and got a good breakfast to start the day.

 

We began the day at the lake. They have boats where a man will row you around for 80RMB, and row boats you can manage on your own, with others you can peddle. Looked like fun, but we wanted to explore the islands. We took a small boat to two picturesque islands and got some beautiful pictures.

 

Next stop was Lingyin Temple - a huge park with a few temples inside. We could easily have spent an entire day in there - there’s so much to see. The temple was not really stroller friendly as there were a million steps to get into the temples and halls, each one on a hill behind the first. My daughter and I skipped the steps and hung out on the base floor. The temple had a huge buddha in the main hall, big statues of other buddhas surrounding it, and a mural carving of 150 figures charting the journey of 53 children on the road to Buddha-hood. This temple is one of the largest temples in China.  Outside the temple we marveled at the cave carvings. They were cool to see even from the stroller-friendly path.

 

As our last stop, we visited the National China Tea Museum.  It had nice grounds for relaxing, and is meant to have a few exhibition rooms which we couldn’t find. By 4pm we were ready for home, and after negotiating Hangzhou for nearly an hour, we reached our home around 7:30pm.

 

We do hope to return.  Next time, we plan to spend more time walking around the lake, maybe renting bikes, renting a boat, and chilling. Its like the Hamptons of Shanghai - 2.5hrs to a crowded resort area where you can find some peace and relaxation - especially midweek…

 

 

Essentials:

 

TRANSPORTATION:

Jason at ASD Car Leasing (134-7252-5956)

2000rmb for 2 full days including gas, tolls, food and accommodations for the driver.

 

LUNCH:

Louwailou (30 Gushan Rd – 86-571-8796-9023)

 

HOTEL:

Lakeview Hotel (also known as Wanhu Hotel - 2 W. Huancheng Rd.). 2 single beds with an old bathroom and a nice breakfast.

 

SITES:

Lei Feng Pagoda (stroller friendly - there is an elevator). 40RMB per adult

 

Xi Hu (the lake)

Hire a boat for 80RMB or share a 30 passenger boat for 45 RMB per adult.

 

Night markets at WuShan Lu

 

Lingyin Temple (stroller-friendly park, but not the temples). 35RMB to enter the park, 30RMB for the temple

 

National China Tea Museum

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