As far as lifestyle is concerned, for those who actually live in China, it is the best choice you can make in its home China. I am often asked by travelers who wish to remain in China as teachers of English that the city is the best place to stay, and Hangzhou is usually recommended that I do. The traditional foreign centers of Beijing and Shanghai are exaggerated: the first is tight and rough, the last of poor quality and pretentious. Smaller cities such as Dalian and Qingdao beautiful offer the types of foreign lifestyles typically enjoy, and a more attractive and compact, but are short on anything rich in China. Hangzhou has all the amenities than the others, with the addition of traditional landscapes, Chinese thoroughly heartbreaking beauty, and everything is in place, eliminating the need for bus tours two hours outside the city center, as necessary in Shanghai and Beijing.
wealthy foreign visitors are well served in terms of property – on the shores of West Lake are some of the classiest hotels in Hangzhou – Sofitel is located right on the edge of the cafe district, and the luxurious Shangri-la is within five minutes Walking over the West Lake scenic zone ride. Those on a budget choices have been covered as well – just opposite the train station several hotels with comfortable facilities, all of which you can book just turning in the door with a passport and valid visa. This area is full of internet cafes as well, so you’re never far from allowing those at home know what a fantastic place you are staying in.
I fall into the latter category and had set up in a small, pleasant room with air conditioning in the hotel Hangzhou Hong Rui at the door of the station, having gone for a walk in the neighborhood of West Lake, which had been advised by a fellow long journey to take a detour, and as a result had been captivated by ancient people in the Longjing tea, and then took the opportunity to visit the park of Nine streams and trees and the stunning Misty Six Harmonies pagoda on the edge Qiantang River. Having spent half the day on the outskirts of Hangzhou tourism arena, it was time to get back on track K4 public bus and make my way back to what is undoubtedly the main attraction of Hangzhou – the shores of Lake West.
The convenience of K4
The K4 appears to be a recent route – my map three years old, made no reference to it – and it seems to have a good number of attractions in Hangzhou. From the park area Jiuxi Yanshuo first passes the Qiantang River and Six Harmonies Pagoda before heading to the West Lake. Before I get there, however, goes to another of the attractions of Hangzhou legendary status – The Dream of the Tiger Running Spring. Located below the peak White Crane Temple on one side of Huichas, spring is said to have been created by two tigers who ran circles around the spot to bring up the water under the earth sometime in the ninth century. They were the first manifestation of a dream of a monk who lived in the temple and was about to leave for lack of running water. Mythical tigers are immortalized in a handsome statue is above the emerald waters of spring, and visitors can also enjoy strolling through the temple grounds.
If you’re more interested in real animals, Hangzhou Zoo is the next stop. Zoos in China generally do not enjoy a good reputation for animal welfare, and is said to Hangzhou Zoo, in this sense, it is a good example of an enabling environment for our four-legged friends. It is a nice place to see the pandas, especially in the green leaves of Hangzhou, the hazy atmosphere – but probably not a good place for its own pandas.
The next stop is another very attractive old pagodas of Hangzhou, Leifeng Tower. The reason seems sparkling new is because it is – if you had visited Hangzhou five years before, had seen the remains of the original which was built in 975, it resembles nothing more impressive than a pile of bricks high with holes for windows. The first tower, and reconstruction C12th/13th was much more notable, but had been damaged by lightning (like a suspiciously large number of ancient buildings in China) at some point in history, and finally collapsed almost entirely in 1924. Tourism funds allowed the municipal government of Hangzhou to rebuild the tower of the original designs stored in the archives of Qinghua University in Beijing, and the result is quite surprising in a beautiful tower is a notable feature of the show Hangzhou. Clearly visible from the shore of the lake to one side of the Nanshan Road, as well as from the catwalks that cross the width of the lake, Leifeng Tower is five stories tall and has broad eaves up and clean white panels. Needless to say, the view from the top to the tower itself is impressive, and is well worth the price of admission – not only sight but also by some dioramas sexy lady snake legend, which loved a man and transforms herself into a human form, only to die of a broken heart and be buried under the tower.
Living his life in the West Lake
K4 I got off the last time in the station Wansong Hangzhou Lu Ling moved to the night. Lu Ling Wansong station is right on Nanshan Road and is the beginning of the nightlife district of West Lake and the location of an underwater museum aquarium and a good place to stroll along the lakeside of the Tower Leifeng is clearly visible across the water. He had also been told that this is the cheapest place to hire boats to sail in the West Lake, and I set off through the green areas on the coast to find the boat rental station.
I was unlucky this time because the rain had caused the boat to close the store, and it was impossible to hire one – but I enjoyed walking on the shore of the lake and see all the decorated pagodas and bridges in the distance. I came to check the prices, which were reasonable – the car rental shop in this area, a bond of RMB100 will get you on the water, and the cost is only RMB20 per half hour – in other parts of Lake West may be paying a couple hundred for the same thing.
What struck me was something I had not seen a few years earlier when visiting Hangzhou – the proliferation of bars and international restaurants. Right near where I was walking in Wansong Lu Ling was a new night club and a great Thai / restaurant in Singapore. As I walked along the shore of the lake, told Indian, Italian and some western joints. The more roads, more Hangzhou began to look like an international hybrid, and by the time darkness fell, I was in one of the central districts of the nightlife of West Lake – Xihu Tiandi.
I really do not fully appreciate how modern Hangzhou is really until I took a walk around the hip area of Xihu Tiandi in the bottom of Xihu Dadao – the main road through the area of the city of Hangzhou. Open and close with colored lights and the glow of neon signs flashy stores, Xihu Tiandi is hosting high-profile shops such as Häagen-Dazs ice-cream and Starbucks coffee, among others, and alternative as more foreign brands like Oz-Donut and some gentle sway bars.
I’m a purist, and I dislike ostentatious shopping and conspicuous places at night with his neon excesses and bad behavior. However, when I walked through the Xihu Tiandi, I could not help thinking that these people had got everything right. The architecture reflects the traditional atmosphere without seeming tacky and plastic, and even the road to the lake seemed to be fashionable and born out of the modern age. I could not approve without reservation.
The day had been very revealing, in any case: I had been all over the city in a separate tour highlights, I had eaten the beauty of ancient and austere and modern luxury. I could not pass my night guiltily enjoying my granting a foreigner – a large cup of latte.
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