Hangzhou

Hangzhou is a city about an hour southwest of Shanghai by train. My roommate when travelling through the Middle-East (see some of the early entries in this blog) had once managed the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Hangzhou.  It's famous for its beautiful lake and its tea.  When he was offered the position, he was told it was a town that Chinese people go to for holidays.  He expected a relaxed, serene city, which it probably is by Chinese standards.  However, he considered it polluted and over populated  - like so many Chinese cities are. Nevertheless the lake looked beautiful and I thought it would be nice to have one day away from the big three cities that were our destinations in China. 

Now first I have to say how impressive the railway network is. Comfortable trains out of impressive stations. And when one looked up at the indicator board, every train was on time. A stark contrast to say an average evening at London Bridge with its litany of delays and cancellations.

We walked from Hangzhou station to the lake taking in a very interesting pedestrianised shopping street. All for tourists, but lots of intriguing stalls selling all sorts from medicines to knick knacks.

Inevitably I was going to photographed next to the fat smiling Buddha. Honestly, I haven't got the ears for it.

Our walk took us eventually to a nice little park.

And then onto the lakeside itself.

 But so far I have avoided telling you the real shock of coming here. Not just the heat but the pollution. While one was conscious of the smog in Beijing and Shanghai, it was only visible. Here you could feel it in the back of your throat. And as for the West Lake itself. Well according to my guide book "Hangzhou's dreamy panoramas and fabulously green and hilly environs can easily lull you into long sojourns. Eulogised by poets and applauded by emperors, the lake has intoxicated the Chinese imagination for aeons. Religiously cleaned by armies of street sweepers and litter collectors, its scenic vistas draw you into a classical Chinese watercolour of willow-lined banks, ancient pagodas and mist-covered hills." Sounds great doesn't it? Well misty it certainly was. With all the smog too, you couldn't even see the other side of the lake most of the time.

Smoggy though it might have been, and prone to a little rain too, nevertheless there was plenty of action around the lake, including a bit of impromptu ballroom dancing. That being Thibault's thing, he whisked Jean off and away they went.

 We decided to take a trip on the lake to Xiaoying Island.

The island's most notable feature is pictured below - the Three Pools Mirroring the Moon. These towers in the lake are filled with candles in the autumn at night.

 By now it had started to rain - and there was worse to come - a real downpour. But this did at least clear the air a bit.