Hangzhou

The day started early in Huangshan (2:30AM): I updated my blog, uploaded some pictures from the previous few days and recharged all my various devices.

Were able to catch the 7:50 bus to Hangzhou. The journey is about 250 KM, mostly along highway. The highway is four years old, according to our driver (the highway was actually completed in December 2006). It is of a style and quality that would compare favourably to any of ours in Canada. There is however one significant difference: no traffic. Over a period of about 10 minutes I counted 10 cars, in the on-coming lane. None other than us in our lane.

After we checked in we visited the Lingyin Buddhist Temple and the “Peak That Flew Here” which has carved into it’s stones some 470 Buddhist statues and reliefs. After touring through the caves and paths we hiked the 2-3KM trail to the peak where we picked up a cable car for the ride down the hill.

Our next stop was a tea house located on West Lake near Broken Bridge. Linda and I enjoyed a pot of locally grown tea and some snacks and watched the passers-by from our patio perch.

We walled along the promenade on the east side of the lake looking unsuccessfully for the statue of Marco Polo and later for a spot to take some shots of the setting sun. We found a spot in a patio bar that served cold beer, clean washrooms and wireless Internet access. We sat and waited for the sun to be in position and when it was I dashed over to the spot and shot the setting sun.

After returning to the hotel we went out for dinner. Our evaluation criteria included popularly (i.e., number of people actually eating there) and menu. The place we chose had a special: order 50RMB (about 7 $) of food and get two beers. While I enjoyed the meal, Linda found it a bit spicy.

As seems to be our fashion these days we were up and out by 4AM to catch the sun rise. Initially we had thought we would just walk to where I had shot the previous night’s sunset and see what it looked like. We ended up walking all the way back to Broken Bridge and the along the Bridge to Zhongshan Park. Here I was able to get some nice shots of the rising sun over the lotus (unfortunately not in bloom) and some shots of the lake and city from the “Autumn Moon on the Calm Lake.” my shooting was complete by about 5:30 or so. I was surprise to see how many people were out walking, running, stretching and more. Given the number of people you’d think it was mid-day.

Returning to the hotel we packed up, ate breakfast and caught a cab to the train station for Shanghai.