Hangzhou, China

First, I should admit I considered not going here at all because I had read/heard that it was very similar to Suzhou and I figured why visit to very similar destinations. In the end, though, I decided to go and I made the right decision.

The first two days I spent here I only left the hostel and handful of times and all of those expeditions were two minutes away to get some food then return to the hostel. I was feeling a little sick but just wanted to take it easy for a bit to make sure it did not get any more serious and cause me to stay in bed for more than a couple of days. So, these first two days I basically did a lot of reading, planning, and sleeping. Good thing though because my plan worked and I was feeling much better by the end of the two days, though still not 100%.

I needed to continue with my plans, however, so I toured Hangzhou on a rented bike. The main attraction in Hangzhou is West Lake. There are more than 35 lakes in China called West Lake. All of them are named after this one and with good reason. It is beautiful and the surrounding area and is stunning as well. Hangzhou also has its fair share of pagodas and temples but the other real activity to do here is "hiking" a mountain/hill. On my way back from West Lake I decided I was up to scaling a peak along the way. Now, I probably should not have done this given how well, or not well, I was, how dehaydrated I was, and how little time I had (I still needed to return to the hostel, return the bike, gather my things, and get to the train station), but the temptation was too great and up I went.

Very cool place. After about 2 mintues of walking up I could not hear another human being and, other than nature, the only other audible noises were the occasional car horn. As I got higher the horns stopped. In fact, I did not see another person until I got to what I thought was the top and then again to I got the actual top. I also discovered a ride that was designed to take people up but had clearly been abondned. I also found what looked liked houses being constructed but not furnished or occupied. Of course, I broke into a few and walked around inside but there was nothing interesting.

Although I only exlored the city for about six hours, Hangzhou is up there among my favorite destinations in China. I would very much like to return and think it would be a very different experience not only had I not been sick but if the weather was nice and the sun was shining.