Wuzhen- China

We also took a day trip to Wuzhen. It is about 1h30 mns away from Hangzhou. Wuzhen is a preserved city from the Song dynasty. It is a water city, and therefore you have to get there through boat transportation.

Once we got in the city itself, we are left alone to explore. There is a lot of tea shops, and magistrates' houses where we first got off. The city is divided into 6 districts. After walking a little bit, and crossing a couple bridges, we arrived in the shopping district. You can find a bunch of little stores that can sell handmade China dish or tea, or pointless little toys that you can find cheaper in Hangzhou. I didn't buy anything that time, expect for fish food to feed the massive amount of fish before entering the working district.

As you can see, they swimming ON TOP of each other to get the food. It was like no one had fed them in ages. The kids (and Kevin) loved it! It was the highlight of their trip. Shortly after that, we got to make little snack. Unfortunately, I didnt catch the name of the dish. It was mainly flour mixed with water, created a goey substance that they rolled in some light brown powder. It tasted like peanuts.

Here is Kevin beating the flour into the gooey mixture. The snack was actually pretty good! We had some iced tea afterwards, and walked some more. We visited a factory of soy sauce and of rice wine. I hate calling factories, because they are so old school. I took a couple pictures of the soy sauce "factory". It was interesting as we could actually touch and open the soy sauce jar.

There was a lot more to see, but Kevin's little cousin got tired quite fast. So we decided to go back by boat. We did a quick tour of the little town (The west side is still under reconstruction) and went back home.

Next stop: Mt Huangshan!

Hangzhou- China

This is the first post about China.

I am going to start with Hangzhou. That's where my first stop was, and where Kevin is from, so it seems appropriate.

I had never heard of Hangzhou before. It has recently turned into a bigger city outside of Shanghai. About 10 years ago, it was still ruled by farmers. Kevin told me a story that his father use to swim in the river, before it got so polluted.

This was barely 40 years ago. It was a hard pill to swallow. In my generation, we managed to pollute and change the life of a little city.

Hangzhou is known for Xi Hu (West Lake). It is a beautiful lake filled with legends and old people playing Majhong, practicing Tai chi, dancing and singing.

We went there at night and during the day. It was beautiful both times. Really peaceful to look at at night, and very romantic. ;)

Kevin and I enjoyed it.

During the day, people stared at me a lot. There isn't a lot of foreigners in Hangzhou, so I was a walking spectacle. People would really stop to look me up and down. I couldn't stop laughing about it.

We also went to the Lingyin temple. It is a famous Buddhist temple on the top of a mountain. We had to take a public for two hours. It was so early in the morning, that I was basically napping anyway.

It was filled with monks who actually had cell phones under their robes. It was quite ironic.

I went to the budda in each temples and prayed for wisdom, long life, love, happiness, and safety for everyone around me and my family.

It was very crowded, and people were bringing tons of offerings. They would climb the mountain with bags of fruits and vegetables to give to the monks.

After the Lingyin temple, there is also the Leifang Tower that we visited. I have no picture of the tower, because my camera got stolen. The legend of the tower is that once upon a time there was a goddess who wanted to live like mortal. She would take frequent trips to Earth. She met a young scholar on the broken bridge (In Xi Hu). They fell deeply in love. Leifang (The godess) stole some buddhist scrolls to become mortal, so she can marry the young scholar.

The monk becomes angry, and so he starts a war with her. Too bad that she can control the lake. She took her army of sea creatures and tried to defeat the monk.

The monk ordered to have locked up in the tower. They buried her under the tower.

Later her son came back and destroyed the tower, freeing his mother. She returned to the heavens, leaving Earth forever.

It was a gorgeous tower, and I really wish I had pictures to show you :/ We could see all of Hangzhou and Xi Hu.

We also climbed a mountain to another Tower. I do not remember the legends being that tower. There was a fabulous view of Hangzhou there.

There was a lot more things to do in Hangzhou but I do not have pictures, and I do not want to bore you with the little details. If you want to hear more, you might post a comment and I will do another post about Hangzhou, including Chong Se, The science museum and the zoo. :]

Tomorrow, I'll post about Wuzhen!