Hangzhou

Last weekend I went to Hangzhou. Hangzhou is a city about 2 hours from Shanghai via the train. I went with my friend Jackie and other friends from the British International School. Hangzhou is a perfect picture of East meeting West. It is famous for its beautiful lake, and by the pictures you can see how beautiful it is. It is also one of the few places in China that survived the Cultural Revolution so there are many temples and relics from the past that remain in tact. The Lake is know as West Lake and on one side of the lake are the areas that contain the temples, pagodas, etc. and on the other side a city has been built up with high rise buildings, Starbucks coffee shops, Porche and Mazzarati dealerships, and other stores and buildings showing how commercialism has crept into China. However, the lake was gorgeous. It was the first time since I have been in China that I got to actually see the sun set. It made me realize how much I miss sunsets over the ocean. In the morning I got up early and walked around the lake. In the morning the locals wake up early for their morning exercises. The exercises were fun to watch because groups of young and old gathered in groups of two to twenty people and did thai chi, sword moves, aerobic type routines, etc. Also, a few men did water calligraphy where they had these sticks with a rag or brush on the end and they would writed the calligraphy on the cement. I got pictures of one man (I actually kind of made friends with him and he took pictures of me taking pictures of him doing calligraphy and he gave me a tissue with calligraphy on it) but I am waiting to get the pictures back form my friends camera because my battery died.

Over all the weekend was perfect. It was fun and relaxing and beautiful with some crazy moments mixed in. I think the highlights included watching the sunset, going to this crazy dance club that had techno trance music and a bouncing dance floor, and then the next day going to Starbucks and having coffee while just sitting at the lake and people watching. Hangzhou is a place where is anyone visited I would be sure to take them there.