Hangzhou, we're still going!!!

After powering through Guangzhou, Xiamen, Fuzhou and Ningbo with only one day a piece, William and I decided that it was time to slow things down at our next stop, Hangzhou, and stal 2 nights! Like the previous two hostels, the one in Hangzhou was in a prime and beautiful location: right on the famous 西湖(Xihu)/ West-Lake. One of my favorite part ofs Hangzhou was that you can easily rent bikes from a city-wide rental service and return them virtually anywhere in the city. The deposit was steep at 300RMB (50US), but the hourly was really cheap. One day we rented for about 4 hours and paid 6RMB(about 90cents) Due to the proximity to the lake, we decided that we would ride around it and check out the scenery... It probably takes about one hour to circle the lake without stopping, but we took our time and stopped a few times to enjoy the sites and scenery. The second day, we did the same thing: bikes around the lake, but this time we opted to venture out a bit and check out the National Tea Museum, a wonderful choice. By the end of the day, we were both tired and William was limping due to excessive walking and biking everyday. (When you travel, you walk A LOT) Soon however, we hobbled on to the next city. Here are the pics from Hangzhou. Due to the fact that I was on a bike most of the time, I didn't take that many, sorry...

near the tea museum

tea bushes and mountains. And yes, this is only a short bike ride from the Hostel. Hangzhou is BEAUTIFUL!!!

The Tea man

At the tea museum

Pagoda overlooking the lake (from behind)

temple near the lake

temple on the mountain neat the lake

sunken canoes on the lake. 

one of the many coves around the lake

house-boat. pretty cool.

path through the center of the lake. no cars. just bikes and pedestrians. good ride

a traditional boat on the lake. 

walkway across the lake with a pointy pagoda in the background

a man trying to fly a giant circle kite. I was going to take another picture when it was in the air, but he never really got it off the ground...

spicy squid on a stick: yummy!!!