One day trip in Hangzhou

The next day, (26/3/06) we started our one day trip in Hangzhou from Yue Wang Temple. This temple was dedicated to Yue Fei, a national hero during Song Dynasty. He was a general fighting with Jin (ancestor of modern Manchu) and was framed and persecuted by his fellow colleagues.

A camphor tree in the courtyard of Yue Wang Temple -- according to the local custom, once a girl is born to the family, her parents will plant a camphor tree for her in their courtyard, because camphor wood is one of the best wood to make a wardrobe, they will cut the tree and give to the girl as dowry when she get married.



If it is a boy born to the family, his parents must plant a cassia tree, the reason I forgot.




Inside the temple












Jin Zhong Bao Guo -- Loyal to the country -- praising him












The statue of Yue Fei







Eating Xi Hu Ou Fen (Lotus root paste) -- how to tell whether Ou Fen is good? By looking at color. Good one suppose to be pinkish. If it is white, it means too much potato starch added, black means too much sweet potato starch added












Still eating -- it's not cheap, such a small bowl cost RMB5 (S$1)
















In front of the Mausoleum of General Yue Fei













At the entrance of the temple















Next followed by West Lake (Xi Hu). Xi Hu, undoubtedly the most renowned feature of Hangzhou, noted for the scenic beauty that blends naturally with many famous historical and cultural sites, is a huge lake with clear and tranquil water. Surrounding was lavishly green decorated by all sorts of flowers, peach, cherry, and so on. The only thing was too crowded.

Xi Hu (West Lake)















Xi Hu













Xi Hu













San Tan Yin Yue -- Xi Hu












Xi Hu











Xi Hu


San Tan Yin Yue -- Xi Hu


Xi Hu












Xi Hu


Xi Hu


Peach blossom at Xi Hu













Peach blossom



Cedar tree -- The seed was given by former American president Nickson, unfortunately it never able to grow properly, people joked about it that's the reason why the relationship between US and China would never be good




Hua Gang Guan Yu -- Xi Hu






My father and I in front of cherry blossom at Hua Gang Guan Yu West lake










Yuan -- Fate, it means marriage depends on fate



Tour guide definitely would persuade you to buy their silk local products. We were brought to a silk factory there. They promised all the products there were 100% silk. The typical one for eg. Can Si Pei (a quilt filled with silk). They had demonstration there how this thing had been made and explained this one was suitable for any season, If you used it in winter, it would keep you warm and summer keep you cool. The price was based on the weight. It's about S$50+/Kg. My uncle bought one which they claimed to be 2Kg, after coming home he found it was only 1.5Kg.

Lunch was expensive(S$3) and terrible if you joined the package.

We visited Song citadel after the lunch. It's built based on the novel "Shui Hu" (Chinese version of Robinhood). It's quite small and ticket was expensive (S$20+). Things there were expensive too. One small bowl of bean curd cost more than S$1.

Next was the tea plantation. It's famous for Long Jing(a kind of green tea) here. It was so good that the emperor Qing Long appointed it to be royal tea. The girl there demonstrated how to differentiate the different quality of tea. Tea around the Qing Ming festival was the top one, then followed by Autumn tea. Summer tea was cheaper than these two. grade one could not be found in the market. It's reserved for the Central Government. Even grade two was too expensive, it's normally exported to foreign countries Like US, Europe and Japan. Grade three was more than few thousand Sing Dollars per kilo.

After the tea break there, we went to the last stop -- Huang Long Dong, a Taoist temple which was famous for fortune telling.

Huang Long Dong -- a Taoist temple

The whole trip ended at 6:20pm unlike what the sales woman promised us 5:00pm and we had to take our own taxi to the coach station, not as what she promised she would arrange transport for us. We heard the terrible news soon after we reached there -- there were no coach available, the last left at 6:15pm.

Can you imaging my feelings at that time? I was completely new to the place with no friends no relatives there. Where could I go if no transport going home? I was shocked how that woman could do such a terrible thing to me just in order to get some commissions. In fact, in the moring we found something wrong already. The girl in our group told us she stayed in the same type of room was only charged at RMB150 instead of 200. It made me already feel not comfortable and now was even worse. We found the complain hotline number to lodge a complain but in vain. The lady (Miss Hong?) in charge was terrible. She refused to admit that the staff told us about the time of the last coach. She asked me to provide the proof. As for the difference of the price, she said it was our problem. We accepted the price the woman offered us and did not bargain with her. "Since you are happy with the price, what's the point for us to lower it down". I really did not know how to answer her. But based on my previous travel experience, I never even heard hotel price also could be bargained like buying some cheap from roadside. Well, guess that's the lesson I learned. So, remember, next time when you go there, must be very careful, everything must have black and white as I told you before the local people there were cunning and unfriendly. No choice we went back to the same hotel. ( we did not know any other hotels in Hangzhou and it was too late)

Tips: The hotel I stayed is "Dong Hai Bin Guan", the travel agent I followed is "Chang Yun Gong Si Lv You Bu". They are two different department of the same company. Try to avoid this. It's better to book your hotel in advance through the internet. It'll be cheaper.