China 2013 : 西湖(West Lake) and Lei Feng Pagoda

Retracing my steps a little as I take a step back memory lane. A quick summary of my China trip  :

A quick summary of my China trip  :

Day 1

Hangzhou - Xihu (West Lake) - Lei Feng Pagoda - Zhongshan Road

Day 2

Shanghai - Pudong - Huangpu - The Bund - French Concession - Tian Zi Fang

Day 3

Yu Garden - Nan Luo Gu Xiang

Day 4

Beijing - Tian An Men - Beihai Park

Day 5

Great Wall of China - Wang Fu Jing St

Day 6 

Summer Palace

After a gap of 4 years, I finally visit China again - this time to 3 main cities, namely Hangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing. We flew in via AirAsia to Hangzhou and spent 2 days there before heading off to Shanghai.

After checking into our hostel, we made our wandered around the main roads and asked for direction to the infamous West Lake. West Lake is probably one of the largest lake in Hangzhou and it is surrounded by quite a number of pretty gardens, pagodas and temples. If you think the name of the lake sounds somewhat familiar, you must have heard it in Chinese poems or dramas.

Being the main tourist attraction in the city, it is of no surprise that the place it filled with visitors but given the vastness of the area, you can barely feel the crowd. One thing that surprised me was the cleanliness of the place. It was almost without trash, and given the area of the lake, this is an impressive feat. As we stroll along the park, we saw some of the maintenance workers, hard at work, keeping the tourist attraction a clean and enjoyable place.

This place is huge and perhaps, in hindsight, it's considered small compared to other places like the Yuyuan Garden and Tian An Men square. It could also be the fact that we didn't actually go around the lake so we couldn't tell the actual width of this area.

Being a tourist attraction, you would see a lot of uniformed boat drivers seeking for customers as you take your stroll. There are many taxi boats to bring you around the lake and have a closer look at the dragon monument. 

This dragon monument actually houses a restaurant and by the pomp and grandeur of it all, it must be pretty expensive. Nevertheless, just enjoying the view of it all from the opposite side of the lake seems like a good deal for me!

I visited the place in May so it must have been end of spring and some leaves are changing colours. Totally reminds me of the beautiful leaves I saw in Japan during spring. 

Continuing our 20k steps-a-day journey, we made our way to the Lei Feng Pagoda. It's actually a 5-storey tall building and there were throngs of visitors queuing to visit this place.

China amazes me with the facilities that they've put in to cater for the booming tourism industry. At the foot of the pagoda, you could actually spare yourselves from some 50 steps by taking the escalator to the foot. However, within the pagoda, you'll have to take the steps as they only have one lift to cater for the buzzing line of tourists. 

You would be greeted by the ruins of the actual pagoda which was built in bricks once you enter the main hall. Many visitors have the tendency to throw notes and coins into the archaeological finding, I wonder why.

Go all the way to the top and you'll be feasted to this wonderful snapshot of the West Lake and its surrounding, and this is only a part of the whole lake! 

Lei Feng Pagoda is also known as the Pagoda of the White Snake. Within the halls of the pagoda, over the 5-storey building, you'll find meticulous wood carving of this legend encased to depict the story.

Following the visit, we went around the main street near Wushanyi International Youth Hostel. As mentioned in previous post, this is a really touristy area and there are throngs of visitors day and night as the place is filled with street food, shops and souvenir kiosks!

Taken during the quieter times during the day. You can see from the picture that the area is very well kept and with proper landscaping done for the shops at the area. 

One of the many shops that caught my attention was this shops which has the same name as the martial art centre ran by Chinese legend, Wong Fei Hung. Unfortunately, it wasn't a martial art centre. Instead, it was a traditional Chinese medicine shop. 

Around West Lake area, people are encourage to rent the bicycles and adopt a park-and-go lifestyle. There are a few stops around the city where people can hire these red bikes and return it at the most convenient stop nearer to their destination. It's a good thing especially for people who can cycle because China is huge, and lots of walking is needed for sure! 

From afar, you can see some Lei Feng tower and just around the corner, there is a memorial park. 

This is one of the hot spots especially on weekends. There are little stalls setup for visitors to patronise as well.

The park that I mentioned earlier. I suspect this is probably another park to honour Lei Feng. This character was said to be a propaganda used by the Chinese to promote selfless and modest traits. Hence, he is popular figure in China.

There are many other narrow lanes for you to explore but do so at night, where there are more colours and life to the whole area! 

The vendors are getting ready with the stalls for the night visitors! 

One of the popular street food there - popiah skin wrap with ice cream and peanut shaved off that massive bar in the picture above! The taste is heavenly especially on a hot summer day! 

Many skillful artists also sell their craft - be it carving, paper cutting skills or drawing - you name it, you're likely to find it in China!

There are also many shops selling tea leaves there. One of the popular tea product is long jing tea. There are many shops selling the same items, and you could even see them "frying" the tea leaves at the shop. Tea leaves are sold based on their grades. The cheaper ones can be as cheap as MYR10 for a small canister.

If you're not in a hurry, take some time to roam around. Who knows, you might find some hidden gem there!

And if you're up for local delicacies, please do try the Sweet and Sour West Lake Carp (糖醋鱼).

Given that it's a freshwater fish, it's no surprise that there were lots of bones so be a lot more careful when you're savouring this dish.

And with long jing tea as one of the main local produce, you will inevitably find dishes that utilises the leaves such as the Prawn in Long Jing Tea (龙井虾仁).