Some Lights: Hangzhou - The Wonders in the West Lake

Sunset in the West Lake, Hangzhou

Hangzhou was our fifth city in our China trip. Hangzhou is labelled as the best tourism city in China. The free travel guide booklets which are readily available in the hotel counter are well written with clear description of travel highlights in the city and also printed in different languages to facilitate tourists from local as well as from the abroad. This clearly reflects that Hangzhou city is really steps ahead from other cities we had visited in marketing the tourism industry in the city. The iconic West Lake (西湖) , located in the western area of the city center, is definitely the brightest pearl in attracting tourists into the city. In the long history of China, there were many philosophers, politicians, and men of literature, renowned poets came to visit West Lake and this scenic lake had long been part of their creativity.

We arrived on Hangzhou in the late afternoon on 24/05. We checked in into the 7 Days Hotel not far away from the West Lake. A short walk in the night by the West Lake was comforting especially with the lively music fountain. The show was really impressive with the lights and accompanied with background musics, in both traditional Chinese and Western music.

Music fountain at night

A view of the West Lake with pavilion in the background

The size of the West Lake is amazingly big with an area of around 6.5 sq km, making the tour of a complete round of the lake by walking is almost impossible to complete within a day. We took almost 1.5 days to complete the journey. On the 25/05, we walked southward, heading to the direction of LeiFeng Pagoda, from our starting point near the music fountain.

Picturesque view with the willow trees by the lake side

The West Lake used to be called as Lake of Golden Bull, derived from the old legend. The "Golden Bull Arise from the lake" sculpture placed in the lake, with a man seen pouring the water to clean the mud over the bull body.

Golden Bull Arise from the lake

The next spot was Qian Wang Temple (钱王祠), a memorial temple to the kings of the Wu Yue kingdom who ruled this area for fifty five years (between 923 AD and 978 AD)

Qian Wang Temple

Memorial archway in front of the Qian Wang Temple

We reached the Leifeng Pagoda (雷峰塔) , one of the popular tourist spot with the scene "Leifeng Pagoda in the Sunset" (雷峰夕照), listed as 10 scenic spots of the West Lake. The five story tower was originally constructed in the year AD 975, it collapsed in 1924 but was rebuilt in 2002. The pagoda was heavily mentioned as a important scene in the popular Chinese legend - "The Legend of the White Snake" ( 白蛇传).

Leifeng Pagoda

The new site was inaugurated on Oct 2002 . We were quite surprise to see that it was equipped with escalator to carry visitors to the pagoda's foot. Part of the pagoda is converted to a display hall of the ruins of the old pagoda, and also exhibitions of many interesting materials.

Leifeng Pagoda, with the escalator

The main entrance of the Leifeng Pagoda

View of the man-made islands from the Leifeng Pagoda

Another view from the Leifeng Pagoda.

Dragon Boat

We proceeded to the Flower Pond park, a popular site to view goldfish. "Fish Viewing at the Flower Pond" (花港观鱼) is one of scenic spots in the West Lake. The Flower Pond is quite a large park (with about 20 hectares) with picturesque landscape. The rains got heavier and we were shivering in cold, walking in our light jackets.

Fish Viewing at the Flower Pond

The scenic view at the Flower Pond

The next scenic spot was "Curved Yard and Lotus Pool in Summer" (曲苑风荷). The lake view was lovely even though the lotuses had not blossomed yet. I could imagine how splendid the lake view would be in July - Aug, when different types of lotuses in blossom.

Curved Yard and Lotus Pool in Summer

On the next morning, we resumed our journey by walking towards the north, from the same starting point as the previous day, near the music fountain. Very soon the Broken Bridge was in front of us. This is listed as one of the 10 scenic spot in West Lake, the popular "Remnant Snow on the Bridge in Winter" (断桥残雪) . This is best spot in the entire West Lake for snow sighting during the winter. As it was early summer, I could only imagine the beauty of entire Broken Bridge covered by the white snow during the winter.

The Broken Bridge

From the Broken Bridge, we could also see the Baochu Pagoda (保俶塔), located just north of West Lake on top of Precious Stone Hill (宝石山)

Baochu Pagoda can be seen from the Broken Bridge.

We walked along the Broken Bridge, which is also the beginning of the Bai Causeway (白堤), During the Tang Dynasty, the Hangzhou governor Bai JuYi (白居易), who was more widely known as poet, ordered the construction of a stronger and taller dyke, with a dam to control the flow of water, and thus solved the drought problem and improved the lives for people in Hangzhou. It was also mentioned that he ordered the construction of a causeway connecting the Broken Bridge with the Solitary Hill (孤山) to facilitate walking by foot. The causeway was then beautified with plantation of coolabah trees and willows trees along the dyke and it eventually turned out to be a popular landmark in the West Lake. It was subsequently renamed as Bai Causeway, in honour of Bai's contribution to Hangzhou.

Bai Causeway

We arrived at the next scenic spot - Moon over the Peaceful Lake in Autumn (平湖秋月), on the western of the Bai Causeway, one of the 10 scenic spots named by Emperor Kangxi during the Qing Dynasty. It is currently a favorite spot for moon sighting during the mid autumn festival.

Moon over the Peaceful Lake in Autumn (平湖秋月)

Moon over the Peaceful Lake in Autumn

Our next destination was the Solitary Hill (孤山), the biggest and the only natural island in the West Lake. It is connected to Bai Causeway in the east. There are many interesting spots within the compound such as Zhejiang Museum (浙江博物馆) , ZhongShan Park (中山公园).

Solitary Hill

ZhongShan Park

Zhejiang Museum (浙江博物馆) is located at the southern foot of the Solitary Hill. The admission is free. I initially did not expect much from this visit but it turned up to be a really both eye-opening and eye-popping experience. The displays include the Hemudu culture (5,000-4,500 B.C.) and Liangzhu (3,400-2,250 B.C.). There were many precious collections in the exhibition including bronze implements, Buddhist statuary, Chinese art, and prayer inscriptions on silver tablets, coins etc.

Zhejiang Museum

Next we headed to the Yue Wang Temple, the tomb for the hero in the Song Dynasty, Yue Fei.

Yue Wang Temple

A breathtaking view of the lake

Another view

We completed the trip for the entire West Lake with a cup of coffee in the StarBucks, enjoying the splendid West Lake scenery in the sunset.

A cup of coffee in StarBucks during the sunset

Longjing Village (Dragon Well Village) is well-known for the tea plantations of Longjing tea, one of the most sought-after chinese green tea. We included in our trip a tour to the Longjing Village. We did not purchase Longjing tea here because we were told that the best quality of the Longjing tea is always sent to tea shps in town for sales to the public.

The entrance at the Longjing Village

The Longjing Village
Tea plantations in the Longjing Village