Hai Wai Hai Baina Hotel

Meijiawu Tea House and Garden of Teatree

by honestjohn

Hangzhou is famous not only for the West Lake, but also for the dragon well tea(Long Jing Cha). Tea Culture is very dominant. Tea house is everywhere in the city. I advice the town of Meijiawu for your must visit if you are interested in the tea culture.
Meijiawu Town is located in the southwest suburb of Hangzhou, 20 to 30 minutes by taxi, surrounded by greenly covered hill, tea tree planted on the terrace makes a very beautiful view. wonderful!, you can drink tea in the open area and enjoy the beautiful rural scenery. After drinking tea, you can climb the hill and merged yourself in the dense tea trees on terrace. it's a very interesting and wonderful experience you'll never forget!!!

Hangzhou & West Lake

by Mez77

"What I thought"

I really enjoyed our trip to Hangzhou, despite the logistic nightmares that we encountered. As we had 4 days in Shanghai prior to our tour, I really wanted to get out of the city and see some more of the countryside. After researching on the internet prior to departure, I figured Hangzhou was the ideal candidate for a 2 day sidetrip. In theory it was only a 2 hour train ride from Shanghai (refer to tips). When we finally arrived, my impressions of the city were that it is the summer retreat for the wealthy. It was neat, clean and the housing was new and luxurious. Even the taxis were upmarket. There were bars and cafes along the main strip which almost gave the impression of a European town. However the food and drinks served in said bars and cafes is not what one would expect from a European town. The town (In truth a city of 6 Million, but your sense of size gets warped in China) is centred around the main street which follows the curve of the West Lake. Truthfully, the West Lake was in my top five favourite places in China. The natural beauty is simply stunning, and because the town is wealthy, they do their best to keep it clean and in pristine condition. We took a boat trip across the lake which was well worth the money. The trip stopped in the centre of the lake at 'Three Pools Mirroring the Moon' where there were some beautiful gardens and we had another unsuccessful experience with sticky rice. We then caught another boat to the other side of the lake so we could explore 'Flower Harbour Park'. A quick taxi ride got us to the Lingyin Temple (Temple of the Soul's Retreat). A real attraction on the way to the temple is a limestone cliff, called the 'Peak That Flew from Afar', so named because it resembles a holy mountain in India which has seemingly been transported to China. Absolutely stunning! The Lingyin Temple is a buddhist monastery which is set in the mountains with the trees swallowing up the buildings. We were lucky enough to experience the monks' afternoon prayers. They are a noisy affair! During the mornings alongside West Lake, the older Chinese are out in their hundreds performing Tai Qi. It is worth getting up early to enjoy this magnificent part of the day.