Vanwarm Hotel

Hsuan Tsang at Lingyin Si.

by Guantanamera

Inside a large cave near the entrance to Lingyin Si, you'll find this statue of the 7th century Tang Dynasty Buddhist pilgrim, Hsuan Tsang, from the great Chinese epic "Journey to the West"... In the story, Hsuan Tsang, joined by the famous Monkey King, and other characters, sets forth on a journey to the wild, barbaric lands of Western China and India, in search of sutras... The real life Hsuan Tsang was originally from Hangzhou...

Three pools mirroring the Moon

by honestjohn

Look the picture, this beautifu view stands for the west lake. the view was printed in the back of chinese currency.
The three 2 meter high stone pagodas are located in the south of the Lesser Yingzhou Isle(center islet of west lake). Each pagoda has 5 small round holes. When there is bright full moon hanging in the sky, put a candle into each pagoda, you may see the candle light mingled with moonlight. thus, it was named as Three Pools Mirroring the Moon.

Bike Ride from Shanghai to Hangzhou

by crewrower

"Checking the map"

I got up one Saturday morning in October 2005 and, along with a colleague from the UK, cycled 210km to reach Hangzhou City by evening. The following pictures are some of the things I saw along the way.

The maps are helpful, but don't count on passersby to know the route! Also, the air is really bad in many parts, especially in the industrial zones which were dotted along the route. Other hazards include other people on bicyles, motorbikes and pedestrians in the road. On the good side, we had a well paved lane most of the way that cars could not access.

"This is a real workout"

I thought biking 210km was difficult, but can you imagine having to do it with this as your cargo?! (not that he was).

"Painting the propaganda"

This was an absolutely great site. We rode past this guy who was painting a sign alongside a construction site warning people that pursuant to some Zhejiang Province highway regulation it was illegal to take or purchase materials from a construction site, and that everyone's cooperation was necessary to build a good highway system.

"Biking"

Sometimes when cycling through the country, children on their bikes will want to race or keep up with you. It can be annoying, but it can also be a welcome distraction to break up the monotony of the ride. Usually the kids are on inefficient bikes (notice this big pink bike and pink flip flops on this fella), so they can't really challenge you for the long run. This fella was just about exhausted (tounge out) when I snapped this photo. I complimented him on his riding speed before he dropped back for good.

"Me on the road"

That's me in the red jersey. One nice thing about biking in China is that usually the roads have a lane for bicyclists and pedestrians. On the other hand, you need to keep your wits about you, as you will often encounter people, bikes, and motorized carriages moving in all directions. Such hazards help to break up the open road, but can be truly dangerous as these folks are often not paying much attention and are not used to fast speeds (i.e. only 20km an hour is considered fast, usually)

"More bird flu"

These ducks started running as my bike approached. There was one duck farmer watching over these thousands of birds. You can see how bird flu could easily spread among the birds, can't you?

"River traffic"

We saw boats like these in many of the tributaries along the ride, but it was especially cool to see these boats navigate this narrow waterway.

"Destination Buddha"

This photo was taken the day following the ride to Hangzhou. A fitting end for a long ride.