Hangzhou Things to Do

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Pinhu Autumn Moon is located as a small island north of Xihu. You can go to the Island by the broken bridge or Duanqiao, then Jindai Bridge. In the Island, you can visit several attractions including:

1) Zhongshan Park
2) Gushan Park
3) Zhejiang Museum
4) Zhejiang West Lake Art Gallery

In Chinese:平湖秋月

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Changqiao means long bridge in Chinese. The bridge makes it easy for you to walk along the lake with good views. In other words, instead of walking on the street, you can walk on the bridge to make you feel like you are in the middle of the lake. And the bridge is very low, less than one feet from the water.

In Chinese: 长桥

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Leifeng Pagoda is one of the most famous attractions in Xihu. This Pagoda can be easily seen from different parts of Xihu because it is a huge building built in a hill side. This is a reconstruction building from an ancient pagoda built in 975 AD by King Qian Chu of Wuyue to celebrate the birthday of his son.

I am more interested the views from this 5 stories tall Pagoda. You can see the beautiful scenery of Three Pools Mirroring the Moon, Sudi Causeway, the whole Xihu Lake.

In Chinese: 雷峰夕照

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Sudi Causeway is a connection between North and South of Xihu bypass the busy street of Yanggongdi Road. Walking along the causeway, you can see beautiful Xihu scenery like Ruan Gong Islet, Three Pools mirroring the moon, Leifeng Pagoda, and etc.

The whole causeway is a park, benches everywhere. You can seat down to enjoy the views and have a deep breath of the fresh air.

Warning: It is a 2.8km walk. Once you decided to walk, you have to walk until the end to reach the other direction. No other short cut.

In Chinese: 蘇堤春曉

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West Lake is a famous area to see Lotus in China. Lotus starts to bloom in early June, and will last till late August or early September. Yue Lake has an example of the Lotus beauty in West Lake. The Chinese called this scene as " Curved Yard and Lotus Pool ". It was a rainy and cloudy day when I was visiting Yue Lake. The great part is that I could see the West Lake with this misty weather as painted in Chinese painting. The downside is I could not take good picture with the weather, and I worried my camera would get wet.

In Chinese: (曲院風荷)

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This is the most romantic and green place I have been to in China! A must do. Most people miss this part of China because their tour doesn't go there, what a bummer that would be! Get informed and ask if you do take a tour, a place that is magical.

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I went to a spa called Maylise de Gardelle SPA last week. It's in No 202 NanShan Rd where have oriental planes in whole way and beside West Lake.

This spa is located in a old house build in 1935 but inside of the house is so fantastic Abright and very western. I have doing SPA everywhere in the world when I traveling, this spa is very different from I have done.

If you are in Hangzhou and love spa for facial or body massage, you bet to try it.

The famous Dragon Well Tea - LongJing Tea comes from Hangzhou.

Dragon Well Green Tea suppose to help in lowering Cholesterol and Diabeties. You have to store the green tea in a cool and dry place in an air-tight container.

Meijiawu Long Jing has very light nutty aroma but made up for it with its very smooth and delicate taste and a pleasant flowery aftertaste. This tea is recommended to tea drinkers who prefer light and delicate flavored tea.

A bottle of green tea will cost 230 yuan (Gu niang Cha).

They have sales talk which teach you how to identify the tea leaves.

Tea leaves are pluck early in the morning before the sun rises.

The better qualities tea leaves are Ya She Cha (duck tongue) and followed by Gu Niang Cha (Miss/Lady). Xi Fu (daughter in law) leaves and Ah Ma (grandmother) tea leaves are lower graded tea leaves.