Day visit to West Lake, Hangzhou

Last Saturday I had visitors from Puerto Rico, a Chinese couple, friends of my sister, whose beautiful three year old daughter attends my sister's school. I suggested going on the new fast train from Shanghai to Hangzhou to visit the beautiful West Lake area. The train reaches the city in 45 minutes. I wasn't sure of where the new train departed but we made it to the new Hongiao train station by taxi. There now seem to be three train stations in Shanghai.

The train got up to 357km per hour. People got up to photograph the display of speed. The ride was super smooth.

The toilet flush button was the same size as the SOS button, and located near it. Guess which button I pressed first? The red one, because it caught my attention. There was an alarm but no one was alarmed. I alerted the staff in my broken Chinese but needed an interpreter to explain what happened.

Upon arrival we had lunch at a Cantonese restaurant across the train station at the base of this building. My guests were Cantonese and they were longing for dim sum.

After lunch we took a taxi to the south part of the lake. The first stop was at the Zhejiang Art Museum. Mao lounged comfyly outside, holding a rolled newspaper.

All of the artwork on display was on the subject of sunflowers. It was interesting. After seeing bronze sculptures, oil paintings, drawings, pictures and glass sculptures, we were sunflowered out and continued on to visit Jingci Temple.

Jingci Temple was built in 954 during the Southern Song Dynasty. It is one of the four main temples of Hangzhou and an important place where Zen was established in China. It has recently been restored. Above is the bell pavilion.

The first temple houses Milo and the two gate generals Heng and Ha. These are usually the gatekeepers at Chinese Buddhist temples.

The shrine to Shakyamuni Buddha.

The size of the bronze statue of Shakyamuni Buddha impresses.

Details at windows.

The rear hall and giant incense urn.

Across the street from the temple is the Leifeng Pagoda. Historically, it was built to house relics of hair of Shakyamuni Buddha. It is eight stories tall. It was originally constructed in 975. It collapsed in 1924 and was rebuilt in 2002 as a tourist attraction.

Map of the compound. The original pagoda was built at the order of a king to celebrate the birth of his son by one of his favorite concubines, Huangfei. It was named Huangfei Pagoda at that time.

This is K., with his daughter, in front of the Leifeng Pagoda.

Being able to take escalators up to a pagoda felt funny. The stories around the pagoda are so complex as to have inspired opera, films and TV series. Pirates burned it during the Ming dynasty, thinking the pagoda contained weapons. The legend has it that a young scholar fell in love with a beautiful woman, unaware that she was white snake who took human form. A monk intervened to save the scholar's soul and cast the snake into a deep well at the pagoda. The white snake-woman and the scholar really loved each other, but such a relationship was forbidden by the laws of heaven.

There are glass encased elevators to take you to the top, too.

The views from the top are expansive. The contemporary city of Hangzhou is seen beyond.

The West Lake beyond.

As one descends the stair, one can see Jingci Temple at the foothold of a hill beyond.

After visiting the pagoda, we walked along the south part of the lake and rented a motor-less boat who paddled us around for an hour.

Three pools mirroring the moon and Yinszhou Island.

Leifeng pagoda seen from the water.

K. and his daughter M. A purple and yellow butterfly, attracted by the butterfly on her hair band, flew to it. This was an occasion of many firsts for M. - first time on a train, first time to visit a museum, first time on a boat.

Her mom, A. and I.

I love this photo. The subject, light and composition turned out magical. We only managed to visit the southern tip of the lake. Now, I would like to return with a whole weekend to make a full visit to the surroundings.