My weekend trip to Hangzhou has been slightly rushed due to the bad train schedule available between Wuxi and Hangzhou and the current travel peak season. Moreover, the time taken for an one-way between the two cities is at least 3 and a half hours. However, the impression I have for Hangzhou is very well. Clean and convenient.

Anyway, on Saturday, I only reached my youth hostel, which is just along the West Lake (a.k.a. Xi Hu) at around 1.45pm. So shortly after leaving my backpack in th hostel room, I set off by foot towards the southern part of West Lake. Along the way, I caught the initial sight of West Lake. And my first impression for it is a "Wow". It is so peaceful and clean with a perfect poetic atmosphere.




Then after a fifteen minutes' walk, I reached the southern part of West Lake, where there is Su Ti, a long causeway which links the northern and southern part of West Lake. Also, there is a memorial place for Su Dong-po, a famous Chinese poet as he is the reason behind the name of Su Ti. However, there isn't much to see in the memorial place, which explains why it's open to public without any charge.







After exploring Su Dong-po's memorial place, I quickly set off to walk along Su Ti. And the feeling of walking along Su Ti is really nice as I got to see the real beauty of West Lake. And there are sufficient benches and pavilions for people to sit down along the coast of Su Ti to slowly enjoy West Lake's beauty.





After completing the walk along Su Ti, I went to the nearby Yue Fei Temple. Yue Fei temple is built for Yue Fei, a famous national hero who resisted Jin invasion during Southern Song dynasty. And it has existed since the Southern Song Dynasty, with several renovations over time. Anyway, in it, you can find wall paintings, statues and other articles related to Yue Fei, and most siginificantly, his tomb with four kneeling figures of people who accused and caused Yue to be executed.







And at night, I went back to the hostel for shower and rest before enjoying a Bailey iced coffee with some finger food with a Shanghai girl who stayed in the same hostel room as me. It may sound weird, but I thought it's nice to meet youths from any country like Denmark, England or China in a youth hostel, and have some cultural exchange.

On the next day, I left the hostel at around 8.30am for Wushan Square (a.k.a. Wushan Guangchang). And I had local delicacy like Mao Er Duo, Pian Er Chuan, together with Xiaolong Bao for breakfast. Haha...the Mao Er Duo really looks like the mininature cat's ear. And the soup base for Mao Er Duo and Pian Er Chuan are just right for my taste. I feel pretty lucky to find such a familiar taste from Hangzhou local delicacy.



After breakfast, I walked along the street just beside Wushan Square to take a look as recommended by my colleague, Sandy. And I bought some local products like Ou Fen and Long Xi Su to bring back home while looking. Haha, I only bought things which I think my family and friends can accept, like I do. Things which are too weird or too useless will be excluded in my shopping list.




At around 11am, I quickly took a cab to Hangzhou East train station as my train will take off just after noon. And I had green bean ice cream to cool down before getting on train to go back to Wuxi. Hmm...green bean ice cream is actually quite nice and cooling. I wonder if Singapore has such ice cream.