Hangzhou & Wuzhen

Andrew joined me in Hangzhou while I was there with my friend Ashley. While in Hangzhou we decided to visit Wuzhen, which according to our Lonely Planet guide was a worthwhile day trip from Hangzhou. Wuzhen is a restored and resurrected water town which has been around since the late Tang dynasty, which ended in 907. 


Feeling adventurous we dared the Chinese public transportation system. There were a few minutes where we weren't exactly sure where we would end up since our Chinese lessons aren't going as well as they should be, the signs are not in English at the bus station and no one seems to speak English. Andrew had a little more interesting ride than I since a screw or two was loose in his seat and he slid from right to left on the metal track it was attached to around every corner. These weren't five star buses, by any stretch of the imagination, but we arrived safe & sound.


After our day in Wuzhen we spent the rest of Sunday walking around West Lake, which is Hangzhou's main attraction and doing some shopping on silk street. The weather was beautiful. We had a great time in Hangzhou, it tops one of our favorite Chinese destinations.

Andrew eating a hot dog on a stick. I didn't try it, it smelt like plastic.

Wuzhen

Wuzhen still makes blue cloth as they did during the Tang dynasty by extracting indigo from pants.
Here the dyed cloth is drying.

They make their own rice wine a.k.a. baijiu.

This is what Andrew thought of the rice wine.

A pig's face for sale on the sidewalk.

The spicy fried tofu & the vendor we purchased it from.

Beautiful West Lake in Hangzhou

For some reason I was very popular in Hangzhou.
This is one of the Chinese girls who asked to take a photo with me.