Did I Mention There Were a Lot of People There?

So today was Epic Tourist Day. Or "Touruist" if we are going with the Chinese spelling but I digress- Becka and I woke up bright and early at around 8 and then messed around watching kids tv before leaving around 10am. We were watching some cartoon about sheep- the baddie was a wolf. I felt sorry for the wolf. All he wanted was a decent meal... Was a rather bizarre moment at around 9am as someone started letting off loads of fireworks a few blocks away.

We headed off to the famous West Lake, 西湖, which is a very large, er, lake in Hangzhou. It is one of the "Four Beauties" of China or something. On the way we passed a bakery and I nabbed a jam bun thing and a massive twisty doughnut. Probably not the healthiest breakfast but very tasty! When we arrived at the lake it was predictably very busy and full of tourists but that did not really spoil the loveliness of the place. It is surrounded by wooded mountains on three sides with the tall skyscrapers of Hangzhou on another so from where we were it was very green and pretty. We queued up to catch the boat to the biggest island in the middle called 小瀛洲, Xiao Ying Zhou. According to my boat ticket this means Fairy Islet but I'm not sure. However my translation has come up with Little Sea Continent so perhaps it is right. The queue was fairly long and the Chinese do not quite have such a great tradition of queuing as the British so Becka got a bit incensed by the number of people pushing in. I was distracted by the child behind who, when his balloon wasn't hitting me in the face, was wrapping himself around my legs. I didn't like this. Eventually we made it onto an old chinese-style boat that ferried us across to 小瀛洲. I quite enjoyed the ride-lakes are very peaceful places to be. The peace didn't last, however, as when we got to 小瀛洲 we discovered a good few percent of the population of China there. The island has a very unusual geography in that it is mostly made up of 4 pools and the land is limited to a strip around the edge and through the middle of these pools. Becka and I wandered around and I must admit it had been worth the journey. There were lots of old style pagoda type buildings as well as a bamboo forest and little bridges over the pools. Very picturesque. After a while we decided to try to get to another of the smaller islands on the lake. Unfortunately, as Becka had been able to go two years ago when she came, we couldn't find a boat that went there. This was a shame as the smaller islands had looked very pretty and, now I think about it, suspiciously empty. In the end we plumped for a boat to take us to shore opposite to where we had left. Leaving was not as easy as anticipated as the queue was again fairly epic. Did I mention there were a lot of people about? Eventually we shoved onto a boat (we had spurned the previous boat as we had reckoned that it could only sink with that many people on board-although I think it made it) and made port. Then we went in search of food. This wasn't very plentiful on this side but eventually we rocked up at a teahouse and perused the menu. We went for spring rolls, something with cucmber in, and a duck. The spring rolls were completely flat. The thing with cucumber was a slice of cucumber rolled up in a yellow pastry (for wont of a better word) with something... unidentifiable. It was sort of fibrous. And pink. And tasted ambivalent. The duck was served cold... with the head. All cooked in a soy sauce type thing. It was very nice although eating meat like that using chopsticks is tricky, not to mention messy, and well, it would have been nicer warm... We had a frustrating moment as there was a character on a sign warning against thieves that I just could not find in my dictionary despite searching for ages. I still don't know what it means grrr.

Then we went to see the 雷锋塔, Leifeng Ta, Thunder Peak Pagoda. This had an interesting history in that originally it was built of red brick with wooden carvings in 972. It's purpose was "to hold a lock of Sakyamuni's hair" (I think he is the original Buddha). However in 1550 it was set on fire by Japanese pirates and eventually in 1924 it collapsed. It was then rebuilt in 2002. So whilst it is sort-of new it does have a long history. An interesting fact about it is that it is supposed to make you give birth to boys. There are 7 floors and it is octagonal in shape.

The first and second floors have the remains of the brick foundations of the old pagoda in the middle. The second also had various showcases dedicated to buddhist thingies that I really didn't understand. And a shop. The third was fairly spectacular as the walls were covered in magnificent, and very intricate, wooden carvings of scenes from a myth called "Legend of the White Snake". In this legend a white snake demon called 白素貞, Bai Suzhen, transforms into a human to try to do good deeds to become a goddess. She attempts to bring rain to drought-stricken areas but promptly floods it instead. This means she can't become a goddess. Then a human called Xu Xian accidentally gets into the demon world and he and 白素貞 fall in love. Xu Xian, however, has to go back to the human world and forgets everything in the process- including 白素貞. But luckily they meet again and fall in love before opening a medicine shop. In one last twist 白素貞 gives birth to a child and is forced to tell Xu Xian her real identity. The weakened 白素貞 is then captured by a sorcerer and imprisoned in the 雷锋塔 forever. The course of true love never did run smooth...

The fourth floor had modern chinese-style paintings depicting the rebuilding of the pagoda. On the 5th were huge inscriptions in the style of the old bamboo strips used for writing. On the 6th were wooden carvings of the modern, or contemporary to 2002 as while there were skyscrapers etc there were definitely fewer, Hangzhou. The next was the top and had a fabulous gold ceiling as well as fantastic views over the surrounding city and mountains, not forgetting the lake with its flotilla of various boats, rafts and ferries. The pagoda was quite crowded- did I mention there were a lot of tourists about?

Intriguingly I seemed to be as photogenic as the scenery as I got quite a few requests to have my picture taken with the askee and his friends/family. Becka thinks I should start charging and I'm tempted to agree... This blond hair costs to maintain! We also got a few little kids bouncing up to us and saying "hello" rather proudly- as well as one who said "welcome to China".

When we exited we went down a different side of the hill we had gone up. It was all forested and had little paths through it. For some reason someone had put loudspeakers inside fake plastic rocks and was playing Chinese music... There was a little 亭, ting-pavillion, as well which had a stele inside inscribed by the Emperor Qianlong- from a couple of hundred years ago. He came to Hangzhou and liked it so much he picked out 西湖十景, 10 scenic spots of the West Lake. The 雷锋塔 was one of them and the epithet for it is 雷锋夕照-Leifeng in the Evening Glow.

Then we left the pagoda and on a whim entered the temple opposite. I'm glad we did as it was only 10元 and was virtually empty of tourists. This was very strange considering how many there were in the pagoda! It was called 净慈寺,Jingci Si, which I think means "Nothing But Kindness Temple". It had several buildings housing shrines as well as 运木古井, which according to the translation provided means "The Miraculous Well that Once Delivered Timber". Amusement.

There was a quite sad part opposite this amazing well. It consisted of 15 pillars. The temple was first built in 954 but was destroyed by fire in 1932. In 1955 the 济公, Jigong, Hall was rebuilt but then was torn down during the Cultural Revolution. The pillars remain in the hope the Hall will be rebuilt some day. It summed up how destructive the last century was for China.

The largest temple contained a statue of the buddhe sat on something. It was the largest statue I have ever seen- truly it was around the size of 6 large cars. There were more statues around the side, all made of brass or something similar, including one with eyebrows that reached to the floor. The ceiling was covered in paintings of cranes. There were yellow kneeling cushions everywhere for praying and banners hung down covered in characters. In front were offerings of fruit and flowers. Near the back were two large statues of monks-one sat on a lion, the other an elephant with 6 tusks.

The ancient temple at the top was still under construction :P Apparently most of it was built in the 1980s but it was very beautiful nonetheless. There were monks around too and I had a conversation with one that didn't involve  me going errrr. He asked us where we were from (he seemed taken aback by our answer- I don't know why) and asked if we were studying.

The whole temple was full of the smell of incense being burned.

There is a gigantic bell in one the buildings. It is rung every evening and is another of the Ten Scenic Spots, "Evening Bell Ringing at the Nanping Hill"(南屏晚钟).

Then Becka and I walked back to the hotel. We had a little detour, slightly unintended, but found a nice restaurant for dinner. I happily tucked into my thin noodles with bits of pork (maybe) but when I looked up Becka had a clean plate in front of her. She must have inhaled it or something. She ordered another while I plodded through mine. Then we carried on. We had a bit of a husband and wife moment where we argued for about 5 minutes about where we were. I was the Man and refused to ask directions and Becka was the Woman with a hopeless sense of direction. Eventually we agreed that I was right about where we were and we set off back. After a while we arrived back at the hotel safe and sound- if a bit footsore and weary! Becka headed straight to a bath and bed while I wrote this, admiring the view over Hangzhou.

Tomorrow Suzhou! I got a text from Kit, friend from Edinburgh working in Nanjing, that he would be meeting us there. Good times! And whilst there were many, many people in Hangzhou, Shanghai is apparently expecting 8 million tourists this week... This is week is one of 2 Golden Weeks where everyone gets a week off, the other being New Year. During these times, China gets on the move.