Today was a trip! We spent the night in the Crown Plaza Hotel Hangzou Xanadu Resort in Hangzou -- pronounced HanJoe -- and I got my first glimpse of the lake. Beautiful swans, ducks and geese swam on the lake as we ate breakfast outside on the patio. So gorgeous! Rich people must live in the houses along the shore because the houses were pretty fancy. Cool koi ponds dotted the landscape of the resort. Look it up online -- very nice. About 200 Mary Kay ladies were there -- all Chinese and all beautiful.
We then went to the Longjing Green Tea Plantation where we sat through an informercial about the benefits of green tea. For only $250, we, too, could have a longer life. Too rich for my blood -- and pocketbook. The plantation was truly beautiful and very peaceful. A 700 year old village and many of the people can trace their ancestry for all those years. Then we drove to the centuries old Lingyin Temple, a Zen Buddist monestery which had a basketball court and a 64 foot camphor wood carved Buddha, a room with 500 Buddhas and limestone rocks with statues carved in the walls. Pretty smoky from all the incense and filthy bathrooms. I miss my toilet at home!!!!
After an interesting lunch at the Lily Hotel, we took a boat ride on West Lake, where we saw many pagodas. It was cool on the lake, which was very nice since I was so sweaty. It is very humid in Hangzou -- not my favorite climate. I spend a lot of time wiping my face. Yuck!
We spent three hours on the bus to come to Shanghai. It gets dark here so early and the city is lit up like Times Square. Our hotel is the Renaissance Park Hotel -- very fancy. I am on the 48th floor and I can see this huge shopping mall down below me. Had dinner at a place called Mr. Pancake House. We had free time so another girl and I had dinner there. Should have gone to the Korean BBQ place.
Tomorrow is the big shopping day. Going to The Bund, a famous water park, then the silk rug factory and then shopping in the Pudong District. In the evening, we will see an acrobatic show -- should be fun!
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