Sunday 16 December

Family temple/archives/museum

The family temple interior

Following our trip to Yunnan, Frances, Charlotte, Rocky & I flew back east to Hangzhou and then by travelled bus to Yongkang, Rocky’s home town.

Rocky’ family generously hosted us for a few days in Yongkang, and then also in Hangzhou. Yongkang, although not rated as highly on the administrative scale as Quzhou, is a bigger city and appears much more wealthy.

There is a strong manufacturing sector there, and Rocky’s parents run a large company that manufactures hotel and restaurant supplies – specialising in cast iron plates on wooden bases.

While there, we visited an ancient village with a  centuries old water driven mill and a fantastic clan family temple which also a serves as a local archives and museum, and Qing Hot Springs at Wuyi which Frances, Charlotte and Rocky really enjoyed.

View of West Lake and islands

Rocky and the West Lake

We all spent 2 days in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province, an even bigger and wealthier city in the direction of Shanghai.

The weather was quite overcast and rainy which was not the best for viewing its famous West Lake. West Lake or Xī Hú is a freshwater lake is divided by the causeways and has numerous temples, pagodas, gardens, and artificial islands within the lake.

Its biggest attraction is that all of the man-made features in and around the lake were created solely for visual pleasure and enjoyment through all the seasons. It contains 10 poetically named scenic places which were the inspiration for artists and poets to create their works.

West Lake is not only famous for its picturesque landscape, it is also associated with many scholars, national heroes and revolutionary martyrs, thus embracing many aspects of Chinese culture. In addition, many ancient buildings, stone caves and engraved tablets in surrounding areas are among the most cherished national treasures of China, with significant artistic value.

Hangzhou Underwater World

While there, we stayed in a luxurious hotel (again hosted by Rocky’s parents) with a circular rooftop restaurant that afforded fantastic views of the city and lake.

We managed a visit to Hanhzhou Underwater World where we saw a very good trained seal performance.

Meanwhile, I was impressed by the many posters promoting public responsibility and personal habits and had to photograph them all!

One of a series of public education posters

Be dedicated and love your work

So, following an exciting tour to Yunnan together and a few days in Yongkang & Hangzhou, we  all sadly went our separate ways. Frances and Charlotte boarded flights to return to Sydney, Rocky caught up with friends before returning to Yongkang, and I caught a bus for a 3-hour tip back to Quzhou.