Hello everyone!

I'm finally blogging about the second half of my summer travels in the beautiful city Hangzhou.

The first day we arrived, we spent most of the day lazing around my grandparents' home because we were so worn out from Taiwan.

The first tourist attraction we stopped by was the Liuhe Padagoda (六和塔). To get there, we rode the bus, but ended up getting off a stop too late. So, we ended up walking back over the Qiantangjiang Bridge (錢塘江橋) to get to the padagoda. The seven-story building had a long winding staircase which we climbed up (I was dying after climbing up the first staircase), decorated with ornate carvings of different creatures and plants. From the top, we were able to see a nice view of the Qiantang river (錢塘江) and the nearby park. After getting off the tower, we found a bell which my dad rung for good luck, health, and happiness for our family members.

Later that day, we walked to my dad's former university campus. I was able to see his old dorm, which is still there as a memorial. We eventually took a bus back home, tired from walking in the hot, humid weather.

The next day we rode a boat through part of the Grand Canal, which is the longest canal in the world and connects Beijing and Hangzhou. We got off the boat to get some drinks at a fancy KFC (the fast food chains there are quite nice) and then headed to the Grand Canal Muesuem.

A couple days later at night my grandpa took us to West Lake (西湖) to watch the colored fountains. Unfortunately, we found out later that the fountains only came on on certain days of the week at certain times for safety reasons. :( Just a warning, some roads (like the path we took) next to Xihu are very crowded. It would be really easy to get lost in the sea of people.

Hangzhou is seriously such a gorgeous city. If you are planning to visit China, Hangzhou would definitely be a great place to stop by.

I'll be back soon with more photos from the rest of my trip. Thanks for reading!

mel