putting the knit in shizknitz

There’s an old Chinese saying “In heaven there is paradise, on earth Suzhou and Hangzhou“. Apparently Marco Polo agreed as he touted Hangzhou as one of the most beautiful cities back in the 13th century. I would agree, but only partly, because as most cities in the area, its been modernized to house high rises and more modern buildings. There are sections of the city that has been left green, and buildings rebuilt (most of which were crushed during the Taiping Rebellion and the Cultural Revolution) which has left the beauty of the area that once lead on for miles on end. The previously rainy weather cleared up for a perfect day - not too hot, little humidity and sunshine most of the day.

Views from the Lin Ying Temple. The place was packed full of people, even though it was a Thursday. You saw many Buddhist traditions here, including the rubbing of one Buddhist statue’s foot which was supposed to help bring you a son. There were about 4 levels of temples, all with statues of Buddha. Even with the crowd, it was a very serene place to be, I wish we could have spent more time there.

Lunch was a little dissapointing, I suppose since I was on the “English speaking tour” they decided to feed us a more “Americanized” version of Chinese food. I peered over at the Korean tour and they seemed to have some pretty good food being served. After lunch was the West Lake Cruise and fish park. Another gorgeous, gorgeous area. We saw a few people getting married - its been a trip, everywhere we go, there seems to be someone getting married, everyday.

Of course to every tour, there is an experience that is associated with trying to get you to buy something. We visited the Longjing Tea Plantation, the makers of the Dragon Well Tea. They explained the differences in tea quality and the reasons why. Their premium blend is picked in March, their second quality is in April and the least quality is in the summer time when the leaves grow faster than they can pick them. The leaves are picked in the morning by women, then hand dried by men which takes about 5 hours to dry properly. We did some tea tasting, and it really was amazing tea. The drive each way was almost 2.5 hours, which was quite bumpy freeways - every bridge had a bump (the bridge seemed to be a little higher than the freeway) and because I was sitting in the very back of the van, got the full shock of each and every one.

Last but not least, dinnertime found us at another dumpling place. People in Los Angeles know that you can find Din Tai Fung in Arcadia, but I wanted to try it right here in the homeland (well, that’s Taiwan, but at least we’re close). One big difference is that they use the bamboo steamers here - in Los Angeles, the health dept keeps them from using them and instead use a stainless steel version. It was just as good, if not better than in Arcadia. If you think I’m on a dumpling kick, you’re right. I believe we have one more place that we were told not to miss!!