Wuzhen and Hangzhou

The next stop on the China trip was a half day trip to an historic river town call Wuzhen. I'd previously been to another river town called Xitang and while Wuzhen is similar, it's also a lot more built up and developed. Wuzhen is mostly a tourist destination now, whereas Xitang still had people living within the historic area. However, despite Xitang being potentially more authentic, Wuzhen was in a lot of ways more beautiful.

The river towns are built around canals with old style Chinese buildings lining the water. They are very picturesque and even more so at night, with the water reflecting the lights.

We spent an afternoon and evening in Wuzhen, walking around and eating some of the local food. It's a pretty peaceful place to visit.

After Wuzhen, we spent the next three days in Hangzhou. I took the guys to all the usual spots in Hangzhou, biking around West Lake, the historical Hefang Street, and some of the pagodas.

Chris, Wes, and Derek at West Lake

West Lake

Tree Lined Path

Gardens and Bridge

Traditional Chinese Medicine Shop on Hefang Street

Baochu Pagoda

The Boys at Baochu

West Lake and Hangzhou

Derek and Phil at Chinese BBQ

Late Night Street Food at Baishaquan

Meat Sandwiches

We also rode bikes to the tea terraces at Longjing Village in the southwest of Hangzhou. It's a great place to relax, drink tea, and have some nice views.

Buying Tea at Longjing

Wes Preparing Tea Leaves

Line Dancing at Longjing Village

It was cool to have my friends come visit in Hangzhou and to show them around my hood. We saw a lot of cool things, ate some good food, and caught up on all the old and new.

For more pictures see:

Wuzhen - http://picasaweb.google.com/wallred10/Wuzhen#

Hangzhou - http://picasaweb.google.com/wallred10/HangzhouVisit#