Hangzhou 杭州

Half the class decided to take a weekend trip to Hangzhou (杭州）, a city about an hour away by train and at least two hours by car. There was more traffic by taxi than anticipated, so when we got to the train station, we had to RUN as fast as we could. Luckily we found the correct entry way where everyone was lined up. We followed everyone outside to line up at our appointed train car number. We were unaware that our car was hundreds of feet away and the train was about to take off! We had to make a run for the car and made it just as the doors were closing. Once we were on, the train moved at a much quicker pace than I would have expected.

Upon arriving at the Hangzhou train station (杭州火车站）we waited in an extremely large crowd of people for the next available taxi. After settling into our hotel, we were close enough to walk to the West Lake, a lake containing the "broken bridge". In ancient times, when there was snow on the bridge, it appeared from the distance that the bridge was split in half because the one side of the bridge blended in with its background. At night, we walked to the shopping street lit with many Chinese lanterns. Hangzhou is a terrific city with picturesque landscapes!