A much-needed escape from Hangzhou!

9.23.2016-

     Many people in China might call me crazy for saying this, but "it was time to take a break from Hangzhou." There is a saying in Chinese that goes,  "上有天堂, 下有苏杭" or "Just as there is paradise in heaven, there are Suzhou and Hangzhou on Earth." .However, I've lived in this city now for over a year and I've seen almost all the famous places (from tea fields to broken bridges) and during our 3-day holiday for the Mid-Autumn Festival I made plans with my husband to travel somewhere new!

Broken Bridge in the snow, photo by the Hangzhou Tourism Commission

     Our destination was the city of Tonglu, an hour-and-a-half bus ride away and the perfect distance for a weekend getaway. Upon arrival, I learned from my husband, Lu, that even at an hour-and-a-half away, it's still part of Hangzhou! (And he calls Hangzhou a small city....) Well, even if we were technically still in Hangzhou, at least the scenery was different!

     Although the city was much more developed than I had imagined--read high-rises and several new shopping malls--most of the city was much older and slower-paced than "our" Hangzhou. Lu commented that the streets felt like Hangzhou proper did when he was still a small child (over twenty years ago.) People sat out on the streets playing poker or chatting with neighboring tenants while mutts of every shape and size poked around looking for scraps to eat.

Rainbow paradise

The first big view inside the caves

 
  The first day of our trip we checked into our hotel room, dropped off most of our stuff, and headed to the bus station to take a bus to the famous "Yaolin Wonderland" caves. It's a fairly new attraction, having only opened to the public in 1987! These limestone caves were definitely the high point of our trip~With an overall area of 28,000 square meters and over a kilometer deep, this cavern was much bigger than any other I had ever been to! It was also the most colorful place underground I have ever been to! Every hanging stalagtite and stalagmite tower was lit up with rainbow lights. Although giant snaking electrical ropes occasionally came into view on the sides of the path, the lights themselves were well-hidden within the formation's nooks and crannies giving the cave a truly magical feeling. If I had known this existed last year, I would have wanted to take some of our wedding photos at Yaolin! ^o^

Deep in the caverns

A dark portrait

Looks like candy

Entering the cave  

     The entire, hour-long journey inside the caves was a joy (aside from dodging the tour groups that occasionally came upon us) and it felt wonderful to be in a cool 55 degrees while outside was still hot. Most of the cave was peaceful and we enjoyed the intensely humid, dank air down below. Unfortunately, during the last 20 minutes of our spelunking, the air became thick with cigarette smoke, even to the point of giving me a  headache. It turns out there was a "lazy-river" inside that was manned by a bunch of old men who had nothing better to do than give themselves lung cancer and stink up the entire region with smoke.

     Once we had seen the whole cave (and I had taken a TON of photos) we went back to the hotel for a quick break before dinner. Lu did his research and found a highly-reviewed restaurant, and he was looking forward to eating some local fish. We picked the type of fish we wanted and had it made into a fish-tofu soup with lots of ginger. It was quite delicious. We also ordered some fried potatoes and tofu.

Potato balls

Green peppers always surprise me with their spiciness! (This is tofu)

The fish-tofu soup with lots of fresh ginger

     The next day, we went to Dajishan National Forest Park. It is famous for its waterfalls and clear waters. Although I thought the waterfalls were a bit hyped up (a lot turned up to be man-made dams!) the water was undeniably pretty. It made for a nice several-hour hike winding along the river through the forest. There were so many spots, although accompanied by "DO NOT SWIM" signs, had it been a hot day, I would have jumped in! The lower pools also had koi swimming in them making them even more picturesque.

The beginning of the hike

The pathway alongside the cliff

The beautiful blue pool behind the dam

Hungry koi patrolling for food

There were numerous pavilions along the way-this one was almost in the river!

The biggest waterfall (and the end of the hike!) which was surrounded by butterflies

     I enjoyed watching Lu trying to navigate across boulders and rope bridges along our journey. He's not used the kind of "hiking" that comes to me second-nature. In fact, after this hike, he promptly decided to buy some knee braces. I think he finally realized that marrying me meant several things:

1. hiking is my preferred mode of relaxation
2. cheese will somehow be in our food
3. I will take a thousand pictures wherever we go

     After just managing to snag a taxi dropping off a few tourists (there really weren't many people coming up that morning) we asked the driver for her advice on what to do in the afternoon. (Well. what I really mean is, Lu did.) She suggested a temple on the other side of town and even dropped us off at a good place to get lunch. I ordered some amazing fried noodles from a middle-aged woman running a teensy restaurant. Imagine your American-Chinese food "chow mein" but ten times better. It was seriously good. So, with our bellies full, we set out across the bridge and up the trail to the temple. I was expecting a much harder hike, in all honesty, but it must have taken a total of ten minutes to reach the top.

The walk to the temple

This type of pagoda is solid instead of hollow

     We sat down to admire the nice view of the city from the pavilion on top of the hill but that only lasted until the mosquitoes found our lactic acid-producing bodies! Entranced by the teahouse nearby, I started to walk over, to see what was inside. As I was walking, I found myself distracted by a big bell with a big beam hanging on a rope. As I have been to many Buddhist temples before in Japan and China, it wasn't the massive size of the bell itself that caught my eye, it was the fact that the entire beam and all the surrounding structure were covered in red ribbons, making it look like an important place. I went over, and sure enough, there were messages written on each ribbon.

Red ribbons everywhere!

Pavilion overlooking the city and the Fuchun River

      A woman came out of the teahouse and started talking to me-but I didn't understand what she said. She motioned to the ribbons and asked if I wanted one. At this point, Lu's $ radar kicked in and he came over to see what was happening. Sure enough, the ribbon would cost me a few dollars. I said, sure, I'll buy one and opened my wallet. (This is the difference between American me and my husband, who definitely would have tried to bargain for a lower price. I know better not to bargain when it comes to religious establishments!) We pondered what to write on the ribbon. "Let's just write something good about our marriage. How's that?" Lu agreed and thought of a good idiom to write. He typed it out on his phone and I precariously copied it onto our new, red ribbon in Chinese.

     The attendant told us that we also needed to decide how many times to ring the bell. Three, six, or nine times were all lucky combinations so that our wish would be fulfilled. I decided six and we started our loud rhythmic tolling. After we finished, we both not knowing what to do, looked at each other, clapped our hands in the Japanese fashion, and bowed. I found a good place on the railing for our ribbon and tied it into place. The woman then told us that we needed to pay for ringing the bell six times. Apparently the price is dependent on the amount of times you ring the bell. Oh well, another trap that I fell in!

     Anyways, we had a really nice break and got to play "tourist" in a different part of Zhejiang Province. As much as I love the sights in Hangzhou proper, getting out of the urban mess and into a smaller city with nature around really improved my mood.