The West Lake, The Neverland

Hangzhou West Lake, a beauty, a poem, a picture. The most distinguished poet of the Song Dynasty of the ancient China, amazed by the stunning charm of the West Lake and wrote the very famous poem, “I’d like to compare the West Lake with Xishi, the ancient beauty, charming as they are, whether heavily made-up or slightly so.”, and passed down from generation to generation.

The river of time rolls on and on to today and stopped at the very same site. Sushi is no longer here, but flocks of tourists from all around the world flood in, fascinated by the beauty and the fame of the ever-young and gorgeous West Lake.

Night draws upon, lights come out. Flows of people stretch far beyond my sight. The West Lake seems more bustling than ever.

“Hey Devin, where are you? You said we meet at the West Lake, but you didn’t say where exactly”. As I was expecting an answer, my cat screamed out, so loud, loud enough to swallow all the noises of the night at that point, yet everybody seems too busy to notice that. Then she kicks on me and jumps into the flood of people, and disappear into the distance. And I’m too shocked to notice I’m still walking with my phone kept near to my ears before I even notice no one is talking on the phone although I got through.

I hang up my phone desperately. And all of sudden, I find myself on a narrow country path, so narrow that only one person can pass at a time. On the both sides of the path, lie patches of fields, dotted with some men plowing, women planting, dubbed with the melody of the moo of buffalo, and the chitchat of people. I strain my eyes and try to see further ahead, but the boundless fields seem to never end, sprawling far away in the distance where it’s surrounded by verdant lush trees that seem to expand forever and ever. I keep walking and walking, out of curiosity and out of fear, until my legs get too tired but the road never seems to show a sign of tiredness.

“Where am I? What is this place?’ I start to feel worried and afraid. A ray of delight strikes me as I think of my phone in my bag. I turn on GPS on my phone to locate myself. West Lake tourist resort area, the map shows.” “What? It can’t be! Where the hell am I indeed?” My fear grows like a burning forest, swallowing every inch of my remaining hope. My heart turns into ashes, along with it, all the pleasantness and the beauty of the picturesque fields fade away and I am swallowed by fear, stress,and horror.

Like a drowning man, clutching at anything he can grab. I suddenly think of my friend and call him immediately. The phone starts to beep. With every passing second, it beeps faster, and faster, while my heart twists tighter and tighter. My hand slides down, just as my last straw sinks down; tears burst out of my eyes, just as the flood of water drowns me out.

I don’t give up. I won’t give in. Right now psychological hint is my only motivation. My body is worn out; my will is struck down. I drag my powerless legs with my heavy feet forward step by step. It’s not the distance that fears me but not knowing the distance.

I keep crawling along the country path. I don’t know how much distance I have covered, but only to notice that the sun has rested down, the farmers have gone, the moon has come out, the stars are shining high, but I have no heart to relax down and enjoy them.

All of sudden, like in a deep dream, I was woken up by a sudden phone ring. It takes me a second before I realize it’s my phone and another second to realize to pick it up. "Incoming call, Devin" the screen shows. I slide to answer immediately like a drowning man grabbing the straw he found. I screamed out, “help me, Devin, please help me out.” He answered in a relaxed voice, “Hey, Kathy, how was your sightseeing going? Just relax your mind and enjoy your trip” His answer is complete out my expectation. But what happened next shocked me more.

I find myself standing right at the same spot where I rushed out of the car with my kitty in my arms having a lazy nap.

---Written by Katherine Xuan

When you travel to Hangzhou, Lingyin Temple is a must-do, it was built in AD.326 . It is one of ten most famous temples in China. But it is difficult to find good restaurant in  the surroundings of LingYin Temple. 

If you want to save time, you can have simple meal in the vegetarian restaurant in Lingyin Temple, it is located next by entrance area of the Temple. Here are the photo of the restaurant , it is called 十方苑. Although there are only noodles , but the noodles pretty delicious , hand-made noodles with vegetables,the specialty is Ahat noodles,20 RMB for one bowel ,see photo attached here . 

Wuzhen is one of the ancient water towns on the Hangzhou to Beijing Canal, with a history of over 1,200 years. In 1991, Wuzhen was authorised as the Provincial Town of History and Culture, so ranking it first amongst the six ancient towns south of the Yangtze river.

Wuzhen, and life within the old town, is little different today, then it was 500 years ago, only the people have changed.

Fortunately Wuzhen has not yet surrendered totally to the  almighty tourism dollar, and the town retains its history and culture. It is indeed, a living piece of Chinese history.

Unfortunately it also has its pollution problems but efforts are underway to address these issues. As an Australian resident of this peaceful town, the green/grey water is difficult to accept, but unfortunately, this is the colour of most rivers in this, and increasingly, more parts of China.

Wuzhen has two old town areas “Dong Zha” (East) and  “Xi Zha” (West). What’s the difference? The East old town area is still lived in  as it has been for more than 1,000 years.

The advantage of this, is that visitors can see people, working and living, as they have for generations. The disadvantage, is that many of these homes need renovation work, as some slowly sink into disrepair.

The West old town area is a tourist town, totally restored to its original elegance, and showing the full glory of 1,000 years of history and culture.

Which to see? See them both; they each have their own special charm.

To see some of my images of Wuzhen visit: www.wuzhen.terrywchina.com

 History Everywhere

No matter where you wander in the old town areas, east or west, the visitor is surrounded by history. After more than one thousand years, there are many secrets and surprises for the intrepid traveller.

Along with access to the many museums on site, granted via the entrance ticket; the visitor to the old town area can simply poke around, to uncover a wealth of ancient charm and history, everywhere they walk, including what must be one of the world’s largest woks.

There are still people on site, creating silk thread and cloth, the same way their ancestors have, for hundreds of years. If your stomach is ready, you can try the local fermented rice spirits, definitely designed to wake up the most frozen toes on a cold winter’s day.

Both old town areas are full of eateries and craft shops, plying their wares, as they have for many centuries. A visit to the old towns is not just to look at the beautiful old buildings and canals; although they alone are worth the visit; but to  experience a way of life still existing today, as it has for centuries.