Two-day trip to Hangzhou

01

I have been in Shanghai for nearly 10 years. I was busy with work and almost never traveled abroad. Work has been relatively free recently, and my family just had the idea of ??going to Hangzhou, so I just went ahead and took a two-day trip to Hangzhou.

In the past, my impression of Hangzhou was nothing more than “there is heaven above and Suzhou and Hangzhou below.” But I really don’t know what Hangzhou really looks like. When I think of Hangzhou, I feel that Hangzhou is as mysterious as a bride wearing a red hijab, and I want to take off her red hijab right away.

Hangzhou is not far from Shanghai, or close. We drove from Pudong, Shanghai, to the vicinity of West Lake in Hangzhou, which is about 200KM. We set off at 7 o'clock in the morning. Due to traffic jams in Shanghai and Hangzhou, it took almost three hours to reach our destination.

Speaking of which, I would like to mention the road restrictions in Hangzhou. At first, I thought that only Shanghai had limited traffic, but I didn’t notice that Hangzhou also had limited traffic. Later, I almost violated the regulations and broke into the restricted area. Fortunately, I was nearby. An experienced driver reminds me.

I checked Hangzhou’s travel restrictions using Baidu on my mobile phone. Hangzhou’s travel restrictions are among the most complicated. I read it twice, but I didn’t understand it. Finally, I got a rough understanding based on the feedback from netizens.

Hangzhou’s travel restrictions have the following meanings:

In short, Hangzhou’s travel restrictions require repeated consideration and are too challenging for us outsiders. My license plate number has long been bound to my navigation app and updated in a timely manner. However, the map APP does not have any reminders or feedback. Again, it’s better not to drive if you can.

02

The time when we came to Hangzhou is supposed to be the off-season for tourism, which lasts for years and months. However, Hangzhou is a famous tourist city after all, especially the West Lake Scenic Area, with an unexpected amount of people. Our imagination.

Before departure, I booked the hotel in advance. This detail is very important. Book a hotel in advance and park your car directly at the hotel after arriving in Hangzhou. You will basically not need a car for the rest of the short journey in Hangzhou. Since I am not familiar with the route, I have to consider traffic restrictions when driving. Secondly, parking by car is too difficult and expensive, and the efficiency of self-driving in urban areas is far inferior to that of buses, subways, and even small yellow cars.

Facts have proved that for short journeys, especially for visits to scenic spots around the West Lake, yellow cars are the most efficient.

When traveling to Hangzhou, to put it bluntly, it is for the West Lake. Naturally, the hotel was booked very close to West Lake. A group of us parked the car at the hotel, completed the formalities, and walked for about 5 minutes to the edge of the West Lake.

That day, the weather was very good and the temperature was not very high. Although the tourists on the edge of the West Lake could not be said to be a huge crowd, it was still a busy scene. Listening to the accents, they are basically foreign accents, mostly northern accents. And most of them are uncles and aunties, haha, this is also in line with the situation of my country's tourism market - the tourism market is most of the time a market for uncles and aunties.

There are ten famous sights in West Lake. Here I will focus on a few that impressed me deeply. The first is Three Pools Reflecting the Moon.

To put it bluntly, Santan Yingyue is a small island located in the middle of West Lake. It needs to be ferried from the shore of West Lake. There is a special cruise ship, and the ticket is quite expensive, 70 yuan/person.

The scenery on the island is very good and is known as the first scenic spot in West Lake. . The main attractions are "Kaiwang Pavilion", "Leisure Terrace", "Panthian", "Yingcuixuan", "Flower and Bird Hall", "My Heart and Heart Pavilion", "Quqiao", "Nine Lions Stone", etc.

Three The scenery of the pond reflecting the moon can also be seen reflected in the RMB one-yuan banknote. That’s right, this is the scene in Banknotes.

03

After visiting Three Pools Reflecting the Moon, a group of us took a boat to the second attraction - Leifeng Pagoda.

I won’t go into details about the story of Leifeng Pagoda. However, the current Leifeng Pagoda is not the original Leifeng Pagoda. The current Leifeng Pagoda is newly built on the basis of the ancient pagoda. You can still see some ruins when entering the tower. Leifeng Pagoda also requires tickets to enter.

To enter the first floor of Leifeng Tower from the ground, you can take the elevator directly, which can save a lot of effort. The pagoda has five floors, and there are introductions about the history and Buddhist culture of Leifeng Pagoda. Of course, souvenirs and merchandise inside can be seen everywhere, and it is full of commercial atmosphere. Overall it's still worth a visit.

04

The third attraction is----Yuewang Temple. ? The Yuewang Temple is a place that commemorates the national hero Yue Fei in the past. There is a statue of Yue Fei in the temple. Yue Fei's heroic deeds can be visited in just a short time. Generally speaking, it feels like a patriotic base. Yuewang Temple also requires separate tickets to enter.

After leaving the Yuewang Temple, we continued to circle around the West Lake, alternating between yellow carts and walking. Broken Bridge, Pinghu Qiuyue, Huagang Fish Watching, Quyuan Fenghe, basically all the scenery around the West Lake has been seen.

At this time, it was getting late. We were walking slowly towards the hotel and were already discussing what to eat for dinner.

When you come to West Lake, when it comes to food, of course West Lake vinegar fish, Dongpo pork, and beggar's chicken are indispensable.

We turned on our mobile phones and searched for a while. After discussion, we selected a restaurant with high reviews from diners - Zui Qifeng.

I have to say that the location of this hotel is really good. It is right on the edge of the West Lake. You can enjoy the scenery while eating. The decoration of the restaurant is quite high-end. Since we ordered all the must-order Hangzhou specialties, the food was served very quickly.

However, from a personal perspective, I really don’t like the taste of the food. Every dish is full of sweetness. The vinegar fish and Dongpo pork are so sweet, even the fried vegetables have a faint sweetness.

But this doesn’t mean that the food is not delicious, it can only be said that I am not used to it. Who knows that we are from the north, haha.

After a while, we had enough food and drinks, and the consumption level was not bad, about one hundred yuan per person.

After we came out of the restaurant, it was completely dark. We went to the Broken Bridge of West Lake to watch the night view of West Lake. At this time, the Broken Bridge was full of people, and the excitement was no less than during the day.

The West Lake has its own scenery at night. Looking around, there is a water musical fountain show going on in the distance. The water jets sprayed out, combined with the colorful lights, are very spectacular. I suggested going over to join in the fun, but the others were too far away and tired, so they had to give up.

The first day of the trip almost ended like this. Lying on the hotel bed, it was so tiring.

05

We got up early the next morning. Today’s destination is another scenic spot in Hangzhou - Songcheng.

What Songcheng is? You can roughly infer from the literal meaning that it is a city about the Song Dynasty. Yes, it is indeed. Songcheng is located at No. 148 Zhijiang Road, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province. It is an antique architecture theme park in Hangzhou.

Before coming to Hangzhou, I checked the Hangzhou guide on the Internet. Many netizens have always recommended that when you come to Hangzhou, you must visit Songcheng. This is a worthwhile trip.

I didn’t take it seriously at first. I also got a general understanding of Songcheng from the Internet, and I felt that it was nothing more than an ancient town or city. There are so many ancient towns across the country, they are basically the same, Songcheng is still the same.

When I bought the tickets for Songcheng, I hesitated for a while. The tickets were indeed not cheap, 290 yuan per person, and it cost 310 yuan to buy them from the entrance of the attraction on the same day, but I finally bought it.

However, I can now proudly say that my trip was indeed worthwhile. Songcheng left a deep impression on me and my family.

Judging from its scale and style, Songcheng is indeed targeting the national and even global markets. Huge parking lots and tourist buses from various provinces and cities abound, and there is still a steady flow of people in this off-peak tourist season.

The street buildings in Song City are basically modeled after the ancient capital of the Song Dynasty. Those who have read "Water Margin" must be quite familiar with the shops in Song City, including Sun Erniang's human meat buns. Shop, Wu Dalang's cooking cakes, Wang Yuan's family throwing hydrangea and so on.

Street after street, there are various old workshops, shop owners, and clerks all dressed in ancient costumes.

There are tofu shops, oil pressing shops, wineries, rice cake shops, tea houses, restaurants, dyeing shops, clay shops, inns, and various street performers. The food produced in those workshops is not just for tourists to see, but for tourists to eat. However, it is not free. You need to pay, but it is a bit expensive.

At noon, our group ordered a few dishes at a restaurant in Songcheng, which was three dishes and one soup. The cost was about 200 yuan. It was not cheap, but it was not very expensive either. The taste was great. It's just so-so, haha, maybe it's because northerners are not used to Hangzhou cuisine.

In Songcheng City, technology was used to activate "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" on a nearly 200-square-meter screen. Through the combination of dynamic environments, busy water transportation, noisy markets, and peaceful The vivid representation of the house and the alternation of day and night shows the urban style of the prosperous Song Dynasty.

In Song City, tourists can also rent Song Dynasty clothes for free and wear them. People walking on the street were all dressed in ancient costumes, which really echoed the slogan of Songcheng - being in Songcheng, it feels like a world away, give me one day, and I will give you a thousand years!

06

The most commendable thing here is the performance in Songcheng------ Songcheng Eternal Love. The slogan "Eternal Love in Songcheng" is a must-see performance in your lifetime. At first, I thought it was a bit bragging. It was just a performance. It was so exaggerated.

After watching the nearly one-hour performance, I was shocked. "Songcheng Eternal Love" is indeed a must-see performance in a lifetime. I think this is why the tickets are so expensive.

The eternal love of Songcheng can be said to be the soul of Songcheng Scenic Area in Hangzhou. The performance uses advanced sound, light, electric technology and stage machinery to interpret the hardships of the ancient people of Liangzhu and the Song Dynasty in an unexpected way. The splendor of the imperial palace, the tragedy of Yue's army, and the eternal masterpieces of Butterfly Lovers and White Snake Xu Xian vividly represent the silk, tea leaves and misty rain in Jiangnan, giving the audience a visual experience and a spiritual shock.

The performance level of Songcheng Qianguqing can definitely be said to be top-notch performance level, without any sloppiness.

I won’t say too many words of praise. Seeing is worth hearing a hundred times. I highly recommend that you must go and see it when you come to Hangzhou.

After watching the show, we took another walk around Songcheng City. It was already 3:30 at this time. Due to the elevated traffic restrictions on foreign license plates in Hangzhou at 4.30 pm, we had no choice but to leave the city.

Songcheng is neither big nor small. If you want to see every scenic spot and every story, it will be a very busy day. I originally wanted to enjoy Songcheng at night again. The beautiful scenery, it's a pity that I didn't have the chance this time, I will come back next time if I have the opportunity.

07

After leaving Songcheng, our group went directly onto the elevated highway and headed home.

Although the two-day trip to Hangzhou was very tiring, I gained a lot of insights. Sometimes I also think about what we work for. In the final analysis, it is not just for life, but to make ourselves and the people around us happier.

In the evening, standing on the edge of the West Lake, no matter how much traffic and traffic is behind you, it is noisy. Looking at the calm water of the West Lake, my heart becomes calmer, and watching the setting sun, small islands, pavilions and pavilions reflected on the calm lake. This scene reminds me of a poem----- To Compare the West Lake to the West Lake , light makeup and heavy makeup are always suitable.