Day 61 - Out and about in Hangzhou

The day started slowly today, as we spent the morning lazing around, and then spent almost an hour waiting in the heat for our bus - the only consoling factor is the Beyonce music that was blearing from the busstop stand! We had planned to go to Yellow Dragon Cave Park (Huang Long Dong Gongyuan), but after realising (after nearly an hour) our bus wasn't coming, we hopped on a bus to Lingyin Temple. The temple is in the middle of a scenic area that is filled with 470 ancient Buddhist rock carvings that line the riverbanks and hills - our favourite and the most famous - is the Laughing Maitreya Buddha, which brings a smile to everyone's face!

We started the trek upwards and reached Feilai Peak (Flying Peak from afar), though the hundreds of different paths, made it very difficult to navigate our way there - in the end, we chose the obvious route: up! Legend has it that this peak was mysteriously brought all the way from India, so we guess we country-hopped today!

We avoided entering the actual temple, due to the cost, and the fact that we have actually seen quite a few temples in China. It's crazy to pay to enter a park, and then have to pay to get into the sites you went into the park to see in the first place! We did get to see the Fayun village for free, but this wasn't much - especially when we have been in the most amazing villages over the last few weeks!

Ambling our way along the riverbank we passed all the rock carvings and spent some time enjoying them, before digging into our homemade peanut-butter sandwiches for lunch under a stunning pagoda! After this we ventured through the numerous caves, such as Dragon Pool and Green Forest caves, where we got to see more rock carvings up close and personal!
After enjoying the park, we finally made it to Yellow Dragon Cave Park, where after climbing a small hill, we were treated to amazing views of the city and lake below us. We could even spot the location of our hostel on the opposite side of this stunning lake. At the bototm we once again waited for almost an hour for our bus back to the hostel, and when it eventually came, it took a very roundabout (but interesting) route through teafields full of China's most famous green tea: Dragon Well (Longjing) tea. This bis trip meant we no longer felt the need to embark on a bike trip around the area, while we are in Hangzhou (this decision had nothing to do with all the hills, we promise!).

While back at the hostel we met our new roommates (Ollie from the UK and Devin from South Africa) - whom we had coincidentially met this morning while waiting for our non-existent bus, and to whom Adam pointed the direction of our hostel - so we all headed off in the search for cheap food. 20 minutes up the road we found a great little place, where we all had our noodle cravings' fullfilled (and the boys, their beer cravings').

After dinner, we started wandering back, but halted for Adam and Ollie to return for additional cheap beers to relax the night away with. Back at the hostel, we relaxed outside chatting with some more travellers, including Phil and Keith from the States. Keith is working in Beijing for the next year, which means we now have a place to crash there (thanks Keith!). After an hour or so, Liv returned for some peace and quiet to read her book, while Adam and the rest of the boys drunk the night away while singing along to the musical talents of Phil - who could not only jam on the guitar but had the vocals to match. Phil's talents were soon accompanied by Ollie on a bongo drum, and the rest of us were treated to Phil's original material to Ollie's beat. We say "us" even though Liv and half the hostel were in bed, because everyone could hear!

Adlibing the scenic sites of West Lake into the night.