Here it is, another post from the city of Hangzhou. I'm not sure why I'm writing these every day but it seems like a relaxing enough way to wrap up a day.
I got started a bit late today and as a result all of the bicycles were already rented out. So after eating a quick lunch of instant noodles I went out on foot to the zoo, which was not very far away. This hostel is further away from the city but is closer to attractions more related to landscape.
Before making it to the zoo I stopped at a small park area close to where I am staying that had a little cave to explore. It was small but had some interesting things to look at. There were a lot of carvings in the rock.
The zoo was interesting and also sort of depressing. A lot of the animals seemed to be in pretty small inclosures and there was litter in some of the habitats. I saw some really interesting looking fish in the aquarium section, with features I have never seen before. I will add some of the pictures with the eventual picture update. There was also a performance with seals which was pretty impressive. Among other things they taught the seals to catch and accurately throw a Frisbee. There were a few interesting birds as well, but I grew bored of the zoo pretty quickly and left before staying too long.
My next destination was supposed to be the silk museum but I got sidetracked. I saw a sign for Nanshan graveyard and thought I would just take a short detour. On the way to the graveyard I got to pass by some pretty large tea fields where some people were picking the leaves that were ready. The graveyard was a scattered set of pretty old looking graves. The only way to get to them was through some pretty ill defined paths through the woods. It seems like they were visited recently for the Qingming festival. There was burnt incense, candles, flowers, and some other items around the graves.
After looking at some of the gravestones I followed a path further up the hill where the graveyard was. I decide to keep following it to see where it would take me and it ended with me walking all the way up of what ended up being called Jade Emperor Hill. There was a Taoist temple on the top which was really interesting the look at. The whole building was really impressive and my words can't really do it justice. Visitors were lighting candles and throwing huge bundles of incense into a fire pit. There were also wax candles that were as tall as I am. There was also a decorative wall that people were trying to get coins to stick to, the ones that fell went into a crack where I assume they are collected at the end of the day. There is a lot to describe but I won't bore you with the details. From the temple you could see all of west lake in one view.
I then climbed down and decided I was tired and just wanted to get something to eat and return to the hostel for the day. I went to the same place to east as the first day I was here and ordered fish. It may have been the best fish I have ever had. They plopped the whole fish in front of me, I think it may have been steamed, and it had spices and herbs on top of it. It was really tender and had a good spice to it. I have never eaten a whole fish of that size before either. I wasn't really sure what to do with the head but I ate some meat out of it. I guess some people try eating the eyes but I didn't go for it.
I returned to the hostel at 7:30pm and here I am now. Tomorrow is my last full day here and I still need to decide what I want to do. Currently I am trying to decide what classes to take at W&J next semester.
Anyway that is all for now, this post ended up a bit longer than I expected.
I guess it it Easter back in the states, so enjoy the holiday.
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