So Hangzhou is a beautiful city that has been known as a resort village for Chinese people for over a hundred years.  It is srounded by a big river and then the West Lake!  Although it is a three hour drive away from Shanghai, the air is not even clear there! It is unbelievable. 

The town has a longhistory within China and was the capital for a few dynasties.  It is also known to have the most beautiful girls in all of China. 

While we were there (I went with my friend), we went to the West Lake and took a nice boat cruise.  It was interesting because we were on a boat with Chinese, Russian, American, German, and Thai.  Therefore, they conducted the tour in English, Chinese, and Russian (they did not have the other two interpreters).  The trip was very interesting. 

Then we went to a garden that was where the emperor use to visit for peace and tranquility. It is now owned by a silk producer.  The best part of the park was that the Chinese emperor had written the character for fish wrong on one of the monuments and I knew!!!

From here we went to the the Tea Plantations.  It is incredibly to see hills lined with green tea leaves.  The chinese people still pick every leaf by hand and inspect each leaf to make sure it is suitable.  There are not pesticides used; so if a leaf has been eaten by a bug at all, they don't pick it.  We also got to see the process that is done in order to produce the green tea.  It is quite traditional!!!

My trip ended by my tour guide being dropped off by our driver prior to me, and he turned and looked at me and said "No worries, you will not be kidnapped".  Now up until that point, being kindapped had not even crossed my mind!