My Escapade to China (Hangzhou) – Part 2
On our second day at Hangzhou, we had our breakfast at Starway Hotel since it’s provided in the package. I must say this hotel really does provide good value for money! At only RMB160 (RM80) per night, you get good location, good service and free breakfast! Best of all, the hotel is really cozy and quaint, unlike those huge chain-hotels that you find in city centers. This was where we had our breakfast! Complete with a pool table for us while waiting. 
Pool table at dining area
You can choose to dine al-fresco too, if you’re not afraid of the cold, that is! It was about 5C when we were there! *Brr* So, no thanks!
Al fresco dining
Indoors dining
There were about 5 or 6 set meals to choose from. The porridge was especially good! There was a serving of 3 mini buns with the set, but I forgot to take picture of those. 
The porridge was also refillable, so we ate until we were full and warm all over.
French breakfast and porridge set
After that, we were all set to walk across to the famous West Lake (Xihu) in Hangzhou!
Saucer and witch just outside the hotel streets
Walking towards West Lake
After about 5-10 minutes, we saw the beautiful lake in front of us.
Some rock formation/statue
witch at West Lake
There was this bridge that goes across the lake, apparently called Long Bridge.
Bridge on West Lake
Gazebo at West Lake
Just love the calm and tranquility at West Lake, especially during winter when there were not many tourists around.
Calm path around West Lake
The lake is so huge we only managed to walk probably 10-20% of it only.
Soya bean grinder
Saucer and witch at West Lake
Love this shot!
Saucer and I were holding a camera each and there was once he called me while I was busy snapping pictures and he caught this candid shot! *LOL*
Candid camera!
Path around West Lake
After a while, we came across this mini jetty with plenty of boats docked. We asked whether those boats were available for rent since there was no one using them. It turned out that the rental was only RMB40/hour (RM20) so we went ahead to rent one.
Boats for rent
Taking pics from the boat here!
Calm lake
Notice the pagoda in the distance? It’s called Leifeng Pagoda which is a five story tall tower with eight sides, located on Sunset Hill south of the West Lake in Hangzhou.
Leifeng Pagoda in the distance
Zhao Jie and witch <3
Seagull!
The truth about Long Bridge:
Long Bridge information board
Long Bridge
After the boat ride, we proceeded to lunch! Zhao Lei (Zhao Jie’s husband) arranged a lunch appointment with his very good friend who apparently is doing very well in Hangzhou. We had lunch in a hotel (forgot the name) and we had a whole private room to ourselves!
Hotel for lunch
Table decoration
The restaurant name (Can anyone help to translate? 
)
We had so much food that lunch that we couldn’t finish all. Look at the myriad of food we had, from cold dishes to hot dishes.
The cold dishes
The hot dishes
After lunch, our destination was to Xi Tang, a quaint town about 1 hour from Hangzhou. It’s one of the most beautiful places that I’ve been! Stay tuned for Part 3!
Comments (19)
Nice hot dishes hotter the better both internal and external coz of the cold haha. tQ for the virtual tour.
.-= Bananaz´s last blog ..? Who Let The DOGS Out? ~ [?] =-.
Definitely hot dishes worked better for me. No thanks to the cold dishes in the cold cold weather! Brrr!
The dining area in Starway Hotel is quite nice. Not the type of boring restaurants found in most hotels.
Leifeng Pagoda is mentioned in the story Madam White Snake…
.-= khengsiong´s last blog ..Can’t Stop Buying =-.
Yea I love their dining ambience too, very homely and down to earth. Oh I wasn’t aware of the story of Leifeng Pagoda
nice lovingly couple! kudos!
.-= Big Boys Oven´s last blog ..iTALK WHOA! =-.
Thank you Sid!
only 5°C?? must be very cold.. that time i went was like 35°C, so hot!! hahaha..
wah, i think there was too much food for lunch, very scary.. did u guys finish everything up?? guess u skipped dinner didn’t you??
.-= [SK]´s last blog ..01.04.2010 | ???? =-.
Yea it was indeed very cold! But very comfortable because there was no wind. Just need to make sure we had jackets on.
Exactly, the food was too much! The guy who bought us lunch was really well-off. I think the whole lunch cost him like RM1k+?
i like the path at West Lake – very mysterious looking!
.-= lechua´s last blog ..Penang Clan Jetties =-.
I love it too!
The Calm Lake very nice oh…can’t wait for my turn to visit HangZhou
.-= uLi´s last blog ..Honkee Porridge. ???? @Damansara Utama =-.
Yea, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it very much!
OK, next time I must stay in Starway Hotel!!
.-= foongpc´s last blog ..My First Meal At Ketupat In Bali =-.
You have to book online to get cheaper rates! But I don’t know how you can book online because the website is in Chinese!
Wow! I love the view of the lake! So nice and calm! I must go there during winter!
.-= foongpc´s last blog ..My First Meal At Ketupat In Bali =-.
Yea go during winter to avoid crowds, then you’ll have the whole lake to yourself
Yeah, at least when the place is empty, you can get good shots without wondering if your pictures would be ‘peppered’ with an extra head, hand, or feet.
.-= J2Kfm´s last blog ..Nam Fatt Fish Ball Noodle House @ Jalan Kampar, Ipoh =-.
LOL! Salt and pepper do not help in a picture, yes?
food, boating, and your quant hotel looked nice. I liked the photo bloggyness of this post. i retweeted this to all my followers and keep on enjoying your trip