A Day Trip to Hangzhou

One of the great things about Shanghai is location – so many awesome cities are only an hour away on the bullet train!  My friends and I were able to take a day trip to the city of Hangzhou.  First stop: trekking through the tea fields!

Despite being deathly afraid we would encounter a snake, I loved walking through the tea fields.  The air had a slight mist and smelled so fresh and dewy.  Being surrounded by so much greenery was almost shocking to my eyes but felt great.

We made our way through the tea fields until we found a tea house where we decided to try some of the Hangzhou tea for ourselves.  The picture above shows the tea being prepared for consumption.

Almost ready to drink!

One of the biggest tourist attractions of Hangzhou is West Lake; while I did not include any pictures here, I did want to include a picture of all the beautiful fish we saw in Hangzhou.

One of my favorite parts of our day in Hangzhou was our time spent at Lingyin Temple.  This temple felt very unique compared to others I have been to in China.  Upon entering the area the temple is in, we discovered breathtaking Buddhas carved into the side of the rock.

Walking through the temple felt so calming, and the Buddhas and architecture were absolutely beautiful.  I would definitely recommend Lingyin Temple to anyone traveling to Hangzhou!