Alex Quinn's Japan Journal

4/2/2005, China trip day 10: Airplane back to Hangzhou, walk around Westlake Park

We took an airplane from Wuhan back to Hangzhou.  Since the boat had gotten us closer to Hangzhou, the airfare was only about $75 per person one-way as opposed to $100 from Hangzhou to Chongqing.

Back in Hangzhou, we went to the biggest park in the city, Westlake Park.  It's a major spot both for Hangzhou residents wanting to relax, and for tourists (both Chinese and otherwise) wanting to see beautiful parts of Hangzhou.  Basically, there's a big lake.  The park wraps around the lake and also includes some bridges that go across the lake.

The peach blossoms were out.  We saw the same pattern over and over, women posing with the trees while their husbands/boyfriends took their pictures.  I don't know this woman.

These women were also strangers.  I just wanted to remember this sight, which we saw all over the park.

I'm not totally sure what kind of blossoms these are.

But, I think they're peach blossoms.

We met these two girls on the bus on the way to the park.  One speaks decent English and wanted to practice.  They walked with us for a while.

The kite flying was absolutely amazing.  There were people all over the park flying beautiful kites.  This guy's kite looks like a hawk or an eagle.  (Sorry, birds are not my specialty.) He was able to fly it in such a way that it behaved like a bird.  It swooped over the surface of the water as though it was looking for a fish.  It was amazing.

And, being a beautiful place, there were lots of lovers in Westlake Park.

I think this scene is picture perfect.

This gives you the taste of the atmosphere of the park.

And here's a bridge that goes into the middle of the lake.

Atmosphere of Westlake Park.

I was most displeased to find a local branch of Starfucks in this otherwise nice place.

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