SH-Hangzhou Day 4: Hangzhou Museum, Taiziwan Park & Su Causeway

We woke up by 7.30am and proceeded to Coffee Garden Restaurant for breakfast instead of the Horizon Club (the only one I know that does not serve breakfast)!

Buffet breakfast

Chef station and variety of food

Love the selection of ice cream!

The donuts and ice cream were too good to resist!

Braved the cold to take photos with this sign! So cute!
(Sign translation: "I'm waiting at West Lake for the wind and for you")

After breakfast, we took a DiDi (CN¥15) across the lake to Hangzhou Museum 杭州博物馆. Admission was FREE for all visitors!

Hangzhou Museum North entrance

You'd need a local identity card to generate a QR code via an app, which will be scanned at the gate. As we were not locals, the security officer brought us to the counter where we registered using our passports.

I found a lot of similarities between the artefacts on display in Hangzhou Museum and those at the National Museum of Korea. It's unsurprising, seeing as this part of China is geographically located close to South Korea, separated by the Yellow Sea and East China Sea.

Artefacts from the Liangzhu Culture, which were found in an excavation site in Hangzhou

Hangzhou was known for its sophisticated jade artefacts

Jingdezhen porcelain from the Yuan Dynasty, famed for its beautiful coloured porcelain

I bought a pin, which was inspired by a ceramic stem cup on display, from the museum's shop

Historical stone pillar encourages guests to learn about the 3 pagodas in Hangzhou:
Leifeng Pagoda, Baoshu Pagoda and Liuhe Pagoda

Art and architecture in Hangzhou

We enjoyed exploring the museum and learning about Hangzhou! It was very intellectually stimulating! 😄

After leaving the museum, we explored Hefang Street in search of food since it was lunch time.

Analysing this signboard to get out bearings

I spotted a restaurant across the road and decided on it because I had a good feeling (I'm learning from the Hubby to follow my gut feeling when it comes to food 😄).

Beef noodles at Taizhou Peninsula Taizhou restaurant

Yummy beef noodles

Although it was a long wait because the restaurant was packed with people, our food was cheap and good so it was worth the wait! 😋

After lunch, we walked along Hefang Street for some shopping.

Cultural part of Hefang Street

When it was time to leave, we hailed a DiDi (CN¥20) to Leifeng Pagoda but the app insisted on a dropoff that was very far from it! We didn't realise it until our DiDi dropped us in the middle of nowhere, near Hang & Tang Tea Culture Museum.

Hang and Tang Tea Culture Museum

I tried to hail another DiDi and this time, kept trying to drop a pin as close to the pagoda as possible! The system finally allowed me to pick a dropoff point about a 15-minute walk from the pagoda, which was close enough. The journey was longer than usual as there was a huge traffic jam to the dropoff, which we later realised was because we were approaching the West Gate of the famous Taiziwan Park 太子湾公园! No wonder there were so many people!

We decided to join the crowd and check it out since we had to cut through the park to get to West Lake anyway. Everyone had to register with their local IDs but as we were foreigners, the staff allowed the both of us to enter without registration 😅

Early blooms of different Tulip varieties

Love the pink ones!

More tulips near the Lanying Pavilion

It wasn't easy trying to squeeze through the crowd and take this selfie! 😅
Worth it though! It was beautiful 😍

Took this picture to prove that there was indeed a huge crowd!

We exited Taiziwan Park via the North Gate and crossed the road to the South Lake 南湖.

Many people were paddling their boats on the South Lake

The road was fenced up, no wonder it was so hard for us to find a dropoff near the Laifeng Pagoda!

A guide map to West Lake National Park

We walked to the start of the Su Causeway and finally saw the Leifeng Pagoda 雷锋塔 across the lake!

View of the famous Laifeng Pagoda

We were near the Reflecting Ripples Bridge (see map below) and had to cross the West Lake in order to get to our hotel on the other side near Xiling Bridge.

Photo credit: travelchinaguide.com

The fastest way back would be on foot through the Su Causeway to the other side because it was very difficult to get a DiDi from where we were. There were 6 bridges to cross in total and we were only at the first one!

Exploring the Su Causeway with countless others

Beautiful view of West Lake and the Laifeng Pagoda from one of the bridges on the Su Causeway!

Midpoint along the Su Causeway where we stopped to capture the beautiful sunset at the West Lake! 🩷
I was so excited that I called my family to show them the view!

One of my favourite photos of West Lake! 🩷

It took us about 40 minutes to walk across but it was so worth it as the views were spectacular! I'd definitely do it again if given the chance! It's too bad that we did not have enough time to cross the Bai Causeway! 😅

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We arrived at our hotel just in time for evening canapes at the Horizon Club Lounge. After clocking 18,000 steps, it was time to replenish our bodies with good food! ☺️

Happily eating all the food and watching the Paralympics on TV!

I was all ready for a warm bath in the bathtub as it was quite cold outside! I was so relaxed that I fell asleep super early! 😴😅

Continue to >> Shanghai-Hangzhou Day 5-6: Train to Grand Central Hotel, Nanjinglu & Flight Home
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