West Lake

Breathing a deep sigh of relief that we’re going to be in the countryside for a few days.  We are now in Hangzhou, in the courtyard garden of Wushanyi International Youth Hostel having our morning coffee.  We feel amazingly secluded here… we’re closed in by bursts of green, gnarly little trees and big fanning palms, clusters of bamboo, lime and pomegranate trees, careful little rocky pools that sing with frogs at night.  It’s a bit of peace in this chaotic country.

Yesterday we rambled around West Lake.  It is meant to be an ideal of classical Chinese beauty, much like the grounds of the Summer Palace in Beijing.  It is a sprawling landscape of twisting pathways, carp ponds, exaggerated arch bridges, and pagodas.  Also much like the Summer Palace, there is a crush of people at the main entrances and tourist areas.  But we persisted and pushed through it (between a number of requests for photos with Whitey!) and found ourselves some peace.

When you can actually stumble upon a quiet area of one of these huge Chinese gardens, it is the most delicate and humming serenity in the world.  Everything is designed with a graceful curve.  Nature is subdued, but encouraged to bend organically.  Nothing like the pomp and grandeur of the royal gardens of Europe, where nature is held by the neck and forced into formation, topiary, symmetry.  The Chinese garden is not symmetrical.  It bends, curves, and invites exploration.