These posts are going up late because China blocked my WordPress access, and my VPN, and Facebook, and now all of a sudden Gawker. This is turning into a Sally Field movie. But no matter! We woke at the butt crack of dawn and ventured out to see what this city was all about…
But first, we obviously had to open up the Horizon Lounge at 6:30am and enjoy amazing breakfast and take the first of many selfies.
We spent the rest of the day…
Seeing the Shangri-La grounds in daylight:
Wandering around majestic West Lake:
Touring a random etching museum/shrine/cat sanctuary on the top of a mountain:
Finding stick brooms everywhere:
(Bonus fun fact: You can skip the step of cleaning up sticks by turning them into a broom!)
Learning about tea (like did you know it can be a tree or a bush, or how the first dude to make tea was just like, really hungry and trying to make himself some soup?):
And eating delicious new foods, of course:
Cheers!
Lady Boy Time 
OMG. Such great photos. I have so many questions…about the food and scenery. But we can wait until you return to take up your time answering them. Don’t forget to be my hospitality morality scout!
The food has been consistently recognizable but very different in certain flavors. There is always something slightly different. We have honestly not disliked anything so far. Hangzhou cuisine feels distinct and needs more investigation. I liked that I’d bite into a dumpling and get something a little unexpected.
The photos of West Lake are seriously not as good as the real thing, but I think they are very close. Wait until you see the next day when the haze cleared…