One of our last activities in Hangzhou was a visit to Longjing Temple. It was our first glimpse of Buddhist monks and yet another gorgeous site that in retrospect feels like we would have missed out had we not made the trek (a $3 cab ride and lots of stares).

There were numerous ancient carvings, caves, ponds, stone stairs, and of course the actual temple.

At one point I wandered off to see where the stone stairs went. Layla kindly waited below (flats + stone steps = not a good time). The steps meandered up the hill often crossing each other. There were huge vines and vistas. I finally reached the top and was greeted by a man who tried to explain 4 characters carved into a stone and painted red. I obviously couldn’t read them or understand him, but yah, totally met a guru or spirit or something.

Anyway the grounds were spectacular with lots of winding mountainous paths leading to areas that had signs in Mandarin, so I can’t really be held accountable for learning basically nothing.