West Lake

Our tour guide picked us up at the hotel lobby at 8:30 AM and led us to the Shanghai Metro to Shanghai South Railway Station. We then took the high-speed train together, arriving at Hangzhou East Railway Station in about an hour. Our driver met us outside the station. This time, our group consisted of only my husband and me, the driver, and our tour guide, Ms. Lin, in a five-seater vehicle. Ms. Lin took many photos of us at various scenic spots along the way. The lunch she took us to was very plentiful, and as previously mentioned, the garlic vermicelli shrimp dish was truly delicious. Ms. Lin explained the historical anecdotes of each scenic spot clearly and in detail. The only area for improvement was her sense of time; she didn't coordinate the train schedules very well, and we were always rushing to catch our trains! Finally, she took us to visit a teahouse, but it wasn't really a visit; the shop was selling (expensive) high-grade Longjing tea and related products. I don't know much about tea, so I didn't miss it. On the return trip, the driver took us to Hangzhou East Station to catch the 6:40 high-speed train. We arrived at Shanghai Hongqiao Station in 45 minutes. The tour guide then took us to take Metro Line 2 back to Lujiazui Station near the hotel. It was around 8:15 at that time.