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Hangzhou West Lake

It was the best of lakes; it was the shortest tour

Of the 36 West Lakes in China, the one in Hangzhou is the one and original. It's the real thing :-) This freshwater lake covers 2.25 square miles.  It is possible to visit West Lake in a single day like what we did. However, I will highly recommend staying over at least one night. We were able to take a boat tour to view the lake. From the boat we had a nice view of the 7-storey Baochu Pagoda. Theresa considered West Lake to be one of the highlights of our vacation. The scenic but short boat tour did not do the West Lake any justice. It's much better to spend the night and then walk along the Lake at dusk or dawn and also visit some of the scenic spots, such as Yue Fei's Mausoleum. On our next trip Theresa and I will definitely take a stroll along the Sudi causeway, named after the famous poet Su Dongpo. It seems like a very romantic walk. In fact, this is also one of my cousins's favorite places to stroll.