Today we got up very early to catch the train. Hangzhou is about one and half hour away on the non-stop express train from Shanghai Station. As soon as we arrive at the Hangzhou East Station (a small station outside the city), we were overwhelmed by the travel agencies out side the train station. Hearing all those terrifying stories how people got cheated by locals, we were uncertain whether to hire them or go by taxi. Finally we decided to rent a van for the day for 200 RMB (originally they asked 400) to take us around.

Hangzhou has been a beautiful tourism city for over a thousand years. It has turned into a modern city in the last decade, but tourism remains its most important industry. Millions of visitors go to this small city every year and expend over 40 billion RMB. Xihu, the main attraction since ancient China, is really worth seeing. My feeling for today's visit is that Hangzhou exceeded my expectations in many ways, although you can still find many things not so satisfactory.