You get used to being in a big (big) city like Shanghai, and you can forget that there is a countryside, or green space that isn't maintained by an army of gardeners. A couple of weeks back, we spent the weekend in Hangzhou, which is an old town a couple of hours southwest of Shanghai. It was dang cold, but we lucked out - it was crystal clear.
This is a view of part of Xihu (West Lake), a mostly man-made (via dredging) lake that is the center of Hangzhou.
Another thing you forget about in Shanghai (being a river delta kinda city) is that there are hills. What a pleasure to walk up hill for a while - just like being in San Francisco.
Hangzhou isn't a small city, it's roughly 3 million urban residents. But compared with Shanghai (18 million municipal, 9-10 million urban), it's small.
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