| Maybe I lived in a different Hangzhou, but I found it to be pretty big, busy and crowded. The area around West Lake is truly beautiful and serene...but unfortunately, that's a small part of the city. On a nice spring day in 2004, however, I took a long walk northwards following the canal, and that was really beautiful- it got very calm and quiet outside of the centre, lots of parks the whole way, none of the crowds around West Lake. It was like a whole different city, so much more peaceful- unfortunately, where I lived was just beside the elevated highway on Shang Tang lu, and I would hardly describe that as a "slow pace of life". :) |