Self-Drive Tour of Jiangnan Flower Viewing (Part 15): Hangzhou Longwu Tea Garden and Xishan Forest Park

It was another weekend on March 23, 2019, and my daughter decided to take us to the Longwu Tea Garden in Hangzhou for a visit. Hangzhou is most famous for its Longjing tea, but we had all been to the place called Longjing before, and moreover, it's too crowded on weekends, so we chose Longwu instead. However, there were also quite a few people at Longwu Tea Garden. We parked our car near Shangchengdai village and walked along the village road, which was lined with cars of all colors and sizes as far as the eye could see. We walked about a mile on the road and then entered the tea garden, climbing to the top of the hill along the paths through the tea bushes. From the bottom to the top of the hill, there were green tea trees everywhere. About a dozen women with straw hats and scarves were picking tea in the fields. We walked and took pictures, especially my wife, who struck various poses. She has a special fondness for tea gardens and would run into one to show off her beauty wherever we went. From the top of the hill, we walked back to the village along the path and had lunch at the 'Tea Language' farmhouse on the west side of the village. After lunch, led by my daughter, we walked to the Xishan Forest Park in Hangzhou. The Xishan National Forest Park in Hangzhou is located in the central and western part of Xihu District, Zhejiang Province, covering the areas of Zhuan Tang Subdistrict, Shuangpu Town, and Liuxia Subdistrict. From north to south, it is divided into Longwu, Daqing Valley, and Lingshan sub-parks. We probably visited the Longwu sub-park. The entrance to the Longwu sub-park of the Xishan National Forest Park was just over a hundred meters away from the 'Tea Language' farmhouse where we had our meal. A few steps and we were there. The entrance is an archway with the words 'Xishan National Forest Park' inscribed on it. There is a sculpture of a large teapot in the tea field behind the left side of the archway, which is said to be the symbol of the Longwu Tea Festival. We continued along the main road and came to a three-way junction with a stone standing beside it, inscribed with the words 'Da Dou Valley', which I thought was a scenic spot, but later found out it was the sign for the Xishan Da Dou Valley homestay. Not far along the road on the left, we reached the entrance to the scenic area, where a narrow iron fence was placed in the middle of the road to allow only one person to pass at a time. Next to the fence was a small house with two people inside, probably the administrators. However, there was no admission fee here. Past the entrance, the main road led into a bamboo forest that was so dense it blocked out the sky, providing a cool and pleasant environment. Walking through it was refreshing for both body and mind. Exiting the bamboo forest, a building appeared by the road, which was the park management office. In front of the office was a pond with a pavilion beside it. The family took some photos by the water and sat in the pavilion for a while before starting the journey home. Later we learned that if we had continued along this road, we would have come across a waterfall called the White Dragon Flying Waterfall, with a drop of about 50 meters, cascading down from the cliff, with the pool below connected to a serpentine valley. We couldn't help feeling a bit disappointed.