Vibes of Hangzhou (I)

Jacket / Geaca - Stradivarius || Sweater / Pulover - HERE / AICI || Shirt / Camasa - H&M || Jeans / Blugi - Stradivarius || Hat / Caciula - Stradivarius || Sunglasses / Ochelari de soare - Stradivarius

As you probably know by now, we moved to Shanghai in January and along with this life-changing experience we also try to discover and see as much of this country as possible during our time here. So last weekend we went on a trip to Hangzhou, a city situated south-west from Shanghai, just 180km away. We took the high-speed train from here and in about 1h 15m we were in Hangzhou and the weather was looking pretty good for the weekend. In fact, the whole weekend was sunny and pleasant, just on Friday was a bit colder (you can notice my look for the day). The only disadvantage was that the air quality index (air pollution) was pretty high the whole weekend, fact which can be noticed in some of the photos too (they are a bit white-ish). 

To tell you some words about the city, Hangzhou is the capital of China's Zhejiang province and it's the southern terminal part of the ancient Grand Canal waterway, which originates in Beijing. The main attraction of the city is definitely the West Lake, which was celebrated by poets and writers since the 9th century and which can be seen in most of today's photos. :) The lake also has some islands which are reachable by boats and the city hosts several temples, pavilions, gardens and arched bridges. So we decided to spend this first day by taking long walks around the lake and admiring the lovely landscape, after which we went to see the Lingyin Temple, which is one of the most famous ones in Hangzhou. This temple is situated in the forest and is surrounded by many beautiful Chinese gardens along with some smaller temples and even an old village (which was sadly closed when we got there). I think we spent there more than two hours and we didn't manage to see everything, but we loved what we did see. What I love most about these temples and their surroundings is the calm & quiet vibes they give you. 

Anyway, another point of interest we saw on Friday was the 5-storey Leifeng Pagoda, which is in fact a reconstructed tower of the initial one built in 975 A.D. It is located on the Sunset Hill south of West Lake and to be honest we only saw this one from below as our hotel was located at the foot of the hill. Moreover when we saw the amount of tourists wandering its terraces we said a big NO and moved along, trying to find something less crowded. :)) 

As in for my outfit, it's nothing very spectacular, just something comfy and warm one would wear when visiting a new place which is more about nature and less about buildings and fashion :). I am a huge coats fan, as you probably already know, so I didn't actually own a padded jacket until now, when I found this one on Sale and decided that it is about time to get one and give it a go. I find these ones to be a bit casual and sportish for my taste, but they are very handy in winter when it's super cold. I tried to find a way of wearing it without being too sportish and still be a bit chic so I chose to layer some pieces, like the long shirt and a sweater, which I paired with black jeans and accessories. Finally I also added a cute beanie with patches and my new fave pair of sunglasses.

I leave you now with the ton of photos and I will be back with some new stories and photos from our second day there. 

Hugs, A.