Too Many Stairs

5 July

We got up early that morning because we were going to Hangzhou. When we got to the train station we went to Maccas for breakfast. We got hash browns, which Jack was excited about. It was the third train station that day and we weren't even on the fast train yet. We went on a bullet train to Hangzhou that went 320km an hour. The Shanghai station was absolutely massive. It looked more like an airport.

In Hangzhou, we got on a bus. On the bus, I don't think we got the smoothest driver. It was very bumpy and fast. We drove around the lake and up into the mountains to a group of temples, there were five. When we arrived inside the temple grounds, we saw ice-cream shops and lots of temples. We started to walk along the path and came to a cave. I didn't see anything in the cave because it was too dark but when we came out of the cave, there were lots of buddhas carved into the rocks and a stream. There were big fish and turtles in the stream. Someone climbed over to the other side of the stream and was poking one of the turtles with a stick. 

When we went up into the temples there were lots of big statues of buddha. Some had blue hair and had gold bodies. They were enormous, the biggest statue seemed to be about three stories high. Inside the temples, people were praying and singing. We had to be quiet and respectful.

It was extremely hot and humid and to get each temple we had to climb about one billion stairs. When we got to the fifth and final temple at the top of the hill, I was very, very hot. On our way down we got ice-cream. 

When we left the temples we went down to the lake. We had dinner at a pub which had a pool table and a dart board. There was a band playing; they were not very good. I had chips and Jack had pizza. Jack kept stealing my chips, so I ended up having pizza as well.

After that, we walked along the lake and saw boats. The lake was big and pretty. We went back to the station, this one was even bigger than the big Shanghai station. My mum said that it looked like the underside of a spaceship. There was a storm with thunder and lightning. We got Maccas (again) and went home. When we got home at 10.30pm I just about collapsed!