Hangzhou 杭州 Old Street

I decided to call it a day for West Lake, it is far too big for me to cover all in one go. I decided to explore the other parts of Hangzhou, near where the hostel was. Most of the main city of Hangzhou is not located here, all the high rises, save for a handful, can be found outside the West Lake area. Mostly low rise and old structures are standing here. I believe this is part of their efforts to conserve the feel of the West Lake area. As pointed out earlier, the West Lake has a lot of history with it, it would be a shame if it was given up to modernization.

Like any other self respecting Chinese city, Hangzhou also has an Old Street. This kind of street features buildings either from long ago or built to look like them. It is always interesting to walk in these kinds of streets as you have the feeling of walking in an old Chinese town. Well, this place is no Xidi or Hongcun, that is for sure. The old looking structures are all home to various commercial establishments. It was a like an open air mall. They even have a McDonald’s there.

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