If you are looking for a good escape up away from a bustling city, then just 4-5 hours out of Shanghai in LinAn of the Zhejiang province is a perfect escape for a 2-3 day weekend. Surrounded by beautiful mountains and rivers, this place is a hidden gem for anyone living in China and will give you a much needed break from the city.

A nice stop along the way to this little known place is the beautiful fields of flowers. Weirdly named in English “rapeseed flower” but better known as Canola flowers used to make oil, you can find these just about anywhere in China among great flat fields, but to see them terraced, along the mountains is a whole new experience.

A few minutes down the road you will run into Tai Hu Yuan scenic area which is the source of the TaiLake in China. With small waterfalls, streams, and rolling hills, this place is a hikers paradise. There is a glass bridge you can hike across (which are becoming popular in China), as well as a temple near the top you can hike to. Unfortunately, this place is becoming over touristed with many shops and a show in which they take the local Rhesus Macaque monkeys and put them in a circus performance which should be shut down!!!

Across from our beautiful hotel was an old abandoned what could be farmhouse and hotel. The photographer in me loved this place as I love all abandoned places for the eerie post apocalyptic feel to it. It seems just over night that people got up and left this place and the earth does what it does best, and that is retake the land….

Finally, on the way back to Shanghai, in parts unknown in the mountains, we stopped by the Chang Yuan Temple, which is one of the most serene temples I have been to in China. Unfortunately the Pagoda was closed to the public but there are still many good places to walk around there as well as some great scenery and birds. I even saw a Kingfisher which I have yet to witness in China. The whole temple was breathtaking and not over populated with people…