When we arrived at the hotel around 11:30am, our room was not ready, so instead of checking in we went to nearby Maocaowu (Thatched House), a farmer's restaurant, for lunch.

Surrounded by mountains and fishing ponds, Maocaowu serves freshly picked tea and fresh wild bamboo shoots that only grow in Hangzhou. An additional bit of fun were the abundance of chattering fortune tellers, not to mention some very polite beggars.

No sooner had I given one yuan to an old beggar than another approached smiling broadly. I thought it was the same beggar and said: "Didn't I just give to you?"

He bowed: "Sorry, sir, I'm a newcomer." Politeness shone in his eyes. I smiled back. Naturally he got my money.

After lunch we relaxed a while enjoying the spring breeze before deciding to defer checking into the hotel and go mountain hiking with unloaded backpacks instead. It proved to be a rather bad decision as we had no drinking water for the next two hours.

We visited the China Tea Museum before climbing three mountains - Jiqing (lucky), Tianma (heavenly horse) and Qipan (chessboard).

In the museum, I learned for the first time in my life that black tea comes from green tea through fermentation. It made me feel quite foolish!

For anyone interested in tea sets from different Chinese dynasties, or how different teas cure different diseases, the museum is a must-go.

Having conquered three mountains - all scattered with tea gardens - we finally returned to our hotel at 5pm, checked in, had a bath, and went to the gracious dinning hall for dinner. Following dinner, we strolled east of the hotel along the Tortoise Bay, which is 10 times quieter than West Lake. The bay is about 20 minutes' walk from the lake and yet remains known to only a few tourists.

The following morning we rose at 7:30am, had breakfast in the hotel, and headed for Southern Peak. At 257.2 meters above sea level, it is not particularly high, but the steps are steep - almost 45 degrees all the way up.