The green hills and waters nurture Longjing tea, and on Mount Wuyun one seeks the Five Clouds: Jiuxi Parent-Child

Are you, like me, wracking your brain before every holiday about where to take the kids for fun? Within a four to five-hour drive from Shanghai, one must flip through the options to find some interesting places or hotels to check in before the holiday arrives. This Qingming Festival, we chose the "Millennium Resort Hangzhou". The Qingming holiday seems to be the dividing line of winter. Before leaving home, the plants just started sprouting, but upon reaching the West Lake area, it's already lush and green. The "Millennium Hotel" is at the heart of the Jiuxi scenic area, and nearby attractions are easily accessible on foot, especially since the holiday traffic is too congested to drive. With kids, you can try the following three hiking routes: One is along Jiuxi Road, passing Jiuxi Yanshu, Li'an Temple to Yangmeiling. Two is in the opposite direction of Jiuxi Road, passing through Xucun to climb Mount Wuyun. Three is along Zhijiang Road, following the Qiantang River to the Liuhe Pagoda. The direction of Jiuxi Yanshu is surrounded by streams, and you must prepare water guns for the kids. Every turn may reveal a stone bridge, a pond, or a string of waterfalls. Stop and go, kids play with water, adults enjoy the scenery. The hiking trail on Mount Wuyun is steep in some places and gentle in others, and you must remember to look for cloud carvings on the stone steps. It is said that collecting five clouds will bring good fortune. Spoiler alert: The fifth cloud is inside the Wufu Temple. The joy of collecting five clouds or reaching the destination is something the kids can talk about all the way down the mountain. Returning to the hotel from Mount Wuyun, we even caught a green dumpling-making activity. Red bean or meat filling in the hands of the kids turned into green dumplings, adding a bit of green memory, as well as an afternoon tea or late-night snack. The hotel package booked on Ctrip included a travel photography session, about an hour long, and the photos turned out quite well. We bought a few extra photos, which were not too expensive.