Our stay at Landison Longjing Resort Hangzhou was so memorable and absolutely magnificent that highlights remain sharp, vivid, and immensely uplifting. As tea lovers, it would have been lovely enough to be back in deciduous forests with bursting red maples and bright yellow Ginko trees accentuating autumn colors surrounding the beautifully manicured Longjing (Dragon Well) tea plantations that rest quietly within the hills of the peaceful landscape so very close to the resort—next to and just across the street, in fact!
However, our trip’s joys skyrocketed with our stay at the Landison. The staff was totally fantastic! Exceptional service in every way. Working with a phone translator Tracy, Brandy, Wen Yi (I hope his name is spelled correctly!), and Chris provided patient, attentive, and thorough care, concern, and heartwarming attention as they fully considered and answered our many daily questions on where to go, what to do, how to get there and back. (We were thrilled to use the excellent public transportation in and around Hangzhou. The hotel is just meters from the bus stop of two main lines. These buses provided easy connections to other main lines linking us to much of the rest of the city) Staff also guided us where to buy excellent tea, which turned out to be right there at the hotel, as well as from other lovely teashops nearby!
Landison’s breakfast menu, included in our booking, remained the same throughout our stay and never disappointed. Every day we enjoyed a large selection of beautiful, delicious food that included fresh fruit, vegetables, egg dishes of differing styles, rice, dim sum, pastries, and our go-to each day: a piping hot bowl of noodles, prepared to order by the chef standing behind the varied selection of noodles and fixings! There was so much fresh, delicious, interesting, vegetarian cuisine we can’t account for the entire extensive buffet.
The dining staff was totally incredible with their refined, careful, complete attention. Dining Room Manager Xu became our dear, memorable friend, offering us sweet, caring personal attention and comfort throughout our visit. We couldn’t help feeling disappointed when we didn’t see her the day before we were to leave. When we returned to the hotel for the evening and saw her through a dining room window, we popped into the area to say hello and a magical connection manifested that only world travel can provide, when the distance between two vastly different cultures disappears under the glow of human kindness, warmth, and connection. She provided such outstanding delight for us that our hearts hurt when we had to say goodbye to her. When she translated on her mobile phone, “looking forward to seeing you again,” we smiled broadly and added a very hopeful nod in agreement.
Extra lovely perks included nightly delivery of a delicate, nourishing white mushroom soup to keep us warm and help us sleep, a specialty of the establishment. It was tasty and nurturing every day! The housekeeping staff was amiable and friendly, mutually acknowledging and appreciating the human relationship!
In addition, the parking area staff offered cheerful, welcoming, and happy engagement with us throughout our stay.
Our extraordinary stay at the Landison is the kind of experience that highlights the vast benefits of world travel where the barriers of worldly concerns and tensions can fade away or even disappear into the significant and transformative mix and engagement with a time and place different from where we come from or know habitually. Where one realizes that, although time and place may differ considerably and provide many positive catalysts for meaningful change, the human heart and mind are inextricably linked together by way of mutual desires for happiness, well-being, safety, expression, and connection, however that may unfold in its immeasurable arrangements. Thank you very much, Landison Longjing Resort Hangzhou, for helping to create an amazing lifetime memory.
