28.12.15

Beautiful West Lake ...

My family and I were  in China last week for our annual vacation and we embarked on a trip to the Jiangnam area , which is a place of the south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. A lot of histories are discovered there where popular personalities and events like the Wu dynasty during the three kingdom, scholar Tang Bohu's resident, resident of popular wuxia novelist  Jing Yong, Empress Qi Shi stories, Emperor Qing Long visits, Sun Yat Sen resting place and etc. It was a great trip where we visited quite a no. of cities like Hangzhou, YiWu, Suzhou, Nanjing, Haining, Wuxi and the cosmopolitan Shanghai. However, the weather was freezing cold as it fluctuates from 0 celsius to 8 celsius. I can feel my palm and fingers numb after a short while exposing to the cold weather and gotta wore gloves. Anyway, I love the cold weather, the air was so clean and pure.

Perhaps my favourite of all the places during the trip was the visit to West Lake in Hangzhou. I have long heard of West Lake and it's like a dream come true to be able to visit it. Its not a big lake but the scenery was so beautiful that it really mesmerize all of us.  We took a cruise around the lake and I like the cold wind blowing across us while cruising. Now I know why there are so many poets like to recite poems for the lake as I also feel like doing one there ...hahahah... There's also the story of the White Snake Madam which based on this lake, if you have read it and the pagoda in the story was sitting there on top of the mountain. Of course, that's fictional. Here are some pictures.

The entrance to the park is heavily guarded ... nice!

A history of the park dating from the Yuan Dynasty

Trees I won't get to see daily but thru the chinese arts 

Map of the West Lake

Statue of Song DongPo or  Su Shi , the famous poet but we know him more for the Dongpo pork meat ..hahaha

Walking to the lake ... love the cold wind blowing towards us as well as the beautiful surroundings

A nice traditional house selling tidbits and souvenirs

The jetty in the lake


Trees near the lake... it's like those Chinese Arts

A view of the Lake

My best picture of the lake with the Pagoda sitting on the hill 

Beautiful red leaves tree everywhere there. if I come two months earlier, I can see more colors!

Another view of the beautiful lake 

Weird looking 'cabbage' like plants over there 

The greenery park at the lake


And yours truly in my usual signature pose
These pictures didn't do much justice to the beauty of the Lake and park and it's best to visit it to see for yourself. :) Have a great week!

36 comments:

  1. Your photos are like postcards! Nice!

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    1. Thanks Libby. That place is indeed very beautiful !

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  2. I thought Shanghai was affected by the smog?

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    1. It's only recently , when I was there the air is still clean.

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  3. Ohhhhh!!!! No wonder so quiet, holiday in China. Hope you had a great time.

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    1. Yeah, we did have a great time and the holidays seems so fast ended!

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  4. you are back from your holiday!! wow, a trip to Jiangnan covering different cities, that's a nice one!! hmmm, I am a little surprised you went to China and not just cuti-cuti Malaysia as I remember your family has phobia and does not dare taking plane after all the saddening air accidents..

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    1. Aiya...we cannot keep fearing but have to face it. After all, plane accidents are like striking a lottery. The probability of getting killed by a food poisoning or road accidents is greater , and we are always out...muahahaha..

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  5. I have been to Shanghai to visit friends in 2007 and from there we took local train to Hangzhou.. and yes, I would say Hangzhou is a beautiful place especially the Xihu aka the West Lake, there are actually 10 spots around the lake that they classified as the best views, did you cover all of them??

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    1. I saw the bullet train traveling from Shanghai to Hangzhou and it's damn fast, but I don't think you took that in 2007 as it's not ready yet. Nope, I only been to two spots as mentioned in my blog. Not much time to visit all as we needed to go to the next destination.

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    2. Hey, you just saw the bullet train and that means you didn't have a chance to ride too. I took bullet train many times in China from Shanghai to Nanjing etc. I also tried their Maglev train from Pudong Airport to Shanghai that ran over 500km/ph. I almost puked because I looked out of their windows too long and felt dizzy.

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    3. Just saw it passed by but no time to take it!

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  6. looks like you had fun there and enjoying the freezing weather.. but this post is so not your style, you did not end the post with something you ate during your trip!! I am sure you have eaten very authentic local food there, do share with us.. :)

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    1. hahaha... I thought of putting the Dong Po meat there but afraid the post is too long. Next time, perhaps!

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  7. I was wondering where you went for your vacation, so you were in China, hehe...

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    1. Yeap! It was a great trip! And, I was surprise with the rapid developments in China!

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  8. Beautiful scenery, i am so looking forward to our family vacation :)

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  9. wah....very lovely photos leh. The 10th and 11th photos can make into your blog header or template liao.

    Mana Lina. LOL

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  10. I have not visited this famous West Lake yet and hope to go someday. The lakes in China look similar as you shared very tight shots where we see willow trees, water and pagoda on hills. They all look very serene and peaceful to relax or just do some tai chi. Glad you loved the cold air like me. We can travel together and drink hot coffee too! Muahahaha.. You can see now that my travels often coincided with Spring or Winter only. I love the cold air too.

    I think the most impressive lake was the Kunming Lake by the Summer Palace which shocked me as it was man made from scratch to beautify the Palace's scenery and Feng Shui. They dug such a huge and deep lake before using the earth to build a small mountain beside. This was a brilliant creativity that only happened in China hundreds of years ago and it amazed the entire world.

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    1. Yeah, lakes in China are all look similar due to the climate as well as their culture. We do have a lot in common. The fresh air is very clean and pure, I love it very much though it was cold!

      I never visited Kunming Lake but visited another lake there, which is the Li Lake or Taihu Lake, a very big lake which is 4 times the size of SG. I blogged it later.

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  11. The barren trees looked really like those Chinese paintings! I often saw the misty sharp mountains in China which looked awesome and made jaws dropped.
    Hey, I think those weird edible cabbage leafy plants can be eaten as I have seen neighbours harvesting them from flower pots. They looked nice and has become floral decorations nowadays.

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    1. That was what in my mind and the chinese paintings are based on these trees and scenery. Err.. dunno leh, I heard it's not edible but it's nice!

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  12. Beautiful photos. Such a beautiful serene place to visit. A great family vacation.

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    1. Thanks Rose. I always love visiting places with beautiful nature!

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  13. The scenery is gorgeous! I must go there one day. I love cold weather!

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    1. Phong - yes, you should go someday. Oct and Nov is the best time as it's not too cold.

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  14. I din't have any oversea trip this year, sob!

    Anyway, saw you shared photos in your FB, indeed a very beautiful place! Looks kinda cold too, hehe!

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    1. Hayley - aiya...you went to so many places already for the past few years...hahaha..
      yes, it's very cold, ranging from 0 Celsius to 10 Celsius.

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  15. Nice selection of photos and certainly a nice family vacation. :)

    But looks cold. Brrrrr... Hihihi

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    1. Thanks Lina. It's really cold there and I didn't even sweat over there! Can try running there but gotta wear more!

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  16. I went through all your pictures on FB. They are indeed beautiful. Nice holiday you have there with your family. Happy New Year to you and your family :)

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  17. Nice holiday trip to China. I heard this place and Suzhou famous for ladies.

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