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.
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!
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.
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| The entrance to the park is heavily guarded ... nice! |
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| A history of the park dating from the Yuan Dynasty |
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| Trees I won't get to see daily but thru the chinese arts |
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| Map of the West Lake |
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| Statue of Song DongPo or Su Shi , the famous poet but we know him more for the Dongpo pork meat ..hahaha |
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| Walking to the lake ... love the cold wind blowing towards us as well as the beautiful surroundings |
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| A nice traditional house selling tidbits and souvenirs |
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| The jetty in the lake |
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| Trees near the lake... it's like those Chinese Arts |
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| A view of the Lake |
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| My best picture of the lake with the Pagoda sitting on the hill |
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| Beautiful red leaves tree everywhere there. if I come two months earlier, I can see more colors! |
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| Another view of the beautiful lake |
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| Weird looking 'cabbage' like plants over there |
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| The greenery park at the lake |
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| And yours truly in my usual signature pose |
