Pictures would be appreciated
Here are a few. I loved the waterscapes, and those are popular in the area around Shanghai. This first one is a waterscape in Xujiahui park in the Xujiahui district of Shanghai. This is just a community park.
Also in Xujiahui Park
This next area is just a different area of Xujiahui park, and one of the activities I really liked being around. in the early mornings, and again after dark in these parks and pretty much any open public space, people gather in lines for Taichee (morning) and Dancing (after dark). The people doing this tend to be older people, but in this picture, I captured a few younger people doing taichee, too. The dancing, I'm told, is done pretty much all across China. It is mostly ladies over 50 who participate in the dancing. The story my colleagues gave me is that the retirement age for women in China is 50 and for men is 55. This allows them to carry on a tradition of elders in the family watching their grandchildren to free up the younger members (the elders children which are the children's parents) to focus on working and not worry about babysitters. The families generally really like this arrangement, but at 50, people who stay home and watch children may worry that they do not get enough exercise. Dancing is considered to be very good exercise among these folks, and they love the social activity, too. So the ladies gather after dark pretty much every night, play music, and dance in these rows to exercise. My wife and I got around a LOT while in China, but still, I managed to join a few of the Taichee sessions in the morning (had to learn - had no idea what I was doing), and my wife did, in fact, join with some of the neighbor ladies for dancing a few times ... and she had a good time with it.
Xujiahui park was very near where we lived, so obviously we went there often ... a person can't be afraid of sweating in mid-summer, let me tell you
. The next park was one of my favorite places to go on a Saturday or Sunday. It is Century Park in Shanghai. Century park is HUGE. I would often rent bicycles with my wife and son and ride around this. There is a lot in the park ranging from orchards to waterscapes to sculpted gardens. Here are a few of the spots I liked in it:
This is from the bridge from the entryway. Sometimes, it is misty, and sometimes, I know the air isn't the cleanest. This morning, it is misty along this area, but according to my notes, clear in the open space behind me. However; the mist obstructs the view of the rhododendrons that line the edge of the park:
Century park actually isn't free. It costs 5 RMB if I recall correctly, and if I do, that is less than 1 USD. It meant that fewer people come here, but still, on a hot afternoon, this beautiful walkway would often have people seated on the benches taking in the waterscapes alng this lake.
A panorama of one of the sculpted gardens:
My favorite waterscape from Century Park:
But I actually loved the way they just worked with nature to create the things like this lotus garden which sits not too far from the bridge above:
And I love it any time I get a chance to catch people in happy, candid shots ... although sometimes it is ironic that the candid shots are of people actually taking pictures
. There were actually two couples taking their wedding pictures on this particular day. It was hot enough that one of the brides was seated, taking water, and being fanned on one of my times past. I wanted both of their pictures, though, so I actually circled around to pass by them again. She was up the second time I passed by, and their photo shoot had continued:
First couple:
Second couple ... I didn't want to pass by while they were up and actually taking pictures as that would spoil their shoot (I try to be considerate). Actually, the candid shot between the sycamores like this turned out to be a very good shot IMO:
The gateway to another sculpted garden in Century Park:
Bronze dragons at the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum (One of the places that lets you know that there are 24 million people in Shanghai ... this place was ALWAYS crowded as it was one of the parents' favorite places to take their kids, especially on a weekend):
Leaving Shanghai, about an hour away by Express Train is the town of Hangzhou. This is a big tourist spot. The pictures are a combination of public and private spots. This was most definitely a misty day as sometimes the mist became clouds on the tops of the hills, and it sprinkled or rained lightly on us a few times. All of that gives the impression in the pictures that it is a cool day, but don't believe that. It felt more like a steam bath for most of the day ... but it cooled toward evening.
Tea plantation. I think this is a working tea plantation, but they love to give tours, seat you and explain all about their tea, and give you full leaf samples ... and you can buy it, too, but it ain't cheap ...
The first park we went to in Hangzhou:
This sits outside of a Buddhist temple, so I don't know how to classify it.
Inside that temple. The temples are a combination of tourist spot and active place of worship.
I have some interesting pictures from inside the temple, but I promised park pictures, so let me get on to them.
Another park in Hangzhou:
Okay, on the next one, I don't think they could have made it look any more touristy ... even though most of the tourists here are Chinese tourists. Whoever they are, they seemed to enjoy it
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We had to take the boat ride. Actually, looking at these pictures, I'm impressed at how much we squeezed into this day. we literally just decided that morning that we would go out there because we heard the water gardens were very pretty. We had no idea where we were going - we just figured we'd wing it when we got there. That can be tough even when your in your first language ... we managed this in my third language
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Taken from the boat ride I think:
I thought about putting Qibao Ancient Town and Yuyuan Gardens in, too. They're very different from the 3 I put here. They're in a different repository, and would require me to do some resizing, I think. I'll check it out later. They are likewise, beautiful, maybe even more than this. However; I think you can see the the waterscapes I love, and how big the parks are that I was talking about ... and I probably overloaded you enough