Dear friends,
coming from a small village that is completely surrounded by pure nature, the big city life in China can be stressful and demanding. Whilst spending time in Shanghai at the beginning of April, I decided to take a day off and visit Hangzhou as it is known for its big lake and its nature. Today I want to share an idea about how to easily find cool spots, maybe you guys already use this "technique" as far as it can be regarded as one. Furthermore, I hope you enjoy these pics from my trip to Hangzhou.
So, I took the highspeed train from Shanghai which took me approx. an hour to get to Hangzhou, which is quite amazing regarding the distance! China´s highspeed trains guys, they are way ahead of us Europeans... more than 300km/h and you can´t feel anything about it. So if you are in China, taking the highspeed train is the way to go.
When arriving there, I was really pleased by the view and the smell of nature, it was much needed at that point! Am I the only one liking the smell when walking in nature or are you guys with me on this? It just makes you feel good, right?
Something you see a lot in China actually, old people just sitting around and enjoying the time outside! There is this man on my campus as well who even brings his old portable radio and just sits down for a solid 2 hours listening to music!
On the contrary to all the business people rushing around in Shanghai, these two dudes appeared so clam and relaxed! By looking at this picture, it makes me realise again and again that China has so much to offer and the diversity is this country is nearly untraceable!
So there we are, riverside motherf, no I am joking, lakeside b - to be honest, it was pretty crowded when we arrived and there were people all over the place. But it turned out that we arrived at the most popular spot where all the boats are departing and stuff so that should have been the reason why. For the sake of being a proper tourist, we first walked along the lake like everybody else to see whats up. Although the number of people decreased as we left the more touristic spots, I was not really satisfied with still having this many people around me. I wanted to be on my own, just for a while, no noise, no input. Giving my mind a break from all the things that had been going on.
and again, if you compare this photo to the one above, you probably know what I mean.
So I opened Baidu Maps, which is kind of equal to google maps and basically just checked where we are at and to see whats around us. I was searching for big green areas to explore and found some pretty close to us. We took them mini trails through the park and just tried to get away from the noise whilst finding a few cool spots to sit down and have rest - it was pretty hot that day and the pollen was killing me for the first hour of being there. But then it stopped magically after like 2 hours or something, lucky me.
keep following the trails in parks like...
... keep finding awesome spots!
water lilies all the way!
But thats not all...
Whist again, following the trails and the smell of nature, there was more to find. We strolled around another 20 minutes, passed by elder couples enjoying their time on benches, giving us a smile, can turn any bad day into a good one! Pass on them smiles people! Most people can´t resist it and have to join, I guess that's human nature - empathy.
Then, we suddenly came around this sign that caught my view. I don´t know why but I love things like these, they have something mystical about them and I often feel like entering some mysterious atmosphere when approaching "buildings" like these, maybe that makes me like China and brought me here, who knows.
If I am not wrong with this the characters on there are
钱 - qián - money
祠 - cí - memorial temple
表 - biǎo - that one actually has a lot of meanings, "a table" for listing information?
忠 - zhōng - loyal, faithful, devoted
Or it could be Qian´s ancestral hall that expresses its loyalty
If any Chinesee person should see this post, I would be pleased
if you could help me out
Anyway, it led us to a temple kind of area which might be that ancestral hall I was kind of talking about! As we tried to make our way into that thing, the machine for the tickets was broken and I could not insert cash to get them, but this guard got us covered and instead of the 20Yuan per ticket, he just came up to us, took the 15 I held in my hands and said we all can go in, lol. I am not sure if he did this because he thought no one of can actually speak Chinese or if he took that money and put it into his own pockets. That would be cheeky, but possible.
And there we go guys, we found that secret spot! Entering that temple area, we barely saw anyone, maybe like 5-10 persons in the whole area. You best believe what I immediately thought of...
... consistency is key when it comes to learning movement patterns they said
being aligned with my surroundings taken seriously?
I took the chance of being in this quiet and separated place to close my eyes for a second and review everything that I have experienced since coming to China. Life can be overwhelming sometimes and with all the different things going on, we tend to stop appreciating the little things in life that actually are often the biggest contributors to our happiness and mood.
Sometimes all you need is some time in nature, leaving your phone aside just appreciate the present moment.
You know what, sometimes it's better to not follow the given paths, create your own ones, trust your gut feeling and see where it takes you. Nobody is perfect and if the path should not be the one you were looking for, take the turning and start over again.
Cheers,
Daniel