Sunday, 31 August 2025

September 1, Day 11 Kunming

 Today we had a full day of sightseeing. First we climbed to the Golden Temple, Jindian, a former Taoist monastery set on top of Mingfeng Mountain, Singing Phoenix Mountain, within a lovely park. We both panted up that hill and wandered on our own at our own pace. Then we were whisked away to an amazing living Buddhist temple complex - Yuantong, where we lit incense sticks and watched devotees reciting scripture. 

Entrance to the park and the Gold Temple
In quiet corners people were engaged in Tai Chi
Entrance to the Golden Palace complex


Entrance to Yuantong a living Buddhist temple complex - a place of pilgrimage 

The air was thick with the smoke from 100s of burning incense sticks

A Chinese Lion Dog stood guard
Deities abound throughout the temple complex
A central temple, its mote dotted with flowers and tiny turtles, surrounded by rooms for visiting monks 
We wnadered through twisting streets past tiny markets groaning with delivvcous looking fruit to finally arrive at Cuihu Park surrounding Green Lake which was just that - green. It was packed with huge blowsy lotus plants bearing glorious, mainly pink, blooms - and lots of tourists, mainly Chinese. Here we grabbed some snacks and chilled out for a little while.
We all through these were humongous grapes but I think they're green plums
A lake full of lotus plants and fish and turtles - young women dotted the edge taking selfies 

Peacocks their lucky bird
Many places we looked we saw elephants and peacocks - statues not real ones! It seems that both are found in the jungles south near the Mekong. Peacocks are their lucky bird.
The twelve core Socialist values of China


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