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 locallu known as 'Singing Phoenix Mountain', set 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.
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| Entrance to the park and the Gold Temple |
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| In quiet corners people were engaged in Tai Chi |
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| Entrance to the Golden Palace complex |
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| Entrance to Yuantong a living Buddhist temple complex - a place of pilgrimage |
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| The air was thick with the smoke from 100s of burning incense sticks |
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| A Chinese Lion Dog stood guard |
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| Deities abound throughout the temple complex |
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| A central temple, its mote dotted with flowers and tiny turtles, was surrounded by rooms for visiting monks |
We then wandered through twisting streets past tiny markets groaning with delicious-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.
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| We all through these were humongous grapes but I think they're green plums |
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| A lake full of lotus plants, fish and turtles. Young women dotted the edge taking selfies |
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| 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 in the south near the Mekong River. Peacocks are their lucky bird.
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| The twelve core Socialist values of China |
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