It was extremely hot.
02.09.2024 - 02.09.2024
0 °C
I do not recommend visiting this location on a hot day. Today, it reached 88°F, but it felt like Dante's inferno in the "slow city" of Gaochun, which is now my home until hopefully August, provided they rehire me for another semester. So far, the prospects do not look promising. I had envisioned a lovely, breezy, leafy lakeside area, but in reality, I encountered an asphalt driveway with no shade throughout the day. I did bring my umbrella, which was helpful, but there was no escape from the searing sun and the heat rising from the pavement. I felt like I was on the verge of heat stroke. Thankfully, some gardeners sprayed me down with their hoses since the lake was not swim-friendly. (Could it be any different in China?) Later, I ended up taking off my entire dress and soaking it in water in the restroom, I was that desperate for relief. The experience was truly terrible, and I did my best to appreciate the beautiful lake and small zoo, but it was quite challenging. As usual, I took pictures of flowers for my mom. The monkeys in the small zoo looked sad. The lotuses were not in bloom. The lemurs seemed happy, though. The crocodile was extremely hot. The parrot pavilion was lovely, but the parrots were confined to their cages. The "Swan Lake" resembled more of a muddy puddle. The boardwalk was cheerful, but it was a pink beach where swimming was strictly prohibited!
Posted by baixing
10:35
Archived in China. Comments on this blog entry are now closed to non-Travellerspoint members. You can still leave a comment if you are a member of Travellerspoint.
Login
I'm still trying out my knee, so I visited Zhou "garden" (which isn't really a garden) and Wenfeng pagoda. It was impressive but tough for me to climb.
Along the Yangtze River, there are several caves featuring Guanyin, but since most of them are inaccessible, I simply walked along the cliff.
This month, I've been extremely lazy due to my knee not feeling completely right and the inconvenient location I reside in. Traveling to the south end of the city requires me to take two light rail trains, which takes at least 1.5 hours. I live in Gaochun, south of the airport, so I first take the local rail to the airport, then switch to the airport train to finally reach the south end of the city. My tourist card now only has destinations on the north end of the city left, and I lack the motivation to visit more than one each weekend. Without further delay, here are the photos I took during the weekends in December.
One thing that surprised me about Chengdu was how similar it felt to Beijing and other major Chinese cities we had explored. While we experienced some interesting nightlife spots, the city overall seemed quite generic. I initially thought this might be due to my limited Western viewpoint, but Mei Ling concurred that Chengdu didn't truly embody Sichuanese culture. We resolved to venture beyond the city borders during our remaining days in Chengdu.
I recently had the amazing chance to visit the Great Mosque in Xi'an, China. It was genuinely an unforgettable cultural experience. Situated in the vibrant Muslim Quarter of Xi'an's downtown area, this mosque is among the oldest and largest in the country.
We spent two weeks in Beijing. The day after our arrival, we visited Chao Yang Park (Sun Park) and rented a duck boat. It was quite slow, but we enjoyed navigating it around the lake.
It was excessively warm.