China: Yunnan: #12 Train Ride to Tuan Shan (Part b)

Jan29

The little yellow train came to a stop at the Shuanglong (Double Dragon) Bridge, only 3km. (a little over 1 mi.) west of Jianshui. The bridge was built at the confluence of the Lujiang and Tachong Rivers. These two rivers twist along their separate courses looking like two dragons, hence that bridge’s name. Below the confluence, the new river is called the Nanpan.

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The bridge was originally built with only three arches during the reign of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty between 1736 and 1795. However, it had to be increased by another 14 arches during the 1820‘s due to a flood which widened the river. The bridge is now 148 m. (486 ft.) long and varies in width from 3-5 m. (9-16 ft.)

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The central tower of the bridge is quite spectacular, although it would undoubtedly look better on a sunny day when the colours of the tiles would show up. Never mind, when you’re travelling, you get what you get and I was just grateful that it was just misty not pelting down with rain!

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We had time to walk over the bridge, but first we had to get past the ‘elephant’ guards!

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The rain became a little heavier as we walked onto the bridge. But that red umbrella just gave the touch of colour that lifted the scene with the main tower.

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A closer look at the coloured tile roof of the main tower.

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There’s another, smaller tower at the far end of the bridge.

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Looking down on the bank showed another way to enjoy the view of this bridge!

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A beautiful reflection on the lee side of the bridge.

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The river looked so peaceful as I began to walk back over the bridge towards the train.

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And, then, guess who got in the way and clogged the bridge walk? Yep. Those models and their army of photographers. They were simply taking command of the whole bridge.

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Although it was raining lightly this parasol was just for show! However, I noted that the light rain didn’t suit the make-up, costumes or cameras. Our way was totally blocked, and, if you look at the faces, we weren’t especially welcome walking into their shots! With a little patience from everyone, the photos they wanted were taken, and we made it back across the bridge.

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A bemused local.

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…and another one. I’d much rather photograph these faces than the heavily made up faces of those models. These faces have lived. I’m sure these men have great stories to tell.

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Rear view of another fisherman. They’re not real raindrops on the umbrella.

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A final look at the lovely reflections of this famous Shuanglong (Double Dragon) Bridge. Then it was back on the train and onwards towards Tuan Shan along a track that was originally laid by the French when they had greater influence in the area than they do now. Hence, of course, the metre gauge track.

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Our cheery (!) musician regaled us with a piano accordion this time. I did like his hat!

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A fellow passenger enjoying lunch!

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Our next stop was at an old French inspired station that had seen much better days… but at least there was a toilet… even if it was only a slit in a concrete slab. When needs must…..

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A local used the station as a short cut.

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Quite a stern look from this little fellow. Wonder what’s up with him.

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It wasn’t long before we came into the outskirts of a small town.

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And then we were there, at our destination for the day. It was around 11.30 and now we had 90 minutes to walk around the old village before the train returned to Jianshui.

More of that walk anon

David

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China: Yunnan: #11 Train Ride to Tuan Shan (Part a)

Jan27

We were up early for another day of exploration only to find the streets rather empty.

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Saturday must be sleep-in morning. Shutters on shops down. Where would we find breakfast?

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We ended up at a noodle house where we had a big bowl of rice noodles with some chopped spring onions and coriander leaves along with an equally large bowl of broth that I think had a chicken base with a bit of chilli here and there for good luck! It all tasted good but not the usual thing I have for breakfast.

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The noodle shop was dishing out bowl after bowl to the local residents who seem to eat out most of the time – even for breakfast… perhaps because the food is so cheap; cheap like our fast food (read junk) outlets. However the huge difference I see between at home and in China is that the food being served in China is made on-site with fresh ingredients to age old local recipes – anything but junk food. And the other big difference I see is this… you have to look long and hard to find a fat person… and that’s not quite the same in our Western societies!

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Fed and happy, we wandered back out into the street. A few more people out, but still not busy.

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We were headed for the restored train station. We had decided to explore a little further afield… to the village of Tuan Shan. We’d heard that one of the places on the ‘must see’ list for Jianshui is the Shuanglong (Double Dragon) Bridge. As luck would have it, a tourist train passes it, with a stop, on the way to Tuan Shan. This looked like a good way to kill two birds with the one stone and get a train ride into the bargain. We even got a 30% discount on our tickets because we’d already visited the Zhu Garden.

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Now here’s something really different from so many railway stations… immaculate ‘loos’.

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The platform and the one metre gauge lines.

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A rather smart looking yellow loco was ready to pull our touristy train.

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The carriages waited at the very tidy, pleasant platform!

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The carriages were old style… but newly built.

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But the carriages were not the only thing to catch my eye. At the end of the platform, there was a large group of professional photographers. So what was the interest… surely not the loco!

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No… not the loco. They were ‘shooting’ a bevy of tarted up models.

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There were models all over the place; wearing ridiculously high-heeled footwear, carrying parasols and other props and striking poses in what seemed to me to be the oddest of places. At least this one was highlighting the trains logo. Maybe it was to be a promo for Jianshui!

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Another really odd place to pose!

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Enough make-up to sink a battle ship. I guess it was all just really not my thing!

This whole scene did not auger well for a peaceful train ride out into the country. But, thankfully, they had their own bus and would meet up with the train later. So back to our train trip!

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On board, we settled into our not so comfortable wooden seats, new made to look old style, and prepared for the ride. The carriages had a top speed limit of 25km/h although the loco could do 60km/h! Nonetheless the slow ride to the foothills gave us time to admire the scenery.

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And, as on many a tourist train, there was a musician to entertain the passengers. This one was a happy chap (?) and played a number of different instruments.

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A view of neat and tidy vegetable beds… no space wasted.

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Stooks out to dry… may not dry too well on this drizzly, mizzly, misty day.

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A lot of new apartment building on the outskirts of town appeared to be in limbo. No workers… no sign of work having been done recently. Maybe this was part of the problem in China of too many apartments being built. The building boom seems to have stagnated somewhat.

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Not far out of town, the train began to really slow down. We had reached the famous Shuanglong (Double Dragon) Bridge. Here we would stop, get out and stretch our legs… and no doubt run the gauntlet of that bevy of models, photographers and their entourage once more!

More of that anon

David

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China: Yunnan: #10 More Exploring in Jianshui

Jan25

So what else did we find as we explored the old part of Jianshui a little more? Let’s see.

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This was the street scape opposite the gate to the Zhu Gardens.

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The pomegranate seller made a wonderful still life photo. I wonder how many hours she just stood their hoping for someone to buy her fruit as they emerged from the gardens. It was getting late in the day and at least one basket was empty so maybe it had been worth her while.

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There were still a few people out and about along the shopping street.

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A china shop in China!

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Glazed and unglazed storage jars.

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The entrance to a ‘Foreign Nationals Hotel’.

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A lot of thought goes into these manholes that incorporate a story.

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Another decorated man hole.

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A different sort of decoration… a web woven of electric cables!

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A shop selling woks, steamers, brooms, hats and hardware items.

More electric cables decorate the roof… and they aren’t Christmas lights!

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A REAL hardware shop

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A larger house with a courtyard.

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The old and the new, side by side.

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Different strengths of rice wine are sold from these jars.

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Street fruit market

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Vegetable market…. bring your own shop on the back of a bike!

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Delicious looking mushrooms

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A wider variety of mushrooms… all look delicious… pity we can’t do any cooking.

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Those mushrooms would taste really good with these cooked ‘chooks’.

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Or maybe these succulent crispy ducks. Yum!

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Could add some tofu as well.

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Might rethink the tofu… not sure about smokers blowing smoke over the food

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Thoughtful market seller

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These dried chrysanthemum flowers are used to make chrysanthemum tea (pinyin). The flowers are steeped in hot water 90-95⁰C, (194-203⁰F). Chrysanthemum tea is said to have many beneficial health properties. In China it is used to recover from a sore throat, influenza and acne. The flowers are also used as a compress to alleviate circulatory disorders such as varicose veins.

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A potential buyer of the tea.

Then after our interesting exploration around the streets it was time for dinner. We found a cafe with a balcony and watched the city quieten down while we ate a delicious dinner.

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The East Gate illuminated at night.

A wonderful sight at the end of a very special day in Jianshui.

David

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China: Yunnan: #9 The Water Wells of Jianshui

Jan22

Water is very important to Jianshui, as it is to every city, town and village on earth. But here the really important story is about pure underground water. At the Zhu residence we’d seen photos and an explanation of the importance of these water wells.

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Jianshui’s water is famous. The old name for the town was Huli, meaning the sea. There is no sea to be seen… but centuries ago many wells were dug to retrieve the water from underground aquifers. Even today, when tap water is available in all the houses, people still come to the wells to draw water… plastic buckets now replacing the barrels of old.

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A photo in Jianshui which shows a city well in use in more recent times.

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But the most interesting wells in Jianshui are the ring wells, with deep grooves left by centuries of drawing water. These are dotted all over the town and in nearby regional areas. As one sign says, in the poetic style of prose only found in China: ” Each well silently guards a corner of a house in a deep lane, staring at changes in the world without saying a word, gazing at the rises and declines of Jianshui.” The digging of these wells by the ‘ancestors’ of this town gave the people, and still give them, a constant source of pure water and an opportunity to be prosperous.

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The wells are still in use. One can only imagine the stories that have been told around these wells as people met to draw water. These days, with the use of rope and plastic, there’s no sound of the clank of chains and barrels … but the water is still sweet and pure.

So pure is the water, that it has helped to make Jianshui famous for its Tofu making, although the soya beans used to make this Tofu are grown in Hubei Province, a couple of provinces away to the NE. Tofu is a type of cheese made from milk pressed from Soya beans, heated with water and a coagulant such as Nigari (Magnesium Chloride), or Food Gypsum (Calcium Sulphate), or lemon juice or vinegar. The less coagulant, the softer the tofu. Once the milk begins to coagulate, the curd is pressed through cheese cloth to remove the liquid. The result can be used in many ways as a nutritious addition to a meal, or as a snack.

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Kenzo took me to meet a lady who has a small street stall where she sells cooked tofu to passers by. She remembered Kenzo from an earlier visit he’d made to this town… and he remembered her tofu as being good street food!

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We, of course, stopped to taste the tofu that she was cooking on a small charcoal BBQ.

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She cooked small squares of four different aged tofu over a low heat.

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Part way through the cooking, she popped a lid over the tofu.

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And then everything was ready for us to taste! It was an interesting experience for me, not being used to eating tofu. Some pieces were soft and fresh; others were up to four days old. The older pieces tasted a bit like blue cheese… I guess they were old enough to have grown some mould! There was a dipping sauce made from vinegar, soy sauce and, of course, some chilli.

We sat and talked for about 30 minutes and, apart from the tofu, I had a beer and Kenzo a soft drink. All up it cost ¥21 (AUD5). Great value and a great street food experience. I would never have tried this food had I not been with Kenzo. And, also thanks to Kenzo, I was able to enjoy a chat with a local… something you rarely get to do in a tour group!

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The lady had two children, a girl who was six and was happy to talk to us ….

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… and a boy aged eleven, who couldn’t take his eyes off the game he was playing on his Mother’s phone. A modern young lad growing up in a mediaeval town!

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As we wandered on down the street we saw several more ring wells.

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Kenzo took me down tiny alleyways… places I would never have explored on my own… but that’s where you find the wells that supplied endless sweet water to the houses of old Jianshui. Like the wells, the old lanes are cultural and historic symbols of centuries of the town’s history.

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The largest number of rings we found was this set of four ‘mouths’ in a courtyard. Although there maybe a number of rings, there is only one shaft. Presumably the more mouths, the more people can draw water at the same time. These had obviously been much used judging by the chain/rope grooves on the sides.

As the sign back at the Zhu Gardens proclaimed: “These wells had nurtured generation after generation of Jianshui people, benefiting the life of every family and witnessing the people’s happiness and sorrows and their life realities.”

Our life reality at this point was that the day was beginning to draw to a close… it was probably time to explore a little more of the town before the sun set and night caught up with us.

More anon

David

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China: Yunnan: #8 The Zhu Garden and Mansion, Jianshui (Part d)

Jan20

After enjoying the courtyards and rooms of the residence, it was time to explore the garden.

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Another ‘moon gate’ on the way to the open garden.

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An overall view of part of the garden

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The paths were constantly being cleaned.

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A wonderful old fig tree (Ficus sp.) in the outside garden

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Criss-cross pattern formed by the roots of a large fig tree.

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An interesting piece of dark rock with fine white intrusions used as paving.

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A dandelion that escaped the gardener’s weeding tool!

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Bird of Paradise flower (Strelitzia reginae)

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Bamboo.

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Young girls in the costume of one of the ethnic groups of Yunnan.

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Chrysanthemums

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And yet more Chrysanthemums

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The lily pond is the main feature of the large garden.

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A water lily bud about to open

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These water lilies were at their best

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Total perfection!

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A sun baking tortoise gave me the eye.

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Water plants reflected perfectly in the still water

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Papyrus grew strongly in the shallow water at the edge of the pond.

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Detail of papyrus

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An outdoor setting… it didn’t look too comfortable but piles of fun!

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This was much better… a pavilion from which to sit and survey the peaceful scene.

David

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David

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China: Yunnan: #7 The Zhu Garden and Mansion, Jianshui (Part c)

Jan18

One of the rooms in the Zhu Garden residence held clues to the real Zhu family. We had seen their house, their furniture, their paintings and vases and now we could see them … through a series of old photos… which I, in turn, photographed. I don’t know exactly who is who, but the photos give a sense of the people who lived in this place more than a century ago!

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This was not your average Chinese family of the time. This was a family who lived in plenty. After moving to this area, they built up their businesses, purchasing real estate, founding ‘grinderies’ (mills), and selling wine. They set up tin ore firms. They had shops widely distributed in Yunnan, Sichuan, Guandong and Hong Kong… shops that sold provisions such as cotton yarns, cloth, tin and indeed, opium. They became one of the top eight trading names in Yunnan. Their wealth brought them prestige and they became important bureaucrats under the late Qing regime.

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During their time here, there was much disquiet in China. The Qing court, racked by corruption and incompetence, failed to contain foreign intrusions into China. The opium wars ensued. Then, following the collapse of the Qing Dynasty in 1911, Yunnan came under the control of local warlords, like the Zhu family, who had more than the usual degree of autonomy due to Yunnan’s remoteness. They financed their regime through opium harvesting. They had become embroiled in both the political and military ‘games’ of those very volatile times.

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A couple of photos showed what happened to anyone captured fighting on the ‘wrong’ side! Off with his head… it was then put in a basket and hung on a wall. A very graphic message?!

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The last leader of Zhu family was Lieutenant General Zhu Chaoying. However, as a Chinese proverb puts it, “the rising wind forbodes the coming storm”. This family was directly affected by all of the twists and turns of political events in the early 1900s. There were sharp changes in the social situations of the elite and wealthy during and after the downfall of the last Imperial dynasty and the rise of the Republic of China. The Zhu families fortunes began to fall away. As one of the signs said, “The rise and fall of the Zhu Family mirrors the modern history of Yunnan in an age of rapid change across China.” They’d had their days of glory.

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However, fortunately, the residence and the gardens they built, remain today for us to have a glimpse into life as it was then. After learning something of the family’s story, it was time to go out and explore the larger garden area. But on the way there, we enjoyed seeing yet more of the work of skilled masons and carpenters, of artists and potters and calligraphers; ordinary people whose work has not been forgotten.

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This had been a very special experience, one that I thoroughly recommend.

More about the gardens anon.

David

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China: Yunnan: #6 The Zhu Garden and Mansion, Jianshui (Part b)

Jan15

There were many more rooms to be explored, all showing the way the residence was in the time of the wealthy Zhu family… late 1800s, early 1900s. In recent years, movie makers and television producers have used this residence for the settings of historical stories. It was one of the very few such residences in China not destroyed under Mao’s ‘cultural revolution’… maybe because it’s in south Yunnan and a long way from Beijing, the centre of authority. And now it’s a good place to visit without the normal throngs of tourists in other better known parts of the country.

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A feature of many Chinese gardens is a symmetrical array of similar pot plants. Such gardens can easily be changed with the seasons. Here it mirrors the symmetrical architecture of the building.

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A very simple room with beautifully carved furniture… not too comfortable I would think!

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The room was decorated with a traditional floral Chinese art work and some beautifully painted vases.I wonder what these vases would fetch on the market today? We sometimes see vases like these on the UK’s ‘Antique Road Show’… many collected by family members a couple of hundred years ago when trade was burgeoning between China and England.

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Looking back across the courtyard… a pleasant outlook from the room.

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Detail of some of the ‘verandah’ decorations.

A calligraphy style of work told in characters and art.

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More decorations on the ‘verandah’. The red hangings are a traditional type of ornament…red being a very auspicious good luck colour in China. We have a miniature one for our Christmas tree!

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The ornate wooden doors fold back to allow air into the room. Every one of the intricately carved panels is different, and each one tells a story.

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Decorative stone bases support the pillars that hold up the high ceilings.

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There were many varieties of such carvings throughout the complex.

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Yet another design on a base pedestal.

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The upper parts of the pillars were also decorated in a variety of colourful patterns. It must take a lot of time and money to keep this place maintained. There were many examples where parts of the houses that are open to the weather were falling into disrepair. Gradually they are being restored and repainted.

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Chinese calligraphy style art work uses few strokes of the brush to create the scene.

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By contrast, the carving of door panels is complex and detailed.

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In one of the function or living rooms, there’s an ornately carved set of shelves, specially designed to show off a large display of vases, each one in its own niche. Very impressive.

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Detail of some of the beautiful vases on display.

Another room… again made from timber. With so much timber used in the building of this complex, there was always a danger of fire. Kitchens were in their own ‘out houses’.

A rather grand carved screen in one of the large living areas.

Detail of part of that carved wall.

Another panel on the same wall.

We’d really enjoyed being immersed in viewing these rooms inhabited by the Zhu family… not being hurried by jostling throngs of tourists… able to take our time! But now it was time to go to a different section of the complex, one that had photos of the family and photos of life here in the hey day of the Zhu family. And we’ll look at that section of the residence in the next post.

David

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China: Yunnan: #5 The Zhu Garden and Mansion, Jianshui (Part a)

Jan13

After dropping off our ‘stuff’ in the hotel, we ventured back out onto the streets of Jianshui. It was already 15.30, so it was time to get going again to explore.

The street near the hotel was busy with shoppers… but not one was a westerner. Jianshui is still not on many tourist itineraries.

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On one of the side streets we came across a young man painting a sign above a new gallery.

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He happily acknowledged us before going back to his work.

We’d checked out the town map and walked with a plan in mind… to find the Zhu Gardens and Mansion. Further along, in Hanlin Street, we found the main entrance gate.

The ornate gate heralded what was to come as we entered this place sometimes referred to as the ‘Grand View Garden’. All of the buildings have saddle-shaped roofs and elaborately painted crossbeams and ceilings.

The layout of the complex is based on a fairly simple grid pattern.

Within this layout there are 42 Tianjing (courtyards) and 214 pavilions and towers… lots to see! The whole complex covers many hectares and we just wandered between courtyards and rooms taking photos as we went. So, over the next few musing posts, you can join us as the photos lead us through this maze of buildings, a peep into China’s past in the late 1800s early 1900s.

The roofs were covered in the traditional Chinese glazed tubular tiles. These are made of clay in a wooden tube-shaped mould. Each pipe is then cut into halves along their length, producing two semicircular tubular tiles. These are overlapped in lines down the roof. When these tiles are used on an eave edge, circular ends are often added, these usually moulded with the pattern of dragon.

There are many ornately carved and painted wood panels.

The garden’s penjing, or bonsai, collection is scattered throughout the various courtyards. Although best known in the west as a Japanese art form, this form of training and miniaturisation of plants in a pot originated in China.

These lovely bonsai appear to be very old. They have been created to mimic the shape and style of the mature, full-size trees. Cultivation techniques such as pruning, root reduction, and grafting are used over a long period of time to produce this effect.

A circular opening, known as a ‘moon gate’, lead us into the next courtyard.

We had entered the courtyard of the Embroidery Tower, the only two story building in the residence. Here, in former days, female members of the Zhu family enjoyed recreational activities including reading and embroidery. It was later used as a ‘home school’ for the Zhu children.

A larger Bonsai dominated this courtyard. Its stone label, in three languages, told us that this was a Bougainvillea spectabilis. In flower it would indeed be spectacular.

Further along, we came to the doorway of one of the rooms in the residence, the doorway again flanked by Bonsai. A sign in the complex explained that the main residence is typical of Jianshui architecture of the time: “three bedrooms with six side rooms, three living rooms with three side rooms attached in the rear, as well as one major courtyard and four attached small courtyards.”

A peep inside the room… anyone for a game of cards?

Yellow chrysanthemums grew beside another ornate door way.

The chrysanthemums had been heavily pruned and trained.

The central shoot of the plant had been nipped out and the resulting side shoots had been trained to the outside edge of the pot and then allowed to grow upwards. Very spidery!

Inside this ‘room’, in fact a linking passageway, were a couple of chairs but, although we could have done with a bit of a rest by then, they did not look at all comfortable!

I’ll return with more photos of the Zhu Gardens and Mansion in my next post.

David

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China: Yunnan: #4 First Walk in Jianshui

Jan11

Having arrived in the walled city of Jianshui, we had to walk along Lin An Road to get to our accommodation. It turned out to be a very interesting walk indeed.

At least, some of the signs were in English as well as Chinese.

Shade trees helped make the walk pleasant.

It was a delight to be walking up such a beautiful cobble stone street. Although there were many old buildings, new ones were being built in the old style.

Intricate carvings decorated some of the wooden doors.

Even the manhole covers were decorative and told traditional stories.

They were all cast in concrete and each one was different; this one depicted a deer.

The tree surrounds had been carefully laid…

but I did wonder about the health of the tree roots.

It can sometimes be difficult to find a good angle for a photo!

An impressive entrance to a restaurant; it looked very inviting.

The city retains a wonderful ‘old Chinese’ feel

Traditional roof styles and tiles

A colourful street scene of small shops.

More colour in the merchandise hanging by the doorway of a shop.

With very few cars, bikes were the transport of choice… or feet!

Intricately carved wooden doors closed off this shop from the street.

Detail of some of the carving on that door.

…and all of that was seen just walking down the street to get to our hotel…

Reception at the Fairyland Hotel… great name!

The Fairyland is a modern and clean hotel, the only thing that left a little to be desired was the toilet and shower arrangement. Although clean, they were side by side with a clear sheet of glass between and a partially opaque sliding door that either closed off the loo or the shower, but not both together. So, when sharing a room, unless you wanted to be on ‘display’, only one convenience could be used at a time. Apart from this minor matter, I would thoroughly recommend the establishment.

Time to drop off our ‘stuff’ and go for another walk in this lovely old town.

More of that anon

David

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China: Yunnan: #3 Kunming to Jianshui

Jan8

It was a grey and overcast morning. Kenzo and I had to leave the apartment at 08.00 to catch the train to Jianshui which left at 09.32.

We arrived at the rather futuristic Kunming Railway Station in plenty of time…. and just as well. It wasn’t a case of walk in and hop on the train. Not at all!

There was security everywhere with armoured personnel carriers parked at strategic locations and armed police patrolling the street in front of the station as well as the station forecourt. Airport type security for screening bags had to be negotiated before the station buildings proper were reached. Once through all that, it was straight on to the train (K9832) which consisted of 16 carriages, some sleeping cars, (as I think the train went through to Hanoi in Vietnam). Our carriage had 118 rather uncomfortable cloth covered seats arranged 2×3 across the carriage. Each seat had an embroidered antimacassar. And the train left on time.

Map Kunming to Jianshui

So where were we headed on this train? You can see Jianshui on the map…. it’s 220 km (137 mi.) south of Kunming. It wasn’t the most comfortable of train rides but, of course, there was plenty to see out of the windows.

Shortly after leaving Kunming, we travelled through an area of plastic tunnel houses – perhaps the same ones I flew over on my approach to Kunming?

Every space is used to grow something. All very neat and orderly.

As I was pondering on this view, a warning was given by the crew over the PA. What did it mean? Thankfully I had Kenzo to translate for me. We were being told to be careful of our money when using the toilet because the suction created by the open system had a tendency to suck money out of people’s pockets! Not too good for the passengers. But good for some. It seems that local farmers patrol the line picking up this new found wealth!

Another warning… another translation required. This time we were being warned, even discouraged, from brushing our teeth with the water in the toilets! Maybe it really meant that the water was not potable… something got lost in the translation.

The train arrived a little late … another announcement over the PA. But this time I had an English translation on the sign to tell me where I was. Even though we were late, the local buses were still waiting for the train to arrive so we caught one of them into the centre of the town.

Jianshui is known as one of the famous national historic and cultural towns in China. It’s described as an ancient town with history dating back 1,200 years. Today, the town retains much of the traditional style of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) with over 15 ancient buildings still standing. I was looking forward to our exploration.

Jianshui is a walled city and the bus dropped us off just outside the eastern gate.

This eastern gate, the one facing the sun rise, is called Chaoyang Tower. It’s been compared with the Tiananmen Tower in Beijing. However, this tower predates the Beijing tower by 28 years! It’s quite large: 24.5 m (80 ft) high, 12.3 m (40.5 ft.) long and 26.8 m (88 ft.) wide.

Early in the morning and again at sunset the locals bring their pet song birds to this square in front of the East Gate. Time for a sit and a chat while ‘walking’ the birds.

Some birds are for sale as well.

Once inside, we walked around to the northern side of the Chaoyang Tower. The saddle shaped roof has three levels and is supported by large wooden poles.

The bell that hangs on the NE corner is still rung at sunset each day.

I love finding old door handles. They make me wonder about all of the people who have turned those handles, who have walked through that door. What’s behind that door? And what stories could those door handles tell… if door handles could tell stories! This one almost looks like it could speak… just silenced by the ring. I had a feeling that exploring this town was going to be an exceptional experience.

but more of that anon.

David

If you enjoy these armchair travels, please pass our site onto others

www.dymusings.com

more of our travel stories and photos can be found on

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Monthly Archives: January 2016

China: Yunnan: #12 Train Ride to Tuan Shan (Part b)

China: Yunnan: #11 Train Ride to Tuan Shan (Part a)

China: Yunnan: #10 More Exploring in Jianshui

China: Yunnan: #9 The Water Wells of Jianshui

China: Yunnan: #8 The Zhu Garden and Mansion, Jianshui (Part d)

China: Yunnan: #7 The Zhu Garden and Mansion, Jianshui (Part c)

China: Yunnan: #6 The Zhu Garden and Mansion, Jianshui (Part b)

China: Yunnan: #5 The Zhu Garden and Mansion, Jianshui (Part a)

China: Yunnan: #4 First Walk in Jianshui

China: Yunnan: #3 Kunming to Jianshui