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China (中国)
We visited East China in 2012 for the PLMCN12 conference in Hangzhou, in the Zhejiang area. Below are some photos from our trip post-conference in the yellow mountains.
Emerald Valley
The Emerald Valley lays at the feet of Huangshan. It has crystal-clear water with colours of the same name, and nice rock formation. The vegetation is notable too, it might be the closest we ever got from a real jungle (with wild and exotic sound from the fauna, especially birds). It is a mainly a Chinese tourist spot, we met one occidental only. People would occasionally show up superbly dressed, maybe following or preceding a wedding.
The Emerald Valley.
Turquoise waters
or yellow
with rocks.
The most beautiful ones would tell you a Chinese poem.
Others would speak with nothing needing written down.
Emphasizing something.
A bridge other the water,
towards more rocks,
and more river.
We barely noticed them at first.
Here they are, zoomed in.
Bamboo forest.
Flying over.
A balcony with a view over the colours.
A beautiful chinese couple.
A little girl, peaceful.
A butterfly with a facial expression getting in touch.
黄山
Huangshan (黄山), literally the "Yellow Mountain", is a mountain range composed of material uplifted from an ancient sea during the Mesozoic era and subsequently carved by glaciers during the Quaternary [1]. It is one of the most beautiful places on earth, the archetype of Chinese paintings, with pine trees perched on salient peaks piercing through the fog. Weather is quite capricious. Our ascension of the lotus peak was an enduring exercise, against thick fog and battering rain. The whole mountain is busy during the day, with hordes of Chinese guides shouting in a microphone in the most touristic spots, but nearing the closing time of the last cable car, at half past four, it would become much more relax and peaceful. In the evening, it becomes completely empty. Early in the morning—and we woke up at four—you really feel alone in heaven.
This is Huangshan.
Here in the clouds.
Here without.
Fantastic platforms hanging from the mountain allow you to peek into the precipices.
Of course the access is not for the faint-hearted.
But the views are unique.
Elena leading the way.
At first you think you get blocked somewhere,
but after a while, you get used to it.
and then no viewpoint seems unreacheable.
though as seen from below, it is madness.
Walking by a mountain.
Chatting with a precipice.
The place, busy in the day, would become incredibly quiet and desolate in the evening.
Although the Chinese tourists also provide quite a lot of fun.
Elena with a giant hiding in the clouds.
Do you see her?
A map of the top of the sky.
The famous pine trees.
A dam in the mountain!
Getting down...
and up.
The fog would fall anytime,
and disappear just as quickly.
Shanghai
We had a short time in Shanghai before taking the plane. We came back from Huangshan by night train and met at this occasion a nice couple from central China, who told us more, through the voice of the husband (the wife was not speaking English), about people's life, with a selection of pictures from their own collection. He was a doctor and she was a state officer at the same hospital. They seemed to have an idyllic picture of occidental life. At any rate, they were extremely friendly, offering us nuts from the mountain, giving us their contact number for when we would return to China, providing a lot of advises of where to go deep in the country, offering us pastry for the breakfast next morning and accompanying us in the metro to help getting tickets and finding our way. In Shanghai, we visited the oft-recommended Yu garden and haggled in the market. Elena would do the haggling as I cannot stand the practice (in which you always lose). It seems she was haggling well as a couple of times, her last offer was refused. It was rainy and extremely foggy and much of the time was spent in the hotel trying to fix the internet to attend to urgent matters, all falling at the same time.
Yuyuan market.
Yu garden, nearby.
A bridge in zig-zag, maybe to confuse bad spirits, trapping Elena.
A Chinese guardian lion (Shishi).
A charismatic figure looking at time passing from the meagre comfort of his bike, possibly since always.
Chinese food, at the dismay of the head waitress.
Last chance to taste, at the airport. This is closer to European Chinese cooking.
Shanghai at night.
Facing the bund.
