Yangzhou Part 1

    Near the end of our visit to Nanjing we had a free day, and our hosts took us to Yangzhou. Until then, I had known the name Yangzhou only in connection with a style of fried rice. It turns out that the town is famous for its Slender West Lake Park, which we visited and spent a pleasant afternoon strolling around the lake and grounds. The day was heavily overcast, and a few drops of rain fell late in the afternoon, but none of it dampened our enthusiasm. The photo below shows that the "lake" is really a broadened section of river.

    The sign reads: "Brief Introduction Of The Slender West Lake." The Slender West Lake is a key national scenic spot, a famous lake gardens. It's main spots are: Willows Swaying along Chang Di, Xu Yuan, Yue Temple, Xiao Jin Shan, Cui Platform, The Bridge With Five Pavilions Standing On It, Fu Manor, White Pagoda Under The Sunny Sky, Twenty-Four Bridge Scinic Spot, Jing Xiang Reading Mansion, Loggias Running Around the Lake-Side, Stone Wall With Water Running.

One of the first sights we saw were these pleasant-looking boats that slowly meandered up and down the lake.

A huge pagoda in the distance, with the Twenty-Four Bridge over the lake.

Mr. Gao in the center, flanked by two of our hosts from the Nanjing Institute of Meteorology, standing in front of the Twenty-Four Bridge.

A description of the Twenty-Four Bridge. It reads: "'Twenty-Four Bridge's bright night, where the beauty taught to play xiao.' The whole bridge is made of white marble and is of arch with one arc, which spans over the Lake from east to west. The length of bridge is twenty-four meters and the width is two point four meters. Both ends of the bridge have twenty-four steps separately. There are twenty-four rail-posts on the bridge and on the rail-board there are reliefs of moon and cloud. Everywhere contains the meaning of twenty-four."

Gao explaining the Twenty-Four Bridge to Kelly.

    We walked over the bridge and enjoyed the view. At the bottom on the other side was this family with a mother who was so struck with Kelly's blond appearance that she wanted her to pose with some of her children. You can see that not all the children agreed fully with her, however! Evidently blond young women carrying camera and a huge backpack are unusual enough to frighten young Chinese children. Kelly got some pretty interesting looks from grown-ups, too. 

Kelly photographing the beautiful sights around the lake.

The Jin Xiang Reading Mansion. We didn't go inside because it was being rehabilitated for the summer season.

Another attractive scene.

That pagoda in the distance again.

A forest of lotus leaves.

We climbed a little hill and got this view of the surrounding city.

Ahead to Yangzhou, Part II
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