06.27.08: For my summer internship in Shanghai with CB Richard Ellis, a real estates company, I had the chance to go on an inspection trip in Nanning city!
On Saturday, I decided to venture outside the city by myself! Here’s QingXiu Mountain!
I was so pumped as I enter the park and realize there’s actually very little tourist! This means I get to tour around without pushing and cramming with a lot of other people, awesome!!
On the back of my entrance ticket, you can see that the mountain is divided into a few different sections, each with their own sight-seeing spots!
There were mini buses that tours around the park, so I decided to hope on one of these cute yellow buses!
Here’s the bus routes! It is suppose to take you around to all 7 locations, with stops at the gates at beginning and end. But during low season (i.e. the time I was there) the buses only takes you to the 1st location.. you gotta walk the rest.
It costs 2RMB/ USD$0.2 per ride….... super cheap
First stop! We arrived at the Guanyin Temple 观音庙. This temple hosts Guan Yin, the bodhisattva of compassion as venerated by East Asian Buddhists, usually as a female. She is also known as the Chinese Bodhisattva of Compassion.
My lunar birthday falls on Guan yin’s birthday too =)
You are not suppose to take any picture of the Guan Yin or any of the Buddha sculptures. So here’s the only shot I’ve taken inside the temple
Next up! beautiful pagoda that has been restored based on the original one built in the Qing Dynasty, because the original pagoda was destroyed during WW II
View of Nanning from the top, pretty rural city that is still largely undeveloped. You can see farms & hills surrounding the city. Oh and those things in the air? Crazy mob of dragonflies…
View of Nanning from the top, you can see the river where most of the building construction / development is happening
As I was climbing down the pagoda, I notice that the square / area at the feet of the pagoda was rather intricate! It’s built in a shape of a Bagua 八卦, which has wider applications including astronomy, astrology, geography, geomancy, anatomy, time, the seasons as well as the twenty-four Jieqi (節氣). In Taoism eschatology and in the Chinese creation myth
Xiao Tai was a stone archway, built in memory of Nanning’s old governor Xiao who invested greatly in Nanning’s infrastructure. This help to elevate Nanning’s economic status!
Hehe so remember how I ventured on this little adventure all by myself? How was I able to take these photos then, you ask? In the park, there are motorcycles parked outside key attractions hollering at tourists, offering to be a guide/driver/photographer for merely 60RMB = USD$9 for 4 hours!
I only had 1.5hr between meetings to check out the mountain, so my driver agreed to take me around for $5 =)
All of a sudden, there’s a traditional Thai temple in the middle of the park!! Apparently Nanning City has a strategic pact with Thailand, and to honor this trade agreement, Nanning built this Thai temple replica while somewhere in Thailand, there’s a traditional Chinese temple!
I love the color and architecture of Thai temples, I’ve actually been to Thailand a dozen times… but I am not sure where all my old photos are =(
Yep there’s a memorandum in front of the title, which reads “To continue the friendship between Nanning & Kongjin”
I wish they didn’t ruin the aesthetic of the temple with such ugly umbrellas!
Nanning is in the Guangxi Province, which is in the South west side of China. The park had a section of “Tropical Jungle”, which is planted with trees and plants non-native to the area! It was pretty cool to see trees I am familiar with from South East Asia been transplanted here
There’s a different type of lotus featured here, according to my driver/guide, when these lotuses are in full-bloom, the leaves will be big enough to hold a baby in its core without the baby sinking!!
Time for some local myths & legends! I stumbled on this huge stone monument in the middle of the tropical jungle… the calligraphy are written in ancient Chinese characters!
Left = Phenoix
Center = Peace
Right = Elephant
The back of the stone monument! The picture in the center illustrates the local myth,. One day, a poor student was playing his flute out of boredom, and his melody was so beautiful that even the Phenoix from heaven were attracted to him!
The driver took me off the beaten path, as we walked up the hill I had a sudden surge of fear, how do I know it’s safe to follow him into the woods? God knows what’s in there….!! Just then, the woods faded and an open grass area surfaced…. we were on the top of the hill with a clear view of the XiangXin Pagoda – key attraction of the mountain!
(My parents later scolded me for how uncareful I was… could have been kidnapped =P But hey! sometimes you have to take some risks to get amazing shots like this!)
I missed the Spring time…. rumor has it that Qingxiu Mountain is most beautiful during March, when flowers blossom everywhere in all colors and shades! These were the only flowers I’ve seen all day, besides the lotuses
So this is THE field… big grassy area that’s apparently quite popular with schools around China, where students will organize outdoor camping trips. I thought it was alright, nothing special after you’ve been to the open plains of Michigan lol
On our way to the XiangXin Pagoda, my driver pointed at this beautiful old building and said “This is where the governor take VIPs / visiting foreign representatives, it costs >10,000RMB = USD$1200+ per meal…..”
For the view, it must be worth it!
now that’s what I call a Chinese garden view! now complete with a pond of hundred Koi fishes =) Koi symbolizes luck and fortune in the Chinese culture
Finally arrived at the famous XiangXin Pagoda! This stone walkway has over a 1000 steps, leading up to the Pagoda at the top of the mountain
There are 9stories total, with unobstructed panoramic view of the Nanning city and miles beyond from the top…...
