All of it was true and all of it was false. I loved China, Chinese people, Chinese food, and most of all, Chinese flora. From the breathtaking beautiful peach blossoms and magnolia to the four hundred year old cypress and pine trees in the Forbidden City, my lasting unforgettable impression of China won't be that of the glass and concrete jungles in Shanghai or of the expanse of Beijing, but rather of these images below:
Two ancient cypress trees entwined into one - celebrating the union of everlasting love.
A sheep dog herding his family in a pine forest within the suburbs of Beijing....a strange mixture of rural living in urban confines.
Patchi line up against a backdrop of forests grown by man around the artificial Kuoming lake built three hundred years ago in the Q'ing dynasty's Summer Palace.
Magnolia (?) in our apartment building foyer.
Pine and peach in the Forbidden City, where someone told us there were "no trees".
Ancient leafless trees in the rock garden in the Forbidden City.
At last......a bird's nest, yes they do live here, they haven't all been culled off.
And the most beautiful one among them all ....a cypress in the gardens around the excavated Ming tombs. A place to leave one's soul behind.
Someday soon, San Francisco.........my patron saint must surely be waiting there for me.
5 comments:
What a fabulous experience you had in China! Thanks for posting pictures - the leafless tree was grand.
If you have never visited, San Francisco will be a great treat for you. Golden Gate Park in particular is quite lovely. The Strybing Arboretum is a botanical garden not to be missed. Further afield, in local Berkeley the UC Berkeley Botanical Gardens are impressive as well, and adjacent to it is Tilden Park in which one may observe much native wildlife including (if you are very patient and fortunate) coyotes.
i know you have been busy, but we are missing the dolphin.
ilegirl, thanks very much for the tips, i have noted them all.
phish, i hv had the time to write and then but not the will. glad you found the girl with the curls!
wow...some great pics there...got to go to China soon.
hi lynn, how r u? we been out of touch for long. loved the pics , specially the cypress tree in the gardens around the ming tomb. there's something mysteriously attractive abt that pic. can't explain it in words.
we successfully held the 2nd ITF-WTA championships at TTC. we are aiming for a $50,000 tournament in 2009.
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