2016-2019: China's Tomb Sweeping Festival
Sweeping tombs I most certainly haven't been doing, from 2016 to present its been a regular holiday weekend spent away from my working life. From my visit to Changsha in 2016 to my recent second visit to Nanjing in 2019, this Chinese public holiday has allowed me to make memories. Serving West Lake, tea plantations and a lovely temple, Hangzhou was so heavenly!
Breakfast brought us some Hunan Rice Noodles, they were really tasty and the setting caused some attention, two children said in Chinese that they could see an alien. I am most certainly not an alien but to those children I was definitely the only 'Waiguoren' in sight! After breakfast we made a swift visit to Changsha's Tianxin Pavilion, it was a dreary morning with rain forecast for that afternoon. Even though the weather threatened to rain on our parade, it was interesting to see a rather concrete looking cityscape that had tonnes of visible construction works going on. Huogong Palace had such a vile smell, it wasn't anything sinister, however the foul smelling 'stinky tofu' really packed a punch! Getting caught in the rain big time, we decided to get some bits from a local supermarket for the evening ahead, ditching our plans we had dinner at Andy's place, we watched a film as the weather deteriorated. Changsha was nice, it was a nice weekend away from the buzz of Wuhan! That Tomb Sweeping Festival had me stepping it in Hunan Prov!
The next day started early, meeting my tour guide and the driver allowed me to begin my private tour in Hangzhou. Hitting up West Lake took some going, the crowds were out once again during that public holiday, but those individuals weren't ever going to ruin the epic views that morning of West Lake. Moving away from the lake it was time to have some local snacks at Hangzhou's Chenghuang Pavilion gave me views above the city, such effortlessly beautiful views fronted me! I am not one for museums but the Chinese Traditional Medicine museum schooled me about the weird and wonderful things that have been and are still used to treat certain health complaints. Concluding the day I arrived within Hangzhou's very own tea plantation, learning the art of tea pouring was interesting but actually having the chance to pick some fresh leaves broke the record! From my own self-guided day to my escorted private tour, I found two different dimensions within Hangzhou's idyllic capital. H served chill with those plantations!
So, the past three years have been blessed during China's Tomb Sweeping Festival from Changsha to Hangzhou then in 2018 to Changchun. 2019 brought my fourth Tomb Sweeping weekend, choosing Nanjing wasn't really a choice because it was time to meet one of my fellow teaching friends. Meeting Chris had to be done! The whole weekend challenged my first experience in the city, I was reunited with the places I got lost around and made new memories in places I never knew existed. From Prosecco at the Nanjing Inter-continental Sky Bar to partying in a tower-block cabaret bar, things got really random! Nanjing was an amazing city to rediscover and I know it hasn't seen the last of me! It was like stepping back into time but within that 2019 timeframe! The train back to Beijing was thankfully quieter than the outbound, tricky passengers don't impress me! Where for 2020s festivities? Lanzhou, Gansu? I'll be revisiting that Northwestern Chinese City to build upon my stop transfer before I took my train to Lhasa.
Holiday! Celebrate!
Joseph Harrison
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