What's Up Al ? 遊記隨筆 生活點滴

We had visited the western parts of Hunan in 2008 and the lovely memories lingered till this day - the misty waters and mountains, ah ... This time however, we would visit the eastern parts which we had thought at first, to offer us a more urban and city-scape feel to this lovely province; this visit changed our wrong perceptions as the eastern parts were equally laid-back and scenic. But first things first, the High Speed Rail (高鐵) from Shenzhen only took 3 hours to arrive at Changsha (長沙), the provincial capital and we based ourselves near the northern part of Changsha, right at the confluence of the two famous rivers of Hunan - 湘江  and 瀏陽河. Incidentally, 瀏陽河 was the name of the famous song that sang the praise of Chairman Mao - a homegrown of this province; Mandy had sung it more than a few times in her practice and concerts, so I knew the song well.

We just spent days hiking around this pleasant city as well as visited the famous mountains in the city - 岳麓山 and the even more famous Chinese Pavilion 愛晚亭. Although 愛晚亭  had been famous for over a thousand years, for its poetic and romantic setting amongst the fiery red Autumn leaves; the Spring time colors which we witnessed now were equally stunning ! We also spent 2 days walking around the lovely island of 橘子洲 where the iconic statue of a young Chairman Mao was located and we paid our respect to The Great One at the Buddhist Temple of 長沙古開福寺. A special landmark of historical significance which we visited, was the three Han Dynasty Tombs of 馬王堆漢墓遺址 (200 B.C.) where a well-preserved female figure was excavated only in 1970s and there were lots of artefacts from the Han Dynasty that were buried along side her. We especially enjoyed our walk in the Martyrs Cemetery Park (長沙烈士陵園) which was huge and consisted of scenic islets dotted around two large lakes.

Well, that was enough warm-up to get us ready for our climb up the famous Southern mountain of Heng Shan (南岳衡山) ! The journey from Changsha only took 30 minutes on the High Speed Train to reach Heng Shan and we subsequently spent a whole day going up and down this mountain range and visited the various scenic points of 祝融峰, 麻姑仙境 and 磨镜台, the hiking was both fulfilling and tiring ! We spent the last couple of days "warming down" by slowly visiting the Changsha must-see of 天心閣 and the newly opened Two Exhibition Halls And One Concert Hall in Changsha (兩館一廳), where the city-planning of Changsha was beautifully showcased and explained. A wonderful and memorable two weeks in this lovely province.