Yuexie Park is one of the premier parks in Guangzhou. It had 3 lakes, paddle boats, an amusement park and a playground for family fun. It has a memorial to Sun Yat Sen in the form of a tower, the Guangzhou Museum, and it claims the Statue of the Five Rams, a symbol of the city.
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That bit of green, just there, that would be the park. |
On a Sunday off I stumbled on this gem. Yes, I can see it from my hotel room, but I didn't really know what I was looking at. I took a walk up the road and came upon this gate.
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East Gate |
So I went in.
The first thing to see is a lake and paddle boats, and an odd gazebo.
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Gazebo |
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The lake |
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Paddle-boats (some look like old cars) |
Heading counter-clockwise around the lake I came on the playground. It was Sunday so all the families were out doing their day-off thing. The weather was perfect.
The amusement park was just next. Lots of rides that would pass for OK in the states at a church picnic. Like I said, family fun time.
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You get to help put the fire out! |
A Kung Fu Monkey.
that's all I can say.
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Badass. |
After the amusement park was more lake and directions to "a relic of a square fortress". OK, I'll bite.
Let's find the fortress.
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OK, I'll be careful. |
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The other end of the lake. |
As I continued on, I saw this little house in the bushes. It struck me as something vaguely out of Skyrim. The door was locked and I had no picks, so I moved on ;-/
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Odd place. |
I saw this large structure across the park. Could this be the 'square fortress'? Maybe. But I decided to follow the signs instead.
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Fortress? |
Im in China. Everything is made of Bamboo. The scaffolding I saw in Hong Kong is bamboo. But where does it come from? Here in the park is a small Bamboo Forest. Pretty cool.
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Bamboo |
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more bamboo |
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path to Big Bamboo |
I wandered around the paths in the bamboo and came back to the path I was originally on. Then the signs pointed me up the hill. So up I went.
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no one takes the stairs any more |
I finally found the 'relic of a square fortress'. What I found was a ROUND cannon emplacement that was used in the 17th century. Still pretty cool.
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placards showing where the cannons were
notice the circular design of the paving |
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Translation needed, but it says "This is an old place" |
Having found the old relic, I decided to continue on to find out what that large red structure was. I can see it and a tower from my hotel. Further investigation is required.
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Not the relic, what is it? |
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An what's the tower for? |
I found it! The large red, five story structure is the Guangzhou Museum. I was told in Beijing that "Chinese museums are 'shit'. Don't go there".
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Guangzhou Museum |
So of course, I paid my 10元 and headed inside.
The grounds were pretty nice.
Some cannons start you off,
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Cannons |
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bigger cannons |
then some carved stone inscriptions follow that.
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This is a warning to greedy politicians.
I asked a friend to translate,
but it's in "old Chinese" that he couldn't read. |
In side the museum wasn't as bas as advertised. There was the usual "we have old stuff from around here" displays, and the "original" Statue of the Five Rams.
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There is a story behind this in Wikipedia. |
I was in Beijing an they had "rickshaws". Like everything else there, they are modernized and dirty.
Here's an old-timey one in the museum.
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Rickshaw |
The view from the 5th floor was fairly nice.
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Did I mention there's a stadium in the park?
They play soccer here. |
Now, what's that tower all about?
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Interesting tower in the park
It's the Sun Yat Sen memorial. |
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Sun Yat Sen Memorial placard
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The actual tower was closed, I'm probably glad for that. I would have tried to climb up.
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Looking up into the tower. |
Have you ever played Myst? It was an old game where you wandered around a deserted island looking for clues to the death of some friends. This little pavilion remixed me of that place.
In China, they have a way of building things then letting nature take its course. Here a tree has laid claim to the very walls and walkways of the park. This is actually a retaining wall. Up above is a road and the hill continues up. Is that a Gold Skultulla up there?
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Hookshot anyone? |
The next "attraction" at the park is the Statue of the Five Rams. It is said that Guangzhou was once a barren land, but five gods came in the form of rams and bequeathed the people with fertile land. Once that job was done they turned to stone. I don't think they believe these are the actual gods' remains, but it has become a symbol of Guangzhou.
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The Statue of the Five Rams |
Moving on from that excitement, it was time to head out of the park.
A few more site were see along the way.
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Carved stone messages |
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A nice view of the museum |
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A badass tiger |
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Wouldn't be China without carp. |
Thanks for getting through this narrative. It was a tiring day, but I'm glad I went through Yuexie Park.
More about the park here:
The museum website:
and more about Sun Yat Sen here:
Could the Kung Fu Monkey actually be the Monkey King (Sun Wukong)?
ReplyDeleteYes, I believe he is.
ReplyDelete