Mochou Lake Park, Nanjing, China

We occasionally had some free time in Nanjing on a Sunday so we often decided to jump in a cab and point at the map to see where we would end up, one of the best destinations we discovered was Mochou Lake.

According to one legend, the name of the lake came from a young woman of beauty and virtue named Mochou.who lived during the Northern and Southern Dynasty (386-589). She married a man from the Lu family in Jinling (now known as Nanjing City) and had a baby. They lived a happy life until one day Lu was recruited to the army. Because there had been no news of him since he had left, she missed her husband dearly day and night. Finally, it is said that Mochou turned into a lake, with the hope of flowing to her husband's side. In memory of the young woman's undying devotion to her husband, the lake was aptly named Mochou Lake by the local people.

The Statue of Mochou herself.

It was such a pleasant place to visit and it was full of locals spending a lazy Sunday afternoon in the sun away from the madness of the congested city. 

Matt 

☯

Purple Mountain, Tomb of Dr Sun

Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Mausoleum (中山陵) is situated at the foot of the second peak of Mount Zijin (Purple Mountain) in Nanjing, China. Construction of the tomb started in January 1926 and was finished in spring of 1929. The architect was Lu Yanzhi, The day we spent at Purple Mountain was incredibly hot and the pollution levels were low so we got a view of the most amazing landscapes.

A photo of me standing in front of Dr Suns tomb.

(Above) Purple mountain is named as such due to it having these increadable flowers which cover the mountain with a sea of purple, these flowers were only beginning to appear as they grow more with the high temperatures of the summer months.

(Below) A few photos of the Tomb buildings which are hand painted with the most incredible decorations, the striking colours really higlighted in the beautifull weather.

 

Purple mountain has be one of my favourite places I visited in Nanjing! 

A great contrast to that of the busy City and a focal point to that of Chinese History.

南京 My time in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China

During the following blog posts I plan to inform you of the time I spent studying in China.
 Nanjing ( 南京) was where I was studying, however I travelled to Suzhou and Shanghai during my time, the following pictures are of the city of Nanjing which is in the Jiangsu province, the city's name translates as Southern Capital as it was the capital of China until 1949.

I found Nanjing 南京 a beautiful city to stay in, although it has to be one of China's less cosmopolitan of Cities, you would definitely find difficulty finding any sort of western style food and there was a large element of shock in our presence (partly due to myself having blonde hair and blue eyes) so you found difficulty in exploring without a swarm of Chinese around you asking for photos. I will reveal my eating and travelling experiences in the next couple of weeks so keep your eyes peeled.

Below is a photograph of a Nanjing Taxi with the most fantastic colour of green.

The above video captures the view from my hotel bedroom, a street cleaner and a short journey by taxi. 

There will sure to be more videos to follow with my next posts.

M xxx