China Nature

Posts about China, 7 of 7.

Nature.

This is the last in this series.  Not the last about China.

Nature can be a mixed in China.  I did not see a lot of exploring nature for nature's sake but more of, this nature is here and ours.  Two cases, we visited a national park.  This park would be similar to Yellowstone or any large open park.  First you arrive at the visitor center, from there you purchase tickets to enter the park.  You enter via a bus and it is this bus that drives you around from vantage point to vantage point.  There is a couple of small hiking areas which are basically get off at this stop and walk to the next stop via the lake path.  They are nice hikes but with 30 people that got of the bus with you, it tends to be a bit different.  The path is also a constructed deck which I agree with since there is so much traffic. Without the decking there would be a lot more damage to the environment.  Now I also understand about the buses, they are needed if you are going to pump the number of people through the system that they have to at peek.  But there also seems to be no other options, it is the bus or nothing.  (I think there are some trails but you have to 'sneak' away.)  Here are a few pictures, there the same type of pictures that everyone else where taking.



Here is a picture that I took and then found it the next day in a Chinese paper.  (The one in the paper was taken 3 years earlier but it just goes to show that everyone takes the same picture from the same vantage point.)

A couple of panoramic pictures of the same area.

Next is the rock garden.  I believe this is similar to Bryce Canyon here is the states but since I have not been to Bryce, I am not sure.  (Bryce and some of the western canyons are planned for this summer.)  Here they actually have paths and you could explore some of the lesser paths if you have time, but what I found interesting was the path lead from one engraving to another.  It seems that every leader has to engrave their legacy into the rock.  There where a few shots where I had to be a bit creative to try and remove the 'engraving' from the picture.  This was also one of the first times I really tried to concentrate on composition because I was using my new 12-24 lens.  Here are some pictures of the engravings.


Now some general pictures of the 'rock garden'.  (Yes I liked this area and wish I could have spent more time there.)



These, I believe where taken from the 'Snow Mountain' area.  Again since it was rainy and overcast, we where not able to see the mountain itself.  This site did have a wild trolly ride.  You took a lift to the top of the mountain to see the peak and a trolly ride to the lower pasture for a walk around.  These pictures come from after you start back down after the peak and leaving the park.



More general pictures.  A wildlife demo.



Here are some miscellaneous pictures.  Some of these where taken from the road trip from Lassen to Shangri-La.  There where some incredible canyons and many spectacular views but most of it was very overcast/raining and it being a 2 lane road, there where no real options to stop and take pictures.  These where some pictures that I tried to grab from the window.



A couple of black swans from one the of the Beijing parks.



One of the most exciting places was the upper Yangtze river.  If you remember back in the post, it started raining in China around June 1st.  I arrived mid June and by the time we made it to the Yangtze, it was really flowing.  Notice in this picture the pedestrian path is under water.

Also here is a picture of Tiger's Leap.  This is suppose to be a rock in the middle of the river in which a tiger was suppose to escape the locals on one side who where trying to kill it.



This is also a couple of videos of the Tiger's Leap.