City of Eternal Spring - West Hill Dragon Gate

4th Day - There's a saying that, if you have not visit the West Hill Dragon Gate, you've never visited Kunming. So this place is a must visit or we've just been sold, LOL
At West Hill Dragon Gate, as we enters, soothing lotus pond greeted usCaught sight of these cute pandas, still under going construction
It boast of beautiful ancient garden, as if time had stood still from yesteryear's
It used to be a residential of some high ranking officer of the Emperor who felt intimated by him and ordered him killed. Today, it has become a place where the elderly people come to rest and relax or simply engaging all form of activities such as dancing, singing and music. Saw an elderly lady knitting by the lotus pond, oblivious of her surroundings.

Chinese calligraphy in 5 minutes complete with birds and sun and flowers and bamboo, all the auspicious significant to go with the words

Another 30mins bus ride from here, we arrived at the western suburbs of Kunming where lies Western Hills. Also known as 'Sleeping Beauty Hills'. For it was once known that the highlands when viewed together looked like a sleeping lady facing upward with her hair trailling into the water. Today, due to developments, the sleeping lady is no longer visible.  More steps awaiting us. The weather has been gloomy due to the early drizzle which is a good thing as  the sun was among clouds giving us shade. Along the way up, we stop for the Symbolic touch on the auspicious structure or statue

No : 1
Long Guat, the God of Prosperity : Touch the belt that carries gold in its pouch with both hands and place it into the tiger's mouth.

No: 2 - The tortoise with a snake coiled around it : sorry can't locate this picture...

Touch the tortoise for longevity and the snake for good health....or was it the other way round ??!!!

No: 3 The Phoenix's pouch - throw a coin into its pouch for luck, believed me its not easy to throw the coin in 

No : 4 - Filial Calf - it was said that in ancient time, a calf saves its mother's life from being slaughtered thus earning its name Filial Calf. Touching the mother cow on its head to receive compassion for being a mother.The trail overlooking the lake is built on a mountain cliff, dug through by some monks with areas that are so narrow to fit one person only

From the viewing pavilion overlooking the lake above and below the far end is the final destination

The Dragon Gate, the main highlight of today's itinerary. The Dragon Gate is dedicated to The Three Taoist deities. The tunnels was hacked by the Taoist monks in the late 1700s.
Above the temple above has these deities in a caved hole. One wonders how it was put up

another view of the lake below

The Gate - Touch the pearl in the centre of the gate is a must for everyone who made it to the top of the hill. The shrine is popular especially for mothers who would come seeking blessings for their children's success in education .This evening on our returned trip, we were brought to a place for dinner and here stood majestically, the North and South pagoda. This ends our trip for the day.

This pagoda is more than 1,200 years old
A newer one was built directly opposite the first one for some reasons, 'Siow Tai' did explained but I just could not digest her explanation in my brain. Must be due to hunger!! I have exhausted all my energy after three days or four days of scalling hundreds of steps and all the long distance walk. LOL

Thank you for your visit, hope you enjoyed this journey until the last installment, but before that some stitching news.

City of Eternal Spring - JiuXiang Cave

ppAnother installment on my trip. Hope this doesn't bored anyone either. Note, its a bit long.

I started my day early with breakfast at about 7:45am to 8am daily and sat on this very table . Breakfast was something like these

Diane will have a pancake or some cereals while I will go for a bit heavy with salad, and either a piece of chicken or french toast and some fruits, such was the meal for the first 2 days

Our 2nd day, our journey begins at 10:30am. Highlight of today is actually an endurance test!!
You'll see why...

After travelling on the road for almost 2 hours, we made a stop at 'Zho Fung' for lunch. This is the reason why I had my breakfast early. At my age, I need time to get my food digested before lunch..lol As we step closer to the main entrance, we noticed the yellow thing, which are corns, the real thing but dried and lead into a door way to this place where everyone was caught speechless for a momentwith low stool almost squatting on ' natural carpet' flooring...the entire floor is covered with cut grass and the place smell like...well, very grassy...

Diane's first reaction was..Eeeek ! any crawlies coming out ??!!?! of course not! LOL.

now, the meal

looked like pancake, tasted like one too...only not quite and without syrup or are we suppose to dip into something...like a gravy?? anyone has any idea??local rice wine served in this beautiful teapot....taste like sake....so yummy! and I just gotta buy this teapot !............... I DID! Just gotta get a picture of this, the men and WOMAN 's roomAn estimated slightly over half an hour journey later, about 90km east we arrived at the breathtaking gate of JuXiang Cave which literally means Fragrant cave or Nine Wines The lift from the top of the mountain took us down to the river bankAbout 40 mins river cruise down the Yinchui Gorge that runs down into an ancient cave

From the cruise, we were ushered into the caves.

where the endurance test took place here, an estimated 3.5km walk into a cradle of caves

where rivers rushing through the ground and echo across walls

we walked from over that bridge  to where I snap this picture

see the cave opening in this picture with a stone formation resembling a lion leaping?

That is where we are heading, however, within the cave it boasts of wondrous limestone formations, all naturally shaped by time such as

the 'Immortals Cave'

Magic field or the Fairy's Paddy fieldsLooked Upside down? No, I did not upload wrongly, its known as the Upside Down underground stone forest in the Bat Cave which was once A bat cave, now no more....so sadThe twin waterfalls

These caves are on the UNESCO World Heritage list.
I wasn't the only one puffing or panting as we emerge from the other end at the Lion's hill, into lush green forest, and the open air-chair lift. The view was simply magnificent, it took the mind off tired legs

on top of the world...I didn't want to leave the chair....if only I could

As we step down from the open air-chair lift and walked out of the gate, handcrafted items from stall setup outside that ends the journey are aplenty. lots of cross-stitched designs on bags using aida fabricsWhile travelling earlier as we were driven away from the city highway into country roads, I happen to look up the mountain during one particular stretch of road and noted this railway station on a cliff of a mountainand there were several tunnels such as this cutting through mountains as well.

We arrived at Sheng Shan Restaurant at 6pm for our dinner that ends at about 7:45pm

Thank you everyone for your continued visits, I appreciate your comments very much. I am currently terribly behind blog read, as I have a lot of catching up to do at work for the time I was away and

catching up on the other life . Yet, I was forced to go on a half day leave yesterday to attend Diane's open day and as usual, she was top in her class with good assessment and great reviews from her teacher, Mr Mahalingam. Well done dear!

I am so proud of her.

Thank you Jackie for commenting on the pictures from the plane, I am no expert photographer, from trial and error, all I did was turn it on to landscape, no flash and snap!

Tomorrow we are celebrating FIL's 80th birthday, gosh! it felt like only 2 years ago we celebrated his 70th.

Wanna know if I stitch during my trip? Stay tune for my next post.

Happy weekend everyone.