This is definitely one of my favorite places on this whole trip. It was just magical. You walk in and just feel serenity course through your veins.
This is just gonna be a post of a LOT of photos. It's hard to narrow them down! And it takes forever...so I'm just putting them all up!
Silk art - these are all made completely of silk string. It's insane.
One thing I learned, and was able to observe, is that Chinese architecture is such that when you look out, you're looking through a doorway, into a courtyard, through which you see another doorway, etc. It's all about "pictures" within "pictures. So here I am inside a room, looking out through the frame of the window across the water, to another opening and then to the courtyard beyond.
Another example of being able to see through several layers of architecture
Love Bonsai trees
One of the really beautiful aspects of Chinese gardens are the "doorways" and wall "cutouts." They're all such cool shapes.
A GREAT example of what I was saying before about looking through one opening to the next to the next. You'll see this feature all over the place. AND a beautiful doorway.
Another courtyard
Calligraphy Room. There was an area to practice...let me tell you...like most things, it looks sooo much easier than it is. When you see someone doing this with ink and a brush it looks like a piece of cake. It's NOT.
The tea room. Here you can try all different kinds of tea in served in traditional Chinese manner. They had about 50 different kinds of tea.
View from our tea room table
Even the water fountains are cool!
A beautiful waterfall
What an enjoyable "VIRTUAL" sojourn in the garden. There is a lot to be learned from the Chinese about the joys of nature and value of simplicity. I love the concept of pictures within pictures. and each "doorway" is so unique. I love the scalloped one in particular. Ah, the bonsai! They are wonderful. Again, the Chinese are masters of patience and are willing to wait and gradually coax the beauty out of a tree by "taming it". The silk art is stunning too. Again, what painstaking work, requiring patience and precision. This whole garden looks like paradise to me. Can you imagine living in a place like that and walking outside each morning to lovely ponds with trees and plants around them and quaint little bridges to cross over? Just delightful! I am not surprised that this has been one of your favorite places!
ReplyDeletexxoo Mom