Where I used to live.
November 2023.
Where I used to live.
November 2023.
Road closed by water.
The rain had stopped, the sun was out, the water levels remain high.
May 2024.
It rains a lot! The flowers are gorgeous in the rain.
May 2024.
2024 is the Year of Dragon (from 10th February), the festivities last 2 weeks, the new year decorations would stay another month.
March 2024.
Two special markets in Guangzhou (Canton).
1) Qingping Chinese Plants (Herbs) Market, in west of Guangzhou. The Market is composed of many little shops, each shop sells more or less the some things. The principal business is wholesale, individual can buy also.
These 2 items that I bought in the Market:Dried flowers of Hylocereus undatus霸王花, from a cactu in which is very close to Dragon Fruit cactu, but this cactu flower can never turn into fruit; Peach Resin桃胶, it is a resin secreted from the bark of Rosaceae plants such as peach or mountain peach.
Before cooking, dried flowers and peach resin have to be soaked into water for some time, than can be used to cook (with meat for example), Peach Resin can also be used to do a dessert with pear for example.
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2) Tissues Market, in the South-East of Guangzhou. This Tissues Market functions the same way as the market mentioned above: many little shops, shopkeepers are from all over china, opened 7/7, wholsale, closed 2 weeks during Chinese New Year.
March 2024.
Mito Ume Festival 水戸の梅まつり is a Plum Festival (from mid-February to mid-March) at Kairakuen Garden 偕楽園.
In Japan, February-March is the blooming season of plums, the less-famous but no less-charming spring friend of the well-known sakura. Unlike the Japanese cherry blossoms, the delicate, gentle plum flowers are not placed so densely on the tree branches, which creates that enchanting moment of “wabi-sabi”, so intrinsic to Japanese traditional culture. https://visit.ibarakiguide.jp/en/news/33037/
The Kairakuen Garden was created by Nariaki Tokugawa, the ninth feudal lord of the Mito domain, during the Edo period. The name “Kairakuen” reflects Nariaki’s wish to make it a place where he and his people could enjoy themselves together. https://ibaraki-kairakuen.jp/en/language/
With my friends we did a day trip to Kairakuen Garden, which located about 120 km north-east from Tokyo, for the Mito Ume Festival.
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It was a very beautiful day.
March 2024.