Let the Images Speak

Road Closed

Road closed by water.

The rain had stopped, the sun was out, the water levels remain high.

**Normally, there is a road (path), goes beyond that bridge, kilometers along the river for walkers and cyclists**

**Several hundred meters dry road one can walk** **this side**

May 2024.

In the Rain

It rains a lot! The flowers are gorgeous in the rain.

May 2024.

Dragon Year

2024 is the Year of Dragon (from 10th February), the festivities last 2 weeks, the new year decorations would stay another month.

**This isPhoenix. IfDragonrepresents supreme authority and power, Phoenixis an auspicious bird, a symbol of peace.**

**Kumquat(Citrus japonica) andChrysanthemumare the must plants for the Chinese New Year. One for auspicious, another for wealth.**

**I think these 2 stone animals are some sort of mythical animal, such as Qilin or Pixiu.**

**Very modern Dragons in the airport of Guangzhou**.

March 2024.

2 Special Markets

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.

**Those in the rightare Codonopsis pilosula, Dangshen党参, they are the roots of the plant. The traditional chinese medicinal use ofDangshento treat cardiovascular, pulmonary and digestive conditions.**
`The others on the left I don't what they are.`

**Illicium verum,Badian, Chinese star anise (八角), a very common spice**.

**Chenpi 陳皮, the dried peel of Tangerines, one common ingredient in traditional chinese medicine, can be used for daily cooking aswell.**

Ganoderma lucidum,Lingzhi (灵芝), you don’t eat this mushroom directly, must break them into little pieces even in powers, than to make soup or tea with, than drink the liquid. The chinese believe such liquid is very good for the health.

**Qingping Market. There are dried plants, roots, herbes, flowers, fruits (all edible).**

**The shopkeepers are from all over china, the market opened 7/7, closed 2 weeks during the Chinese New Year, when the shopkeepers go home to see their families.**

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

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.